You need a roof-truss quote based on the right plans and a delivery arranged for your job. Gather the current plans, the building designer’s requirements, and the review contacts. Ask the manufacturer what the package includes and how to release it for fabrication.
A metal-plate-connected wood roof truss is an engineered assembly of lumber joined by metal plates to support a roof. The worksheet below organizes your inquiry. It does not provide member sizing, load calculations, or erection instructions. SBCA roof trusses.
Use the truss guides for component questions
Use what a roof truss is for the component overview and parts of a roof truss for the named members. SBCA’s terminology distinguishes the documents and design roles used in the inquiry.
Keep this ordering record focused on the current plan set, included components, quote assumptions, and release authority. Ask the manufacturer and building designer to resolve an unclear term before filling that field.
Identify the design and review contacts
SBCA distinguishes the building designer’s responsibility for the building structural system from the truss designer’s responsibility for individual trusses. Its technical article stresses coordination between those roles and the manufacturer. Use that distinction to identify your project’s responsible people. SBCA design coordination.
Name who supplies design criteria, who checks the component submittal against the building, and who authorizes fabrication. Record each contact. One “approved” checkbox does not answer all three questions.
Name the purchasing and site contacts. Ask who handles revisions after you send the inquiry. Decide whom to ask before a deadline puts pressure on you to guess.
Send the same current plans to each manufacturer
List the documents you will send in an index. Include the project name, location, drawing titles, revisions, and dates. Ask the building designer which criteria and details the manufacturer needs.
Keep revisions separate from the original set. Record when a changed roof plan arrives and who issued it. Ask the responsible designer which sheets it replaces.
Send each manufacturer the same controlling documents when comparing quotes. Record answers that change the scope. Ask whether the documents need revision before pricing that change.
Put the project reference and document-set date in the inquiry’s subject line. Include an index of the package. A file called “final plans” does not identify its contents.
Define the components you want priced
Ask for separate lists of included components and exclusions. Distinguish roof trusses from floor trusses and other products. Confirm which additional items belong in the roof package.
Stark Truss’s design checklist separates roof and floor trusses, engineered wood products, wall panels, beams, and other items. It also asks for job location and the required date. That form illustrates one manufacturer’s intake process. Stark design checklist.
Ask whether your quote includes the specified hardware, blocking, and related items. Have the responsible designer resolve technical questions about what is included and how components meet. Do not fill gaps by copying another manufacturer’s package.
Send an inquiry cover sheet
Send this cover sheet with the documents. Use the responsible designer’s requirements instead of estimating them yourself.
Scroll to read all columns.
| Field | Information to provide or request |
|---|---|
| Project | Name, location, and purchasing reference |
| Documents | Drawing index, revisions, and issue dates |
| Design contacts | Building designer and question-routing contact |
| Criteria | Where the designer’s requirements appear in the issued set |
| Components | Requested products and associated scope |
| Exclusions | Items the manufacturer does not include |
| Submittals | Drawings, calculations, and review sequence to confirm |
| Timing | Requested quote response and delivery window |
| Release | Person authorized to release fabrication |
| Changes | Channel for revised plans and revised pricing |
Ask what else the manufacturer needs to quote the package. Resolve missing information. Keep your requested delivery date separate from the manufacturer’s confirmed date.
Compare quotes on the same basis
Check plan references and included products before comparing totals. List differing assumptions side by side.
Ask about items included in one quote and excluded from another. Record the answer and revised quote. Resolve the differences before presenting the comparison to the buyer.
Check quote validity, revision pricing, review, and release terms. Have the authorized business contact review commercial terms. Leave technical acceptance with the responsible design professionals.
Take proposed component removals or design changes to the designer and manufacturer, even if they lower the price. Compare the approved scope after they resolve the questions.
Resolve review and bracing coordination before release
SBCA’s technical article identifies construction-document coordination, interfaces, submittals, restraint, and bracing as issues requiring defined responsibility. Ask your project team where each issue is addressed. Keep the answers in the project records.
SBCA’s BCSI guide addresses handling, installation, restraint, and bracing. Confirm which documents apply to this package before release. SBCA design coordination.
Record the current document set, review status, open questions, and person authorized to release fabrication. Ask the team what must be resolved before fabrication. Follow the project’s review process to confirm the answers.
If plans change during review, pause release until the responsible parties address the change. Ask whether it affects pricing, production, or delivery. Confirm whether the earlier package is still current.
Confirm delivery, unloading, and receiving
Confirm access, unloading, placement, storage, and the receiving contact with the manufacturer and site team. Name who supplies any required lifting service. Leave handling and erection planning to the qualified firms responsible.
Review delivery instructions with the site contact before delivery. Agree on how to report changes in access or site readiness. Keep the confirmed arrangement separate from your original request.
Ask the truss supplier which SBCA jobsite package accompanies the order. Use the framer and truss supplier handoff to transfer reviewed documents and field-readiness questions to the installation lead.
At receipt, use the manufacturer’s receiving process. If someone reports damage, a missing item, or a fit concern, document the identifiers and contact the manufacturer. Keep the responsible design professional involved in technical questions. Do not use this guide as a repair or modification procedure.
Keep a usable order record
Keep the inquiry, document index, answers, accepted scope, review correspondence, release record, and delivery confirmation together in your project system. Make the current revision easy to find.
Before closing the purchasing handoff, check these items:
- The accepted package identifies the controlling documents.
- Open technical questions have responsible contacts.
- Component inclusions and exclusions are recorded.
- The review and release sequence is documented.
- Delivery and receiving responsibilities are confirmed.
- Later changes have a clear reporting path.
Use the record to answer questions without relying on memory. Take unresolved design, handling, or fit questions to the manufacturer and responsible professionals.
Before handing off the order, ask someone outside the purchasing conversation to find the accepted scope and current plan revision. Fix the index if they struggle. Remove superseded documents from the active package and retain them in the history.
Confirm that the receiving contact knows whom to call about a component. If purchasing and site contacts differ, make clear who can release fabrication.
Where Cercha fits
Cercha’s supplier profiles, brands, Gallery, and direct Messages support learning about a building supplier and beginning contact. See the feature overview for those app functions. Cercha starts in the Research Triangle (Raleigh-Durham); outside-market signups join the waitlist. Take the truss inquiry, design review, order, and delivery arrangements through the responsible supplier and project team.