COMMERCIAL SUBCONTRACTOR HOBOKEN, NJ

Commercial Metal Framing in Hoboken, NJ

Load-bearing steel framing and composite floors for Hoboken mid-rise mixed-use buildings, planned around flood details and one-lane streets.

20+ years of experience
Quality work
On schedule

Or call (973) 392-4979

Working in Hoboken

Hoboken packs a lot of building into about one square mile. Most new commercial work here is four to six story mixed-use: retail at the ground floor along Washington Street, apartments above, and a tight lot squeezed between existing rowhouses. The northwest part of town, around the old industrial blocks near the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and the 9th Street area, has seen larger multifamily projects replace warehouses.

Building in Hoboken means working low, wet and narrow. Much of the city sits in a mapped flood zone, the streets are one lane with parking on both sides, and neighbors are a few feet from the work. A metal framing sub has to show up with the right material at the right hour and not spread out across the block.

Dos Santos Construction LLC brings 20+ years of commercial metal framing experience to these projects. We frame for general contractors and developers from our base in Kenilworth, NJ, and we are measured on two things: work that is installed right the first time and a crew that keeps pace with the schedule.

Load-bearing steel stud wall panels set on deck, typical of Hoboken mid-rise mixed-use framing

Flood zones, narrow streets and close neighbors

Because so much of Hoboken is low-lying, the design team usually raises occupied floors and calls for flood-resistant materials and details below the design flood elevation. Our job is to build exactly what those drawings show at the lower levels and flag anything that does not line up before it gets covered. Inspections run through the local building department under the New Jersey UCC, and we coordinate with the GC so framing is ready when the inspector arrives.

Hoisting usually happens from the street with a mobile crane or from a small tower crane on the lot. Picks get scheduled early in the day, with the block coned off according to what the city permits. Panels and joists are sized and staged so that each pick goes straight to its spot on the deck.

Winter on the river brings wind and cold that slow down upper-floor work. We keep material tied down, plan the exposed tasks for the calmer part of the day and push interior framing when the weather turns.

What we install in Hoboken

Scopes we bring to Hoboken projects

How we run Hoboken jobs from Kenilworth

Hoboken is a straightforward drive from our Kenilworth base, which lets our foreman be on the block before the first delivery and adjust the plan if parking or a pick window changes. Crews that know Hudson County also know to expect a cop on the corner, a neighbor with questions and a truck that cannot double park.

Staying on schedule is the commitment we make to every GC. We sequence the walls and floors so the next trade is never waiting on framing, we keep the deck clean at the end of the day, and we close punch items while we are still mobilized instead of coming back weeks later.

or call (973) 392-4979

Areas and landmarks we work around

Washington Street corridor
Uptown
Downtown
Midtown
Northwest Hoboken
Southwest Hoboken
Castle Point
Hoboken Terminal area

Questions from Hoboken GCs

Planning a job here? Read our Building in Hoboken, NJ: Framing, Floor Systems and Ceilings on Tight, Flood-Prone Sites.

Many Hoboken mid-rise projects use panelized load-bearing steel walls with a composite floor system such as Hambro, EcoSpan, ComSlab or Epicore. The combination keeps floor depth shallow and lets the structure go up quickly on a small lot. The final choice belongs to the engineer of record and the developer; we price and install the system on the drawings, and we can share field experience on sequencing and logistics during preconstruction.

We follow the flood-resistant details the architect and engineer put on the drawings at the lower levels, which often affect material selection, fasteners and how walls meet the slab. If something on site looks different from what the drawings require, we stop and raise it with the GC before installing. The local building department makes the final call during inspection, so the goal is to give them clean, accessible work to look at.

Yes, and that is normal in Hoboken. We plan picks so each lift lands panels, joists or bundles exactly where they get installed, which shortens the time the crane needs to be on the street. Our crew is set up on the deck before the first pick, and staging stays off the sidewalk. The exact window depends on what the GC secures from the city.

Start dates depend on the drawings, how long submittals and shop drawings take to get approved, and where the job stands on the GC's schedule. Once the foundation or podium is ready and approvals are in, we lock in the crew and the first deliveries with the super. If we see a conflict with our current workload we say so upfront.