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May 21, 2008

Supply Chain

There's a builder who lives near me. In his shop he stores something on the order of 8 million lineal feet of every stick of molding, 1-by, PVC and vinyl siding he's ever seen. It's spilling out like shrapnel from a lumber yard explosion.

And its money forever trapped in his supply chain.

Sure, he'll save a trip for a hunk of 1-by or drywall every now and again, but for the most part, there's 1000 pounds of profit he'll never see a dime of.

For a business like mine, I use Lowe's and The Home Depot to manage my supply chain. I know what some of your are thinking, but it works for me.

All of the homes I work on are occupied (including my own). Second, the scope of work usually amounts to room-by-room remodeling (kitchen, bath, or basement for example) rather than full bore gut jobs. Add to this there's often scant room to store materials on site -- never mind out of the weather.

The result is that I only want what I can reasonably store and install on-site at any given time.

So, I buy the job in stages: studs first, drywall next, trim after that ...you get the idea. It means I drive around a lot. But I get what I need, return what's extra, and no margin or shop space is tied up in inventory I don't need. Lowe's or Home Depot has it instead -- and they don't give me store credit: they immediately refund to my credit card.

How do you manage your supply chain? Do you battle with siding, trim or flooring warping outside under a tarp? Got any better ideas for me?Post 'em.

Posted by Mark Clement at 6:24 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2008

May is Deck Safety Month

The easiest disaster to prevent is the one that never happens.

But deck disasters do happen. And with loads of decks reaching the end of their useful lifespan -- and spotty building codes for decks -- there could be more of them.

If the stats on deck failures below don't make the case, check this video -- It'll make your teeth sweat. http://youtube.com/watch?v=2sXY6u1liJ4

According to the National Deck and Railing Association -- www.Nadra.org -- between 2000 and 2006, there have been:

• at least 30 deck collapse-related deaths reported.
• more than 75 percent of people on a deck are injured or killed when it collapses.
• There are 40 million decks in the U.S. that are over 20 years old. At a conservative 1 percent, that means 40,000 decks are currently in need of repair or replacement. Taking that estimate to 10 percent brings the total number of unsafe decks to 4 million.

It is also estimated that many deck collapses -- if not the majority of them -- go unreported because permits were never pulled to build the deck in the first place and the homeowner or builder wants to avoid notice.

The danger is in the details -- or lack thereof: There's no redundancy in most deck structural design. Everything else in residential framing has redundancy -- walls have interlocking double top plates, sheathing and shear panels, and hold-downs for example.

Oh, and they're not outdoors.

We bolt decks to the house's siding -- penetrating the building envelope and allowing water and snow access to the home's framing -- then stick the joists way out on posts and beams. Then it rains. And snows. You get the idea.

In a pursuit of well-built, safe decks NADRA has deemed May National Deck Safety Month and is a good resource for homeowners and deck builders.

What's your deal with deck-building? Do you have a best practice for ledger connections? Post sizing? Does your local code give you the guidance you need to build decks that last? Is your deck falling off your house?

Post a comment. I want to know.

Posted by Mark Clement at 3:53 PM | Comments (3)