How to build better houses with less material

Waste is a big issue in the building industry. Sloppy materials purchasing and mis-timed deliveries often results in materials that never get used or get ruined sitting out in the elements. Material waste can also be a signal that your new home was poorly architected and engineered.

In practical terms, wasted materials means you'll be paying more for your home too.

Efficient architecture

Good architecture is efficient architecture. If an architect is doing his or her job correctly, every structural element of a home's design exists for a reason. On top of the design, a lot of time and effort goes into balancing out materials choices to make sure they fit the requirements for strength, durability, cost, and aesthetics.

Unfortunately, it's easy to take shortcuts in this process and design buildings that require more materials than should be necessary and in some cases, the completely wrong materials altogether.

When a builder takes these shortcuts it usually results in increased costs to the home buyer. If the design doesn't use materials efficiently, it's also a sign that the home could be poorly built.

We've worked hard to make sure our home designs are as efficient as possible, providing our clients with solidly constructed homes using the appropriate amount and types of materials.

This focus on efficiency means our clients don't waste money buying materials they don't need and don't have to worry about sloppy engineering that may give them issues down the road.

The power of a plan

Efficient planning is also key to ensuring materials aren't damaged and your new home gets built without delays. Thousands of deliveries worth of materials are ruined every year due to poor planning.

In the best cases, materials arrive on site as they're needed to limit the chance of damage from weather or accidents. To do this, a lot of planning work has to be done in advance as well as coordination with materials vendors.

We take care of this planning so you have less to worry about. Making sure materials arrive on an efficient time-table controls waste, keeps costs down, and helps get you into your new home sooner.

When you're discussing your future home with a builder (whether it's us or someone else) these are good topics to ask about. How your builder responds may give you a better idea of how well they are going to be able to keep your build on track and how well built your home will be when it's finished.