At Endeavour, we tackle some fairly large building projects with our Sustainable New Construction program. This means completing a entire building from the ground up in just 5-6 months, from breaking ground to final finishes. Time is always at a premium, as is the safety of our students. For both these reasons, we often choose to build our roof structures on the ground and lift them into place with a crane.
Building on the ground allows us to have a team working on the roof right from the beginning of the project, rather than only starting the roof once the foundation and walls are completed. This kind of “multi-tasking” shortens the entire build cycle, as the mostly-completed roof is set in place as soon as the walls are ready to receive it. The building receives immediate weather protection and the project moves into the finishing phases very quickly.
The process of building the roof is also appreciably faster when it’s done close to the ground. Much less time is spent going up and down ladders and scaffolding, and the accuracy of the work is improved because workers feel comfortable and safe and can take their time to do jobs properly.
And of course, doing the whole project at ground level is a much safer way to learn to how to measure, mark, layout and install all the components of a roof. Much of the work can be done with feet planted firmly on the ground, and even when working at the peak the heights are limited.
For our jumbo straw bale duplex this year, we are again employing this technique, and this time the process includes full construction of the soffits, fascia and gable end siding.
The more complex the roof and roof details, the more sense it makes to build this way. None of our roof lifts have required more than 4-8 hours of crane time, which makes it a very affordable process (ranging between $750-1200).
And the day of the lift is exciting, a bit nervous, and a great sense of accomplishment as the building goes from open walls to full enclosed structure.
