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Knowing what your Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policy can provide in terms of a construction defect lawsuit defense and payment is crucial.
With many property owners still owing more than their properties are worth, combined with the run-up in construction in the mid-2000s and resulting poor quality in many instances, I am led to conclude that thousands of construction defect suits will likely be filed in the next two or three years. Anti-construction defect litigation statutes adopted in many states will have little effect in stemming the tide. Component manufacturers will be among the many in the construction chain having to figure out how to defend and extricate themselves from such suits.
Knowing what your Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policy can provide in terms of a construction defect lawsuit defense and payment is crucial. Understanding the degree to which many insurance companies will go to neither defend nor pay on construction defect claims is even more important. Far too many construction subcontractors and suppliers, including component manufacturers, are, in my opinion, naive when it comes to knowing what to expect from, and how to effectively manage, their insurance companies over a construction defect lawsuit.
Do you know how a crayon is made? How about a Hostess Twinkie? If you or your kids have ever watched Mr. Rogers, chances are you probably do.
Mr. Rogers has a great approach. “Will you be my neighbor?” is a simple question. Kids around the world (possibly including you) accepted his invitation and learned a great deal about life through his half-hour shows. One of the most intriguing and memorable parts of his show are the brief glimpses he gives us of the various facilities, laboratories and studios where things are made.
- Hoisting trusses is a more dangerous practice than most people think; both individual trusses and bundles of trusses should not be lifted at the peak.
- The recommended industry best practices for hoisting truss bundles are a bit different than those for single trusses, but the same basic concepts apply.
- BCSI and CFSBCSI outline industry best practices for hoisting trusses.
- After years of bad news, the survivors in our industry should be proud of their hard work and accomplishments.
- SBCA members throughout the country are reporting stronger sales and backlogs.
- Now is the time for CMs to determine how to elevate their individual companies and the industry, create more market share for components, and handle increased volume.
When it comes to code compliance for your new product, consider a road less traveled that can be much quicker and more robust than the traditional path.
Beyond super-sized energy efficiency, there are many other benefits to net-zero homes.
Building Communities | Making Connections
Name: Corey Magelby
Company: Homewood Truss (Sacramento, CA)
Position: Truss Design & Sales
Years in the industry: 23
The March 2012 issue of SBC highlighted the benefits of assembling wood roof trusses on the ground. Here, we see an example using cold-formed steel trusses for a Winco Foods Store in Mesa, AZ. Westco Steel Systems designed the store’s roof so the contractor could build each section on the ground and hoist it into place as a fabricated section.
- Based on the recommendations of the IRC, IBC and ASCE 7, truss or rafter uplift connections should be designed for applied wind loads using MWFRS analysis.
- Individual truss and rafter members should be designed using C&C generated wind loads.
- The SBCA Load Guide includes information about uplift connections for structural building components.
- Access to vendors and their in-depth perspectives, coupled with the opportunity to discuss ideas and common challenges with manufacturers from all over the country, defines BCMC.
- Take part in BCMC Build and help construct a home for a very deserving family.
- This year’s show features more workshops and business planning sessions to help component manufacturers prepare as the housing market reemerges.
By 2016, one out of every three builders anticipate they will be dedicated to green building work on over 90 percent of residential projects, up from 17 percent in 2011.The increase in “green” home building provides an opportunity for component manufacturers to work with builders to arrive at a win-win scenario.
Spend a few minutes with the thoughts of CMs doing business in markets where business is picking up and make sure your company is ready for recovery when it comes.
You’re never too young to start designing and engineering structures. John Gruber, P.E. of Sheppard Engineering submitted this photo of his son Alex’s wood tower for his high school physics class. The project, which called for students to construct a tower of balsa wood (G=0.15), limited the tower’s height to 50 cm, with a maximum 8 cm diameter above 15 cm, and required the base to span a 20 cm opening with any orientation. The tower was loaded vertically from the top with both a hanging weight and weights applied to the top. While the tower only weighed 66.7 g (2.35 oz), it certainly stood up to the challenge, resisting 160 lb of applied load without failing—1,089 times its weight!
