The home building industry typically doesn’t like change and can be a bit stubborn about it. Back in the 1990s, there was a movement to use steel studs in homes as opposed to the more traditional lumber, but it didn’t really catch on. Part of the reason was due to the fact that there was a much larger pool of unorganized labor and inspectors for wood framing than for steel, meaning framing a house in steel could lead to some unexpected obstacles and time crunches.
But Bone Structure, a Quebec-based company founded in 2005, believes in its steel framing process and is not deterred by anything that has happened in the past, Bizjournals.com reports. The idea behind the company is to create a custom designed steel skeleton for a home that is manufactured elsewhere and shipped to the build site where it can be assembled in as few as 10 days by a team of five people.
Rectifying some problems with steel skeletons in the past, Bone says the company can train any contractor in the process of constructing the frames. Some of the main benefits of the metal system are that it allows for large windows and big spans of up to 25 by 50 feet without the need for load bearing walls, it is impervious to mold and termites, and it allows for easy expansion or reconfiguration.
The company is mirroring the approach of Tesla, starting small and at the high-end of the market and reaching outward to more mass-market price points as it scales up.
PB Topical Ref
