Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show

Learn how custom architectural blueprints, 3D spatial visualizations, and certified Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) designs streamline building permit approvals and improve daily livability. We explore why flat 2D floor plans can leave homeowners uncertain about interior volume, showing how 3D renderings and cutaways clarify room flow, furniture spacing, and cathedral ceiling heights. Discover how sizing HVAC equipment to offset radiant heat gain from large glass walls—a common feature in mountain chalet cabin plans—prevents short-cycling and uneven room temperatures. Finally, examine the structural engineering required to support rooftop solar panel dead loads (adding 3 pounds per square foot to truss load calculations) and see how building with precision panelized home kits ensures ductwork, electrical risers, and structural components align seamlessly on site.

A: Standard 2D blueprints show wall lengths and door swings but struggle to convey interior spatial volume, ceiling transitions, and sightlines. High-resolution 3D renderings and interior perspective walk-throughs allow owner-builders to visualize how furniture fits, how natural daylight enters through specific window arrays, and how vaulted ceilings interact with open-concept living rooms, preventing expensive layout modifications once framing begins.

A: Standard roof trusses are engineered to carry specific environmental live loads (such as snow and wind) combined with the baseline dead weight of standard sheathing and shingles. Adding photovoltaic solar arrays introduces a permanent dead load of approximately 3 pounds per square foot along with concentrated point-load mounting brackets. Engineering the trusses for this added weight upfront ensures the roof will not sag, deflect, or fail structural inspections when solar panels are mounted.

A: Expansive glass assemblies have an insulating value significantly lower than standard R-21 or R-30 insulated walls, and they allow dramatic solar heat gain during peak sun hours. If mechanical engineers do not factor in the home’s exact solar orientation, an undersized air conditioning unit will struggle to cool the living space in summer, while winter months will cause severe heat loss that demands strategically placed supply duct registers to prevent cold drafts.

A: As modern homes integrate high-amperage consumer electronics, EV vehicle chargers, on-demand tankless water heaters, and large multi-burner gas ranges, generic trade assumptions no longer guarantee safety. Plan reviewers mandate stamped electrical load calculations and gas line isometric diagrams to verify that utility service lines, main panel breaker sizes, and pipe diameters provide adequate supply without voltage drops or hazardous gas pressure losses.

A: Even a top-tier 98% AFUE furnace will perform poorly if connected to poorly sealed or uninsulated ductwork routed through unconditioned attics or crawlspaces. Duct leakage and thermal conductive loss act like holes in a garden hose, bleeding conditioned air before it reaches living areas. Properly engineered Manual D duct layouts ensure air is delivered at balanced velocities, lowering monthly utility bills and maintaining consistent room-to-room comfort.

Interviewer: Hey everyone and here we are again for another episode of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show and with me is the President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want exactly as they want across the nation and worldwide since 1993 and that man is Steve Tuma. How are you doing, amigo?

Steve Landmark: Excellent. It’s a good day. What do we have? We’ve got more interesting questions.

Interviewer: I always have interesting questions. What are you talking about?

Steve Landmark: Panelized home questions, prefab home questions.

Interviewer: Every question I ask is interesting. Today though I wanted to talk a little bit more about plans. We’ve touched upon them in the past. But I want to talk more about like mechanical design and building department information, how to get that to them in the correct way and permitting. Every time we talk about that stuff, I learn something new.

So I would like to start off asking you about architectural plans. Now every time I see a set of plans, architectural plans, they’re nice and they show a clean 2D version of the home that I want to build. But I can’t seem to look at that and visualize what it would be like to live there in real life. You know what I mean? How can I get a better vision of the home I’m eventually going to move into?

Steve Landmark: Well, you’re right Steve because a lot of people can look at a 2D plan. You know, just a floor plan, show dimensions of rooms and kind of see it in their minds and some people don’t have that ability to really go through and say, “Hey, what does a 12 by 12 room with a cathedral ceiling look like?” or “Hey, what does it look like?” So we can do a lot of details with a virtual rendering type situation, visualization, so that we can go through and actually do like a colorized, 3D –

Interviewer: Sort of an animation kind of thing.

