Price your steel-frame building from Claude or ChatGPT

More and more people are sketching their next house, ADU or cabin in a chat with an AI assistant: the layout, the square footage, the roof. The next question is always the same: what would this actually cost to build?

Your assistant can now answer part of that question with a real number. Connect Gage, and Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that supports MCP can price the cold-formed steel frame with the nearest Gage fabricator that can build it. If you want to go ahead, it can start a real Gage project for you too.

#What Gage does

Gage connects buildings framed in cold-formed (light-gauge) steel with a network of regional fabricators. You bring plans or a design, and you get a price from the nearest shop that can build it. Fabrication and delivery are then tracked in one place. It's free for builders.

The Gage MCP server is the way into Gage from an AI assistant. You don't need an account or an API key.

#A real example: 600 sq ft in Utah

We tried it today with a plain description: a 600 sq ft, one-storey residential building with a gable roof in ZIP 84032.

The assistant called Gage and came back with a steel frame package price of about $23,094. Gage routed the quote to the nearest approved fabricator for that ZIP. Each answer includes:

• the price and its likely range
• the split between framing steel, engineering and delivery
• the fabricator's region and lead time
• any assumptions it made, such as defaults for roof pitch, ceiling height, windows and doors
• the next step

One important note: the price covers the steel frame package only. It does not include the foundation, finishes or labour on site, and the answer says so. The fabricator is identified by region until the job is confirmed.

#The three tools, in plain words

Once Gage is connected, your assistant has three tools:

1. quote_my_building: describe it, get a price. Tell your assistant the project type (residential, ADU, garage or commercial), the total square footage, the number of storeys (1 to 4), the roof type (flat, shed, gable, hip or gambrel) and the 5-digit ZIP of the build site. Anything you leave out, such as roof pitch or ceiling height, is filled with a stated default and listed as an assumption.

2. submit_design_for_quote: exact walls, tighter price. If you have exact walls and openings, for example a design your assistant drew, this tool prices it more precisely. If the design has something that needs an engineer's eye (curved walls, a header over 12 ft, a cantilevered storey, tall walls), it returns "needs human review" instead of guessing. That's by design. Gage doesn't make up numbers.

3. start_my_project: go ahead, only when you say so. If you like the price, your assistant can turn the quote into a real Gage project. It must ask you first before it sends your name and email. Gage then emails you a private link to your project page, where you can review the quote, message the shop and approve it when you're ready. The link is only ever emailed, never shown in the chat, and nothing is charged at this step.

#How to connect Gage to your assistant

The server URL is:

https://buildwithgage.com/mcp

You don't need an account, a key or any sign-in.

Claude

1. Open your connector settings and add a custom connector.
2. Paste https://buildwithgage.com/mcp as the URL. Leave authentication off.
3. Start a chat and describe your building.

ChatGPT

1. Add a new connector in ChatGPT's settings.
2. Use https://buildwithgage.com/mcp, with no authentication.
3. Ask about your building in a new chat.

Grok

1. Add a custom connector (MCP server).
2. Enter https://buildwithgage.com/mcp, with no authentication.
3. Ask away.

Try a prompt like this:

I'm planning a 1,900 sq ft single-storey house with a gable roof near 84032. What would the steel frame cost, and how do I get it built?

#Find Gage in the MCP Registry

Gage is listed in the official MCP Registry as com.buildwithgage/gage, and the step-by-step guide lives in the docs: Price it in Claude or ChatGPT.

#For developers and partners

Building on Gage? The MCP server runs on the same pricing, fabricator routing and confidence engine as API v1.

• MCP server docs: buildwithgage.com/docs/partners/mcp-server. This page has connection snippets for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code and the OpenAI Responses API / Agents SDK.
• API reference: buildwithgage.com/docs/api/reference
• Getting started: buildwithgage.com/docs/partners/getting-started
• Partners authenticate by sending their API key as a bearer token (Authorization: Bearer gage_test_...). Quotes are then attributed to their account, at their margin. Partners reserve and accept through the REST API, not start_my_project.
• Engineering model: GET /api/v1/quotes/{id}/engineering returns a quote's engineering model. The webhook events engineering.completed and engineering.failed fire when a run finishes.

#Start pricing your build

If you've designed a building with AI, you're one connector away from a real steel-frame price. Add https://buildwithgage.com/mcp to your assistant and ask what your building would cost. Prefer uploading plans? Start a project on buildwithgage.com. It's free for builders, and you don't need an account.