Talked with a framing crew foreman that shifted how I look at lumber pricing

I was on a site in Des Moines last week and the foreman, Mike, pointed out I was over-engineering my header specs for a simple ranch. He said the truss layout can take way more load than I was accounting for, saving me about $400 on lumber. Made me realize I've been padding estimates out of habit for years. Anyone else had a builder pull back the curtain on their own assumptions?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan54521d ago

Did you catch that timber frame guys podcast where they talked about how a lot of builders are just guessing on load calcs? It really opened my eyes to how much we rely on old habits instead of actual numbers. Have you ever tested a truss layout against your own estimates?

nathan54521d ago

That "padding estimates out of habit" part hit close to home... I've been doing the same thing for years and never stopped to question it until a buddy showed me his math.