Jacobsen Construction, Inc.

A major contractor discovers a superior alternative to traditional framing.

SUMMARY

Jacobsen Construction Company, Inc. is one of the largest construction companies in the Intermountain West. Having been awarded the contract for building the 89,000 square foot Member's Lodge at Tamarack, Idaho's new four-season resort just outside of Donnelly, Idaho, Jacobsen faced a monumental framing task - one that ultimately led them to Idaho Truss & Component Co.for help in executing the work under demanding quality standards and an aggressive schedule.

The Challenge

Construction of the Members' Lodge at Tamarack began in fall 2004 and was on a fast-track schedule. Placing the thousands of yards of concrete necessary for the foundation and lower levels of the building was needed before the wood framing could begin, with the result that the framing process would begin during the winter months. Jacobsen needed a way to frame the building and minimizing the schedule impact that winter weather has on a construction project, particularly wood framing. Jacobsen had a commercial framing contractor in place, but needed to minimize the potential one to two-month delay to the framing process due to winter weather.

The Solution

Although more familiar with traditional framing, Jacobsen selected Idaho Truss for supply of pre-fabricated wall, floor and roof systems. In the design of these systems, Idaho Truss's InteFrame partner Performance Engineers realized an immediate gain in the construction timetable by optimizing a wall and roof joist system design at a fabrication level of detail. Terry Wright, VP for Jacobsen for Jacobsen, notes that "the design gave the framing contractor an excellent floor and roof layout to work from. There is no way the framing contractor would have been able to come up with a sufficient level of detail for actual fabrication of the joist system."

The Bottom Line

With the framing components fabricated in Boise and delivered construction-ready to the job site, Jacobsen's framing contractor was able to use its crew for erection of the wall and roof systems rather than for fabrication. The time savings that resulted took the project from being projected to be one to two months behind schedule due to the winter weather to actually completing the framing one month ahead. Thanks to the integration between material supply and fabrication inherent in Idaho Truss's framing solutions, Jacobsen also realized a savings in materials costs. "Our experience with Idaho Trusshas validated the use of pre-fabricated framing components on large-scale projects. Idaho Truss brought professionalism and top-notch execution to the project."

An Idaho Truss & Components Case Study l Download pdf.