frame high-end custom homes in California's suburbs, and I pride myself on turning out "clean" work. But I wouldn't be in business around here very long if I weren't fast. With my three-man crew, I'm expected to frame and sheathe a 3,000-square-foot custom home with lots of high rake walls and a complex roof in about one month. That kind of speed comes from using production techniques. I learned them in the "tracts" — the West Coast's large, suburban developments that have been the breeding ground for these innovative techniques for more than 40 years. Contractors unfamiliar with these methods tend to think of them as inherently sloppy and out of control. On the contrary, each move is orchestrated to achieve efficiency. The key is to learn
