G’day sheddies!
In this months’ newsletter, I would like to discuss a few hot topics.
- New Construction Package Drawings
- Fully bolted shed system
- Continued supply disruptions
- Engineering delays
- Template defaults designs
New Construction Package Drawings – Our new construction package is nearly complete but we need your help. The new drawings and connection details will link to photos of the connection and we need your help taking photos. As you build a HiTen shed, please take photos of all connection details and send them to Support. There are over 200 different connection types due to our full range of Cee and Top Hat sizes. This new feature will help your new staff learn the ins-and-outs of cold formed buildings system designs.. and there’s not one of us out there that doesn’t need more employees or builders presently… so please help with connection photos.
Fully Bolted Shed System – As most of you are aware, I have been pushing for a fully bolted system and this is currently in the works. Several of you have asked for a shed system where the purlins would bolt around the outside the endwall columns. We have done our homework and we have decided to bolt the purlins and clips to the inside of the columns. Why don’t we do it the same way as others? There are numerous issues with this method of design:
- Having the Open Side of the C face inwards does not result in the best looking building internally.
- You can’t mount Roller Doors to these Corner Columns. Whereas with our ACT system you can. Additionally, mullions are not able to be rotated for Roller Door jambs.
- You lose max opening width for side wall roller doors.
- You must also add a rake angle (or similar) to attach Gable end wall sheets to along the barge flashing area.
- The system of moving the gable end wall in would increase the costs of the standard two roller door in the legible end wall double garage.
The only advantage that we can see in moving the gable wall inwards would be the slightly increased capacities for the corner column concrete fasteners, however are working on improving these for Cast in Brackets now. Overall, you will get a better design with our system with fewer components to install, making your installers happy and making you slightly more competitive against your competitors.
Continue Supply disruptions – Suppliers are still facing ongoing challenges with steel shortages and we expect it to continue until at least the middle of 2022. G450 folded bracketry is running approximately 30 days out from order entry and HDG brackets are running 40 days out. This should have nil effect on your deliveries as Metroll is on average eight weeks out on deliveries from order entry. Lysaght is averaging twelve weeks out from order entry. Stratco is still delivering in 4-6 weeks with bracketry and C300 purlin feed being their primary delays. We now have a large stock of HDG brackets in Adelaide with Connect Precision. So, if you are in the NT, QLD or NSW and the brackets are causing delays at Laser Central, you can cancel your order with Laser Central and order the brackets from Connect Precision in Adelaide. Laser Central should give you a credit. All other states and territories should now be buying from Connect Precision.
Engineering Delays – Please remember to design your sheds to nil warnings (as close as possible) before sending them to Engineering. If you submit a job to Engineering with warnings, the Engineers will try to fix the warnings, by changing the design, and they will charge you for their time ($150/hr). If you have a design with warnings that you cannot fix, please submit it to Support first as they can almost always fix them for you, and typically under two hours from your file submission. I’ve seen a few designs go to Engineering that could have been easily fixed by changing a few things around like upgrading centre mullion columns, ticking the bolted purlins and girts option, or using cast-in brackets in lieu of bolt-down base brackets. This could save you hundreds of dollars. We are working to release cast-in brackets and height over 4m to automatic engineering very soon. If you have a design that will not let you purchase automatic engineering because of these two items, then you will need to use the Custom Engineering option so that our engineers can review and release the design quickly. This Engineering review will be paid for by ACT until they can be processed by automatic engineering.
Template default designs – When you installed HiTen’s version of ACT on your computer, it came with several design templates on the Start page in ACT. These are now being redone as our engineering has improved significantly from when they were first created. Nevertheless, I want you to create your own templates with your preferred default settings. For example, just make one simple portal frame starter template with your preferences included such as (mark-up settings, preferred sheeting, bolt down brackets, bolted purlins and girts, etc, etc). This way you can quote faster and you won’t need to change settings every time you start a new design. You can create as many templates as you want and they work great for repeat customers as well.
If you haven’t already done so, please contact Support and request an online training session for you and your employees. We are constantly rolling out new features and improved engineering, so you will learn something new in these training sessions – I promise.
I’m always available to take your phone calls, so please do not hesitate to contact me regarding any issues or concerns that you may have.
Thank you.
Chris Lynch
