We live in a world where there are leaders and followers. However, don’t be misled into thinking this is a ‘them and us’ situation. Far from it. Following in the footsteps of leaders is no bad thing, though it is the timing of when you choose to follow in their footsteps that is critical.
In today’s hi-tech world there is an oft-use phrase – “disruptive technology” which in more simplistic terms just means something so innovative it is having an instant and noticeable impact. You would expect to see the phrase used more commonly in the IT industry and AI-generated solutions, where you might not expect to find disruptive technology is in the residential housing sector of the construction industry.
However, there is one major U.S. company that is taking full advantage of a groundbreaking lightweight steel frame manufacturing process that is not only revolutionizing how we build low-cost and affordable homes and bringing homebuilding into the capabilities of the competent DIYer, but is also helping to solve a major problem for those who are struggling to get on the property ladder by substantially reducing the construction costs of a cozy, detached family home.
So, back to this business with following in someone’s footsteps. How do you know if they are going in the right direction or leading you off the edge of a cliff in the way that lemmings are (erroneously) purported to do. The answer is to look at the track record of the business owner and founder. In this instance, we are talking about Rodger G. Ford.
An introduction to the founder of Frame Up Now
Rodger Ford is no mug. He is a highly successful entrepreneur with several very successful past business ventures firmly under his belt which have gone from an idea to being a multi-million-dollar acquisition for major companies who were keen to take advantage of Rodger’s foresight.
His first major success was in a field as detached from homebuilding as you could get, bringing low-cost printing facilities to the high street with the foundation of AlphaGraphics in 1970. This was a company that revolutionized the printing industry by pioneering the concept of “Print Shops of the Future.” By 1988, his vision had transformed AlphaGraphics into a worldwide success story with over 400 locations across 20 countries.
Rodger’s next venture was in the field of pet boarding, only with Rodger, as you will discover, the box he thinks out of is more the size of a container! Welcome to the world of PetsHotel, the creation of a luxury environment for pampered pets while being cared for in their owners’ absence. The venture was such a success that in 2000, the business was acquired by PetsMart and today, as testament to its innovation and longevity. Today a PetsHotel can be found within most PetsMart outlets.
For most people, two highly successful business ventures would be enough, but no sooner had Rodger and his co-founding partner sold PetsHotel that Rodger set his eyes on an opportunity to make a significant contribution in the field of medical research, particularly cardiology and artificial heart technology. Rodger then spent the years between 2005 and 2011 in the role of CEO at SynCardia. His visionary leadership transformed SynCardia from a “science project” into a true bioscience pioneer, achieving significant breakthroughs in this critical life-saving field.
In between all this, it might surprise you to learn that Rodger is also an extremely accomplished horseman and as close to a real-life cowboy as you might find on horseback. In the field of competitive cowboy rodeos, in 2023, at the tender age of 79, Rodger took part in the World Team Penning Championships. At the end of a gruelling five rounds, competing against 671 other teams, Rodger and his two rodeo partners emerged victorious.. Definitely not Rodger’s first rodeo by any means, and certainly not his last!
And so, we come to Frame Up Now and how to get a better understanding of why Rodger has gone ‘all in’ on this new technology. What has the serial entrepreneur spotted that may not be clearly visible to most other outsiders? There isn’t one single answer to this question, but a number of things Rodger has spotted, which helps to underline why the man is such a remarkably successful businessman.
So, where should we begin?
Making affordable housing affordable once again
50 years ago in the USA the average house price sat at just $23,400, which is the equivalent of $179,000 today when adjusted for inflation. And when adjusted for demand and scarcity the $179,000 equivalent grows to $302 850. When this figure is compared to the average income at the time, the value of a house was 2.4-times that of the average gross wage. Thereafter, the property value-to-earnings ratio remained relatively static until the 2000s, and then the property boom turned everything on its head.
In both the UK and the U.S.A., up until 2008 there was a property boom fueled by cheap borrowing. However, the moment interest rates were hiked for the first time in over a decade, the markets panicked, the property market crashed virtually overnight leaving many homeowners in a negative equity situation (where the loan on the property was greater than the value) and foreclosures became the order of the day as homeowners couldn’t afford the increased monthly payments but couldn’t sell their home as its value didn’t cover the money they had borrowed to buy it.
The situation arose through what were referred to as sub-prime mortgages. These were loans granted to homebuyers who had a high credit risk, and the loan-to-income ration was very high. With interest rates so low it was cheaper to buy a house than rent it. However, what wasn’t made clear to homeowners was that with interest rates so low, a one-percent raise would see their monthly repayments leap, say 25%, and they were already financially stretched to the max to pay the original loan. A two-percent rise saw repayments increase by 50% and no longer was owning a home cheaper than renting.
The legacy? Well while property values fell, they didn’t fall back to their original level, and from that point onwards, affordable or low-cost housing became subjective and even at the foot of the property ladder new homeowners struggled to earn enough money to get a loan as prices even for ‘affordable’ homes were out of their reach.
