Library

Recently, there was an article in another publication that talked about workforce resources for members of the structural building components industry. The article included the typical, nationally recognized companies—Indeed, Glass Door, Monster, Zip Recruiter, CareerBuilder, and even...

Shortly after COVID-19 became the most debilitating thing that has happened to the US economy in recent history, modular construction stepped up to fill the demand for temporary medical facilities. Many modules were built to meet that need, but here we are just 5 months later and that market...

As former students, we all know the importance of having a study guide. A great study guide pulls together all the pertinent information from various sources to help you focus on the topic at hand. In the world of mass timber construction, complex codes and standards need to be well understood...

Are you feeling like we are in a great big room, pitch dark and no one can find the light switch? Well, let’s try to find one. First off, everyone knows how we got here, right? You know it’s not COVID, or the economy, or housing starts, or DIY, or interest rates, or the stock market....

Growing up in Ongole, India, an average town, my father taught me to follow my passion. Although he is a police officer, a true public servant, he always wanted to start his own business. He began an import/export company which made him a middleman to haul goods for other shippers. But, in part...

Many of you reading this may already be familiar with our Strong-Wall site-built portal frame system, or PFS for short. Simpson Strong-Tie launched the PFS last spring to provide designers, builders and contractors in prescriptive markets with a simple and cost-effective solution to meet...

In place of this year’s BCMC, why not travel virtually to several Shows, beginning in Louisville in 1972… Arriving at the sprawling Fairgrounds from the Colonel Sanders Inn, I walked through a maze of modular home sections and finally found our 8x10 booth. All the...

So often, perhaps too often, we read along with various facts and figures on our computer screens, process the data, and then look to the next topic. Every once in a while though, something will jump out at us and remind us how much facts are (only) relative. A Picture of Housing...

“I think this will work,” said Dick Rotto at the unveiling of auto-jigging at the 1988 BCMC in Nashville. This was a high compliment from the founder of the most prolific truss business, Trussway, Inc. And Dick had no equipment compatible with auto-jigging in his highly productive...

Thirty years ago, equipment installations looked considerably different. Often, the equipment was installed using the customer’s maintenance staff and even the truss building crew. Working with new crews on a weekly basis, who were skilled in component manufacturing but had limited...