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Few issues have demanded the attention of the SBCA Board of Directors more over the past five years than the variability of lumber design values. SBCA Legal Counsel Kent Pagel provided guidance to component manufacturers (CMs) on ways to mitigate the potential risk and liability that have arisen in the market as a result of how the lumber industry has chosen to deal with the issue of variable design properties.
As component manufacturers, we buy, design, manufacture, sell and warrant lumber in the form of a wood truss. That is what we do! But do we closely consider the risks and liabilities that lumber presents to the component manufacturer? Are there ways to manage these risks? This session will examine the risks and corresponding best practices component manufacturers can follow when buying lumber, designing with lumber, manufacturing with lumber, and selling and warranting a lumber value added product.
Given that our industry is in the component design and engineering business, which is closely related to the building design business, accurate and reliable engineering is central to every CM’s future success.