Today, homeowners have never found it so difficult to get on the property ladder because the average house price is 318% higher than it was in the 1970s, while the average wage has increased by only 94%. Today in California the average price of a property is ten-times the level of the average income. The average income is $78,000 while the average house price is $793.000, and the situation is only marginally better if you look at the average household income which stands at $93,000. The situation is only marginally better in European countries, but the property value-to-income ratio is still uncomfortably over there, and also in the UK, and is showing no signs of changing in the future.
Frame Up Now steel-frame homes – cheaper, swifter and easier to build
So, as Rodger already knew, the only way for affordable or low-cost housing to become affordable again, the cost of construction had to fall, noticeably. And thanks to the cold-formed steel (CFS) frames or skeletons, as they are known, that Frame Up Now has designed for 25 low-cost homes, house building has become cheaper, swifter and easier, a sort of holy trinity of homebuilding.
So, you are probably wondering how these homes can be cheaper to build when steel is slightly more expensive than lumber or timber?
Well, you are correct that in comparison to the timber frame of an identical house a steel frame may cost roughly 15% more. However, the speed at which you can erect a steel skeleton in relation to a timber frame can be anything up to 60% less and, another important cost saving, is that anyone with basic DIY skills and with the help of a few friends, can erect one of the Frame Up Now steel skeletons.
Ignoring the fact these homes can be built by any competent DIYer (another aspect Rodger spotted straight away and which we will discuss later in greater detail), all frames are precision engineered, so there are no risks of wasting time having to make any adjustments or finding there has been a mistake where a doorway has been put. Internally all the frame supports and crossbeams will have conduit holes already ‘built in’ for cables and pipework which is a massive saving on time when compared to having to drill every single hole by hand in a timber frame.
And if that weren’t enough, Rodger is now in the process of producing a universal Bill of Materials (BOM) for each model home with three standards of finish so that not only can you buy everything you need from one store, but you will also know exactly what the budget needed will be. It couldn’t be made easier for you. Present the complete BOM to your local store or stores to get a price comparison and be prepared to negotiate hard and successfully as this is a major purchase!
So, you have three additional elements you need to add to the mix to help calculate your final costs and how much you can save when compared to a traditional timber-frame unit. First comes the cost of the lot or plot you want to build on. Second comes the cost of the installation of all utility services including water, waste disposal, electricity and natural gas and the foundation slab on which the unit will be built. Finally comes the labor cost for the construction of a completed unit, depending on how much you want to do yourself. Add on a little extra for contingencies and legal fees and you should be very pleasantly surprised!
Frame Up Now – buy anywhere, build anywhere
Don’t be misled by the section heading. One of the key features of the Frame Up Now system is that although this form of production of steel-frame skeletons has until recently applied to commercial construction there 1,000 Framecad machines in 120 countries and some are candidates to produce a Frame Up Now skeleton. Referred to as collaborators, they can print the complete Fame Up Now home: Wall panels, trusses, beams and joists.
Now these machines may be hand operated and require only one person to operate them, but their uniqueness is that the manufacturing process is software driven. That’s right. Frame Up Now dispatches the digital file to the collaborator nearest the customer location and the wall panels, trusses, beams and joists are printed there. Buy in one location and have the home manufactured near the building site.
The Frame Up Now self-build strategy
Mention self-build to Rodger Ford and he will light up and will give you that knowing smile. He will then become very animated as he explains to you how Frame Up Now will be the biggest game-changer in the construction industry for decades, but in particular for those who never imagined they would have the necessary skillset to build their own home, let alone afford to do so.
More to the point, the benevolence that drives this man to find solutions to problems shines through as he tells you how self build will bring low-cost and affordable homes within the reach of many, many thousands more people over the next few years, and that the revolution in low-cost housing has only just begun.
So, how come Frame Up Now properties can be built by virtually anyone with basic DIY skills?
Well, to begin with, all you need is a concrete slab foundation with all the services in place for when you build your frame. And when your frame arrives, you will have clear plans with instructions and all wall panels, trusses, beams and floor joists numbered and lettered, such that you could throw a weekend construction party and as long as the beers aren’t opened until sundown, the frame for any one of the 25 Frame Up Now low-cost housing designs should be standing proud by the Sunday afternoon with just six people on site.
The frames themselves are not just made up “sticks”, as in timber, but perfectly engineered wall panels, trusses, beams and floor joists. Every attention to detail has been paid so that with each specific design, all the elements of the frame also have holes cut out in them at strategic points to allow for the channeling of electricity cables and pipework. Holes are perfectly engineered so that the skeleton is not weakened. And every model comes complete with an international engineered structural stamp. As Rodger will say with a knowing smile, you have no idea how much time such foresight saves and how, when all the other design features of Frame Up Now’s low-cost properties are added together, the savings in construction costs is the primary reason why these homes have become so affordable.