Steve Landmark: Yeah, in a sense an animation where we could show all sides, the top, the bottom.

Interviewer: That’s great.

Steve Landmark: You know, different things. You can go in the house and see how the house is laid out with furniture, where the windows, wherever you might be.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So we’re able to do that and go through and really lay it out. It’s a pretty spot-on method of being able to go through and eyeball and make sure it’s right.

Now when you do that, it takes a little bit more time to properly detail it and make sure the colors are right, make sure just everything is put together. So it won’t be 100 percent perfect because we’ve been doing this and sometimes people say, “Well, I see the couch in the room. But it’s not my couch.” Well, it might be hard to get your custom couch rendered but we can get a representation in there, so you can get a feel for the size of the kitchen.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: How the kitchen would flow, what it would look like from a perspective, what it would look like with a certain size couch or how your TV fits. I would add a little bit more time for the design elements because it takes time to do that and revise it to make sure you can see exactly what it is.

But that’s one of the key elements of how we’re able to help you at Landmark Home and Land Company is let’s design what you want and then make sure that you know that that’s right.

Interviewer: Right. You may be doing a big favor to the furniture-making companies. So they will see the cartoon couch and go, “You know, that’s better on my couch. I might want to get something like that.”

Steve Landmark: Hey, things like that happen. It’s kind of amazing and if someone is really, really into their home, their environment, where they’re going to live, it can be a valuable process to go through because that – then you can – it’s kind of like sitting in your home. You could see it. You can see a picture. You can see how the room flows, how the house flows and then we’re also doing 3D floor plans like cutaways, so you can see how different pieces of furniture lay out, how the house flows.

Interviewer: Exactly. Because I know real estate companies are doing that more and more as well, using 3D graphics to do house tours. I think that would be amazing to have that, just so you could get the look of how your home design is kind of going to feel.

Steve Landmark: Well, we’re kind of living in a virtual smartphone world now. I mean you see it. People are driving down the road, texting, talking. People are sitting in the house. They go to dinner. They’re spending time on their phones. They’re on buses going to work or in traffic jams looking at different stuff. So that we’re able to help people visualize their home better.

Interviewer: Yeah. We’re seeing people in cars texting and they’re not even in the driver’s seat. There’s no one in the driver’s seat.

Steve Landmark: Yeah, all that – yeah, that’s the technology we live in and that – this 3D rendering situation is kind of the same thing. Twenty years ago, it just wasn’t as good. But now, now you got it where it almost looks just like a picture.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So what we’re able to do is work to make sure that people are building the right house. I always joke around and say, “Hey, anyone could take some wood and nail it together and call it a house. But a properly designed home that’s good for the way you live is more important than just a house.”

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Landmark: You know, the saying, you know, instead of a house, it’s a home type of a thing. So we’re able to do things like that and make sure that you end up with the house you want. If someone is really, really into the architectural design of the home, it’s worth doing just to make sure that you’re building exactly what you want.

Interviewer: Let’s talk about other design elements. How do I get my electrical, my plumbing, my heating, air conditioning? Those systems need to be designed as well. Is that the same sort of process as the – you know, putting up the walls?

Steve Landmark: Well, it’s – the actual design process is similar. It’s done on CAD. But it’s different disciplines in a sense. So designing the wood structure of a home is different than an electrical system. But there are a couple of answers to that. There’s the design. So they have the proper design for permitting.

Sometimes they want to go through and make sure that you’ve got the right sockets per code or the right circuits. You know, smoke detectors, CO2 detectors and different situations like that.

But then some building departments get a little in depth by going through and wanting the complete electrical design calculation riser diagrams, to make sure that for the house that you have, you’ve got enough “juice” going through it.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So there are more and more places asking for that. So typically we will supply an electrical layout showing where the sockets are, different simple details that an electrician can use to build. But if for some reason your building department needs more sophisticated details, we can go through and do the electrical engineering for that house as well.

