200 ft clear span
Two hundred feet is custom engineering. The frame is spliced for shipping, erected with heavy equipment against a planned sequence, and costs around a fifth more than the same width with a column line down it. Nobody buys this by accident.
Priced as a 200 × 300 ft building at a 32 ft eave, 25 ft bays, 20 psf ground snow on the ASCE 7-16 basis, 115 mph wind, no crane — a case that matches what actually gets built at this width. Change any of it in the calculator.
Framing steel
11.55 – 16.42 lb/sf
Primary and secondary, 347 – 492 tons total
Building package
$26.85 – $35.80/sf
$1.61M – $2.15M over 60,000 sf
Installed
$41.62 – $68.02/sf
$2.50M – $4.08M, before interior buildout
Modular would save
22%
About $414K on the package
Outside the usual range. This width prices outside the $14–22/sf band commonly quoted for metal building packages. That band describes ordinary spans; a 200 ft clear span legitimately leaves it, and clamping the figure to look tidy would make it useless exactly where it is most needed. How these figures were derived.
At this span: Custom engineering, shipping splices, and heavier erection equipment. Modular usually wins on cost alone.
The short answer
You should be able to name the thing that makes the column impossible — a hangar door, a crane runway, a process floor. If you cannot, modular saves you 22% and you should take it.
Planning-stage estimate calibrated to published industry ranges. Not a substitute for a stamped design by a licensed engineer.
Geometry that follows from the width alone, at this page's 32 ft eave. These are planning rules, stated so they can be argued with — the derivations are on the methodology page.
| Dimension | At 200 ft | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Frame depth at the haunch | 96–120 in | Span/25 to span/20. The deepest point of the frame, at the knee, where the moment peaks. |
| Clear height at the sidewall | 22–24 ft | Eave height minus the haunch. The height you can actually use in the first bay in from the wall; clearance rises toward the ridge. |
| Rafter half length | 100 ft | Haunch to ridge. What has to get on a truck. |
| Shipping pieces per half | 3 | Past ordinary haul length, so the half arrives in bolted segments and each splice is a connection to make up in the field. |
| Deflection allowance, L/240 | 10 in | Allowable midspan movement with a non-plaster ceiling, per IBC Table 1604.3. The weight model behind this page checks none of it. |
| Engineering | Custom | Past the 150 ft ceiling for a standard frame. Project-specific engineering, fewer bidders, longer lead time. |
The modular saving at 200 ft is 22% of the building package, which on the 60,000 sf building priced here is roughly $414K. That is a real number, and it is the number to set next to whatever the column would have interfered with.
Often the comparison is easy. A wingtip does not negotiate, a bridge crane cannot pass a column, and a process line laid out on a grid does not have a spare 40 ft to route around one. But the comparison should be made out loud at this width rather than assumed, because 22% pays for a lot of layout compromise.
The haunch is 96–120 in deep — a member as tall as a person at the knee. Under a 32 ft eave that leaves 22–24 ft of clear height at the sidewall, so the usable envelope near the walls is far lower than the elevation suggests and the first bay in from each wall is effectively a lower building.
There is also a limit here the weight model on this site does not model at all. At 200 ft an L/240 deflection limit allows 10 in of vertical movement at midspan, and L/180 allows 13.3 in. On spans this long serviceability frequently governs over strength, and steel goes in to hold a deflection limit no strength calculation asks for. The figures on this page come from a model that checks neither, so treat them as a floor rather than a centre.
Each rafter half is 100 ft, which breaks into about 3 shipping pieces, so the frame arrives as a kit of spliced segments with a bolted connection at every joint. Those splices are detailed, fabricated, bolted up and inspected — each one is work.
Erection is a planned operation rather than a sequence of picks: segments assembled on the ground where possible, temporary shoring towers holding midspan while splices are made up, tandem lifts, and a bracing sequence that keeps the frame stable in its temporary condition as well as its final one. The temporary case sometimes governs a member. Ask the erector to walk you through the sequence before you take the low bid.
The uses whose typical width covers 200 ft, and what drives the geometry in each. A use that does not appear here is not impossible at this width — it is just not where it usually lands.
| Use | Typical width | Typical eave | What sets the geometry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aircraft Hangar | 100–300 ft | 24–60 ft | Door opening and tail height, not floor area. The clear span is set by the widest aircraft plus wingtip clearance. Usually clear span. |
| Warehouse / Distribution | 100–400 ft | 28–40 ft | Rack grid and dock count. A column is free if it lands on a rack line, so modular almost always wins. Usually modular. |
A modular frame at this width comes in around 22% lower on the building package — roughly $414K on the 60,000 sf building priced above. At that level clear span has stopped being an economic option and become a purchase: you should be able to name what the column-free floor is for.
The frame selector's own recommendation for this case, with interior columns permitted, is a Modular frame with tapered columns. Web-tapered members follow the moment diagram and are the lightest way to carry this span.
Next step
A dealer quoting your actual geometry and load case beats any estimator, including this one. Three of them, each carrying engineer-stamped drawings for your state, cost you nothing to ask.