Example work
Frames, parts, racks, panels, guards, covers, and shop-built pieces.
Real fabrication needs real equipment, real quoting, and real production support, not a napkin sketch pretending to be a plan.
CUSTOM FABRICATION
Get the fabrication request ready for a real shop.
I am the custom fabrication manager at Empire Metal Products in Phoenix, and I have been working with the company for nearly 20 years. If your project needs professional fabrication, I can help route it into the Empire process with the scope, photos, dimensions, material expectations, finish notes, and practical questions the shop needs.
Handled by Empire
Quote-ready scope
Material + finish
Shop routing
Example work
Frames, parts, racks, panels, guards, covers, and shop-built pieces.
Real fabrication needs real equipment, real quoting, and real production support, not a napkin sketch pretending to be a plan.
Good fit
Bring the project here when fit, finish, and support matter.
- Custom parts: brackets, frames, guards, racks, panels, covers, adapters, and specialty pieces.
- Commercial work: shop-built metalwork that needs quoting, scheduling, materials, finish, repeatability, and production support.
- Problem pieces: the part has to fit right, mount correctly, survive real use, or match an existing condition.
- Fabrication-adjacent planning: the idea is close, but the shop still needs photos, measurements, use case, material, finish, quantity, and install assumptions.
Important boundary
This is not a side-job service.
Fabrication work is handled by Empire Metal Products, not as a garage project through Follincraft. That protects the job and keeps it inside the right process: scope, measurements, quote, materials, production, finish, and follow-up.
If the project is better handled by another trade, installer, engineer, or specialist, I would rather say that early than pretend every metal problem belongs in one bucket.
Fabrication lanes
Start by naming what kind of shop problem this is.
Measure the opening, machine, roof, wall, curb, rack, or mounting points so the new part fits what is actually there.
Quantity, material, finish, packaging, lead time, and consistency matter more than making one quick prototype.
Turn photos, sketches, dimensions, and constraints into a request the shop can evaluate without guessing.
Start with this
The goal is to make the project quote-ready.
Good fabrication work depends on clear fit, use, material, finish, and schedule expectations. The more we can define before quoting, the less likely the job turns into guesswork after it reaches the shop.
Helpful things to send
- Photos from multiple angles, including where the part needs to fit
- Rough dimensions, mounting points, and known constraints
- Material, finish, color, exposure, or durability expectations
- Quantity, deadline, budget reality, and how the finished piece will be used
- Whether install, engineering, field measuring, or another trade may be involved
How I think about it
Fabrication gets expensive when the fuzzy parts stay fuzzy.
Most custom metal projects do not fail because somebody forgot how to weld. They fail because the fit was vague, the measurements were guessed, the finish was assumed, or nobody asked how the part would actually be installed and used.
My job here is to help get the project into the right professional lane at Empire Metal Products. That means asking the practical questions early, turning the rough idea into something quote-ready, and making sure the shop has enough information to treat it like real work.
What you get
A cleaner path into the shop process.
The real value is not pretending every metal idea is ready to build. It is getting the useful information together so the quote and production path have a chance to be right.
Scope
Quote-ready project description
Use, fit, dimensions, material expectations, finish, quantity, and timeline get turned into a clearer request.
Packet
Photos, sketches, and constraint notes
The shop sees what the part connects to, what it has to clear, and what would make the job fail in use.
Routing
Empire shop process
Professional fabrication work goes through Empire with the equipment, quoting process, scheduling, and support behind it.
Reality
Constraint and trade check
Mounting, install, engineering, site conditions, and adjacent trades are called out before they become production problems.
Good examples
When custom fabrication is the right lane.
Brackets, guards, panels, covers, racks, and frames often need real measurements and shop thinking.
If the job needs material ordering, scheduling, finish, repeatability, or accountability, it belongs in a real shop process.
Sometimes the useful first step is figuring out what information the shop needs before quoting.
Photos, rough dimensions, material preference, finish expectations, deadline, quantity, and what the part needs to do.
We identify the dimensions, drawings, field conditions, approvals, or trade questions needed before the quote can be meaningful.
The work goes through Empire Metal Products for quoting, scheduling, production, and shop support.
The right equipment, people, and process are behind the job instead of improvising around the hard parts.
Boundaries
What does not belong in this lane.
This is not emergency mobile welding, mechanic work, structural engineering, permit review, field installation by default, or a shortcut around Empire's quote and production process. Some projects need drawings, engineering, field verification, or an installer before fabrication can be quoted responsibly.
If the real need is still figuring out whether the idea makes sense, start with consulting. If the project already has enough detail for shop review, fabrication routing is the right next step.
ProjectCNC router table build
A scratch-built steel router table where rigidity, motion, alignment, and service access mattered.
ProjectVan rack fabricationA practical rack project where fit, mounting, roof sealing, and real use mattered more than decoration.
ProjectCustom mailboxSmall fabrication work still needs clean layout, finish choices, weather exposure thinking, and a clear plan.
RelatedEmpire websiteThe public-facing site for the fabrication shop where this work is handled.
Have a fabrication project?
Start with the rough version: photos, dimensions, material, finish, quantity, timeline, and what the finished part needs to accomplish.