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Few issues have demanded the attention of the SBCA Board of Directors more over the past five years than the variability of lumber design values. SBCA Legal Counsel Kent Pagel provided guidance to component manufacturers (CMs) on ways to mitigate the potential risk and liability that have arisen in the market as a result of how the lumber industry has chosen to deal with the issue of variable design properties.
It’s one thing to have a salesperson from an MSR producer tell you the advantages of using MSR lumber in your production process. It’s an entirely different thing—and much more persuasive—to have four veteran component manufacturers (CMs) give you the reasons they’re convinced it’s better than visually graded lumber.
and ensure prolonged success through more diverse product offerings.
SBCA has partnered with Lockton and AmTrust to offer members both a comprehensive policy review and a new coverage option.
Recognize the differences between age groups and play to their strengths for successful intergenerational management.
After a tornado decimated one of its Michigan truss plants, Zeeland took advantage of the unexpected chance to rebuild and grow.
Explore the two different methods used to calculate a wall panel’s capacity to resist applied lateral loads.
- Being purchased by their biggest customer allowed Plum Building Systems to forge an even more positive relationship with closer, more effective communication.
- Building partnerships with other complementary organization can benefit everyone in the supply chain.
- A collective commitment to service can produce a greater impact in the community when companies join forces.
- Manufacturing rough openings in a plant improves site placement accuracy efficiency dues to consistent framing every time.
- Componentized wall sections also significantly reduce jobsite waste and allow for the use of alternative header approaches and materials.
- Having the ability to deliver components just in time to urban jobsites alleviates the need for hard-to-find storage and staging areas.
- CMs engaged in NFC membership de-velopment efforts will find their work rewarded with better organized, safer, more effective and more reliable framing crews.
- Framers engaged in NFC will learn component installation best practices from other framers, with the goal of creating more efficient, safe and profitable framing outcomes.
- By actively growing awareness of and membership in NFC, CMs will expand their framing community connections and naturally expand market share and revenue growth.
- By conducting its own ASTM E119 floor assembly fire testing, SBCA has the data it needs to effectively fight the controversial IRC Section R501.3 code provision and help preserve CMs’ market share.
- SBCA has drafted template best practice language CMs should consider using in their TDDs, customer contracts and submittal documents to counter the efforts of the lumber industry to shift liability onto end users.
- Through Framing the American Dream and WorkForce Development efforts, SBCA is actively engaged in helping CMs successfully navigate today’s labor challenges and grow their businesses.
- A quarter of a million people left the housing construction industry from 2002-2012, and many of them have found employment elsewhere.
- Framers are feeling the effects of this exodus more acutely than most, prompting them to look for creative ways to do more with fewer people.
- CMs can play a pivotal role in switching framers from sticks to components by offering installation training and expertise to new framing employees.
Editor’s Note: The purpose of this article series is to identify truss-related structural issues sometimes missed due to the day-in and day-out demands of truss design/production and the fragmented building design review and approval process. This series will explore issues in the building market that are not normally focused upon, and provide recommended best-practice guidance.
Consider for a moment the basics of manufacturing a truss. Based on SBCA’s 2012 Financial Performance Survey, lumber accounts for roughly 40 percent of the total cost. Plates account for about eight percent of the total cost. Design and production labor account for 30 percent, and delivery, sales and overhead account for the remaining 22 percent (these are rough industry averages). All other things being equal, if you could decrease your lumber costs by a few percentage points while raising your plate costs a small amount, would you take the trade-off?
- A series of test concepts have been suggested. SBCA needs your input on these concepts to ensure the industry testing conducted in SBCRI helps improve market opportunities for CMs.
- The goal of industry testing in SBCRI is to tackle the daily design and framing challenges CMs see, and find solutions that make components even more reliable and cost effective.
- SBCRI was developed and built specifically for this purpose.
- Today’s complex truss designs can present significant installation challenges to framers if there isn’t good communication between the framer and the manufacturer.
- From storage and lifting pick points to critical bearing conditions, safe handling and installation practices need to be effectively communicated to installers.
- During the design phase, manufacturers can help ensure smooth installation by considering the framing challenges a complex design may create and facilitate cross communication between parties.
When it comes to getting the right structural building components for a project, cost isn’t everything, but how do you convince the building designer? Communication is key.