Building the Framing Future - Today!

BCMC was great. I think the education sessions were some of the best we’ve ever had, covering issues CMs face on a daily basis. If you missed a session, or didn’t get a chance to attend BCMC at all, the pages of this issue are full of some of the most valuable nuggets of advice presenters and attendees discussed. If there’s a topic that really grabs your interest, let me know because there may be an opportunity to revisit that topic during SBCA’s 2017 online workshop series.

While I was at the show, I had a chance to sit down with Lee Kirgan, construction manager for Operation Finally Home (OFH). SBCA began a partnership with OFH in 2013 and has framed four houses for wounded veterans during that time. Each one of those projects has brought our industry together to support a family who has sacrificed so much for this country.

There are a lot of veterans in need out there, and OFH has expanded rapidly to meet that need. Whenever a recipient is identified, OFH reaches out to find a builder willing to construct the house. In partnering with SBCA, OFH had a challenge: trying to work with the builder and in the city that SBCA identified. We’ve made it work, but it hasn’t been easy.

Lee was adamant when we met that OFH greatly values SBCA’s partnership with them. I feel the same—we’ve worked hard on this partnership and done a lot of good. In talking with Lee, it became clear that there’s an even greater opportunity, one that fits well with OFH’s standard approach and that allows more SBCA chapters and members to get involved in projects across the country. We’re still working out the details, but we’re hoping to be able to complete multiple projects each year in areas that BCMC might never be able to visit. Keep an eye on bcmcbuild.com for all the latest developments.

I know in Texas, we’ve been interested in running a project to showcase the advantages of roof trusses over stick framed rafters. An OFH build would be a perfect opportunity for a typical Texas builder to see first-hand the value components bring to roof framing. This comparison approach worked well during the 2015 BCMC Build partnership with OFH. For those of you who weren’t involved, SBCA used that project to repeat the 1995 Framing the American Dream study. Relying on the generous donations of several chapters and individual CMs, we were able to build two houses for the families of wounded veterans, and we gathered a lot of data to show that components are the best way to frame. If you haven’t already, check out the results at sbcindstry.com/fad.

Now SBCA is undertaking a new project to help CMs position themselves in their markets. The Component Marketing Toolbox is a subscription service giving any CM member access to a growing library of marketing materials that highlight the benefits of components. From a calculator that provides labor and material cost comparisons between stick and component framing to a variety of brochures that you can customize to meet your company’s needs, a CM Toolbox subscription gives you all the print and web content you need to start expanding your market share. These tools are a fresh presentation of facts that can’t be found anywhere else. They can help new sales staff learn the ropes or aid the most seasoned CM in showing potential customers the advantages of components.

SBCA is a service-driven, not a dues-driven, organization. In coming up with the subscription model, the SBCA Board of Directors and I discussed many ways of covering the costs of developing these great tools. This was the best option to secure SBCA investment in continuing to update and expand the range of materials available to members. And all for less than what you would spend training a single member of your staff for a single day.

Think of the CM Toolbox as the hammer that we all can use to set the truss as the future of framing. It’s a component that you can use to efficiently build a great structure: a growing customer base, thriving sales and increasing profits in a proud, professional industry.