A quiet revolution--save for the whine of screw guns--is underway at the corner of Culver Drive and Bryan Avenue in Irvine, where Lennar Homes is building 203 homes with steel-framed panels.
The lightweight, galvanized steel studs used in these panels replace the wood studs that have been used to frame houses since the mid-1800s and don't require sawing and fastening together on the site in the traditional "stick-built" fashion. Instead, the panels are planned in a computer, assembled in a factory and shipped to the site to be put together like a giant Erector set.
They represent the latest development in a decade-long effort to transform the way homes are built and further a trend to build homes out of pre-assembled components.
Framing homes with steel has appealed to builders for years. Wood from younger trees harvested today tends to twist and warp more than lumber from the old-growth trees cut down in the mid-20th century. And steel prices tend to be more stable than lumber.
But there are fewer places to buy steel than lumber, and few carpenters who know how to work with it. Building codes have been slow in adopting standards for steel use, and many code officials are unfamiliar with it. Plus, steel studs take longer to cut and screw than wood, resulting in higher labor costs.
Panelizing the wall sections in a mass-production, factory environment, however, cuts the cost of on-site construction.
"This is one of the most significant possible changes in our industry," said Lennar's David Ball, who was hired five months ago to help the company shift from wood studs to steel panels.
Lennar Homes, which builds 23,000 homes a year in the country--about 5,000 in California--had not used steel framing in a big way until last year, when Paul DiGiovanni, president of American Steel Builders in Commerce, talked Lennar into using the galvanized steel panels his company manufactures for the last phase of its Camrosa development in Anaheim.
Most enticing to Lennar was the speed with which the panels could be put up. Whereas framing a house with wood took Lennar's framing contractor about 22 days, framing with steel panels takes about 10 to 14 days.
The ability to frame a house quickly, for less, is motivating the company to eventually frame all its homes with steel panels. This represents a significant resolve for a big player in an industry which, as Balls said, "doesn't change very much."
