Everyone buying raw materials for structural components or conventional framing applications is purchasing design values and related properties for use in engineering equations to resist loads for a given load path.
It is not well known that lumber design values are global in nature and not specific to the piece of lumber being used.
Design values written into the building code become the law, whether they are scientifically correct or not.
If the law is treated forthrightly as written, professional engineers have great value in the market.
The truss industry’s innovative products and software form the link between new science-based discoveries and their application.
The mission of any professional engineering endeavor is to deploy innovative materials, designs or methods of construction that meet or exceed all regulations, protect the consumer and preserve free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade.
When the IRC provides a solution that cannot be supported by testing of real buildings in a code-compliant application of braced walls, more accurate and technically correct engineered solutions will never be able to compete.
There is some resistance in the market to establishing standard factors for product equivalency or system performance because it may result in non-wood products graining an advantage over traditional OSB market share.
A top testing priority for SBCA is “Framing the American Dream III,” which seeks to test a typical stick framed roof and compare its performance to an identical engineered truss roof.
A key SBC industry value proposition is to sell a value-added product by providing unique engineering and supply-chain management solutions to customers.
SBCA members should have passion for and speak with a united voice in advocating for supplier and supplier association initiatives that positively support the SBC industry.
Challenging times force hard and bold decisions that are risky. The survival of SBCA, BCMC, SBC Magazine and SBCRI were dependant on risk-taking.
Private contract testing business through SBCRI led to the creation of the new and very valuable concepts of benchmark testing and code compliance tools called the Technical Evaluation Report (TER).
The SBC industry can easily be the center of the universe for providing the structural framework of all light-frame construction and offering great value in engineering innovation.
