Steel Framing: Strengthening Homes and Businesses PATH Case Study

Click here to visit the PATH website.  PDF Click here for a larger view. Jason Greene, owner of Greene Building and Construction Company (Northport, Ala.), has been in the home-building business since 1995. After graduating with a degree in civil engineering, Greene went to work for a traditional stick-frame builder, before meeting a homebuilder using steel framing techniques normally seen in commercial construction. Impressed by the quality and the advantages to the builder, Greene started his own steel framing residential construction business. He now builds about 20 homes a year. Here's his account of one project: We broke ground on a spec home at Northwood Gardens, a development we share with two other builders, at the end of May. The entire home was framed with steel. Eight weeks later, everything was done, including the landscaping. We finished two months ahead of the wood framer—a similar size house in the same development. It only took us six days to frame the entire home. Planning and preparation The framing process starts before you get to the job site and evolves much differently than traditional wood framing. It takes some planning and preparation. You aren't going to go down to your local hardware store and buy steel studs, so it requires a bit more office time to get your materials and put together everything you need on the jobsite. Essentially, you build the project in the office before you ever get to the site. On a wood house, you get a set of house plans, you hand it to the framer, and he figures out what he needs. With steel, you give the plans to someone in the office who can efficiently get all the materials the framers need. Training and subcontractors When a home goes up in just six days, you have to give a lot of credit to the framers in the field. Mind you, it is not difficult to train steel framers, but they have to get used to different tools and techniques. For example, you're using a screw gun rather than a nail gun. But if you are a good framer with wood, you are going to be a good framer with steel as long as you have an open mind and want to learn.   1 | 2  NEXT