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The 2008 housing recession ended with many East Coast modular home factories closed forever along with scores of independent new home builders, both site and modular. There were no buyers looking for new custom homes. Then in 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States...

Many of us have been spending extra time at home the past few months, bringing new meaning to May as Building Safety Month. This year’s theme was aptly chosen and is “Safer Buildings, Safer Communities, Safer World.” Ensuring that local building codes are up-to-date with the...

LLG Crystal Ball Says Speedy Recovery I do not forecast the lumber market, rather how and when folks who buy, sell, and produce lumber will act or react. As for the economy and its recovery from this pandemic disruption, I only need to remember and expect one thing. Economies are consumer...

As I have been following up with our employers on jobs that became active before COVID-19 restrictions, they have been more optimistic than pessimistic when it comes to hiring for 2020…until recently. Over the last week of April, my largest accounts have begun to posture as if it was...

With the growing danger of natural disasters, the race is on to expand access to programs that safeguard lives from the human-made danger of poorly built housing. With the common mission of building safer, stronger structures, Build Change and Simpson Strong-Tie have partnered for the Simpson...

To say that this experience has been like no other is a major understatement. This episode in our lives may have transformed our fundament concepts and habits. It will most likely have a long-term impact on the way we do business. Many businesses and advocates have thrown up their hands in...

Larry Dix and I had to leave Texas to find jobs in the 1980s, as oil had crashed, and no one was buying our trusses. Back then, oil was $25. Today, they’re giving it away. Both Larry and I landed and recovered in Virginia, where government spending levels out the economy (we hope)! No...

Oh, to be able to call our current situation simply one big joke—wouldn’t that be nice! Of course, we’re all taking this very seriously, as we should. We’re all finding our way, day by day, as we adjust to the changing circumstances. We’re developing ways to stay...

The roller gantry had two major obstacles to clear in the 1970s, both erected by its inventor, Carroll Sanford. Both were delineated in hard-to-evade U.S. Patents. The first was on the machine itself and the second was on the connector plate that it required. The simplicity of the gantry machine...

Corona Virus or Covid-19 has undoubtedly turned the world in which we live, work, socialize, learn, and play upside down. As I write this in the last week of March, we are starting a 4-week shutdown of our manufacturing facility in New Zealand and a 2-week shutdown period for both Indianapolis...