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Steel fixing is the trade of placing and tying steel reinforcement inside concrete before it is poured. Steel fixers work from the engineer's drawings and bar bending schedules, positioning bars to the specified spacing and laps, and setting cover with spacers and chairs. Once the concrete is poured the reinforcement cannot be corrected, so accuracy at this stage determines whether the finished structure performs as designed.

Steel fixing places reinforcement bar inside concrete on site, before the pour. Steel fabrication manufactures structural steelwork — beams, columns and frames — in a workshop, for erection later. They are separate trades, carried out by separate contractors, using different materials and different skills. The two are confused often enough that contractors sometimes approach the wrong supplier entirely.

A steel fixer reads reinforcement drawings and bar bending schedules, sets out and places reinforcement bar, ties it with wire to the specified pattern, and sets cover using spacers, chairs and stools. The work covers ground beams, pile caps, columns, walls, slabs and reinforced concrete frames. Steel fixers also flag scheduling errors and drawing clashes before concrete is poured.

Rebar is reinforcing bar — ribbed steel bar cast into concrete to carry tensile load. Concrete is strong in compression but weak in tension, so reinforcement is placed where the structure will be pulled rather than pushed. UK rebar is supplied to BS 4449 in grades B500B and B500C, in nominal diameters from 6mm to 50mm, marked on drawings with an H prefix.

A groundworker handles excavation, drainage, blinding, formwork and concrete placement. A steel fixer places the reinforcement that sits inside the concrete. On smaller jobs a groundworks contractor may carry their own fixers; on larger or more heavily reinforced work the steel fixing is usually subcontracted to a specialist. If your drawings show bar bending schedules, you need a steel fixer.

Steel fixers in the UK typically hold an NVQ Level 2 in Steel Fixing Occupations and a CSCS card, which requires passing the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test. Most main contractors will not allow uncarded operatives on site. Supervisory roles usually require SSSTS or SMSTS in addition.

Steel fixing is usually priced one of three ways: per tonne of reinforcement fixed, on day or week rates per fixer, or as a lump sum for a defined package. The rate moves with bar size mix — smaller bars mean far more hours per tonne — plus congestion, access, working height, programme pressure, and whether the reinforcement is supplied by the fixer or the contractor.

Reinforcement drawings, bar bending schedules if you have them, programme dates including any fixed pour dates, the site postcode with any access or craneage constraints, and whether you want labour supply or supply and fix. If you do not have schedules, we can schedule from the drawings as part of a supply-and-fix package. Drawings can go to info@barteksteelfixing.co.uk.

Send the drawings and bar bending schedules to info@barteksteelfixing.co.uk and we will come back with a price or a labour rate. A labour supply enquiry is quicker to price than a supply-and-fix package, where the steel has to be scheduled first.

Mobilisation notice depends on gang size and how far the site is from Greater Manchester. Call the number on this page with your dates and we will tell you what we can hold.

Gang size is matched to the pour cycle rather than fixed to a headcount, so the number on site is set by how much steel has to be fixed between pours. Send us the programme and the tonnage and we will say what we can put on it.