THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 11, 1995 TAG: 9511090267
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY CHRIS KIDDER, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATES WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 161 lines
Bruce Ward, president of Res-Tek International in Salem, Ore., has been framing houses with light gauge steel for 18 years. He took the stage in Washington, D.C., last month at MetalCon 95, the annual conference and exhibition for the metal construction industry, to explain why. And how.
Hundreds of 7,000 architects, engineers, home builders and residential developers who attended MetalCon took time to listen. While most of the audience wasn't ready to embrace Ward's favorite building material, they weren't ruling out the possibility that steel was in their future.
For some, light gauge steel and the new building methods it represents have been pushed on the single-family home market too fast. Along the coast, building professionals question its long-term structural integrity in a corrosive atmosphere.
For others, like Ward and the American Iron & Steel Institute, a trade association for steel manufacturers, the conversion from lumber to steel can't come too soon.
Steel construction, both light gauge and red iron, for commercial and multi-family housing became commonplace after World War II. Red iron steel for engineered ``open span'' construction has been used in single family houses probably just as long.
A handful of steel aficionados, including Ward, used light gauge steel in home building but, according to AISI, only a few hundred steel frame houses were built each year until 1993. Almost all of those were on the West Coast.
In 1993, with loggers stymied by endangered owls and natural disasters gobbling up stock, the lumber market went wild. Home builders everywhere began to look at light gauge steel.
Steel wasn't tied to environmentally sensitive sources and was readily available. It was recyclable, non-combustible and compatible with other building materials. Its prices were stable when lumber prices looked like they'd been charted by a relay team of worker ants.
West Coast builders, the hardest hit because of logging concerns, immediately turned to steel. Their suppliers banded together to standardize generic steel products, stamping identification numbers on steel components and bundling orders for easy handling. Some provided technical assistance and on-site training.
By the end of 1993, the frames of 85,000 homes were either all steel or used steel studs in their non-loading walls. In 1994, even though the price of lumber had dropped, 100,000 single-family houses included steel; nearly half were framed completely in steel. Again, almost all were on the West Coast.
As wood prices flattened out, East Coast builders lost interest. A few said consumers weren't ready to accept steel framing. Most said it was too hard to do business with East Coast suppliers. Many suppliers charged dealership fees, penalizing builders who didn't want to be wholesalers. Others sold only expensive, proprietary systems.
Atlantic Homes, Hampton, Va., began substituting light gauge steel studs for wood two-by-fours in early 1994. ``We're taking baby steps with this,'' said company president Ken Allen at the time, but he was optimistic about expanding where Atlantic might go with steel.
Nearly two years later, the company is still at step one. It uses steel studs in non-loading walls because the product is easily available. Going further with steel is hampered by the lack of suppliers for packages to build a whole house, says Bill Knight, Atlantic's construction chief.
Lumber prices dropped, says Knight. ``Our target is the first-time home buyer and it's just not economically feasible to use steel for lower end homes.''
Atlantic, like most East Coast builders, pulled back and waited to see where steel - and lumber - would end up. Switching methods and materials didn't make sense unless it improved their bottom line.
MetalCon was betting that building professionals from across the country were still interested in light gauge steel, whether they were ready to use it or not. For the first time, organizers shifted the focus of the show from commercial building to residential applications.
Builders got a hands-on look at a steel-frame house. They crowded into workshops to learn about upcoming changes in the industry that will make steel technology more accessible and easier to use. They packed exhibit booths offering steel building systems, roofs and other products for single family houses.
Environmental Framing Concepts Inc., of Kill Devil Hills, N.C., a fledgling supplier of a light gauge steel framing system, came away with dozens of leads.
``We had tremendous response,'' says Jim Holland, EFCO sales manager. ``Half the people we talked with were builders who had never tried steel; the other half had tried it without much success. We're going to change that.''
Most residential builders who have had unhappy experiences with steel have either been at the mercy of overextended proprietary suppliers or they've tried to deal directly with the roll form companies who produce light gauge steel framing.
``Roll formers are not ready to deal with a large number of customers,'' says Holland. ``They don't provide technical assistance or engineering and design services.''
Holland explained that EFCO has created their product to fit the way builders want to work. There are no dealership fees, no proprietary designs and parts. The company supplies fabricating and engineering services to fit the builder's blueprints. An EFCO steel frame can be erected on any foundation system.
The company also provides on-site technical support and optional panelization for builders who need to cut field time and costs.
Holland, a former commercial steel builder, understands what contractors need to make light gauge steel competitive with wood. Two years ago he was hired by Mike Bateman, an Outer Banks vacation home builder who was sold on making the switch to steel.
In two years, Bateman has built only three steel frame houses, two on the Outer Banks and one in Washington, N.C. ``I've talked with a lot of customers who wanted a steel frame house,'' he says. ``But I couldn't get the product.''
Supplier problems aggravated the financial and engineering problems any builder blazing new trails might expect. Frustrated with his slow progress, Bateman decided to take business into his own hands. He and Holland formed EFCO to provide the middleman services most contractors need to make light gauge steel a competitive building system.
Where professional home builders have found stumbling blocks in the switch from wood to steel, do-it-yourselfers have found a user-friendly building system.
``If someone can use simple household tools, they can put one of our houses together,'' says John House, a sales representative for All Steel Homes, Little Rock, Ark.
All Steel was one of several companies at MetalCon who sell to both consumers and builders. Their house, literally all steel on the outside, from roof through the siding, uses a bolted red iron frame filled in with light gauge steel studs.
``It's a strong house,'' says House. ``It's rated to withstand 155 mile per hour winds. We sell a lot of these houses in Florida.'' Consumers, 60 percent of their customer base, want the structural strength of steel and they want to be able to build it themselves, he says.
Consumer interest in steel frame construction is out pacing the interest of contractors, says Holland. ``That's why so many companies are offering do-it-yourself houses.''
There are still a few steel myths to be laid to rest, says Ward. Noise, television reception, thermal conductivity and lightning strikes are the most common consumer concerns. None of these things are problems, he insists.
Builders have their own set of worries, starting with retraining and retooling their crews. There's a learning curve, says Ward, ``but there's nothing easy about building any house.''
Proscriptive building codes, pre-engineered designs and increased availability of standardized roll-form steel materials will gradually make steel more price competitive.
The key to the steeling of America's houses lies in the lumber market. Right now, an enthusiasm for steel may seem like so much entrepreneurial hype. Down the road, Bruce Ward, Mike Bateman and other steel-frame builders may find their faith in steel repaid.
``The long-term prognosis is not good for wood,'' says Knight. ``We're keeping abreast of what's happening with light gauge steel.'' MEMO: Chris Kidder's column ``About the Outer Banks'' will return next week.
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
HOUSES OF STEEL
[Color Photo]
Philip S. Ruckle Jr.
Staff photo by DREW WILSON
A steel-frame house under construction by Bateman & Associates has
the look of a stick-built home.
Mike Bateman, left, and Jim Holland look over a Pine Island beach
home being framed with steel.
Staff photos by DREW WILSON
by CNB