Steel Erection and Structural Steel Crane Service
Steel erection needs a crane that shows up on time and a crew that knows how the frame goes together. General Crane sends both. We have supported steel erectors and general contractors across Connecticut and Massachusetts since 1972, with a record of 53 years incident-free.
Call (860) 528-8252 with your steel package and the site address, and we will price the crane time your frame needs.
What These Crane Jobs Look Like
Most of our steel work falls into a few types of pick:
- Column sets, where the crane supports the piece while your crew bolts up.
- Beam and girder placement across a bay.
- Joist and deck bundles staged to the floor level your crew is working.
- Multi-story frame work, floor by floor, as the building goes up.
- Miscellaneous steel, including stair towers and rooftop dunnage.
Your erection crew sets the pace. We plan the day around your bolt-up sequence so the machine is where it needs to be when the next piece comes off the truck.
Winter changes the math in this market. Cold and wind push Connecticut frames into the spring, which makes May through October the tightest stretch for crane availability. Book early if your steel lands in that window.
Structural Steel Lifting on Commercial Sites
Around Hartford, most structural steel lifting happens on buildings that already exist. Insurance campus additions, hospital expansions, and plant mezzanines bring steel onto sites that are open for business.
Those jobs put the crane in a hard spot. Setup room is short, overhead wires are close, and the swing path crosses places you cannot close off.
We plan the placement before the date. That covers the swing path, the outrigger footprint, ground protection, and where your delivery trucks stage. If the geometry does not work from the position your site plan shows, we tell you while there is time to change it.
Working With Your Steel Erector
The lift plan works best when it comes together with your erector’s foreman, not after. We ask for the piece weights, the erection sequence, and the crane position you have in mind.
From that we confirm whether the pick works from one setup or needs the crane to move. Radius drives capacity on every crane, so a piece that lifts fine at 40 feet may not lift at 70. Sorting that out in advance is what protects your schedule.
For multi-day frames, we assign the same crew where we can. Your foreman then works with people who already know the sequence.
Who We Work With
Most of our steel work comes through three kinds of customer. Steel erectors book us for the frame itself. General contractors book us when the steel package is small enough that no separate erector is on the job.
Miscellaneous metals fabricators are the third. Stair towers and canopy frames arrive late in a build, often after the site has tightened up around them.
We also work alongside the mechanical trades on the same buildings. If your project puts steel and rooftop equipment in the same window, our mechanical contractor crane service crew can cover both on one mobilization.
Safety and Certification
Our crane operators are NCCCO certified. Every crane passes a HESCO third-party inspection each year, and we can send the current certificate when your safety rep asks.
We have workers compensation and general liability coverage. Your general contractor can go on our certificate as additional insured, usually the same day you ask. The full detail is on our 53 years incident-free safety page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you provide lift plans for steel erection? We plan every lift before the date, and we can put the plan in writing when your GC or safety rep asks for one.
How much notice do you need for a multi-day steel job? Two weeks is comfortable through the busy season from May to October. Call earlier for large frames so we can block the dates.
Can you coordinate with our steel erector’s foreman? Yes. Send us the piece weights and the erection sequence, and we will work the crane plan around them.
Do you handle steel erection on tight urban sites? Yes. Downtown Hartford and New Britain work is regular for us, including sites with overhead wires and short setbacks.
Get a Quote for Your Steel Erection Job
Send us the heaviest piece, the reach, and the site address, and we will get you a firm number. Call (860) 528-8252 or request a quote online.
