I’ve not seen a set of house plans, if the job is meant to have a trussed roof structure, in which the architect details out much about the trusses, except to give the key information such as overhang, heel height, pitch, and the like.
They basically leave it up to the truss engineer to lay it all out.
Now, I’ve had trussies say, “I’ve never met a house I could’t truss. I like the challenge,” and then come up with an elegant scheme to 100 percent truss the job, underside pans, vaults, and all.
Another trussie said to me, “We can’t do that hip end there. You’ll have to stick frame that part.” Not too aggressive. We had it trussed by another guy.
There is a current situation where the archy tried to show, on the prints, how to handle trusses in a tricky part, but it only served to confuse and confound, so I reworked the structural so it could be conventionally trussed.
But I haven’t seen yet, a job that was such that a trussie could provide “value engineering.” We did a little thing last winter for which the trussie had a situation where top chords could be 2×6, making the trusses with less webbing, versus tops in 2×4 with more webs, so he chose the lesser cost option for us. But I wouldn’t call that VE.
Can you give us some examples of VE in a truss package?
Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
Replies
"...top chords could be 2x6, making the trusses with less webbing, versus tops in 2x4 with more webs, so he chose the lesser cost option for us. But I wouldn't call that VE."
I wouldn't necesarilly call that VE - More like truss optimization. But it still saves the customer money. So there's very little difference.
I'm honestly not sure what you're looking for, but here are a few random thought.
Whether you get VE, or good service, or bad service depends on the company and the designer. Some companies push their designers to provide that service in order to cement a long-term relationship with their customers.
Other companies figure VE actually COSTS them money by making their truss packages less expensive, so they make less money. So they tell their designers not to do it. (Like the company I work for now)
Sometimes there just isn't TIME to do any VE work. When things are really hot a truss designer MUST keep the plant running. So when someone asks you to do some VE sometimes it just isn't practical.
There's no way you can provide VE on every job. There simply isn't time. I try to do it when it's something big, easy to change, or obvious. And I ALWAYS try to do it for long-term customers.
But if somebody comes in who's a pain in the neck, heck with 'em. If anything I'll try to make the job more expensive so I don't end up getting it.
That's all that comes to mind at the moment.
BTW -To me, the term "trussie" is demeaning. I certainly can't tell you not to use it. But I'd apreciate it if you would consider not using it.