Now that goes through the plumbing. A lot of people say, “But doesn’t the plumber just know how to put it together?” Generally they do but a lot more building departments want to make sure that your gas piping is right, that it’s the right size so that gas can go through and get properly distributed to the different appliances in the home and that it’s also the plumbing. Make sure that the water lines are properly sized and going to the right location.

Some people are getting in split gray water systems for reusing water for landscaping outside and different details. The one that we get more request for is the HVAC, heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, where they want the manuals to go through to make – see the heat loss calculations, make sure your furnace and air conditioning unit is sized right and then also make sure the ducts are properly sized so that the heating and cooling is effective.

So we can take care of all of that to whatever degree a typical building department would request and it is very important. A lot of people say, “Yeah. But doesn’t my heat guy just go and put this in?” and it’s like, “Yeah, I’m sure he can. But it’s almost like asking someone else to shop for your shoes.” You can say, “Hey, I need an 11 wide,” but different manufacturers of shoes, their 11 wide fits a little different. So it’s the same thing with the furnaces, that they’ve got to be designed ways for different climate, for different uses and it’s an important process to make sure it’s put together because if a furnace runs too long or too short, it’s burning energy.

Interviewer: And Landmark can pretty much get me through all of those processes, right?

Steve Landmark: Oh, yeah. We can help with pretty much anything that you would need for the building permit, to make sure it’s put together properly and then it’s easy to obtain permits and then the – it’s properly designed so that you know when it’s being built, you’re getting the best possible.

Interviewer: Now, we’ve talked on the show in the past about more green living and let’s say I build a house. Then five years from now, I love my house but maybe I want to install solar panels to the new home. What do I need to do? I mean do I need to think about that early or after it’s built? If I just said I want to do something like that, well how tough is that?

Steve Landmark: Well, it’s kind of an interesting concept. It can affect the actual design of your house and it also will affect the loading of the roof system because your roof is designed to carry a certain weight.

So let’s just say the snow load is 20 pounds per square foot. It will hold 20 pounds a square foot. But if you go stick a solar panel on there, generally the engineers allow 3 pounds per square foot. It’s additional weight that’s always up there.

So a lot of people will say, “Hey, what’s the roof loading that I need?” and I will say, “Well, 20 pounds,” or 50 or whatever it is for your area. Then they put solar panels on there and they don’t add for the solar, the weight of the solar panel, the point loads of holding it in place.

Now we can take care of those. But another thing is the orientation of it. So the sun generally –

Interviewer: Explain that. You mean the actual where it’s placed on the roof.

Steve Landmark: Right. Where it’s placed on the roof so that the solar panels have maximum access to sun. So a lot of people say, “Well, it’s no big deal. I will just put the solar panels on the south side of my house?” Well, what if you had a gable-end home where the gable face south.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: And the planes – I will say like a roof, a 6/12 roof pitch or so face the east or west. You’re not getting the optimal southern exposure. So sometimes when you’re looking at this, you have to reorient the house or redesign the roof to take advantage of the roof panels. Some states are starting to mandate solar on houses or at least put it in there, that the roof system has to be able to support the solar. I mean some renewable energy systems.

So there is a little bit of an art to it. You can’t just take any site and put it in any house site and go, “Wow! It’s solar.” Well, it may be able to hold the solar panels. But are the solar panels oriented properly to accept the sun’s rays?

So that’s kind of a situation. To cut to the point, you kind of want a big plane out of the roof that faces south. That can do it and there are solar design situations. We can help with that, to go through to make sure that there’s enough space for the solar to be collected and then the system to be put in place.

So it’s a little bit of work. You will notice that on some houses, they will try to put solar panels up and it’s just in the little section.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Even though the roof may be huge, it’s just in a little section because that’s the only spot where it will actually do something and be able to collect the solar rays.

Interviewer: Another thing that you’ve kind of gone over in the past is energy calculations. I’ve heard you talk about that a few times. Exactly how do they help me to save money? Is it really worth it, all of those calculations, energy calculations?

Steve Landmark: Yes, it is important. The reason being is it’s a theoretical calculation where they can go through and say, “Hey. For your house to meet code, you need to have certain insulation on the foundation, the floor, the walls, the roof,” and also some of them get very in depth into the type of duct work, the energy efficiency of the furnace and the hot water heater.

