Are all engineering designs treated equally?

As is the case with most professions, each individual will come up with a different solution to a given problem. All these solutions should perform to a minimum standard, but at what cost? And is there a benefit to a solution performing a little above or significantly better than the standard? These are considerations we continually make when completing our designs. For today’s article, I will focus on the structural aspect of residential designs and how value engineering can be applied.

All home designs in California must meet a minimum standard by complying with the California Building Code (CBC) or the California Residential Code (CRC). The CRC is viewed as a prescriptive code that can be used by unlicensed designers to design homes. This code has many charts and tables to help determine beam and joist sizes and spacing, minimum shear wall sizing, foundation types, and everything else needed to successfully design a home that meets the minimum standards. On the other hand, the CBC has many formulas, options, and other code or guide references, thus giving a guide to licensed professionals. In both codes, the design process is not linear, meaning you do not go from steps 1 to 2 to 3. Instead, you make one decision, and based on that decision, you open up several other choices (all of which would meet minimum requirements), then decide on the next, and so forth. With so many options, the same home could be structurally designed by hundreds of individuals, and each design will have a different outcome. Some of these will vary by minuscule details, while others will vary tremendously.

It is through this process of design decisions that will ultimately influence the cost of constructing a home. This makes home design more of an art form than a solid science. And it is here where we at Jackson & Sands Engineering pride ourselves in taking the time to analyze these decisions and create cost-effective solutions. We can make more cost-effective judgment calls throughout the process through our experience in designing hundreds of homes over the years and our in-depth knowledge of constructing homes (gained through years of actually building homes).

We strive to reduce the number of hold-downs required with our shearwall designs as we are continuously reminded by our contractors of the labor cost associated with installing hold-downs, let alone the labor cost associated with installing forgotten hold-downs (which happens more often than one would expect due to the sheer number of hold-downs required by some designs).

We always consider the cost of materials and connections during our design process. We often compare the cost of many options for a certain component. We could lower the material costs by having more connections and/or layers. Still, these connections may be labor intensive and, therefore, more cost-effective, using more expensive materials and less labor, resulting in the best end value.

If you are curious how we can help you with your next home design project, please feel free to reach out and contact us today!

https://jacksonandsandsengineering.com/