Recently, JLC posted a video on our Facebook page titled "If Cars Were Built Like Houses" (which we learned about via Dan Kolbert of Kolbert Building in Portland, Me.). Narrated by home-performance contractor-extraordinaire, Corbett Lunsford, the video pokes fun at the inefficiencies of constructing houses one at a time on site, and dwells of the exceedingly low bar the industry has set for homebuyers to discern what makes a good house: "If cars where bought like houses, the car would not be tested by anyone except the buyer, who'd just makes sure the paint looks nice and the seats felt goo-od."
The video is intended to persuade homebuyers to pay attention to home performance testing - "proof" that a home performs efficiently, as intended. But this video also begs the question: Is there a better way to build on site?
In JLC's sister publication, Tools of the Trade, editor David Frane, provides some food for thought in "New Tech Japanese Timber Framing". Seems our builder brothers in Japan have ventured far into the world of building high-end homes using a surprising mix of manufactured framing components and traditional carpentry. It's a good read with intriguing videos, and provides some important history in the evolution of homebuilding.
Much closer to home, BMC, a major building materials supplier has expanded it's installation services, providing sheathed and ready to stand manufactured framing componets along with trusses to create a complete ready-to-assemble framing package. And as a step in-between components assembly and conventional stick-building, BMC has also introduced Ready Frame. Debuting at the 2015 International Builder's Show, Ready Frame is a precut framing package with all the layouts printed directly on the framing members. We'll provide more information from ProSales, as soon as it becomes available.