So a lot of people say, “Well, hey, I went out and I got the most efficient furnace. What better can I do?” Well, what they don’t realize is that if that furnace is not installed properly, you won’t be getting the proper efficiency out of it.

So the idea is way back 20 years ago, 80 percent efficient furnace was you stick a dollar of gas into it, You get 80 cents of heat out of it. Now they’re higher percentages, 96, 98 percent efficient. So you stick a dollar into it of fuel. You get 98 cents of heat. That’s a better return than way back.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So what ends up happening is you heat or cool and then you distribute it through duct work, metal duct work. If that duct work isn’t installed properly, there could be tremendous loss in the heat. Kind of a similar concept of having a garden hose with a bunch of holes in it.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So you could be running water through it. But because there are so many holes in it, the water is coming out of the garden hose instead of at the end of the spigot where you want the water to wash your car or water your yard.

So it’s the understanding of how the heat transfer happens in the home but also gets into the design to make sure that the heat systems are put together properly or using efficient water heating. A lot of places, the codes pretty much dictate that you have to have instant hot water heaters.

There’s just a lot of details that you’ve got to go through. Even insulating a crawlspace or a slab, there’s a lot of heat lost through ground or cold coming in or heat coming in. I’m talking a lot about heat and a lot of parts of the country, they’re trying to keep houses cool.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So it works kind of both ways. So it’s not just to save on your heat bill. It’s also to save on your air conditioning bill. So that’s part of our design process is looking into the energy efficiency, the theoretical efficiency. But then you have to go through as our owner builders do and make sure that it’s installed properly, make sure that the insulation contractor knows how to properly install, make sure that the heat guy is doing it right.

You can get HERS raters and they’re able to go through and make sure that the installation matches the energy codes. That’s one of those things that you can’t really see the value until you get your energy bills. So it makes sense to make sure that it’s put in.

A lot of people go through and say, “Oh, I got to make sure my windows are installed right,” but very few people go through to make sure their furnace is installed right or make sure the insulation is installed right. Your energy bill, that’s a monthly bill.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Your happy electric company and gas company just seem to be able to send you a little wake-up notice every month. So the lower the dollar on that, the better off you are.

Interviewer: I think you were right earlier when you said that there really is sort of an art to making a home efficient. It really is something that I don’t think enough people probably put any thought into at all.

Steve Landmark: No. It’s one of these things. When people talk about their house, you know, friends. They’re like, “Oh, I got a great fireplace. Look at our bathroom. Look at our kitchen.” Who’s the last person that said, “I’ve got an energy-efficient home and I’m saving this. I check my duct work and this happened and check out this instant hot water heater. This is all going to save me so much money a month.”

It just doesn’t happen. When people are buying and selling homes, the pictures don’t show the cost of ownership.

Interviewer: Right, right.

Steve Landmark: The pictures don’t show the value of a quality home. They show you a cute kitchen or a bathroom or porch or whatever it may be. That’s very important to do. But the cost of ownership and comfort in your home I think is equally as important.

Interviewer: You touched on something a little earlier but it just struck me as something – it has got to be so important. The actual placement, the orientation of your house to the sun must affect the energy efficiency of your home.

Steve Landmark: Oh, yeah, Steve. You’ve probably been in a situation where you’re – you know, say you’re at a restaurant and you’re sitting there and you’re by a window and the sun is just beaming in. It just seems to be so much hotter right there.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Than if you went to a shadier part of it. A lot of people think, “Oh, I will just turn my air conditioning on.” Well, it costs money to do that and it’s still going to be warmer. So yes, orienting the house in different ways can allow it to absorb that sun or to be shaded from it.

So that actually can get into the energy calculations of a home to see the energy efficiency because a lot of people, they will go through and someone will say, “Well, I think I need a two-ton air conditioning unit,” and they didn’t look at a 20-foot wall of glass that’s 10 feet wide. That’s essentially like a magnifying glass, just letting the sun rays in your house.

