If you're a GC buying out interior framing on a commercial job, the metal-stud package is where the money hides. We've seen two bids on the same drawings land $40,000 apart — and both subs were "right," because one carried backing, kickers, and shaft walls and the other didn't. After framing interiors across Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Montana, we can tell you the jobs that run smooth are the ones where the package got defined before contract, not discovered during the job.
What a complete metal-stud package should include
When we price interior steel, our base scope covers:
- Layout from your control lines, floor by floor
- Track and studs — top and bottom track, studs at 16" or 24" on center per the wall types
- Framed openings — jamb studs, headers, and sill track at doors, windows, and pass-throughs
- Hollow-metal frame setting, plumbed, squared, and anchored
- Deflection detail at the underside of structure so partitions don't pick up roof or floor load
- Soffits, bulkheads, and ceiling framing shown on the reflected ceiling plan
Everything past that — backing, kickers, shaft walls, sound batts — is where bids diverge. More on that below.
Gauges and sizes in plain terms
Most interior partitions are 3-5/8", 25-gauge (EQ) studs, and for typical office and corridor walls that's the right call. We step up to 20-gauge at tile walls, casework walls, and door openings, because thin studs oil-can and screws strip. Load-bearing or tall walls — lobbies, gyms, anything running 14 feet or more to structure — usually want structural 18- or 16-gauge, and sometimes an engineer's letter. Plumbing walls get 6" studs so the trades aren't fighting for space. If a wall type on the drawings looks too light for its height, we flag it at bid time rather than argue about it later.
Where steel earns its keep inside
On non-combustible construction types you don't have a choice — the interiors are steel. But even where wood is allowed, metal studs stay dead straight, don't shrink, and fly on repetitive layouts like corridors and demising walls. This time of year, with shells topping out and interior crews stacking up behind them, a steel package lets us run big crews fast without waiting on lumber to acclimate. For the structural side of that comparison, see our post on wood vs. steel framing for commercial projects.
The scope gaps that bite GCs
Ask every bidder, in writing, whether these are in the number:
- Backing and blocking — flat-strap or plate backing for casework, grab bars, TVs, handrails, and toilet accessories. This is the single most common gap we see.
- Kickers and bracing above the ceiling for walls that stop short of structure
- Shaft walls — CH-stud and liner-panel systems are a different animal from standard partitions and price like it
- Top-of-wall fire joints — we frame to the detail, but confirm who carries the firestopping itself
- Sound batts — sometimes in the framing package, sometimes with the drywaller
- HM frames — who receives them, who distributes them, who sets them
Rough numbers for planning
Every job is different, but for standard-height 25-gauge partitions, framing-only pricing commonly lands somewhere around $4 to $7 per square foot of wall area, with heavier gauges, tall walls, and shaft assemblies running well above that. Don't hold anyone to a blended number — get a unit-price schedule for adds and changes so the first RFI doesn't turn into a negotiation. For a fast planning number on your project, run it through our ballpark estimate calculator.
How to get bids you can actually compare
Send the full set — wall types, door schedule, reflected ceiling plan, and details, not just floor plans. Require bidders to line-item backing, kickers, and shaft walls, and to state their stud gauges by wall type. When the scope sheets match, the low number actually means something. Our page for GCs shows how we structure scope letters and unit-price schedules if you want to see it done.
Bidding out a metal-stud interior package this summer? Send us the plans and we'll return a scoped, line-itemed quote you can hold us to.