Light gauge steel construction has not gained common usage in residential housing mainly due to a higher cost over wood. Until now. For us in the Vancouver area, the combination of forest fires and NAFTA has forced steep increases in wood products. This makes the unit price (per wall section) of erected steel less than wood.

Now lets throw in factory custom wall panel sections, pre-punched electrical conduits, or any plumbing or mechanical runs, and “framing” or erecting the house gets faster. Steel also has the advantage of easier clear spans, or open room concepts without having to install big beams.

Winter construction? Another advantage to galvanized steel as it won’t get sopping wet and damaged like wood, and it wont rust. So it can go up faster without weather concerns like wood. A new local producer located in New Westminister has opened shop with state of the art CAD molding machines. Big rolls of steel are formed and punched in a continuous production line producing all the frame components for a typical house in 2 days.

Watch for future blogs as we follow the first demonstration home this fall.