Due to the economic climate and restructuring of our operations, we have decided to centralize all of our production and sales activity to our Facility in High River, Alberta. This facility is on 40 acres of land and has over 11000 square feet of production area and can run 3 lines of framing at one time.

The facility in Abbotsford became redundant and actually competed with the other plant. The sales office here in Abbotsford will close eventually as well and all sales inquiries will be fielding in High River as well.

Feel free to call us if you have any questions or concerns,

Kind Regards,

Larry J Clark

Building systems that expedite the construction process can help home builders deal with a new appraisal policy from Freddie Mac on one-time close loans that combine construction financing and a permanent mortgage, housing industry experts said at a press conference at last month’s International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas.

In a Nov. 24, 2008 bulletin, Freddie Mac reminded lenders that an appraisal must be completed within 120 days of the permanent financing of the home for mortgages with settlement dates on or after Jan. 2, 2009. If the effective date of the appraisal is more than 120 days before the effective date of the permanent financing, then the seller must provide an appraisal update.

Building systems can help builders complete their homes within the 120-day period and avoid the need for a new appraisal, participants at the press conference said, and modular homes are a prime example.

“While the builder is working on site to complete the foundation, the various modules are being framed and finished,” said Charles Bevier, editor of Building Systems Magazine. “Sometimes manufacturers will even install cabinets and floor coverings in the factory. This leaves minimal work for a set crew to finish on site.”

Even large, custom modular homes can be completed in less than 120 days from the start of construction, Bevier said.

Panelized homes, concrete homes and log homes include some amount of prefabrication, according to participants at the press conference. These building system techniques save builders time and money, and in the case of the new Freddie Mac lending requirement, the time saved can make an important difference.

However, there will be occasions in which not even the speediest of systems can produce a house in such a short time frame.

“That does not mean that the builder is out of luck,” said Tracy Keyser, a vice president of M&T Bank. “A re-appraisal or official confirmation of the original appraisal will keep the loan intact and the project moving forward.”

For more information on building systems resources available from NAHB, e-mail Tony Gacek at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242×8357.

Got a call today from a Canadian client who said …” I have a friend who said stay away from these Prefab Homes as they look just like Trailers “. I am confident you guessed that ‘Trailer’ means mobile home. Nothing bugs me more that people who comment on something they do not have all the facts on. So allow me to set the record straight.

Way back in the 70’s and 80’s, you may have seen a prefab or panelized home that was built to the same look as a mobile or modular home, but those days are long gone. Modern prefab and panelized homes can be built to any plan design and some of the most awarded homes now are Prefab designs and modular units. With sophisticated software, the framing of new homes has improved dramatically and is very accurate and therefore very efficient to frame/erect. The only thing that we cannot frame is rounded walls. We have even done octagon designs.

Even the new breed of Modular homes are being done with “cottage” or hip roofs which was unheard of 10 years ago. Perhaps this ‘friend’ does not get out much or has not taken the time to visit our Cabin and Cottage site and looked at the photo gallery of some beautiful A-Frame Cabins we have done with panelized construction. You would be amazed at the quality and designs now being fabricated on a regular basis across Canada and the U.S.

Am I ever thankful this client was educated enough to call us anyway and find out the real story. Now you are educated as well!

Here’s to your Building Success,

Larry J Clark

I had a client come up today from Washington and we were discussing options, etc. and I mentioned that Allpro does not charge more for custom designed homes vs. our pre-priced models. I also mentioned that our estimation program has the same numbers for everyone. So the response back was…”why does my home cost more per square foot than most of your models?”
Here was my response to him:

1. His home had a good amount of windows. Most homes have between 10-15 windows and obviously, when you have more than that the cost per square foot would increase as your floor square footage remains the same.




2. Are his wall heights more than 8 feet high? Yes. Well increasing the wall heights even to 9’ adds cost to the home. Think about that most studs are 8 feet high and you can now buy 9’ and 10’ studs but they are more. Plywood comes in 8 foot sheets normally (added to outside of the walls) so now we would have to buy 9’ plywood or cut 1’ strips into the middle of the wall panels which adds labor and materials to the cost.




3. Roof line. How much roof do you have and how steep is it. This clients roof wasn’t too bad but did you know hip roofs are more expensive than gable roofs? This is because they cover more area and require more roof sheeting. The steeper the roof the more the cost as well as more trusses/rafters and more sheeting to cover that roof area. Thus more shingles as well and more cost per square foot.

4.Other things to consider. Covered decks require a roof and supports. More cost. Oversize garages. Most garages (standard) are @ 21 feet x 21 feet or so. We are getting allot of requests for larger attached garages which are part of the cost of a standard package, therefore adding more cost and puts your cost per square foot higher.

I hope this helps dispel some common misconceptions regarding per square foot costs and comparing with other pre-priced homes.

Email me if you need more help or clarifications.

Kind Regards,

Larry

I just received a call from a Gal who said she was on my Allpro Building Systems site and can guarantee me the very top position on Google and not only that, it would be permanent! Hey, that sounds like a great offer….NOT. The only way to get to number one on Google constantly is either working hard on getting “natural” traffic to your website or paying big bucks for a adword campaign from Google.

What she was offering was for me to pay them a substantial amount of money and they would set up a Google adword program and I would ‘pay my way to the top’. Now, I am not totally against adword campaigns and I have used them myself for BRAND NEW sites that you want to start attracting traffic to. The good news is, if you have some patience, you can actually get to the first page of Google for your site and consistently be there by not buying one adword! How do I know this? Glad you asked. Look up panelized and panelized homes on a Google search and we are on the first page. This was done by good old fashion hard work and persistence and strategy.

As a matter of fact, we are so good at natural Web Site Optimization, that our Web Development Company, www.websmartsolutions.ca is now working on building Industry Sites to help them do the same thing. I will write an article soon that I will make available to you of how we do what we do and how you can just use your time to develop a natural traffic flow to your sites.

Thanks for reading and I will work on that article and let you know where to download it.

Kind Regards,

Larry