The model is a production tool
Tekla Structures is where the frame becomes pieces of steel: members, connections, bolts, holes and assemblies the workshop can cut. A contractor should expect a 3D model, connection design that matches the specification, and fabrication drawings issued in time for the programme, not a set of pictures produced by a bureau that has never seen the shop.
At Steel Structures the drawing office is in the same works as the fabricators. The person modelling a connection can walk out and see how it will be made. That is the point of keeping detailing and fabrication together.
What to hand over
General arrangement drawings, the specification, the execution class, and any architect's or services constraints that punch through the frame. The earlier the drawing office sees a clash, the cheaper it is. Connection design done after the steel is ordered is how programmes slip.
If you are a consulting engineer, the useful question is whether the fabricator will design the connections or expects you to. Say which, in writing, at tender. The pre-construction stage is where that gets agreed.
From the model to the last bolt
Drawings are only useful if the same company erects what it detailed. Site changes, missing holes and packs of shims are usually a gap between the model and the people standing the steel. Our erection teams are led by a charge hand who is talking to the project manager, not to a different firm. Read how erection is run, then look at a built frame in the case studies.