Adventures in Home-Building : Typically Wary Industry Looks Favorably on Metal Framing, Prefab Panels

The home-building industry tends to be conservative, holding to the notion that if the old system works, there’s no need for change.

But a few adventurous builders are willing to look at new ways of doing old things if doing so will enable them to cut costs so they can reduce prices or avoid price increases while still making money.

One example is metal framing. It has long been used in commercial construction but has been eschewed by most home builders as too different and requiring too much worker retraining to be worthwhile.

With the cost of lumber soaring, however, metal framing systems are now are being considered for mass-market housing by a number of Southland builders. They include a Fontana builder who recently began a tract of 162 metal-framed homes in that Inland Empire community; and Warmington Homes in Costa Mesa, which has committed to experimenting with metal in at least one of its single-family residences in Orange County later this year.

And now one of the acknowledged leaders in Southland housing design, the RecreAction Group of Cos. in Newport Beach, is looking at combining metal framing with prefabricated, foam-insulated wall and ceiling panels to gain even more construction-site efficiency and cost reduction.

James Murar, RGC’s chairman, said that in a recent test of the prefabricated system, workers erected the framing, roof and exterior wall sheathing and insulation of a bedroom in just under two hours.

“It went up a lot easier than many of us thought was possible,” Murar said. He estimated that using such materials for small single-family homes could cut framing time by 50% and lop 25% or more from overall construction schedules. The company plans to use the same materials for high-density projects later this year.

The metal framing and prefabricated sheathing--produced by a Mississippi company called Builders PowerSource--could cut $2,500 to $3,000 from the cost of a 1,000-square-foot home, Murar said. Other savings would occur because the company would be paying less interest on construction loans if it could build--and sell--its homes faster.

RGC is studying the prefab system for use in its specially designed CourtHome projects, which will feature smaller 1,000- to 1,500-square-foot detached homes in high-density configurations.

“To use this system to frame up one of our CourtHomes we are probably looking at three to four days,” Murar said, compared to a couple of weeks using standard building techniques.

Actual material costs are probably a little higher than with conventional wood framing and fiberglass insulation, Murar said, but the prefabricated system takes less time, requires a smaller crew and provides a much higher degree of insulation.

It also is easy to train workers to erect the prefab systems, because they are dealing with a relatively simple assembly job rather than the complicated task of cutting and fitting lumber and insulation at the site.

Murar said use of prefab systems should also reduce the amount of waste material generated in a construction project. And that would not only provide an environmental bonus but also cut the amount of construction traffic rumbling through adjacent neighborhoods and business districts.

He said RGC is waiting for price quotes from Builders PowerSource and Masco Corp., the giant building materials conglomerate with which Builders is affiliated, before deciding on the use of a prefab system.

Housing industry analyst Sanford Goodkin called RGC’s interest in the prefab system “good for them and good for the industry. Once someone can show that it saves money and is profitable, it will be the wave of the future.”

Acknowledging that the building industry has been stymied “by a lack of evolution,” the La Jolla-based consultant said that if RGC can show real savings of $3,000 for each house, the effect could be “monumental.”