Confirm what the contract delegates and which loads it gives, then trace each connection from its location on the mapping plan to its calculation, the source of its design load, and the shop drawing detail. Record a missing load, a mismatch, or an unmapped location with both references. Whether a connection is adequate is decided by the delegated engineer and the engineer of record.
Assemble the calculation package
Gather every calculation package (often a main package plus separate ones for trusses, splices, or braced frames), the connection mapping or marking plans that assign a calculation to each location, the shop drawings for the same areas, and the contract structural drawings with their general notes and latest addendum. Add the steel specification section, the edition of the steel design specification the contract names, and any RFI responses the calculations cite.
Confirm what the contract delegates before reading a calculation. In the UFGS guide specification for structural steel, UFGS 05 12 00 (Active, August 2018 with Change 2 of May 2021, read on WBDG on November 8, 2026), the optional Delegated Connection Design paragraph has the contractor design the connections indicated under ANSI/AISC 303 Option 3, using the connection loads indicated, and submit calculations signed and sealed by a registered professional engineer. Its designer note asks for the connection loads on the drawings and a statement of whether they are LRFD, ASD, or combined. A project specification may word this differently, so read the one in your contract.
The delegated design guide covers the contract handoffs, and the steel design standard is covered in the AISC 360 guide. The engineer of record’s own design calculations are compared with the design drawings in the structural calculations vs. drawings checklist.
Twelve calculation checks
Use one worksheet row per connection type or location group rather than per page. Where a typical calculation covers a group, note the members you sampled 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 | Calculation cover and transmittal, contract drawings, addenda | Which contract issue and addendum were the calculations prepared from, and is it the current one? |
| Seal and responsibility | Every calculation package, general notes, steel specification section | Is each package signed, sealed and dated by the delegated engineer the contract requires, including separate packages such as truss splices? |
| Design standard and load basis | Calculation headers, general notes, steel specification section | Do the calculations use the steel specification edition and the ASD or LRFD basis the contract documents state? |
| Location coverage | Connection mapping plans, erection plans, calculation index | Does every delegated connection location point to one calculation, and does every calculation map to a real location? |
| Load source | Calculation inputs, beam reaction schedules, general notes, frame and truss diagrams | Can each design load be traced to a scheduled reaction, a rule in the general notes or a force shown on the drawings? |
| Demands the drawings omit | Calculation notes, brace and truss elevations, moment connection details | Where the drawings give no axial force, moment or collector force, is the gap raised with the engineer of record rather than assumed? |
| Typical tables | Typical connection tables, the calculated row, member schedules | Is the calculated row the governing case for every member size, load and geometry the table covers? |
| Span-dependent load rules | General notes load rule, typical tables, framing plans | Where the notes base the end reaction on the beam's uniform load, do shorter spans than the tabulated one still meet it? |
| Geometry against shop drawings | Calculation sketches, shop drawing connection details, piece drawings | Do plate thicknesses, bolt counts, gages, edge distances and weld sizes match the connection as detailed? |
| Supporting member | Calculation inputs, column schedule, framing plans, shop column drawings | Does each calculation check the actual support: wide flange or tube, flange or web, member end or away from it? |
| Limit states | Calculation pages, cited sections of the steel specification | Is every limit state that applies to the connection and the supporting member addressed with the provision for that condition? |
| Comment closure | Earlier shop drawing comments, revised calculations, cited RFI responses | Does each earlier comment have a response, and is every RFI response the calculations rely on included in the package? |
Record “needs clarification” when a load or reference is missing, and reserve “resolved” for a decision supported by documents you have read. Recomputing a capacity is engineering work for the responsible engineer; this worksheet records where the documents disagree or leave a demand undefined.
Trace one connection from load to weld
Pick a beam in a braced bay. Find its end on the connection mapping plan and note the calculation it points to. Open that calculation and write down the load it was designed for, then find where that load comes from on the contract drawings: a scheduled reaction, the general notes’ rule for beams without one, or a brace, truss, or collector force on an elevation. Then open the shop drawing for the same end and compare the plate, bolts, gage, edge distance, and welds with the calculation sketch. Finally, confirm the calculation describes the actual supporting member: the right column shape, the flange or the web, at the member end or away from it.
The delegated steel connection calculation review shows what this tracing surfaces: brace gussets welded to beams whose end connections were designed for shear alone, gussets detailed thinner than calculated, and braces at a tube post mapped to a calculation for a wide-flange column.
Following one load all the way through tests every link at once: the contract’s demand, the calculation’s assumption, the mapping, and the detail that will be fabricated.
Check typical tables for their worst case
Delegated packages often cover hundreds of connections with typical tables: one row per member size, each with a capacity. Usually one row is calculated in full and the rest are tabulated. Ask which row was calculated and whether it governs. A deeper beam with more bolts is not automatically the worst case for every limit state, and a different column, gage, or plate thickness can change the result.
Where the general notes set the design reaction as a share of the beam’s maximum uniform load, that load generally rises as the span shortens. A table that gives one capacity per size, checked at a long span, can fall short for the same size on a short span. List the short spans and send the question to the delegated engineer rather than assuming the table covers them.
Close the loop
A response that says “revised” is the start of verification, not the end. Open the revised calculation, confirm the changed load or geometry, then follow it into the mapping plan and the shop drawing that must match. Where the engineer of record supplies a force that was missing, check every calculation that assumed a value for it, not only the one that raised the question.
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 calculation packages with Groundbook
Groundbook compares supplied drawings, schedules, specifications, calculations, and uploaded reference documents, such as the steel specification your team holds, and returns potential findings with links to the source pages. Give the review the calculation packages, the shop drawings, 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 connections, or approve a submittal. Every finding is a question for the engineer of record and the delegated engineer.