Foundations and framing

Engineered post-tension and stem-wall slabs, truss and stick framing.

Post-tension or stem wall

A post-tension slab has steel tendons run through the concrete and stretched tight after it cures, which holds the slab together as one piece. That matters on soils that swell and shrink with moisture, which are found in parts of the Valley. A stem-wall foundation raises the floor on perimeter concrete walls set on footings, with the inside filled and compacted before the slab goes in. It suits sloped lots and places where the floor needs to sit higher than the grade around it.

The engineer picks it, not the brochure

Which foundation a house gets comes from the soils report and the structural engineer, not from preference. Our job is to build exactly what was engineered and to get it inspected before anything covers it, because a foundation is the one part of a house that cannot be revisited once the framing is on it.

Truss or stick framing

Roof trusses are built in a plant to engineered drawings, arrive ready to set, and go up quickly. Stick framing is cut and assembled on site, which is what vaulted ceilings, complicated rooflines and open spans usually call for. Many homes use both: trusses where the roof is simple and stick framing where the design is not.