9+
Years welding & fabrication
EST. COLUSA, CA
Steel, built
square. Designed
to fit.
CALFAB is a design and fabrication shop taking projects from drawings and BOMs through fabrication and delivery. Everything is built on fixture tables, so the second one matches the first.
Sacramento River · Colusa, CA
Scroll
01 About
A metal shop started by David Gayheart, building architectural and structural steel that holds its lead times and keeps its pricing honest.
“What we build with our hands is ours.”
CALFAB takes projects from drawings and BOMs straight through fabrication and delivery. Everything gets built on fixture tables. That's how we keep parts square and flat, and how the second one matches the first.
For finishing, machining, cutting, and delivery, we work with a small group of shops and partners we trust. A Los Angeles office handles estimating, detailing, and coordination; the Northern California floor handles the steel. It's a deliberately lean structure: direct, accountable, and easy to work with.
Tell me what your job needs, and I'll make it easy.
AWS
D1.1 certified
OSHA
30 · Construction
PE
Stamped drawings on call
02 Selected Work
Projects taken from print to finished steel.
Architectural fencing, balconies, canopies, and structural assemblies, fabricated square, finished clean, and delivered ready to set.
Solar Canopy
Structural · Recent
Residential Swing Security Gate
Patinated Hammered Copper Inlay
Congregation Beth Israel Security Fence
Stainless Inlaid Artwork
Custom Metalwork
Fabrication
Architectural Steel
Design + Build
Main Street Lofts Balcony
Bridged Two-System · Chico
Railing + Balcony
Residential
FritsJurgens Pivot Door
Hardware Fit-Up · Fabricated
Stainless Guardrail Infill
Threaded · Balcony
Powder-Coated Bracket Run
Detailed · Cut to DXF · Finished · Delivered
03 From Drawing to Steel
Detailed in CAD. Built on the table.
Every job starts as a permit-ready shop drawing (BOMs, connection details, weld callouts), then gets built to match. Here is the drawing beside the finished steel.
Shop Drawing
1/5Click to advance
Built
1/2Click to advance
Solar Canopy: five shop-drawing sheets (click the drawing to advance) beside the fabricated structure.
Shop Drawing
1/5Click to advance
Built
Balconies: five shop-drawing sheets (click the drawing to advance) beside the fabricated assembly.
Shop Drawing
1/5Click to advance
Built
FritsJurgens pivot door, Main Street Lofts: shop-drawing sheets (click the drawing to advance), engineered to the FritsJurgens System M+ pivot system, beside a smaller door of the same design built for the project.
04 Capabilities
What we detail, build, source, and deliver.
/01
Detailing & Drawing Development
Drawing development led in-house: weld symbols and callouts to AWS A2.4, material grades, finishes, thread classes, and machining and bending specs, with dimensions field-verified against real conditions. The result is a permit-ready, fabrication-ready CAD package. CAD modeling is produced with our detailer, and structural engineering and PE stamping are brought in when the job calls for it.
/02
Material, Cutting & Machining
Before the steel hits the table: raw steel and hardware supply, specialty cutting and forming (laser, plasma, waterjet, and press-brake bending), and machining, all competitively sourced through a vetted partner network and staged to drawing. You get one accountable point of contact and the best value on the full package, instead of chasing a half-dozen vendors yourself.
/03
Steel Fabrication
Architectural and structural steel built on fixture tables and welded to AWS D1.1 by a certified welder across MIG, TIG, and flux-core (including vertical-up): fences, gates, railings, balconies, canopies, architectural pivot doors built to FritsJurgens hardware systems, and custom assemblies. Fixtures and jigs designed for square, flat, repeatable parts. Welds are available for third-party or owner-appointed special inspection.
/04
Finishing
Hot-dip galvanizing and powder coating, sourced through the same vetted network after fabrication, matched to the build and held to our standard before it ships. One finish spec, one point of contact, one quality bar.
/05
Logistics & Delivery
Freight coordination with partners including Uber Freight, uShip, and Shiply, delivering fabricated steel across California, including the Bay Area, and shipping palletized LTL freight to bordering states at competitive rates. We hand off ready-to-set steel, on schedule.
