When Dave and I thought about building a custom home, we had no clue how much mental effort and stress would be involved. Case in point, building the steel frame of the house. Our first clear sign that steel was going to be a challenge came in April 2022. Our original plan was based on 27 steel beams, but according to the latest structural designs, the house would require 43 of them. As one might imagine, the increased number of beams upped the cost significantly from the initial budgeted estimate. Yikes!
Even worse than the cost impact was the hit to our timeline. As I said, the steel quote came in April 2022. As this phase of construction progressed, we encountered multiple change orders and delays. In the end, it took a staggering 8 months to design, build and install the steel beams. The bad news is those months created a lot of frustration. Our General Contractor had to put off framing month after month. Meanwhile, I personally despaired while staring at a site devoid of progress for weeks on end.
Eventually, in late December 2022, the steel crew finished installing their last beam. They still need to come back and weld some hangars onto the frame. However, the good news is that the wood framing is underway, and all of the measurements so far look good.
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