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Component Manufacturing dverti$ dverti $ er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$$er
January 2023 #15282 Page #92
Design Connections
Geordie Secord, Senior Recruiter TheJobLine.com – Canada
Cost-Saving Measures and Memorable Debacles
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recent truss and EWP project had so many site-related problems, it must go down on my list of most memorable for all the wrong reasons. Like many of you, I’ve certainly experienced challenging jobs in the past, but it seemed like the stream of problems just never ended. As is often the case, the homeowner felt that they could save themselves a considerable amount of money by avoiding hiring a qualified general contractor to manage the construction project. By looking after all the purchasing and hiring the various sub-trades directly, there was potentially a couple hundred thousand dollars to be saved. This custom house was large – about 5,000 square feet – but not ridiculously so, and although there were a few complications such as some cathedral ceilings, and multiple hip roofs over other hip roofs, the construction drawings were reasonably clear and well drawn. The low slope of the roof and high snow load for the area did create some additional design challenges, but eventually I was able to find a solution that met all of the important objectives: •
The exterior elevation of the finished house would match the architectural drawings.
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There would be no need to introduce support for the roof in the interior of the house. All loads were transferred to the exterior walls. This avoided any compromise to the interior layout resulting from additional columns or load bearing walls.
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All the roof framing was accomplished using trusses, with no need for on-site framing.
Several months after we delivered the truss and EWP package, the questions started: •
They claimed there were no truss hangers provided, and although our staff had proof that they had been shipped we sent additional hardware to the site.
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While investigating that, it became apparent that while framing the EWP floor system the framer had left out dozens of EWP hangers.
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