Truss Storage Responsibilities
Question:
We have a customer that bought trusses in June. The trusses were shipped [ and one month later are] being set. The chords have weathered and bowed. What is the industry standard for dealing with this problem? What is our liability in this situation? We were not aware of any delays on the customer’s part and shipped as requested. Note: These trusses are 62 ft. scissor trusses.
Answer:
The industry standard is outlined in SBCA’s TTB – Standard Responsibilities in the Design and Application of Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses. The contractor is responsible to comply with the field storage, handling, installation, permanent bracing, anchorage, connections and field assembly requirements of the construction design documents. “Contractor” is defined as the individual or organization responsible for the field storage, handling and installation of trusses. The term “contractor” also includes those subcontractors who have a direct contract with the contractor to perform all or a portion of the storage, handling and installation of the trusses.
You, as a truss manufacturer, are required to manufacture the trusses in accordance with the final approved truss design drawings using the quality criteria in the Truss Plate Institute's ANSI/TPI 1. You are not responsible for field storage. Your only responsibility is to ship the trusses to the contractor on the date you promised. The fact that the trusses bowed due to weathering (while it is not going to be easy to deal with and the contractor is going to try to tie you to this) is the contractor's issue. Because contractors often attempt to have truss manufacturers pay in this situation, SBCA encourages members to include SBCA’s TTB – Standard Responsibilities in the Design and Application of Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses in all contracts that you sign and to include that document or SBCA’s BCSI-B1 Summary Sheet in jobsite delivery packages.