'Ask the Builder': What's the Value of Wall Panels?

Tim Carter is currently in Bar Harbor, ME to help install the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) and evaluate how smoothly this goes with industrialized framing techniques. In coordination with SBCA, Tim is sharing his perspective at each step of this home project to help educate the readers of his syndicated column on the value of building using componentized framing techniques.

Tim's recent newsletter, sent out on February 20, showed the progress on the new home and highlighted the accuracy that components can provide.

“While the house may look plain vanilla, its bones are anything but. All of the floors are built using clear-span floor trusses for better open space use. All the exterior and interior walls were built in a factory. The precision is FAR GREATER than anything any crew of rough carpenters could produce in the field.”

In the same newsletter, Tim included links to SBCA’s Best Way to Frame website so his subscribers could learn more about floor trusses, wall panels, and the “magical things you can create with pre-fabricated roof trusses.” This newsletter campaign brought 525 visitors to Best Way to Frame and of those, 483 were new visitors.

Previously, Tim had mentioned that although he knew wall panels were a newer concept back when he was building, "I was never able to use prefabricated wall panels as the industry was just gearing up for the most part.” While Tim may not have been built with wall panels 25 years ago, he can see the value now over conventional stick-framing and shared the following benefits in his newsletter.

“Building the walls under a giant factory roof keeps all the materials DRY. All the wall panels are stacked on the floor in pre-determined piles so there is zero wasted motion standing them up and putting them around the subfloor exactly where they belong.”

Tim’s reach is impressive, as he has over 45,000 subscribers to his newsletter, and over double that in YouTube subscribers. Tim plans use those platforms to continue to explore, with builders and the public, the advantages of industrialized framing with components.

To learn more about industrialized framing please visit SBCA’s Best Way to Frame website.

If you are interested in developing a market development business plan for use of industrialized framing, check out the marketing guide in the CM Toolbox or contact SBCA staff.

For additional information, please read the following articles:

'Ask the Builder' Shares the 'Magic' of Components
Video: Trusses Can Make Your Dreams Come True