A Fresh Look

Housing’s history is litteredwith failed attempts to integrate advanced home building techniques into a critical mass of construction practices. Even though builders routinely over-engineer homes, and code-approved construction methods allow fewer structural members, nothing, it seems—including periodic lumber price spikes and a continuing lack of skilled framing labor—has been able to produce enough momentum to push optimum-value engineering (OVE) into the mainstream. Sure, some builders and framers are well-versed in the terms and techniques of two-stud corners, single top plates, and 2x6 studs on 2-foot centers. But even they admit that the potential cost and labor-saving benefits are, at best, a break-even proposition to framing the old-fashioned way. Builders who aren’t among the converted wonder whether the “potential” savings are worth the risk of buyers thinking they cut corners, literally and figuratively.

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