Light gauge steel trusses can be created using a wide variety of proprietary systems and a common assumption is that all the trusses created using these systems cost the same. This is rarely the case. In fact, trusses designed with less-efficient systems can cost up to twice the amount of trusses designed with more efficient systems.
Fundamentally, the cost of a truss is determined by the following variables:
steel cost (including the amount of steel and the unit cost of the steel)
cost of the connections used in the truss
labour costs to design, manufacture, assemble and install the trusses.
However, since truss systems use different truss profiles and connections (which may be screws, bolts, rivets, or sometimes even proprietary methods), it can be difficult to determine whether the trusses designed using your system are costing too much. Here are five things to check for to see if your truss system is costing you too much.