Not every piece of a building gets photographed, but every piece has to perform. GOPELIA Metalworks fabricates the structural and miscellaneous metals that hold South Florida projects together — from embed plates cast into concrete to custom brackets engineered for specific load conditions — with the certifications and documentation that Miami-Dade requires.
Embed plates are placed before the concrete pour and become a permanent part of the structure — which means there's no room for dimensional errors or weld deficiencies that get buried in the slab. We fabricate embed plates in A36 and A572 carbon steel with headed studs, deformed bar anchors, or hooked rebar attachments configured to the engineer's drawings. Every plate is reviewed against the structural drawings before fabrication, checked dimensionally before delivery, and accompanied by material certifications. We coordinate delivery schedules with the GC's pour dates to ensure plates are on site when they need to be — not a week later.
Where standard catalog hardware doesn't fit the geometry or load requirements of a specific connection, custom-fabricated brackets fill the gap. We produce custom gusset plates, angle brackets, moment connections, and weld-on tabs in mild steel, high-strength steel, and stainless steel, working from engineer-sealed connection drawings. These pieces are often small in isolation but critical to the structural system — a mis-sized bracket that causes a connection to fail is not a problem you want to discover during an inspection. Our shop processes every custom bracket against the approved drawing, with weld size and placement matching what the engineer calculated.
Wind screens on balconies, rooftop mechanical areas, and pool decks serve a genuine functional purpose in Miami-Dade's coastal wind environment — they redirect airflow and reduce the discomfort and danger of strong gusts in exposed locations. We fabricate wind screen frames in steel or aluminum with glass, polycarbonate, or perforated metal infill, engineered to resist wind pressures appropriate for the building's height and exposure classification. Structural connections are designed to transfer wind loads into the building's slab or parapet without relying on the infill material for primary resistance.
The miscellaneous metals scope on a commercial construction project covers everything that doesn't fit neatly into another trade's specification: floor plates, access hatches, roof curbs, equipment supports, pipe sleeves, column covers, and dozens of other custom pieces. We handle miscellaneous metals packages for GCs throughout Miami-Dade and Broward, reviewing the project specifications and drawings to identify what falls in scope, pricing each item individually, and fabricating to a schedule that works with the overall construction sequence. Having a single responsible fabricator for the misc metals scope simplifies coordination and accountability significantly.
For projects requiring larger structural steel assemblies — transfer beams, stair support structures, canopy frames, or equipment platforms — we fabricate from W-shape, HSS tube, channel, and plate steel to engineer-sealed drawings. Assemblies are fit up in the shop to verify geometry before delivery, reducing field correction issues. Prime paint, galvanizing, or intumescent fireproofing coordination is included in scope as specified. We work regularly with structural engineers in the Miami market and maintain the documentation trail that Miami-Dade building departments and special inspectors expect.
Structural steel welding requires more than skill — it requires documented qualification. All welders performing structural welds in our Hialeah facility hold current AWS certification for the applicable process and base metal. Welder qualification records (WQRs) are maintained on file and available for submittal to building departments, owners, or third-party quality programs. For projects requiring special inspection of structural welds per the Florida Building Code, we coordinate with the project's special inspector to schedule in-shop witness inspections, so the inspection process doesn't become a schedule bottleneck.
Miami-Dade County's building department has thorough requirements for structural steel submittals, and the HVHZ adds layers of documentation that projects in other Florida counties don't face. We've navigated these requirements enough times to know what inspectors look for: material certifications with heat numbers traceable to the certified material test report, weld procedure specifications (WPS) and procedure qualification records (PQR) for each welding process used, and shop drawings stamped by the engineer of record. We assemble and manage this documentation as part of our standard process — not as an afterthought when the inspector flags a missing document.
We fabricate embed plates, custom structural brackets, wind screens, miscellaneous metals, and structural steel assemblies for construction projects throughout Miami-Dade and South Florida. Our shop handles both one-off custom pieces and repetitive structural components for multi-story projects.
Yes. All structural welding performed in our Hialeah shop is carried out by AWS-certified welders. Welder qualification records are maintained and available for submittal to building departments or owner quality assurance programs. For projects requiring special inspection of structural welds, we coordinate with the project's special inspector to schedule in-shop inspections during fabrication.
Yes. Embed plate fabrication is a core part of our structural metals scope. We produce embed plates in A36 and A572 steel with headed studs, deformed bar anchors, or welded rebar tails configured to the project's structural drawings. Plates are fabricated to the dimensions and tolerances specified by the engineer of record and delivered on a schedule coordinated with the concrete pour sequence.
Yes. We prepare and coordinate the documentation required for structural steel approvals in Miami-Dade County, including material certifications, welder qualification records, and shop drawing submittals. For products requiring Miami-Dade County Notice of Acceptance (NOA) or HVHZ engineering, we work with the project's engineer of record to ensure all documentation is in order before submittal.
Have a structural steel or miscellaneous metals scope in Miami-Dade or Broward? Send us the drawings and we'll turn around a detailed, itemized quote — the kind of number you can actually put in a budget.
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