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Great essay. This is a much more sophisticated analysis of construction efficiency than you typically find; most of them basically imply that construction is in

Great essay. This is a much more sophisticated analysis of construction efficiency than you typically find; most of them basically imply that construction is inefficient because contractors are dumb. One minor comment: balloon framing is not a synonym for light wood framing, it's a (mostly archaic) version of it. Balloon framing features long exterior wall studs that extend up multiple stories, as opposed to modern "platform framing", in which the studs stop at each floor.

jakewins 5y ago
Came here to say exactly this. Balloon framing was abandoned due to fires. This made me hesitant about the rest of the text.
- aardvarkr 5y ago
  Saying something is invalid due to a personal choice in vernacular is quite brazen and ignorant… it’s like writing off someone’s opinion because they used the wrong their/they’re/there
  - gpm 5y ago
    If I was reading an article about grammar and the author used the wrong version of their/they're/there I would seriously consider whether or not I should stop reading it.
  - earleybird 5y ago
    Would you clarify your comment please. Are you saying balloon vs platform framing is a personal choice?
  - function_seven 5y ago
    It's more than "personal choice in vernacular". Someone speaking authoritatively on construction methods should know the differences in terms. Calling a vertical wall framing member a "joist" would be just as wrong. Balloon framing and platform framing are different, exclusive terms. Author uses it as a catch-all for stick framing throughout the article. The rest of the article seems fine and insightful, but it's totally reasonable to see that incorrect terminology usage as an indicator of knowledge gaps. And the author appears to be more involved with cryptography and related concepts, so it tracks.
- brudgers 5y ago
  Balloon framing is, like all construction, more common in some regions than others. Short construction seasons are somewhat favorable to it. Dry in can be quicker. A trade base familiar with the necessary fire blocking makes it practical. Same with designers and inspectors. The sun belt tends toward platform framing. Being the sunbelt, construction tends to be more year round.
  - lostapathy 5y ago
    Where specifically is balloon framing done now? Genuinely curious as I know people who have posted construction pictures all over the country and I've never seen it.
  - 015UUZn8aEvW 5y ago
    Platform framing is done in the north too.
  - rootusrootus 5y ago
    > Dry in can be quicker. I find that concept pretty fascinating. Here in the PNW we don't typically see balloon framing, but even so the dry-in time is still really quick. A two-story house can be framed up and have roof sheathing on in a week or so, and in another week have the roof and tyvek on. Even if the entire process was done in a downpour it still doesn't take long after that before it's dry enough to start interior work.
- weeboid 5y ago
  yah; clearly author knows far less than he thinks
aardvarkr 5y ago
As a layman I hadn’t heard either term so I looked it up while reading the essay and the overwhelming opinion I found is that platform framing is a variant of balloon framing that has completely replaced the original method due to fires in 1860 (Chicago) and 1903 (San Fran). most of what I read said the terms used the terms interchangeably
- steffan 5y ago
  Another likely reason is that balloon framing makes use of single studs that extend the height of the structure, with the 2nd floor suspended. The nature of available framing lumber has shifted and it would be likely much more expensive and difficult to obtain satisfactory 16'-20' studs vs. the more common 8' length.
brudgers 5y ago
The problem is that construction schedules are NP hard. And that optimization is expensive due to market efficiency for labor.
kingsuper20 5y ago
>most of them basically imply that construction is inefficient because contractors are dumb. Yeah, that's a problem. Usually, next up is some handwaving about building homes from shipping containers because they're rectangular.
avernon 5y ago
Thanks! If I would have known it would go to front page of Hacker News I would have had one of my construction science friends proof read it first! I've been writing for fun and to learn and have always been curious about construction productivity.
dcolkitt 5y ago
> most of them basically imply that construction is inefficient because contractors are dumb. I don't think contractors are dumb. But I do think that they don't accumulate productivity efficiencies the way other industries do. There's a rule in economics that every X units of a product that gets made, manufacturers tend to improve by Y% percent efficiency. Because they learn by doing, and the more experience the industry accumulates the more chances it has to make continuous improvements off gradual innovation. Moore's Law is probably the most extreme example. But it's well known in virtually every industry. For example Toyota kept getting repeatedly better at building cars more efficiently and reliably because they carefully observed the process and kept making improvements. The problem with the contractor model is this doesn't happen, because you don't have large firms that can exploit economies of scale. At anything above lower management, every one is in their own isolated fiefdom where they can keep making the same mistakes and not learning from each other. If one contractor is 20% more efficient, it's difficult to grow fast into a national brand and export those productivity improvements. Simple example. Copper plumbing is still widely used in most parts of the country. Pex plumbing is strictly superior. It’s much cheaper, easier to install, more reliable, and less likely to damage the framing. Despite being around for decades, most contractors still use copper. If you really want to see gains in construction, I think you'll need a large Amazon-like org where every one on site works directly for the company and they're all centrally managed. As soon as you're outsourcing something, you should no longer expect to have it done efficiently. This is fine when it's something ancillary to your business. But when you're a homebuilder, especially a homebuilder aiming to achieve sustained productivity improvements, everything being done on site is core and should be directly under your management team.
- 015UUZn8aEvW 5y ago
  >you don't have large firms that can exploit economies of scale. There are also diseconomies of scale in residential construction, partly for reasons described in the original post. Having many layers of management is inefficient when you're dealing with work that involves a lot of customization and homeowner input. >Despite being around for decades, most contractors still use copper. No, they don't. Pex is ubiquitous in single-family and smaller multifamily construction now. Copper is used in larger and nonresidential projects where the plumbing codes require it. The idea that professional plumbers and homebuilders haven't heard the news yet that Pex is cheaper is silly.
ncmncm 5y ago
That said, contractors are regionally dumb. Carpenter acquaintances in California make vicious fun of carpenters in The East (which probably includes most of what easterners call "The West") continuing to use Skil saws long after geared designs, with a high-speed motor running perpendicular to the sawblade axis, have proven overwhelmingly superior by every measure.

