Concentrating on Schools

 112,000 SF Under Trusses

A TrusSteel customer for only eight months, Smith's company was hired to provide 112,000 square-feet of steel trusses. Factory-built and trucked to the site, an erection crew put the TrusSteel trusses in place.

"I've done hundreds of projects and that was the second largest single project I've ever done," said Smith, who has been in the business 20 years but in manufacturing only since 1989.

"It was a pretty complicated system," said Smith. "On one of the buildings, we had six trusses that made up one truss and everything matched up as designed. Nothing had to be modified."

According to Smith, the school job was the first steel truss system that the installers had ever put in place, although they had installed wood trusses before.

"They were really happy," said Smith, "because everything went together real good for them. Since then they've called us for other work they're trying to bid."

 "It's a complete package..."

Smith started in the steel truss industry in 1983, back when the industry was still in its infancy. He worked for Jewel Building Systems, one of the forerunners in light-gauge steel. He said some of the biggest industry improvements over the years have been to products associated with steel trusses, such as improving existing tools and developing new tools. He's also impressed with VIEW software, which gives him better reports, allowing faster dissemination of information, and speeding up time for giving quotes.

"With TrusSteel there are also proprietary systems with better designs that allows you to span greater distances," said Smith. "Everything is headed towards being more competitive with wood. We're not there yet but systems to speed up your time, get your numbers closer, and every other aspect have improved."

Smith was impressed with the TrusSteel system because it's a complete package, with the number of clips and all other attachments figured out. And the product is sold with a book of details, enabling users to better understand how parts go together.

"Everything has been thought through so that you don't have to spend time working things out when you're out in the field," said Smith. "If something goes in easy for installers, they'd much rather use that system every time rather than have a different system to fight with. I worked with C-channel for years and it has its problems because you don't build it in plane. The Alpine system is an in-plane system."

Smith likes his projects to have smooth lines and an impressive professional appearance. He said once a TrusSteel truss system is in place, it's done, because when metal trusses are covered with plywood, the joints can't be seen through the shingles. He added that with wood one truss may be up and another down and that's what causes defects to be apparent on a plywood roof.

"You can also process the materials quicker than C-channel because that system took up more room in our cutting area," said Smith. Depending on the job, we could have anything from a 2 ½ inch up to a 12 inch C-channel and most of the time you could only cut a couple at a time. With TrusSteel trusses you can stack ten at a time and cut them through. Our cut stations can process the material much quicker; therefore we can get more work out the door. And that leads to another feature of TrusSteel trusses: the ability to load more on a truck and get the material to the job site sooner."

"If I sell five million dollars worth a year but can only produce one million dollars worth, that doesn't do me much good," said Smith. He said his company is presently doing about $2 million a year in metal trusses, but he expects that figure to increase dramatically during the coming years.

 "The installers love it..."

"With TrusSteel having tube web members, it seems to be stronger than both wood and C-channel. It's a sturdier truss," said Smith. "It's definitely lighter than wood, maybe not so much more than C-studs, but TrusSteel is easier to handle."

Structural Concepts and Components has recently completed a 70,000 square-foot TrusSteel project: the Woodlands Hotel in Williamsburg, Virginia.

"Again, this will be the first time installers have used TrusSteel trusses from us," said Smith. "The installers love it. They think it's the best thing since sliced bread. And they've done jobs for us in the past when we used C-studs."

As with many TrusSteel manufacturers across the country, Smith foresees an upsurge in the construction of new schools and he intends to top as many as he can with lightweight steel trusses.

"Because of the fire safety factor and strength of TrusSteel, it's going to become the preferred truss material," said Smith. "And we're going to try and become the preferred supplier."