Building Materials

The Lean Designer: Paying too much for trusses? Here is a quick test.

When it comes to trusses "Piggyback" is a four letter word. Piggyback trusses are little trusses that sit upon larger trusses to allow the roof…

Marketing & Sales

Tips on how renderings can sell the home — not the house

Traveling around the country I see a lot of renderings - most of them leave a whole lot to be desired. The worst are the black and white CAD drawings…

Design

2 hot design trends that will delight your customers

Our lives are busy and getting busier. Some of the most popular new design trends focus on making life a bit easier. Simplifying access and flow to…

Design

4 baby steps that will save you $150 or more per house

"Baby step onto the elevator... baby step into the elevator... I'm in the elevator." If you have not seen Bill Murray in "What about Bob," make some…

Design

Value engineering’s role in Lean design – Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett

Imagine yourself walking into McDonalds and ordering lunch (if you are anything like me this would probably not be a huge stretch). You walk up to…

Design

Look ma! No jogs!

Look ma! The war cry for young show offs world wide. I’m sure you have had a “look ma” moment or two in your life. I don’t know about you but mine…

Design

Help for Haiti

I have been fortunate enough to be working with Jeff Rutt and Matt Collins from Keystone Custom Homes, Perry Bigelow from Bigelow Homes, and several…

Get to the point: Clarifying structural loads on construction drawings

Eric Tiffin our magically talented Project Manager brought up the idea of writing about point loads this week. My first thought was that there may…

Design

My biggest eye opener relating to the building business — Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett

We all have our eye opening moments in life. When I was 17 my dad would often remind me to keep checking the oil in my 72 Bonneville. I did check the…

Design

Design checklists made simple

Check yourself before you wreck yourself. This delightful saying comes from a rap song by Ice Cube. Mr. Cube’s message urges us all to make use of a…