- In addition to implementing a QC program and training staff, another good way to increase awareness of quality control issues is by creating QC posters strategically placed throughout the shop floor.
- A QC board can use photos or actual material examples to illustrate common QC dos and don’ts.
- Work is underway to revise and reaffirm Chapter 3 of the ANSI/TPI 1 standard on quality control.
- According to an SBC One Minute Poll, CMs name finding and retaining good employees as one of their top challenges as business picks up.
- Good workers are all around us and a lot of them are still looking for a job that is worthy of their devotion and work ethic.
- Implementing recruiting strategies in and around your community can produce some of the best results with great, long-term employees.
The structural building components industry lost one of its greatest champions, Don Hershey, when he passed away at home last November.
Congratulations to Truss Systems Hawaii, Inc. whose photo received the most votes in SBC’s Online Photo Contest.
- Two engineers involved in the design of structural building components respond to a previous Technical Q&A on bearing area.
- Both give their perspective on bearing area and ways that component manufacturers and truss designers can help engineers with this issue.
- Each engineer discusses his preferred method for dealing with insufficient bearing area.
- In just under 10 years, BCSI has evolved from the booklet into Summary Sheets, JOBSITE PACKAGES, online courses and the much larger book.
- Including the JOBSITE PACKAGE or BCSI book on invoices is an excellent best practice in case a project heads in the wrong direction.
- SBCA Chapters have developed great relationships and reaped many benefits for their time and effort through BCSI educational programs in their markets.
“In the almost five decades I have been in the component manufacturing business, I have never had a lumber mill ask me what I thought they should produce,” said Bob Ward (Southern Components). “They didn’t care what I needed; instead, I had to choose from what they provided.”
While frustrating for component manufacturers like Ward, and less than optimal for both sides, the top-down model of lumber suppliers dictating the lumber properties they sell and essentially telling their customers, “if you do not buy what we produce, we’ll sell it to someone else,” has been standard operating procedure throughout the years.
We sincerely encourage all SBCA CM Members to read this article on SPIB's Supplement #9, which contains an in-depth analysis of a series of next steps that all members should consider implementing that are intended to provide a best practices roadmap.
- Not stating a SOW can also subject a CM to the prospect of increased claims and liability.
- A manufacturer should strongly consider developing a SOW template that can be used in its bids or proposals and as an addendum or attachment to the customer contracts it signs.
30,000 leagues under the sea? Depth of monster squid. 30,000 miles per hour? Speed of a meteorite. 30,000 pounds? Weight of a new U.S.bunker-busting bomb. 30,000 square feet? Size of a single-family home framed by Blenker Building Systems in central Wisconsin.
- President Steve Stroder gives an example of how SCORE helped reduce accidents at one of his company’s facilities.
- Collectively, the industry can raise the bar on safety through the SCORE program.
- The goal of SCORE is to provide industry best practices and generate data to help CMs track and manage their facility, following the belief that, if you measure something, improvement will follow.
- Be proactive and develop a plan to strategize how you might deal with a truss collapse and the subsequent investigation.
- Information is critical; visit the site, take lots of photos and document as much as you can.
- Remember that the only company looking out for your company’s best interests is your own. Take action with this in mind, and ultimately, it will save everyone money and time.
- The beginning of the year is a great time to ensure your forklift drivers are up-to-date on their training.
- For several years, OSHA has been pursuing more stringent regulations for the collection and disposal of “combustible dust,” including sawdust.
- Hearing conservation is a very serious concern, and one that can affect the component manufacturing industry.
Most holiday trees have probably been taken down by now, but when we received these photos from Sun State Components, we just had to run them. A few years ago, a production manager at the Surprise, AZ, facility created these ingenious truss ornaments from balsa wood and silver gum wrappers. “We wanted to add something unique to our tree and customize it for the truss industry,” said Davi-Ann Farmer, Engineering Department Manager at Sun State. She added that these ornaments are a favorite every year, and always receive comments from customers.