Remodeler: Dennis Gehman
Company: Gehman Custom Builder/Remodeler, Harleysville, Pa.
Product: Chief Architect, by Advanced Relational Technology, www.chiefarchitect.com.
Hail the Chief
Dennis Gehman uses Chief Architect design and drafting software to show his clients detailed drawings of their project plans. "It has become a valuable tool for us in the bid process," he says.
"The capability of being able to show the three-dimensional views is a great selling tool," Gehman says, because he can "show people what their project will look like."
Chief Architect allows remodelers and other design professionals to create complete custom plan sets and blueprints, along with complete materials lists and CAD details. Three-dimensional and two-dimensional models for renderings, virtual tours, and construction details also can be created. The software includes an extensive library of manufacturer-specific products in representational textures, images, and symbols, and new materials can be imported to customize the library.
A new version of the software was recently released: Chief Architect Professional Series 9.0. "The new version has more features and an enhanced CAD program. Each version is more user-friendly," says Gehman.
Remodeler: Bill Bartlett
Company: Home Rebuilders Design/Build, Atlanta
Product: WindsorONE trim boards,
In the Details
Bill Bartlett installs a lot of exterior trim to reproduce the look of old trim in the communities in which he works, but processing yellow pine or Douglas fir boards into fine pieces of trim and cornice work takes a lot of sanding to reduce the appearance of heavy grains. When he tried WindsorONE trim boards, he found his solution. "We like it because it comes preprimed and there are no chatter marks and no graining," he says. "It's nice and flat."
Bartlett uses WindsorONE's products for both exterior and interior trim. The engineered-wood boards are made of kiln-dried, finger-jointed wood blocks harvested from even-aged timber stands to resist distortion. The boards come preprimed on all six sides.
Bartlett's work mimics old exterior trim details, and he says working with a more dependable, tight-grained wood allows him to use more of the old cornice details his clients ask for. "The dependability lets us do a little bit more on the outside," he says.
"People come to us because we're known to have a quality level," he says. "They don't see us chasing the problem piece of board, because it went in right from the start."
Remodeler: Tom Capizzi
Company: Capizzi Home Improvements, Cotuit, Mass.
Product: CertainTeed Monogram vinyl siding,
It's a Natural
Although Cape Cod doesn't do a booming business in vinyl siding, Tom Capizzi uses CertainTeed's Monogram vinyl siding exclusively in his projects because of the natural appearance of its rough, cedarlike texture. "We've had great success with it," says Capizzi. "Clients like it a lot because there are so many colors available."
Capizzi also uses the brushed-finish Monogram Double 4-inch profile, which mimics the appearance of smooth, painted clapboards. The light paintbrush stroke "doesn't even look like vinyl," he says.
Monogram vinyl siding is available in clapboard and Dutch lap profiles in four styles and comes in 28 solid and wood-toned colors. CertainTeed's RigidForm 180 technology enables the panels to withstand winds up to 180 mph in a nailed installation and up to 235 mph in a stapled installation.
For more product information, visit ebuild , Hanley-Wood's interactive product catalog.
