YourWashingtonPartner
You won work in Washington and your crew cannot legally perform it here. We field the one that can. Certified welders, a foreman and supervision, working your drawings on your schedule, so nobody gets on a plane and nothing waits on a welding test.
CSI Division 05 metals. For out-of-state contractors, engineers and manufacturers holding contract work in Washington.
A gusset plate connects members that do not meet, and transfers load between them. Your company and a Washington jobsite do not meet. We are the plate.
FIG. 1AlreadyInPlace
Working in Washington takes a specific set of credentials, accounts and filings, each with its own lead time. On a project we partner on, they are already standing and already current.
Registered contractor
Registered with Washington Labor and Industries under RCW 18.27, bonded and insured, with the registration number on every contract and on this page's advertising.
WABO certified welders
Washington building officials commonly require WABO certification for structural welding, and a qualification held in another state does not substitute. Ours are current.
Industrial insurance
Washington is a monopolistic state fund state, so workers compensation is bought from Labor and Industries rather than a private carrier. Hours worked on our scope are reported under our account.
Licensed and registered
Business licence, UBI, and business and occupation tax registration, which Washington levies on gross receipts rather than net income. All current, all ours to file.
Prevailing wage handled
Washington publishes rates by county and trade across 39 counties. On public work the Intents, certified payroll and Affidavits for our scope are filed by us.
WISHA safety program
Washington runs its own OSHA-approved state plan. Our written accident prevention program describes the work we actually perform, with the meeting and training records behind it.
None of it is on your critical path.
Every item above takes weeks to put in place from a standing start. On a partnered project it is already there, so the schedule question is your fabrication and our sequence, not paperwork.
ThreeScopes
Field welding and installation
Structural welding, erection and installation performed under our Washington registration by welders certified here.
Material procurement
Bought from Pacific Northwest mills and service centers instead of freighted across the country. Mill certs matched to heat numbers.
Drawings and detailing
Connection details coordinated to the engineer of record, anchor rod plans out early, and submittals that come back approved.
How ThePartnershipSplits
The contract and the customer
Your agreement, your client relationship, your drawings, your project manager. You run the job the way you run every other one, from wherever you run it.
The crew that can work here
Certified welders, a foreman and supervision on site, working to your drawings and your sequence, reporting to your project manager the way your own crew would.
Gets on a plane
No travel, no lodging, no per diem, and no crew sitting idle waiting on a welding test that takes weeks to schedule.
CommonQuestions
How does an out-of-state contractor perform work in Washington?
Most partner with a Washington contractor rather than mobilising their own crew. Washington requires contractor registration under RCW 18.27 for contracting work in the state, and building officials commonly require welders to hold WABO certification, which a qualification from another state does not satisfy. The out-of-state company keeps the contract and manages the project; a Washington partner fields the crew that performs the work.
Whose crew is on the jobsite?
Ours. Gusset Group supplies the certified welders, the foreman and the supervision, working to the client's drawings and sequence and reporting to the client's project manager. The client sends nobody to Washington.
Why can an out-of-state welder not just fly in?
WABO certification is held by individual welders and is commonly required by Washington building officials for structural welding. A welder qualified to AWS D1.1 in another state is not automatically accepted here. Testing has to be scheduled with an approved agency, so the lead time is weeks rather than days, on top of the travel, lodging and per diem of moving a crew across the country.
Whose Labor and Industries account covers the crew?
Ours, for the scope we perform. Washington is a monopolistic state fund state, so workers compensation is bought from the Department of Labor and Industries rather than a private carrier, and hours worked here are reported under an L&I account. The hours on our scope sit under ours.
Who files the prevailing wage paperwork on public work?
The contractor performing the work. On Washington public projects an Intent to Pay Prevailing Wage is filed before work starts, certified payroll is filed on schedule, and an Affidavit of Wages Paid is filed and approved before retainage releases. On a partnered project those filings sit with us for the scope we perform.
What does the client still handle?
Everything they normally would except the labour on site. Their contract, their client relationship, their drawings, their project management and their schedule. Gusset Group executes the field work in Washington and reports into that.
Can you buy the material too?
Yes. Material can be bought from Pacific Northwest service centers and mills either on the client's own accounts or on ours and passed through at cost. Buying in region is normally cheaper on delivered cost than freighting material across the country, and it shortens reaction time when the sequence changes.
Do you detail as well?
Yes, and the two are often taken together. Detailing produces the shop and erection drawings and coordinates to the engineer of record. Connection design requiring a professional stamp is performed by a structural engineer licensed in Washington; Gusset Group details to that design rather than substituting for it.
How it runs.
- Send the drawings and the schedule and tell us what the job needs and when.
- We scope and quote the field work as a fixed number, crew and compliance included.
- Our crew performs it and hands back a closed-out inspection and documentation file.
Who this is for.
- Out-of-state contractors holding Washington work whose own crews cannot legally perform it here.
- Structural engineers and design-build firms carrying a Division 05 scope they need executed in this state.
- Contractors whose welders will not be WABO certified in time for the start date, because testing runs on weeks.
- Anyone weighing one Washington project against the cost of registering, certifying welders and opening state accounts for it.
- Anyone about to fly a crew in and pay travel, lodging and per diem for the duration of the job.
Tell us about the Washington project.
Where the job is, when you need to start, and what your company already has in place here.