It’s an exciting time at Albaugh Construction. We are growing. With the addition of a couple employees (a part time book keeper, and another full time carpenter) we are hoping to be able to serve our customers better.

 

It’s been a long time coming; we’ve had so many great customers who have waited months, and up to a year for us to get to their jobs. I thought I was serving them best, because I personally wanted to do all the work, but I’ve come to realize that is no longer possible. I’m not serving them to the best of my ability when they have to wait so long. What will serve them better is to train employees to do exactly what I do, so we can get jobs completed in a more timely matter.

 

I want to thank all of my loyal customers who have waited for me to get to their jobs. It’s you that has given me the confidence to grow. Having many jobs lined up makes the decision an easy one to make. I must confess that I should have hired earlier.

 

Thank you, and please be patient as we adjust our systems to make a better Albaugh Construction!

 

 

Vinyl siding, what can I say? It installs fast, looks cheap, and it fades in a few years. Not to mention the fact that manufacturers stop making it every few years, so it can’t easily be replaced. Plus, repairs aren’t always an option, and if they are, it is faded so badly that you don’t want to repair it anyway. Do you get the drift that I don’t like it? Especially in Billings, Montana where it hails every year.

I will repair damaged vinyl siding, because it isn’t always cost effective to replace the whole house with new siding, or the owner may not be able to afford it, but for a whole house re-side, or a new construction house, the material doesn’t even exist to me. I don’t know why builders are still using it in the first place.

Sure, it is less expensive up front, and it comes pre-finished so a painter isn’t required to paint it after install. However, there are many pre-finished products that are much better on the market. Two that come to mind are LP SmartSide, and James Hardi. I’ve installed a lot of Hardi, and it’s a good product; the downfall is cutting it creates Silica dust which can be harmful in large quantities. It can also be damaged from objects such as baseballs striking it. It seems to be able to withstand hail; I haven’t seen any damage from hail, but I have seen damage in person from objects striking it as well as online from baseballs striking it. If you’re interested in seeing these videos here is the link to the LP SmartSide website where they are located http://www.lpcorp.com/smartside/

Here is a picture to show the fading of vinyl siding. Believe it or not, this is the exact same color. They print the color on the siding, and I got the exact same color it said.

 

I never really cared for the look of vinyl siding before. I think it looks cheap, but lately I’ve had to deal with it more then I ever have before because of The Hailstorm, and the more I deal with it, the more I hate it. Just look what hail does to it.

                       

I pride myself on quality, and part of doing a quality job is using quality materials. And vinyl siding is not a quality material no matter who tells you. The pictures here are proof. Choose a quality material: LP Smartside, Hardi, even Masonite would be a better option. Also an EIFS system (Exterior Insulated Finishing System) or brick, cedar siding, and metal. But I would never recommend vinyl.

Even after using old siding from another side hoping that is was faded enough to blend in this is still how it looked.

I am starting this blog to educate potential customers on my view of where I hope to take my business in the coming years. The other reason is to educate them on my views and opinions on how to construct homes and the types of materials to use and installation practices I prefer to do.

 

I hope to start building new construction homes in the Billings area in the near future. In my many years of construction I have done lots of different trades and have learned a lot. I have seen a lot of materials and building practices I like as well as those I do not approve of. I hope to elaborate on these in future blogs. I welcome any subjects you would like me to cover as well as any comments you choose to share.

 

I have a vision of where I would like to take my company, but I need input to see if it is possible and desired from my future customer. I want to first focus on smaller home construction. I feel that a lot of homes that are currently built in Billings are much bigger then they need to be because of wasted space. I feel there is a lot of wasted square footage in a house. I feel a well designed home with certain features built into it can make the space feel larger and utilize the square footage more as well as make the home more homey. A smaller home has many advantages such as lower construction costs, lower energy bills, less to clean, less furniture to buy, lower remodel costs, ability to have more upgraded features that you might not be able to afford due to having to buy twice as much because your house is twice as big.

 

The other area I hope to take my company is to use more energy efficient building practices, better quality materials. I would love to be able to build net zero homes, where you can eliminate your utility bills and have less of an environmental impact. I feel the technology is there to build smarter using better materials and building practices, but not many builders use them due to cost and lower demand from the customer and a need to fit in to what other builders are doing.

 

My two visions go hand in hand. Smaller homes are more energy efficient, you have a house half the size, its going to cost half as much to heat it. In our debt ridden society I feel that by building to what you can afford and moving up as you can afford more will allow more freedom for other more important areas of your life such as travel, family, less work and more play. I hope I can give some good insight on some of these ideas and visions I have in future blogs. I can’t wait to give the Greater Yellowstone Valley another option to home construction practices.