RicodJour wrote:
On Oct 14, 9:46 am, PeterD wrote:
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:27:15 +0000 (UTC),

wrote:

Back in 1987 I saw the first steel-stud construction in an office I
was working in. The put up the studs and the sheet rock in two days
flat. But then they took three months doing the electrical and HVAC
ducting. Why? What can be done to change this? Is there a way that
the placement of the ducts can be so standardised that this can also
be "plug and play"? I believe that because of Katrina, they can now
prefab the entire wall's studs by CAD/CAM, but what about the ducting?
I admit that was a 1950s building, so the retrofit may have been the
bottleneck.
I suspect there is more to the story than you are saying (factors you
were unaware of...)

Generally steel stud walls are done much like wood studs, put in
studs, wire/duct/utilities, then sheet-rock. Should take about the
same time as with wood.

Steel studs are far faster than wood for framing out partitioning,
soffits and the like. Probably about 2/3's quicker.

As far as the OP's observation, a sample of one is not sufficient.
Depending on where and when, the lead time for any particular custom
fabricated item, such as ductwork, could take anywhere from a week to
three months. When I worked in commercial construction way back when,
the tin knockers had one of the biggest backlogs of work and the
delays in getting the duct installed was substantial.

R

One of many reasons those damn ugly drop ceilings became the industry
standard, never mind the sculptured plaster ceiling you were hiding up
above on old work. You can run the ducts with cheap off-the-shelf parts
in the now-dead space above the finish ceiling.

--
aem, who who rather look at exposed duct runs hanging in space than a
drop ceiling, sends....