And maybe most important is the preservation of relationships. The annoying thing is professional tradesmen have an annoying habit of making everything look so easy. So, many a couple have begun to construct a timber frame in the past, only to discover that it is not so easy. With tempers frayed, it can often be a toss-up between hiring a carpenter or heading for the divorce courts! With Frame Up Now’s lightweight steel frames, the simplicity and speed of erecting a skeleton is such that the sense of achievement for couples is less a test of the relationship, and more a relationship enhancer through an irreplaceable feeling of achievement. Yes Rodger believes that a well-engineered steel frame can be a doesn’t just make a building it also makes a couple.
As for those who may still have concerns about having the requisite construction skills, all you will need is access to the internet and the willingness to watch YouTube videos as there is nothing you will need to know about for the construction and finishing of any of Frame Up Now’s 25 designs for affordable homes that you won’t be able to find a video on. Frame Up Now has a library of seven essential videos to finish a from the preparation of the ground to the last step of the installation of the trusses.
So, having a good understanding of the property industry and construction costs, the CFS frames spoke volumes to Rodger. First off, he is keen to point out that the frame itself is roughly 15% more expensive than a timber frame. Now that may not seem a promising start, but here comes the first major saving. The time taken to erect a steel skeleton is approximately 60% of the cost of a timber frame, and 40% of an all-block property, so the cost of construction is also 60% and 40% respectively.
Now comes the figure that will make you realise just how affordable these steel-frame homes are. Labor cost will come in at approximately 30-35% of the overall cost of the property if tradesmen are used. If you do the construction work yourself, on a property that would cost you $180,000 to have built, the actual cost will more likely be in the region of $125,000. Now do you see what Rodger is screaming from the rooftops. There are many thousands of people who could not afford $150,000 on a new home, and that is not a high price, yet they could afford $100,000.
And labor is not priceless but relationships are. The simplicity of constructing a perfect skeleton respects the premises that labor is fungible and relationships are special
And for the seriously savvy DIY home builder, here’s how you can really succeed. Imagine if you and five others bought a plot of land for six low-cost units and you each agreed to work on each other’s properties where and when needed. First off, the cost of landscaping the lot, installing slab foundations for all six units, and installing all services – water, electricity, gas, drainage – will be cheaper for each unit when compared to the unit cost of a one-off build. You can then work on your unit at a pace that fits with your work commitments and finish at your own pace. Beyond that, working in a ‘community’ will give you greater confidence if you have not worked on construction before, and as long as you don’t keep asking your neighbor every five minutes how you do something, you will be able to relax knowing that if you get stuck, there will be someone around to help you out.
Now, Rodger Ford and Frame Up Now are not ones to sit back and say: “Job done!” Rodger is so heavily committed to making Frame Up Now’s affordable steel-frame home as keenly priced as possible that he is currently designing a Bill of Materials (BOM) for each home for good, better and best choices for all the finishings. With such BOM, private individuals should be able to benefit from keen prices based on negotiating a purchase of the finishings from a single source. Economies of scale that are usually open only to bulk buyers.
Frame Up Now steel-frame affordable homes for contractors
If you are going to tempt an established building contractor to change possibly decades of building properties in a particular way, you are going to have to come up with something very compelling. No business should feel the need for change purely for the sake of it. So why was Rodger so convinced that his steel frames would appeal not just to the self-build market, but building contractors as well, especially as that is a far larger market segment.
It all comes down to business, the bottom dollar, profitability. With Frame Up Now properties, and not just the 25 low-cost ones, speed of construction has a massive effect not just on the bottom line, but also on time, and as we all know in business, ‘time is money’. While Frame Up Now’s steel-frame homes may be cheaper to build, yet without sacrificing the quality, contractors have an option. Either keep the price the same as a more traditional property and look to increase the profit on each unit. However, there is an alternative, and that is to sell at a more competitive price, where the speed of construction allows you to build more units in a year and, overall, increase profitability. Yes successful business compresses time to accelerate outcomes!
Not only that, but whether larger steel-frame homes or the 25 designs that can be bought ‘off the shelf’, every builder now has a greater portfolio of properties to offer their client if they so wish. There is no contract any builder has to sign in order to be able to offer any Frame Up Now property. And Frame Up Now engineering and design services can convert most any timber design to cold-formed steel.
Beyond this, with there always being a demand for low-cost or affordable housing, Frame Up Now is offering building contractors the opportunity to diversify and seize the opportunity to work with projects and housing associations for the provision of low-cost residential units.
Rodger Ford is extremely confident that with or without local government funding, the cost of these steel-frame units will help to regenerate interest in tackling what is becoming a social epidemic of a problem, homelessness. Rodger feels that this new form of property construction will not just be good for the construction industry in general, but society as a whole.
More to the point, there is no geographical restriction either. There are small to medium sized builders who will invest in a FRAMECAD steel frame manufacturing unit, and these builders may become collaborators of the Frame Up Now network and will have the opportunity to manufacture steel frames for other builders in their location who are not sufficiently large to merit the investment in the necessary machinery.
“If you’ve got DIY skills you can build one of our houses.”
