New here - owner of a newish lumber company - Saying Hi and wondering if this is a good forum for me

[PeterDLS]

Hello everyone, my name is Peter Zejda. I own a company called Dynamic Lumber Solutions. We supply lumber mostly for medium to large projects like hotels, apartments, schools, etc. I'll try to summarize why I'm here briefly below:

- newish to lumber takeoffs, at previous employer we didn't offer takeoffs (just bid lumber lists). We focused on Southern California, framing contractors often buy their own lumber and provide takeoffs to suppliers in Southern California
- After forming my company, I discovered quickly that in the northwest states it is very common for requests for bid to not provide takeoffs (lumber supplier expected to provide takeoffs)
- I have a great internal takeoff guy, very happy with his effort and skill. We've been awarded quite a few projects lately including townhomes, apartments, schools, etc.

We have a knowledge gap in some wood framing areas when it comes to doing takeoffs. Truss floor diaphragm details being a big one. Google is great, but we would love to find a resource to answer our questions beyond RFI's to general contractors. I've searched google for courses I could have him take without much success, he knows a lot so this would be quite a time sink. In my mind the best would be:

---> consultant we could pay hourly to answer our lists of plan-related questions while we bid OR forum like this to answer those types of questions if that seems appropriate OR some great training courses that focus specifically on reading plans and wood takeoffs

Any thoughts are welcome, thanks for reading!

 

[dik]

Are you an engineer, and do you have engineering questions... prerequisites...

So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[PeterDLS]

I'm not an engineer (former software engineer). My questions would be regarding details from structural engineering plans, in the future I'm wanting to explore more structural questions like subbing species of lumber for species that are spec'ed and other somewhat related structural questions.

 

[Lomarandil]

I think it makes sense to put some questions up here, and let the members weight in, with the understanding that 90% of the time our response will be some flavor of "X Y Z may be feasible, but you'll have to ask the EOR for their perspective to be sure".

----
just call me Lo.

 

[dhengr]

PeterDLS:
The Structural Engineer (SE) or engineer of record (EOR) should have a good reason for his/the material selections he makes, and his designs revolve around those selections. So, your changing the species or grades, without prior approval, means some considerable review and reconsideration of the designs, which tend not to make the EOR happy. Do you know and understand the various grading rules your materials fall under? Do you have a copy of the NDS (The National Design Spec. for Wood Construction)? These two and some other stds. like ASTM, etc. govern the allowable design stresses for various species and their grades, and when you change species with lower allowables, they may no longer meet his needs. So, that is not an arbitrary move you can make, without some pushback. A good engineer should be designing with some knowledge of the lumber species which are available in each construction location, and design with that in mind.

Ask a few builders, GC’s, estimators or friends how they estimate this stuff, I was never much of an estimator, I was the structural designer and EOR. They will have a bunch of tricks and rules-of-thumb, otherwise it’s years of practice and experience.

 

[LittleInch]

This is a good forum for asking specific structural questions (though it isn't free engineering) and to make sure you've understood things, but is a very busy forum, so posts can disappear off the front page very quickly.

You might try posting something similar, (though not identical as double posting is frowned upon) in maybe the "Engineer business practices and Issues" forum

https://www.eng-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=784

It's less busy, but gets some good responses. Have a look and see if your question might go down better there.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[JedClampett]

Actually, I think a lumber supplier weighing in is great. For example, we're a nationwide firm (that only occasionally does timber design), yet our lumber specifications are limited to #2 DF-L. My typical questions are:
[ul]
[li]Are the higher strength grades available and worth it?[/li]
[li]What is available locally?[/li]
[li]Is there a better way skin a cat (sorry PETA)?[/li]
[li]Is Glulam better (cheaper; easier to find) than larger timber sizes?[/li]
[li]And on and on.[/li]
[/ul]

 

[phamENG]

I agree with Jed and dhengr...

On the one hand, this is typically an engineering site meant for engineers to exchange ideas. The EOR on each project will be your best source for project specific questions and clarifications. Structural details, especially in wood construction, tend to be somewhat regional. So while I may think I know what a detail means, I could be way off.

On the other hand, a lumber supplier can make a great addition to this forum. There are a lot of engineering problems that go beyond the technical aspects and into things like availability, logistics, etc. that you would know better than most here (ChorasDen is a probably exception to that).

So I'd say as long as your questions are general in nature and not project specific and you hang around and pitch in when questions like those that Jed mentioned come up...I don't see why it can't work.

 

[ChorasDen]

Hi Peter,

I work for a large lumber and engineered wood products manufacturer, and I routinely work with local and region lumber supplies with issues that relate to takeoffs, sizing, design, etc., so I've seen a lot of issues and gotchyas that can catch designers in dealer yards by surprise.

With that said, I agree with everyone above that you should post a couple questions that are sticking out to you, and we can see if we are able to help. I would also be very cautious about trying to substitute one species of framing lumber for what was specified by the Engineer of Record. Wood species controls not only the performance as it relates to gravity loading, but also affects the lateral performance (shear walls, floor diaphragms, discontinuous struts and portal frames, etc.). Since you are on the west coast, many areas that you are supplying are likely designed for high seismic loads, and the EOR may need everything that the particular wood species can provide, so switching to a 'lower cost' wood species may affect the structural performance and may cause the lateral system to fail in design. Any substitutes must be consulted with the EOR to ensure the new wood species is adequate for the design conditions.

Diaphragm and shear wall design is in some ways a complex topic, and does require some background structural understanding before you can really get into the bits and pieces of how it's done and what controls the design.

 

[CrabbyT]

Congrats on forming a new lumber company, that's great!

Basically, I wouldn't expect anyone here to size a beam or design a connection for free if it involves someone else profiting off that info (too much liability), but if you've got questions, comments, or witty limericks about structural engineering, and want to discuss and trade knowledge with us, I'm sure most would be glad to have you here.

 

[LittleInch]

The key part for me here is

"but we would love to find a resource to answer our questions beyond RFI's to general contractors"

"forum like this to answer those types of questions if that seems appropriate"

I think if you come with something you think is correct and see if people agree will be different to "how do I find out what amount of lumber/cost I need for this design"

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[Ron247]

I looked at your website. It appears you are a lumber supplier but do not offer design services. Any missing design information you need to figure materials would generally be supplied by the EOR. Not many participants in here could answer a specific question without reviewing drawings and doing some number crunching.

Offering alternatives after a design has been done, will not work unless the EOR is getting paid to review the alternative. Me personally, I hate it when someone proposes an alternative and have missed all the needed parameters except lower cost.