Los Angeles
Photo by David Gayheart
05 Process
What to expect, start to finish.
Five steps from first call to steel on site. You review and approve before anything is cut, and we keep you posted at every stage.
Quality Check
Checked against the drawing before it leaves the floor.
On the parts that matter, we overlay the CAD model onto the finished steel in augmented reality, so fit and layout are caught in the shop, not in the field.
Inquiry & Quote
Send drawings or scope
Detailing & Approval
You review and sign off
Build
Cut, welded, finished
Delivery
Ready to set, on time
Install
By CALFAB Steel under its C-51 license†
Photo by David Gayheart
06 How We Quote
Itemized pricing, line by line.
Every project starts from a full, itemized cost basis (labor, materials with a stated markup, finishing, freight, and engineering), so nothing is hidden. From there we structure the contract to fit the work and your preference: lump sum, unit price, by tonnage, time-and-materials, cost-plus, or milestone progress billing.
See a sample proposal
Request a generalized sample, so you know exactly what to expect before you commit.
Request the sample proposal →07 Structure
Two locations. One accountable shop.
A lean, deliberate setup: an office for estimating, detailing, and coordination, a floor for steel. No layers, no runaround. We work throughout California, from Los Angeles to the Bay Area to our Northern California shop, and ship finished steel out of state.
Office
Los Angeles
Client & Project Coordination
Estimating, drawing development, scheduling, and client communication run out of the LA office, where new work gets specified and detailed.
Los Angeles, CA
Shop Floor
Colusa, CA
Fabrication & Build
The Northern California floor is where steel gets cut, fit, welded, and squared on fixture tables before it heads to finishing and delivery.
Colusa, CA
Photo by David Gayheart
San Francisco · Bay Area
Let me price your project.
Steel fabricated in Northern California, delivered to the Bay Area and across the state.
Request a Quote →Photo by David Gayheart
08 Team & Network
A small core, backed by trusted specialists.
The people on the steel, plus the engineering and detailing partners we bring in by project.
David Gayheart
Founder · Fabrication
Runs the shop and the steel. AWS D1.1 certified across multiple processes and positions, with 9+ years in structural and production welding and hands-on experience in robotic welding, CNC beam-line, and plasma work. OSHA 30 (Construction). Single point of accountability from quote to delivery.
Van Nguyen Van
Steel Detailer · Partner
Structural steel detailing, connection design, and high-accuracy fabrication drawings, engaged per project.
Christiaan Homan
Structural Steel Detailer · InfraComp Africa
Structural steel detailing and shop drawings, engaged per project. Director of InfraComp Africa (Pty) Ltd, a seasoned hand who thinks ahead on process and buildability. As he puts it, “My word is my bond.”
Licensed Professional Engineer
PE · On Call
A licensed Professional Engineer reviews and stamps drawings when a job requires engineered, permit-ready documentation.
Engineering and detailing are brought in by project, so CALFAB stays lean and pricing and lead times stay honest.
09 Recognition
“
He could quote chapter and verse from the welding code. He became essential to the operation. David Gayheart will be an asset to any enterprise he joins.
David M. Griffith, AIAArchitect / Professional Engineer, Griffith Architects
“
You’re dialed in.
Robert Noftz, CWIASNT NDT Level II · ICC Master of Special Inspections · Noftz Inspection & Consulting Group
On completing shop weld inspection · Casino Chico sign · October 2026
Third-party inspection
Inspected, not just promised.
CALFAB fabricates under independent special inspection whenever the project calls for it, and welcomes it when it doesn’t. Material certs, welder qualifications, and procedures are on the bench before the inspector walks in, and every joint type on the job is mocked up for fit-up review before production welding starts.
Special inspectors are retained by the owner or the design professional, as the code requires. CALFAB coordinates shop access and scheduling so inspection never slows the job.
Ring closure weld, witnessed in progress · Colusa shop · 10.16.26Photo by Robert Noftz
Clients & Collaborators
Suppliers
Del Paso Pipe & Steel
Bay Metals
Farwest Steel
Logistics
Uber Freight
uShip
Shiply
10 Start a Project
Tell us what you're building.
Send drawings, a BOM, or just a description. We'll come back with scope, lead time, and an honest number.