The floor, wall panels,  stair,  and rafter packages, are layed out and  the dimensions are confirmed by the CAD drawing.  You are ready to cut and frame. For the Do It Yourself framers, Offsite Framing drawings are a must. When you start with a lumber list that you can verify using drawings that give you the actual cut dimensions, it is like having  your own play book.  The wall heights, length of walls, headers and stud dimensions are all there. The drawings show where each piece of lumber is to be nailed. We also provide diagonal measurements to help square the walls. You can cut the entire framing package with ease of mind following the cut plan. Your lumber cost  will be based on the real count,  rather than a rough estimation.

Cutting heavy timber rafters is stress related. The cost of the big timbers and moving them is labor intense so you want the cuts right. It’s a big help to have drawings done on CAD that are overlayed using different layers to verify lenghts and notches.

The wall panels are drawn using CAD. All lumber is dimensioned and labeled. The material list is then created.

Due to late approval of the building plans, when we commenced construction on a house in Lake Tahoe it was late in the “building season” and we only had a few weeks to get the framing completed and get the house closed in and the roof on before the on-set of winter. The architectural plans called for post and beam construction of a two-story residence. By using Off-Site CAD drawings we were able to begin framing concurrently while the foundation, rough plumbing, heating duct, and installation were being completed. Each wall panel wwas framed and sheared on site, next to the foundation. The panels were set by crane. We even pre-built a roof turret over the stairway. Because we begin framing early, we enclosed the house within a matter of a few weeks before winter arrived.

The rafters were cut while the foundation was constructed. Setting rafters was made easy because of the numbering of all the rafters. Off-site Framing provided the layout and the number placement for each rafter.

Framing next to the foundation, while it was being constucted was a big time saver.

Since the architectural drawings called for cut rafters it was extremely difficult to obtain bids from framing contractor in the area as they were wanting to bid “trusses” instead. By using Off-Site Framing CAD drawings we were able to provide the framing contractor with detailed drawings indicating the cut dimensions and angles for each specific valley, hip and jack rafters.  We also provided  elevation dimensions for the post and ridge and post brackets. Fabrication drawing for the brackets where sent to the welding shop.