A Foundation Built on Craft and Purpose

Hollywood Structural Detailing, Inc was founded in August of 1999 by Sean L. Johnson. Mr. Johnson’s desire was to create a high quality but economical structural steel detailing firm that could service the growing need for steel fabricators. But the story begins way before that.

Discovering Drafting and Structural Steel Detailing Design

As a teenager, Mr. Johnson was always interested in drawing and design, including buildings. While attending Baldwin Jr. Sr. High School on the far west side of Jacksonville, FL, in the 9th grade, an opportunity presented itself that would ultimately bring those desires together. It was in the 9th grade that Mr. Johnson toured the Westside Skills Center, a career center that allows students the ability to learn a career half of the school day instead of taking elective courses such as gym. The other half of the day is devoted to regular school classes. On this tour, one of the courses was drafting, where drawings by hand are created for fabrication and production. Mr. Johnson knew instantly that this was his calling.

Early Experience in Structural Steel Detailing

Mr. Johnson joined the Westside Skills Center drafting program the following year (sophomore) and excelled rapidly. Halfway through his junior year, he had amassed enough time and qualifications to gain employment with a drafting firm. Vic Sanborn Detailing Service (VSDS) hired Mr. Johnson, and at the age of 16, he began learning about structural steel detailing. He stayed at VSDS even through the move of VSDS to become the onsite detailing firm for Liberty Steel, Inc. (LSI), located in downtown Jacksonville, FL.

Mentorship and Industry Standard

While at VSDS, within LSI, Mr. Johnson was mentored heavily not only by Vic Sanborn but also by Ken Dougherty in every component of structural steel detailing. He learned in depth about the AISC Manual, the AISC Code of Standard Practice, and was able to see fabrication firsthand and visit job sites. Much of his detailing involved industrial plants and paper mills, with a focus on galvanized components such as handrail, ladders, grating, and platforms, with occasional chutes and hopper ductwork.

Expanding Beyond Structural Steel Detailing into Project Management

Mr. Johnson continued to work in the structural steel detailing field, even completing a few projects on his own, until he was given the opportunity to work as a Project Manager for Canam Steel Corp in Jacksonville, FL, in 1993. While working as a PM at CSC, he was mentored by Russ Rocco and learned all the components of the steel industry that steel detailing did not expose him to. As a PM, he learned the many facets of steel fabrication, steel erection, purchasing, delivery, and on-site problem solving. These were areas he learned before computers were intricately involved, and he was able to make the transition to computers rapidly. He was even tasked with making multiple trips to the home office in Canada to bring some of the software development back to Jacksonville.

Leadership, Innovation, and Industry Relationships

The skills developed as a PM, along with his desire for excellence, honesty, and hard work, allowed Mr. Johnson to excel rapidly at CSC. After several years of working as a PM on multi-million dollar projects, Mr. Johnson was tasked with starting the project management side of the joist division and was named Senior Joist Project Manager. After successfully establishing the PM side of the joist division, Mr. Johnson was asked to work with the “Steel Plus” division, which included detailing software development and CSC customer relationships for the southeast region of the United States. During all this time, his friendliness and youthfulness were attributes that made him well liked by those he worked with at CSC and by those associated with the many projects he managed. Many of his peers gave him the nickname “Hollywood,” which stuck for the remainder of his time at CSC.

Leadership, Innovation, and Industry Relationships

Around this time, Mr. Johnson felt the desire to return to his first calling, which was steel detailing. Seeing a void in quality structural steel detailing, Mr. Johnson took all the abilities he learned as a detailer and PM and started a company that would service steel fabricators. In August of 1999, Hollywood Structural Detailing, Inc. was born.

Drawn to Excellence

Since then, we have worked with fabricators that demand the highest quality on an array of projects. Many of them have trusted us with detailing projects for companies that are household names such as Boeing, NASA, Frito-Lay, and Nestlé. That is why we can proudly say that at HSD, we are “Drawn to Excellence.”