Featured image: Bryan White, co-president of Ardent Industries and incoming chair of the CISC Board, with Meredith Perez, administrator of the SFIA Standards Committee, at CISC Steel Construction Leadership Summit 2025.
Meredith Perez, administrator of the Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA) Standards Committee, delivered 2 key presentations last week during the 2025 Steel Construction Leadership Summit, hosted by the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, May 25-27, at the Pearle Hotel & Spa in Burlington, Ontario.
Her message: The SFIA is committed to ensuring that cold-formed steel (CFS) framing standards remain relevant, accurate and North American in scope — and the Canadian Sheet Steel Building Institute, or CSSBI, has an important role to play in that effort.
CSSBI Technical Committee meeting at the 2025 CISC Steel Construction Leadership Summit.
Perez’s presentation, delivered to the CSSBI Lightweight Steel Framing Committee during the summit and again on May 27 to the CSSBI Technical Committee, focused on the current process the SFIA uses to manage and develop CFS standards. She outlined the role of the SFIA Standards Committee and encouraged participation from CSSBI members to maintain the integrity and applicability of standards in both the U.S. and Canada.
“Our goal is to ensure that CFS standards—S220, S240, S250 and S400—remain North American standards, not just U.S.-based,” Perez told members of the CSSBI Lightweight Steel Framing Committee. “To do that, we need strong Canadian participation in our task groups, canvass groups and public comment processes.”
SFIA Standards Development Process
Perez explained how SFIA, an accredited ANSI Standards Development Organization, now administers several CFS framing standards previously overseen by the American Iron and Steel Institute, and how these standards feed into model building codes across North America, including the International Building Code in the U.S. and the National Building Code of Canada.
She walked through the SFIA’s standards development process, which follows ANSI procedures and includes balanced representation from producers, users and general interest members. Standards are developed by task groups appointed by the SFIA Standards Committee. The standards are then balloted using the Canvass Method of industry participation.
The Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA) manages 6 design standards and 12 test standards.
SFIA standards development includes task groups, canvass groups and public reviews.
SFIA Standards Committee
- Pat Ford, P.E., S.E., committee chair and SFIA technical director;
- Roger A. LaBoube, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, distinguished teaching professor of civil engineering and director, Wei-Wen Yu Center for Cold-Formed Steel Structures at the University of Missouri-Rolla;
- Greg Ralph, vice president at ClarkDietrich and chair of the SFIA Code Compliance Committee;
- Jeff Klaiman, P.E., principal at ADTEK Engineers and chair of the SFIA Technical Committee;
- Benjamin W. Schafer, Ph.D., P.E., the Willard and Lillian Hackerman Professor of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University;
- Bill Babich, P.E., director of engineering, at the TrusSteel Division of Alpine Engineered Products, Inc.; and
- Rob Madsen, P.E., senior project engineer, at Devco Engineering, Inc.
For more information, contact Don Allen, SFIA executive director.
Perez emphasized that Canadian participation in these task and canvass groups is vital to ensuring that future code editions accurately reflect conditions north of the border.
A major milestone looms on the horizon: All proposed changes to the standards must be approved (through ballots and passed) and published by December 1, 2026 to be eligible for adoption in the 2027 editions of the IBC and IRC. Similarly, SFIA aims to track and meet key deadlines in the Canadian NBCC 2030 code cycle, and is actively seeking guidance and collaboration to do so.
Strong Support for Collaboration
The tone of both meetings with CSSBI was overwhelmingly positive. Attendees expressed appreciation for SFIA’s transparency and outreach efforts, and several CSSBI members indicated a strong interest in supporting the standards process.
“This was a productive and encouraging meeting,” Perez said. “It’s clear we share common goals when it comes to advancing safe, effective and up-to-date standards for cold-formed steel framing. The spirit of cooperation is strong.”
Perez was joined at the summit by industry leaders including Bryan White, co-president of Ardent Industries and incoming chair of the CISC board.
Get involved: The SFIA Standards Committee invites industry professionals to help shape cold-formed steel standards by completing the CFS Standards Interest Survey.
Get Involved
To keep CFS standards robust and relevant across North America, SFIA is actively building participation in its standards process. Engineers, manufacturers and specifiers in Canada are encouraged to signal their interest in participating in the code development process by completing the CFS Standards Interest Survey. For more information, contact Meredith Perez.
About SFIA
The Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA), a unique organization representing steel mills, coil coaters, stud and connector manufacturers, component fabricators, Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI) members, suppliers/distributors, contractors and others, provides members with exclusive access to technical cold-formed steel (CFS) framing services, including CFS certification, environmental product declarations, market data and analysis, technical design guides, specification review services, architectural services, the Steel Framing Learning Portal , the SFIA Awards and more. SFIA is an accredited ANSI Standards Development Organization. Follow SFIA on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Additional Resources
- SFIA Seeks Participants for Cold-Formed Steel Framing Standards Development
- SFIA Receives ANSI Accreditation, Assumes Management of CFS Framing Standards
- Designers: Update to SFIA’s 2024 Tech Guide for the Latest CFS Load and Span Tables