Where is the best location to start a business — the easiest place or the toughest? Choosing the easiest means you may or may not “have what it takes” to succeed in the toughest markets. But, by choosing the toughest, you may “set yourself up” to market yourself everywhere, as Carol Sanford inadvertently did by clearing Miami’s hurdles. Successfully completing the Miami gauntlet resulted in a superior product, the Grip-Plate, which Sanford could sell almost anywhere. [For all images, See PDF or View in Full Issue.]
The advantages of the Grip-Plate were obvious. But, when Sanford began to use that product in the field, he learned he would need superior engineering, too. That Miami required engineering drawings for every truss on every job was unlike any jurisdiction in America. To make matters worse, the complexity of roof framing in Florida, necessitating multiple drawings for a single house, was nothing like what Sanford had experienced in his native Ohio. In the pre-computer days of the 1950s, each of these designs required hand-calculations, manually drafted design drawings, and review by a professional engineer. And because building permits weren’t issued until drawings were approved by the building department, the pressure of meeting construction deadlines bore down on the truss engineer. Yet, because Sanford was an architect by training, and had built and sold houses in Ohio and Florida, he understood what he was up against, and went to work getting ahead of these challenges.
At the same time, Sanford knew having the cheapest connector wasn’t enough. He also knew that he needed to have the most efficient lumber design. For example, shown in the top image is a design of his main competitor in 1958, Timber Engineering Company (TECO), that requires a 2x8 top chord for a 38’ truss, whereas Sanford’s, shown in the bottom image, uses a 2x6. In addition, this Sanford drawing specified a 55 lbs. loading, while TECO’s drawing called for only 40 lbs. So even without consideration for assembly labor savings, the Sanford design advantage enabled him to quickly gain the bulk of TECO’s Miami business. However, this would only be the first skirmish in the decades-long battle to produce the least costly engineering.
By 1957, Sanford had secured the additional approval of FHA and VA, the main governmental loan guarantors, and the much stricter Uniform Building Code (UBC), the main regulator for the West Coast. With those approvals in hand, he published his first comprehensive design manual, possibly modeled after TECO’s widely distributed “Typical Designs of Timber Structures.” Besides common residential spans, Sanford included several more complicated structures, such as three-hinged arches and double-cantilevered lumber shed designs, mirroring some of the content of TECO’s manual. This is an impressive work that likely depicts some of the early projects that were built with Grip-Plate connectors, and broadcast to early fabricators the commercial, residential, and agricultural potential for plate-connected wood trusses.
In 1958, anticipating the ongoing demand for engineering, Sanford recruited a licensed engineer, Bill McAlpine, whom he allowed to continually expand his staff. Sanford surely sensed that he stirred a giant when he took TECO’s business, since TECO was wholly owned by the nation’s largest lumber manufacturers, and employed a formidable staff of engineers
In 1961, TECO responded by publishing a highly professional residential truss design manual and a model for what was to come. Each page contained all the design information for a series of truss spans, without being overly conservative. Apparently, their loss of split-ring connector business informed them that they should market their nail-on plate instead. Yet, without Sanford’s triangular shaped teeth, which were protected by a patent, they still would have been at a considerable disadvantage.
Also, by this time, two more competitors with impressive engineering talent were already challenging the Grip-Plate’s dominance by marketing even better products.
Next Month:
The Great Connector
Articles in This Series