Confirm what the contract delegates and which criteria it gives, then match each framing section’s supports, heights and openings to the contract framing elevations, its loads to the stated pressures, and its studs, tracks, clips and bridging to its calculation. Record a mismatch, a missing calculation or an unsupported assumption with both references. Whether a stud or connection is adequate is decided by the delegated engineer and the engineer of record.
Assemble the framing package
Gather the framing shop drawings (key plans, wall elevations, framing sections and connection details), every calculation package (stud, header and jamb reports and connection calculations), and the contract structural drawings with their general notes, wind pressure tables, framing elevations and latest addendum. Add the architectural wall sections and elevations for parapet heights and opening sizes, the framing specification section, and the submittals for the cladding, curtain wall, storefront, louvers and overhead doors the framing supports.
Confirm what the contract delegates before reading a calculation. The UFGS guide specification UFGS 05 40 00 Cold-Formed Metal Framing (Active, May 2015 with Change 1 of August 2018, read on WBDG on November 9, 2026) is edited one of two ways: it describes the design performed by the designer of record, or it prescribes the design of all components to the contractor. In the second case its Engineering Responsibility paragraph has a registered professional engineer prepare the shop drawings and calculations, and its Design Data Required paragraph asks for calculations with the design criteria and loading, signed and sealed. Its installation article asks for vertical movement where curtain wall studs connect to the structural frame. A project specification or the structural general notes may word this differently, so read the ones in your contract.
The delegated design guide covers the contract handoffs, and the design standard is covered in the AISI S240 guide. When the framing specification itself needs checking against the design drawings, use the cold-formed metal framing specification guide.
Twelve framing checks
Use one worksheet row per wall type or section group rather than per sheet. Where a similar (SIM) section covers several bays, note the bays you checked and any exception you found. The CSV adds blank fields for the project issue, location, evidence, applicable criteria, decision owner, status, decision, revised sources, and closure evidence.
| Review area | Sources to compare | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Submittal basis | Submittal cover and revision block, contract structural drawings, addenda | Which contract issue and addendum was the framing package prepared from, and does every revision cloud have a description? |
| Seal and responsibility | Shop drawing title blocks, calculation cover, structural general notes, Section 05 40 00 | Are the drawings and calculations signed and sealed by the engineer the contract requires, or is certification deferred until after review? |
| Design criteria | Calculation criteria page, structural general notes, wind and component pressure tables | Do the calculations use the wall, corner and parapet pressures, deflection limits and load combinations the contract drawings state? |
| Parapets | Parapet sections, stud reports, parapet pressure table, architectural wall sections | Is every parapet stud, including separate pieces above the top beam, designed for the parapet pressure and shown at its true height? |
| Support elevations and spans | Framing sections, contract framing elevations, column and beam schedules | Do the beam and slab elevations each section designs for match the contract steel, including where a beam slopes or steps along the wall? |
| Section coverage | Framing elevations and key plans, section index, calculation index | Does every bay and wall height have a section and a calculation, or is a SIM section stretched over conditions it does not fit? |
| Deflection and slide clips | Clip details, framing sections, contract support details | Where the contract details show vertical slide clips at the structure, does the package use them rather than fixed clips? |
| Openings, headers and jambs | Opening sections, jamb and header calculations, door, window and louver schedules | Do jamb studs, tracks and headers as drawn match their calculations, and do header loads include the door, glazing or louver they carry? |
| Bridging and bracing | Bridging detail, stud reports, structural general notes | Do bridging row spacing and the bridging connection on the detail match what the stud reports assume and the notes allow? |
| Connections and anchors | Connection details, connection calculations, concrete and steel notes, fastener data | Does each clip, screw group, powder-actuated fastener and anchor have a check, using the concrete strength and steel thickness the contract gives? |
| Splices and member substitutions | Framing sections, stud reports, material notes, approved manufacturers | Are stud splices shown where the calculations put them and permitted by the contract, and do the substitution notes stay within the members the contract allows? |
| Interfaces and comment closure | Cladding, curtain wall, storefront and door submittals, earlier comments | Are cladding attachment, glazing head movement and door weights coordinated with their suppliers, and does each earlier comment have a response? |
Record “needs clarification” when a criterion or reference is missing, and reserve “resolved” for a decision supported by documents you have read. Recomputing a stud or clip capacity is engineering work for the responsible engineer; this worksheet records where the documents disagree or a condition has no design.
Trace one wall from structure to clip
Pick the tallest wall on the key plan. Find the framing section that covers it and write down the supports it was designed between: the slab, any intermediate beam and the top of steel. Then open the contract framing elevation for the same wall and read the elevations along its length; where a beam slopes or steps, the longest stud is at the high end, not necessarily where the section was cut. Compare the span in the stud report with the span at that high end, the pressure in the report with the wall and parapet pressures in the general notes, and the clip at each support with the contract support detail. Finally, check the header and jambs at any opening in that wall against the opening size and the load it carries.
The cold-formed metal framing shop drawing review shows what this tracing surfaces: parapet studs designed for the wall pressure rather than the parapet pressure the notes list, a tall wall designed only for its lowest beam, fixed clips where the contract details call for slide clips, and a door jamb drawn lighter than its calculation.
Following one wall all the way through tests every link at once: the contract criteria, the calculation’s assumptions, the section that will be built, and the structure it hangs from.
Check parapets, openings and movement
Three conditions raise many of the questions on exterior framing packages. Parapets can carry a different pressure from the wall below, which the contract may list separately, and sometimes have their own studs above the top beam, so each piece needs its own design. Openings concentrate load into jambs and headers, so read the opening size from the architectural drawings and the door, glazing or louver load from its supplier before accepting the header load. And where studs hang from or bear against a steel frame, the frame deflects: the contract details say where a slide clip lets the stud move, and a fixed clip at both ends puts the frame’s movement into the stud.
Ask also what the calculations assume about bracing and fasteners. A stud report that assumes bridging rows farther apart than the notes allow, an anchor checked in stronger concrete than the notes give, or a powder-actuated fastener rated for thicker steel than the detail permits each changes a capacity without changing a drawing. The UFGS guide’s installation article says not to splice studs; where your project’s notes do permit splices, the calculations and the framing sections should show them in the same place.
Close the loop
A response that says “revised” is the start of verification, not the end. Open the revised section and stud report, confirm the changed elevation, pressure or clip, then follow it into every section marked similar and every connection calculation that used the old reaction. Where the engineer of record supplies a missing criterion, such as a parapet pressure or a door weight, check every calculation that assumed a value for it.
Where the answer is a judgment rather than a correction, record the decision and who made it. The guide to prioritising findings covers how to sort what you have found once the list gets long.
Review framing packages with Groundbook
Groundbook compares supplied drawings, schedules, specifications, calculations, and uploaded reference documents, such as the structural drawings and framing specification your team holds, and returns potential findings with links to the source pages. Give the review the framing shop drawings, the calculation packages and the contract set, and state the checks you want in the review instructions. A reviewer can use the source links to investigate each question, then record the professional decision.
It does not certify structural calculations, design framing or connections, or approve a submittal. Every finding is a question for the engineer of record and the delegated engineer.