A Winter of Content: a Building Envelope in 8 Days PATH Case Study

Click here to visit the PATH website. The Builder: Paul Truax Vermont Built Inc. Chester, Vermont In the construction business since 1961, Paul and Colleen Truax left traditional stick building behind 13 years ago when they formed Vermont Built, Inc., a custom home building company that works solely with panelized construction. Today, with two of their five children, they build in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. Builder Type: Small custom homebuilder The Technology: Panelized Wall and Roof Systems Panelized systems take many forms, from structural components, like trusses, to all-in-one panels that include framing, insulation and sheathing. For Vermont Built, the panels produce an end product similar to traditional stick-built framing. But instead of building each panel on site, all of the wall panels and trusses are constructed under controlled conditions in a production facility, and then delivered on a tractor-trailer with an attached crane to the house site. The Vermont Built crew places panels into position using the crane. Panelized homes are erected faster with less cost for labor and less material waste. Read Three PATH Field Evaluations: Howard Building Company, Rougemont, N.C. Hughes Construction, Lexington, N.C. Home Front Homes, Venice, Fla. The Project: Two-story, 2,400-square-foot home to serve as a model for the 25-site Chester Remington development community in Chester, Vt. Why he uses panelized construction: "There are definite advantages to keeping part of the work in the shop, under controlled conditions and out of the weather. It substantially reduces the amount of waste, the amount of labor, and the amount of time on site. We were faced with building a house in winter conditions. We had to get it enclosed before the severe weather arrived. Panelized construction made that possible." Truax's story "There are many advantages to panelized construction, but the most obvious one is speedy on-site construction," says Paul Truax, one of the owners of Vermont Built. That benefit was vividly clear in December 2005, when the company was racing to complete a model home in Chester, Vt., before the worst of winter weather arrived. Once they laid the foundation, Truax and company were able to erect the building envelope of their model home in only eight days. "Construction started on the two-story model on a Monday morning. By Monday afternoon, we had the first floor deck and first floor walls up, including interior walls, and temporary heat in the basement," he says. "Then by Tuesday, we had the second floor deck and the second floor walls on. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, we were dealing with trusses and the roof sheathing, and by Friday night, we essentially had the whole building framed. Vermont Built uses a six-man crew with a minimum of two men on the deck, one man on the truck hitching the chain, and one operating the crane. This allows the crew to set the walls for the first and second floors in two days. "On the following Wednesday, we had the roof with all of the shingles on, plus the exterior doors and windows in place. In all, it took only eight days. We normally run from five to 10 days, depending on the size of the house, and particularly the size and complexity of the roof." Speedy construction is in the interest of any project to keep down labor costs, but it was particularly important to Truax in this case, because he wanted the home built before the snow began to accumulate. "We spent a summer putting infrastructure into the development. By the time we got that into place and were ready for homes, we were starting to get into winter weather," he says. "However, we needed a model house for marketing purposes, so we could take advantage of the winter traffic. We are in ski country here, and that is the major marketing time for us."   1 | 2 | 3  NEXT RELATED ARTICLES: CDBG Project Launches Builder into ICF Market Insulated Concrete Forms: Building a Competitive Edge