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Reduce Risk & Increase Revenue: Pricing Wall Panels (Part 5 of 6)

  • When doing a material take-off for wall panels, identify the different wall types for each level.
  • Wall panel manufacturers should have a pricing method that accounts for direct labor costs and plant overhead costs before adding a material markup and profit margin.

BCMC & Your Business Plan: Your Business Lifeline

  • BCMC allows you to keep up to date on industry happenings while strategically planning for your business. 
  • Discussing the state of the industry with peers at BCMC helps you gain perspective on how to endure the market. 
  • Attend a new CM roundtable on Tuesday called “Planning, Evaluating and Adjusting—Your Business Lifeline.”

WTCA Update: Improve Jobsite Safety with Safety Zone

  • Safe delivery and off-loading practices are an important part of material handling. 
  • Safety Zone products from WTCA are designed for delivery drivers to use as safety and risk management tools on the jobsite. 
  • The Safety Zone Delivery & Off-load Inspection Reports help drivers to document critical information about component delivery.

Human Faces: Mixing Business with Education

  • The Wisconsin Truss Manufacturers Association (WTCA’s Wisconsin Chap-ter) presented two live TTWs to a local homebuilders association. 
  • The attendees earned CEUs for attending the day-long presentation. 
  • Chapter President Steve Johnson said that in addition to the information presented, the event highlighted the benefits of being a WTMA member. 
  • WTMA members held a meeting the following week at WTCA and toured the new SBCRI facility.

Environmental Components: Nine Ways Components Are Already "Green"

  • You can use a few simple talking points to explain the inherent “green” qualities of building components. 
  • The wood you purchase comes from one of the Earth’s most renewable resources—trees. 
  • Steel is the most recyclable material that exists; this includes everything from nails to connectors to cold-formed steel trusses to connector plates.

How to...Make Special Orders Extraordinarily Profitable

  • One way to boost your bottom line and satisfy customer demand is selling non-stocked items. 
  • Special orders generally turn faster and carry higher margins than regular sales. 
  • An ERP system can help manage special orders and maximize profit.

Chapter Corner

Parting Shots

Radius Trusses Present Unique Challenges in Design, Manufacturing

  • A massive custom home in the Florida panhandle called for long-span radius trusses that were designed and built by Builders FirstSource. 
  • The job was especially challenging because the 68-foot trusses were curved on both the bottom and top chords. 
  • The BFS team took special precautions when building the trusses to prevent workers’ injuries and damage to the trusses.

The Board Footage Myth Debunked

  • It is not correct to assume that a truss designed with the least amount of board footage will always result in the most economic option. 
  • There is a point where the board footage cost of the high grade smaller member equals the cost of a larger, lower grade board.

Reduce Risk & Increase Revenue: Marketing & Sales of Wall Panels (Part 6 of 6)

  • Identify primary and secondary customers, most likely the general and framer. 
  • Some framers have the perception that panelizers are taking work from them, when in reality panels give them the ability to do more work because of decreased cycle times. 
  • Long-term marketing of wall panel products is best accomplished with comparisons of on-site versus off-site framing cycle times.

WTCA Update: New Guide for Cold-Formed Steel Component Manufacturers

  • A new booklet for handling, installing, restraining and bracing of cold-formed steel trusses is now available. \
  • CFSBCSI is organized into six chapters, each of which exists separately as a Summary Sheets 
  • The CFS Jobsite Package is a graphical presentation of CFSBCSI concepts for ease of use in the field.

The Big Picture: Diversification & Patience...Our Last Resources

  • Making sound business decisions in this business cycle provides no guarantee of business success. 
  • We must recast the notion of diversification and find creative new ways to serve customers. 
  • Beyond evaluating sales and product lines, defining clear objectives and consulting with industry peers for ideas are important exercises.

Chapter Corner

Church Add-On Gets Beautiful New Chapel with Components

  • Stock Building Supply helped to design and build a showy chapel addition. 
  • The use of components became interesting when the structural engineer decided that the significant horizontal deflection inherent in steep pitched scis

What to Expect When You're (Not) Expecting...OSHA

  • The most likely causes for OSHA to drop in are an employee complaint or a programmed inspection. 
  • Something you can do now is to identify authorized employer and employee reps who would accompany an inspector during a walkthro

Eco-Label Offers Viable Chain of Custody Alternative

  • One component manufacturer found out that supplying green-built trusses can be very costly. 
  • Eco-certifiers like FSC and SFI impose strict chain of custody requirements on secondary lumber product manufacturers like CMs. 

BCMC 2008 Show Guide

  • Learn more about who will be exhibiting at this year's show in Denver, CO.