Audio About the Steel Framing Alliance Advantages of using steel Disadvantages of using steel Builders' concerns about steel framing Cost differences between steel and lumber Types of builders who use steel

Erik Gabrielson: I'm here with Lisa Stevens of the Steel Framing Alliance. Lisa, please introduce yourself and give us some background about the Steel Framing Alliance.

Lisa Stevens: I'm Lisa Stevens, director of marketing and branding services for the Steel Framing Alliance. We are a membership trade organization based in the Washington, D.C., area and covering everywhere now.

The Steel Framing Alliance was formed about three years ago. It's an offshoot of the American Iron and Steel Institute and some market development efforts they set up about five or six years ago. We were formed to directly affect the residential construction market and enable it for steel framing, making it so builders could use steel as a practical and economical alternative to traditional lumber as a framing material for building homes. ( Listen. )

EG: What are the advantages of using steel framing in residential construction?

LS: Builders really find that steel is a superior construction material once they've tried it, and steel framing products can truly build a better home. There's no warping, no cracking, splitting, creeping, no nail pops and no drywall cracks. It provides straight walls and square corners.

Termites don't eat steel, but they'll eat through lumber. By the way, mold does not grow on steel studs either. Another big advantage is the fact that steel prices have been flat -- even flatter than the gross domestic product -- over the past 10 to 15 years. This really helps the builder hold his price to the buyer instead of having to worry that the framing package is going to shoot up because of a crazy or unpredictable market.
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Steel is 100% recyclable, and every steel stud manufactured today has, at a minimum, 25% recycled content. Steel doesn't rust because it's galvanized with a zinc coating, so steel studs are stronger and they last a really long time. By the very nature of steel being the strongest and most lightweight material available, it can actually provide longer spans. By that I mean in the design of the home you can get larger rooms with less structural beams that tend to get in the way.

EG: Are there any disadvantages to using steel compared with wood? I know that some people are concerned with steel expanding on a hot day. Is that a problem?

LS: There's no expansion on a hot day, but what you do mention is the thermal conductivity, and that is one disadvantage that steel has if you're comparing it with wood. It definitely conducts energy quicker, and that means that a builder is required to put on what's called a thermal break, most likely a foam material on the stud, which adds a little more cost to the builder and ultimately the homeowner. Right now, however, this issue is being resolved by joint research and development projects that are producing efficient and cost-effective thermal steel studs. ( Listen. )

EG: What are some of the typical concerns that you hear from home builders about using steel framing, and how do you address these concerns?

LS: Builders generally have concerns with knowing where to go for steel framing products and then how to get their framing and other sub-trade crews trained and tooled for steel. Knowing this and continuing to develop the marketing infrastructure for steel has been the Steel Framing Alliance's first priority. Up until now we have truly acted as a product development group for steel framing. So during these past three years we have eliminated most of the main concerns, including building codes, materials standards, lower construction costs, code training and tools. These gains have substantially improved our competitive position and actually provided for more than tripling the shipment of steel studs into just the residential construction market since 1997. ( Listen. )

Market needs have really shifted to a more localized type of need where we're working diligently to implement these national enablers on a local level. By involving everyone in the process, we can help builders gain access to steel stud suppliers, train their crews, even get new tools. We actually have a training curriculum that's used in more than 150 schools and institutions across the U.S. Actually more than that now because we're involved in a program called SkillsUSA, which adds a little more than 600 schools that train secondary and post-secondary students in construction curriculum. That training curriculum is being updated to include the new prescriptive methods based on the steel provisions that are in the IRC and IBC building codes. We also have a book that is published by Craftsman that is co-authored by our president, Tim Waite, called Steel-Frame House Construction. It's kind of a bible for using steel framing in construction.

EG: What are the cost differences between steel and lumber framing in a typical home?

LS: In a typical 2,000-square-foot home you're going to find that steel framing products could be equivalent in price with traditional wood framing materials from simply a macroeconomic picture. This depends, obviously, on the volatility of the wood market, which until about a year ago -- and they still look crazy -- they tend to look like a seismographic readout over the past 10 years. It's just all over the map. What's happened in the steel industry, prices are literally a flat line or have dropped over the past 10 years.

From a microeconomic picture, a smaller picture for the builder, steel can compete with wood in certain applications today, for instance, in interior walls. But independent of material cost, which is really the big issue, is the labor component. That really depends on the crews. Are they trained already? Do they already have the right tools? Do they have screw guns versus nail guns? Even trained crews can charge a builder more for steel because there just aren't that many steel-ready crews out there right now, which is a sheer fact of supply and demand. The interesting thing is, however, that's all changing, and so is the actual cost of construction. What we find is the time it takes to build a steel-framed home compared with an identical wood home, we actually found through a thorough "stopwatch" study that in almost all components of building a home, the time it takes to build with steel is virtually the same as wood using an experienced steel crew.
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The other thing that I can offer them is to take a look at SteelXpert, which is an estimating software program. It really automates the use of the prescriptive method, and instead of someone thumbing through a 300- or 400-page book to try to find a load or a span table that tells them what size member they need, they can use this software program. Then they can go a step further and estimate what it would cost to build that home out of steel.

EG: Are there particular types of builders who are really showing an interest in steel framing, such as custom builders?

LS: Absolutely. We've seen a number of custom home builders using steel over the years. That has not changed -- in fact, it's increasing. But the recent surge, however, and this is really encouraging, has been with production- and track-home builders. They're finding that they can add efficiencies to the process of building by using steel. I'll give you an example. By panelizing with steel -- which often builders are doing with wood, but it's a lighter product with steel -- they can build the panels off site and deliver and erect them on site, sometimes with a smaller crew. ( Listen. )