jakewins 5y ago

Came here to say exactly this. Balloon framing was abandoned due to fires. This made me hesitant about the rest of the text.

aardvarkr 5y ago
Saying something is invalid due to a personal choice in vernacular is quite brazen and ignorant… it’s like writing off someone’s opinion because they used the wrong their/they’re/there
- gpm 5y ago
  If I was reading an article about grammar and the author used the wrong version of their/they're/there I would seriously consider whether or not I should stop reading it.
- earleybird 5y ago
  Would you clarify your comment please. Are you saying balloon vs platform framing is a personal choice?
- function_seven 5y ago
  It's more than "personal choice in vernacular". Someone speaking authoritatively on construction methods should know the differences in terms. Calling a vertical wall framing member a "joist" would be just as wrong. Balloon framing and platform framing are different, exclusive terms. Author uses it as a catch-all for stick framing throughout the article. The rest of the article seems fine and insightful, but it's totally reasonable to see that incorrect terminology usage as an indicator of knowledge gaps. And the author appears to be more involved with cryptography and related concepts, so it tracks.
brudgers 5y ago
Balloon framing is, like all construction, more common in some regions than others. Short construction seasons are somewhat favorable to it. Dry in can be quicker. A trade base familiar with the necessary fire blocking makes it practical. Same with designers and inspectors. The sun belt tends toward platform framing. Being the sunbelt, construction tends to be more year round.
- lostapathy 5y ago
  Where specifically is balloon framing done now? Genuinely curious as I know people who have posted construction pictures all over the country and I've never seen it.
- 015UUZn8aEvW 5y ago
  Platform framing is done in the north too.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  > Dry in can be quicker. I find that concept pretty fascinating. Here in the PNW we don't typically see balloon framing, but even so the dry-in time is still really quick. A two-story house can be framed up and have roof sheathing on in a week or so, and in another week have the roof and tyvek on. Even if the entire process was done in a downpour it still doesn't take long after that before it's dry enough to start interior work.
weeboid 5y ago
yah; clearly author knows far less than he thinks

aardvarkr 5y ago

As a layman I hadn’t heard either term so I looked it up while reading the essay and the overwhelming opinion I found is that platform framing is a variant of balloon framing that has completely replaced the original method due to fires in 1860 (Chicago) and 1903 (San Fran). most of what I read said the terms used the terms interchangeably

steffan 5y ago
Another likely reason is that balloon framing makes use of single studs that extend the height of the structure, with the 2nd floor suspended. The nature of available framing lumber has shifted and it would be likely much more expensive and difficult to obtain satisfactory 16'-20' studs vs. the more common 8' length.

brudgers 5y ago

The problem is that construction schedules are NP hard. And that optimization is expensive due to market efficiency for labor.

kingsuper20 5y ago

>most of them basically imply that construction is inefficient because contractors are dumb. Yeah, that's a problem. Usually, next up is some handwaving about building homes from shipping containers because they're rectangular.

avernon 5y ago

Thanks! If I would have known it would go to front page of Hacker News I would have had one of my construction science friends proof read it first! I've been writing for fun and to learn and have always been curious about construction productivity.

dcolkitt 5y ago

> most of them basically imply that construction is inefficient because contractors are dumb. I don't think contractors are dumb. But I do think that they don't accumulate productivity efficiencies the way other industries do. There's a rule in economics that every X units of a product that gets made, manufacturers tend to improve by Y% percent efficiency. Because they learn by doing, and the more experience the industry accumulates the more chances it has to make continuous improvements off gradual innovation. Moore's Law is probably the most extreme example. But it's well known in virtually every industry. For example Toyota kept getting repeatedly better at building cars more efficiently and reliably because they carefully observed the process and kept making improvements. The problem with the contractor model is this doesn't happen, because you don't have large firms that can exploit economies of scale. At anything above lower management, every one is in their own isolated fiefdom where they can keep making the same mistakes and not learning from each other. If one contractor is 20% more efficient, it's difficult to grow fast into a national brand and export those productivity improvements. Simple example. Copper plumbing is still widely used in most parts of the country. Pex plumbing is strictly superior. It’s much cheaper, easier to install, more reliable, and less likely to damage the framing. Despite being around for decades, most contractors still use copper. If you really want to see gains in construction, I think you'll need a large Amazon-like org where every one on site works directly for the company and they're all centrally managed. As soon as you're outsourcing something, you should no longer expect to have it done efficiently. This is fine when it's something ancillary to your business. But when you're a homebuilder, especially a homebuilder aiming to achieve sustained productivity improvements, everything being done on site is core and should be directly under your management team.

015UUZn8aEvW 5y ago
>you don't have large firms that can exploit economies of scale. There are also diseconomies of scale in residential construction, partly for reasons described in the original post. Having many layers of management is inefficient when you're dealing with work that involves a lot of customization and homeowner input. >Despite being around for decades, most contractors still use copper. No, they don't. Pex is ubiquitous in single-family and smaller multifamily construction now. Copper is used in larger and nonresidential projects where the plumbing codes require it. The idea that professional plumbers and homebuilders haven't heard the news yet that Pex is cheaper is silly.

ncmncm 5y ago

That said, contractors are regionally dumb. Carpenter acquaintances in California make vicious fun of carpenters in The East (which probably includes most of what easterners call "The West") continuing to use Skil saws long after geared designs, with a high-speed motor running perpendicular to the sawblade axis, have proven overwhelmingly superior by every measure.