IDEAS AT WORK

Albert Einstein once observed that “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” And in the midst of today economic environment, this has never been more true. Today, steel framing offers a number of unique benefits that members can use to gain an advantage – even in a tough market.

Gloom and doom is pervasive in the construction business today, with words like “crisis,” “meltdown,” and “recession” casually thrown around in newsrooms and boardrooms across the country. A normal reaction would be to hunker down and try to ride out this rocky period, but to do so would be to miss some real opportunities.

Yes. I said “opportunities.”

In times like these, everyone is looking for ways to lower their costs, increase production efficiency, and minimize risks. This is certainly a far different environment than what we had been experiencing over the past several years. The housing market was white hot and most homebuilders were rightly focused on meeting the demand. But when demand slows and the pace to build more and more homes goes down, we are reminded that it’s actually an ideal opportunity for builders to take a closer look at new construction methods, innovations and materials. So instead of focusing primarily on single-family dwellings, mid-size and production builders are trending toward adding multifamily projects to diversify their product portfolios. This, they have found, creates a hedge against the market changes they experience even in more normal times. As a result, in the non-residential segment most economic gurus project slight growth despite the weak housing market’s impact on the credit markets.

In other words, the strongest market segments in 2008 also are those where steel framing can offer builders what they need the most: maximum return on investment. The data supporting this is compelling:

• Height and Area tables in the building codes give steel an advantage over wood by allowing taller structures and increased density, offering owners the potential to earn substantially more revenue from steel-framed over wood-framed projects.
• More efficient construction methods, such as panelization, are available for CFS mid-rise structures and can result in construction cycles that are as much as 120 days shorter than structural steel or concrete systems. Faster construction cycles enable the owner to realize revenue more quickly while reducing carrying costs; this also narrows the window for exposure to litigation.
• Both non-combustibility and a shorter construction timeline also enable developers who choose steel to significantly reduce their costs for most types of insurance, including builder’s risk, workers’ compensation, and general liability products.
• Because steel framing is lighter than wood and concrete, less concrete is needed at the foundation to support the structure. This lighter weight also means that it is possible to build in soil conditions where wood and concrete would not be allowed. It is also possible to optimize the use of material by using wider spacing or varying the thickness of material used in the framing system.

And there are almost as many advantages to using steel framing as there are targets of opportunity. At the end of 2007, for example, 875 multifamily and mid-rise projects on the West Coast and Gulf Coast alone were in the pre-planning stage.

The Steel Framing Alliance is capitalizing on these facts and market conditions to take the case for steel framing directly to decision makers. In the coming months, we’ll be sharing more information about these one-to-one market efforts, as well as equipping our members with information and ideas you can use.

Improving Steel’s Competitive Position

As we focus on opportunities in the marketplace, we are also proactively addressing and responding to issues that affect the decision to use steel framing. This includes taking a visible, proactive role in the green building movement – to hold the line against attacks on the environmental credits given to steel, and to expand recognition of the positive attributes of steel framing in an environment of evolving standards.

We are also currently leveling the playing field where inequities in the building codes exist, developing tools that will help enable building designs to comply with energy code requirements, and working with other industries to expand the competitive advantages that steel framing offers.

All of this builds on a solid infrastructure of codes, standards, design, and training resources that have been put in place over the past decade of the SFA’s existence.

In our ongoing effort to promote the use of steel framing, we have developed yet another resource – Framework Online, an e-newsletter that provides resources and information from the steel framing industry. Our intent for Framework Online is to be a resource for visitors, a repository of information for our members, and a platform we can use to communicate and exchange information with members and the marketplace.

The challenging environment we’re in today is an opportunity for all of us to channel our energy into the spirit of innovation that has characterized the development of the steel framing industry.

We hope you enjoy reading the inaugural issue of Framework Online. We look forward to your comments, thoughts and ideas on how we can enhance the publication in the months to come.

Larry Williams
Steel Framing Alliance President