Framing is where the rest of the building's quality gets determined. Walls that are plumb, square, and built to the structural drawings make every subsequent trade's work easier and faster. Walls that aren't make everything that follows harder — and more expensive to fix.
Forthright provides light gauge steel stud framing and wood platform framing as a commercial sub. We work from engineer-stamped drawings, coordinate with adjacent trades, and build the kind of framing package that GCs want to see when they walk the job.
Framing Services
Light Gauge Steel Stud Framing
Interior and exterior wall framing in 20, 18, 16, and 14 gauge steel stud systems. Load-bearing and non-load-bearing applications. Shaft walls, corridor walls, stairwell assemblies, fire-rated partitions. We work from engineering drawings and coordinate deflection head details with the structural package.
Wood Platform Framing
Wood stud framing for wood-frame commercial, multi-family, and mixed-use buildings. Exterior walls, interior partitions, floor systems, and roof framing where specified. Includes engineered lumber (LVL, I-joist) installation per structural drawings.
Soffits & Specialties
Framed soffits, bulkheads, column enclosures, curved walls, and specialty assemblies. In tenant fit-out and hospitality work, the quality of soffit and specialty framing determines how the finish surfaces look — we build these details right the first time.
Tenant Fit-Out Framing
Interior partition packages for commercial tenant fit-out — office, retail, hospitality, medical. We work efficiently in occupied buildings, coordinate with mechanical and electrical rough-in, and deliver framing that makes the drywall phase clean and fast.
How We Work with GCs
Framing subs who read drawings, ask the right questions before they start, and flag conflicts before they become RFIs are the ones GCs want to book again. That's the standard we hold ourselves to on every project.
We price framing packages off complete drawing sets, provide a clear scope of inclusions and exclusions, and communicate schedule needs early — particularly around structural steel, concrete, and MEP rough-in coordination. We do not do post-and-beam or timber framing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Light gauge steel stud framing is standard for interior partitions in most commercial buildings — it's dimensionally consistent, straight, and doesn't shrink or warp after installation the way wood can. It's also required in fire-rated assemblies where the UL listing specifies steel stud construction. Wood framing is standard for wood-frame commercial and multi-family buildings, and for exterior walls in Type V construction. The structural engineer's drawings typically specify which system is required for each element — we install both and coordinate with the structural package.
No. Our framing scope is light gauge steel stud and wood platform framing. We don't do post-and-beam, timber frame, or heavy timber work. If your project has those elements, we're happy to provide the light gauge and platform framing scope and coordinate with a timber framer for the specialty work.
We review the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing drawings before we start framing and identify conflicts or coordination needs early. We provide blocking locations for MEP anchors, leave rough openings at correct sizes and heights, and coordinate chase wall and shaft wall sequencing with the mechanical and plumbing trades. On tenant fit-out projects, we typically frame in phases that allow MEP rough-in to proceed concurrently — this keeps the overall schedule tight.
We work on projects ranging from small tenant fit-outs under 2,000 sq ft to full multi-family and commercial new construction. For very large projects (100,000+ sq ft with complex phasing), we assess capacity and discuss scheduling requirements at the bid stage. We're selective about what we take on — we'd rather commit to a project we can staff correctly than overextend and underperform.