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Lumber Package

The lumber package is the meat and potatoes of the house. The framing material for your entire structure is in this order. It can cost 10's of thousands of dollars and the difference between suppliers can be in the thousands. Shop around. There are usually several lumber yards, even in a small community. Go to all of them. Inquire about seperate bids with trusses and without. There are truss companies that will bid your project independently. In addition, ask about other areas of the project they might want to bid on. This may include cabinets, trim carpentry material and hardware, windows, roofing material, and even flooring. Be sure to pursue independent bids in these areas but you may accomplish an overall savings if you bundle your material order.

The lumber yard should be able to guarantee some type of delivery. Ask them what lead time they need for delivery of the lumber package to the jobsite. Note any lead time on your schedule. Have the material delivered 2-3 days after the concrete is poured. This allows the concrete contractor to remove any material they need to and also allows a few days for the slab to cure.

Additional Material

The owner builder should be aware, lumber packs are rarely complete. That is to say, additional material will be needed for order. Shortages can occur for a number of reasons. There may be a miscalculation during take-offs. Perhaps there is excessive waste ( the framers are cutting 10 ft 2X4's to make 8 ft studs when 8 footers are already pre-cut, etc. ). Sometimes there is inventory shrinkage, neighbors taking a few boards here and there for home projects, workers doing the same. Of course, there are also changes the owner builder may decide on during the construction process, for instance adding pot shelves or framing accents. It may even be that portions of the lumber package were missing from the delivery.

One thing that can be done to prevent this is to do an immediate inventory of the lumber delivered. Make sure it matches the package that was paid for. It is best for the owner builder to conduct the inventory, since it is his or her money that is on the line.

The OB can go to the local hardware or lumber yard to pick up any material or have the framer do it. On the occasion that a large amount of material is needed, contact the lumber yard and have it delivered. If the framer has been sent to do this, they must be reimbursed for the material cost, PLUS time and gas.

The framers depend on timely delivery of lumber and trusses.

Trusses

Roof and floor trusses are another integral item in the structure of the home. Trusses are engineered to hold tremendous loads. They can vary in strength based on area projected snow loads, pitch of roof and roofing material. Concrete roof tiles on a low pitch roof are far heavier on a truss than roof shingles on a high pitch roof. This would require truss engineers to design and much stronger truss. The heavier the truss, the more expensive the truss package. Keep this in mind when determining your roof design.

Take your completed plans to several local truss companies. It usually takes them about a week to analyze your blueprints and design a truss system to fit your requirements. Because these systems are engineered and the truss company takes on considerable liability for their performance, you can normally trust the design. Base your decision to award on price and ability to deliver the product. It's no good to award a truss contract to a company that cannot guarantee you will have your material to the jobsite when required by the framing crews. You cannot afford to lose a framing crew because the material doesn't show up on time.

For more information on trusses, view our Roof Trusses page.