Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Are you a Master Craftsman?

Hey Joe Builder, how would you define the quality of your work? Above average? Awesome! But it is statistically impossible for everybody to be above average. Better than most? It is also statistically impossible for everyone to be better than most everybody else. But I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if you'll just answer a few questions:

1. What sort of measurement tolerance out of plane are you comfortable with?
A. Huh?
B. As long as it all comes together
C. As long as my eyeball doesn't notice
D. I am familiar with a crowbar and sledgehammer
E. Absolutely none! I don't know why it takes me a year to build...

2. What do you do with bowed studs?
A. Never seen one
B. Give 'em a kick
C. Crown 'em to the outside
D. Shims and a plane
E. I only use #1 grade lumber everywhere

3. How many dumpsters does it take to clear your site after a home is finished?
A. As many as it takes!
B. 3 or more
C. 1-2
D. I sort all of my waste for recycling
E. My purchase orders have a 0% overage estimate

Scoring: 1 point for each A answer, 2 points for each B, etc.

How did you do?

3-7 points: Please, for the environment's sake, STOP BUILDING!
8-10 points: You are the norm and could learn some things for a better bottom line.
11-14: Nice work buddy, our hat's off to you.
15: We bow to your craftsmanship but worry about your mental health.


Why does this matter? Because you could be saving money, energy, time, and materials by learning to build more energy efficient. Our details are a good start. Talk to your local utility or bookmark www.buildingscience.com to learn about more efficient building techniques. Especially now, your bottom line matters. Email us if you'd like to learn more.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Technically speaking...

We are not much for designing websites. When it comes to designing house plans we can go at it all day long. Thankfully our website is based on a template. But we got a bug the other day and started seeing what we could do to improve the site. Several cool features:

Google search our site right from our homepage;

Add our site to your favorite social bookmarking network;

As previously mentioned we have a survey and a sitemap available.

We are also dinking around with our hosting, have added a favicon and some other behind the scenes nonsense. If the site is down here and there, please be patient and try again soon. We are redirecting some links and the internet will need to catch up.

Of course if you see anything else that just don't look right, let us know and we'll get right on it.

Hope to see you soon.