So if the energy calculations aren’t done right with – taking in the consideration of the orientation of the sun, it may be undersized because it can’t overcome the heat that’s generated from that glass. On the flip-side, that glass is not as good of an insulator as an R-30 or R-21 in a wall.

So your heat system might have to be a little stronger and have different ducts in different locations to counteract the glass that isn’t as good of an insulator say in the cooler months.

Interviewer: Yeah. I don’t know. Having Landmark around to deal with all these little details, I just don’t see why anyone would want to go into home building without having somebody like you there. I mean it just seems so intricate. Even I’m thinking about the shading and the design of the house itself, like overhangs. I mean how do overhangs affect the energy consumption and how comfortable my house is?

Steve Landmark: Well, that’s the situation where the overhangs can dictate how much sun gets in. So depending on where you are in the world, the sun is going to be higher or lower in the sky.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So if you have a longer overhang like in summer, it will protect the house, so that the sun can’t get into your windows as much. But then when the sun is lower in winter, it allows the sun to get under the eave and into the house.

So in a sense, that situation that we’re talking about, about the big glass wall, we’re taking advantage of the sun by allowing it to come through and heat the house in certain seasons and with bigger overhangs, the sun can’t get in as much. So like in summer, we’re not adding heat to your house through the sun.

Now, as you probably noticed, you open your window on a winter day. It’s chilly in your house. The sun comes in. It gets warm. That’s free. So that gets in the – you know, some organic design situations and the orientation of the house and picking window sizes and overhang sizes if someone chooses to get into that situation.

It’s a little harder to work on when you’re like in a small city lot because you can’t really change the orientation of the house. But you can do design elements to take advantage of that and especially if there’s land where you have a choice of orientation and different situations. It can be done. It’s pretty amazing.

Interviewer: I have one more question for you. I’ve been saving this for last because I’ve been hearing people talk about thermal mass. Would you please explain to everybody what the heck is thermal mass?

Steve Landmark: Thermal mass is basically a – it’s something that will absorb heat or cool. So I don’t know if you’ve ever stood by like a stone building after the sun is on it. It might get cool at night but the stone holds that heat and then at night radiates it.

So not too many people are building true stone homes today. But what they’re doing is developing a thermal mass. So just like we’re talking about the sun coming into a house, OK, so that sun comes into the house, goes through a piece of glass. If it hits a cement slab, that cement slab will then act as a thermal mass.

It will absorb the heat through the day and then at night slowly release it. All of us have seen a lizard on a rock. The lizard is taking advantage of the heat that that rock is holding even on cooler days.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So the thermal mass can be a cement floor. It can be a masonry wall. It could be a variety of different situations. So when you get in a different design element, sometimes people will go through and say, “You know what? I’m going to just have a cement floor, color it.” It’s beautiful. It’s environmentally-friendly. It’s not holding the allergens and dust and everything of carpet. But it’s also a thermal mass and we can actually calculate how far into the house that would need to go, to effectively soak up the sun rays. So that’s what it is. It’s kind of like a heat sink. It will hold hot or cold and then absorb during the day, release it at night in the case of heat.

It’s a pretty interesting concept. It has got to be designed properly with the right types of materials. But it’s kind of an interesting situation. Steve, next time you’re walking by a building at night and it’s a little cooler outside, touch the stone building or masonry building.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: It will be warmer. That’s the heat from the day being released at night.

Interviewer: That’s interesting.

Steve Landmark: That’s the action of a thermal mass.

Interviewer: Well, I don’t know of anybody who could have explained that to me better.

Steve Landmark: Yeah. It’s the lizard on the rock. That’s where it got you, right?

Interviewer: The lizard was perfect.

Steve Landmark: Yeah.

Interviewer: So, well, once again it has gone by super-fast. But we are done with another episode of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show and I just want to take their opportunity to allow Steve Tuma of Landmark Home and Land Company to tell us the best way to contact him and his company.

Steve Landmark: The best way to get in touch with us is – you know, I think people should preview the website, www.LHLC.com. It’s kind of like the initials of Landmark Home and Land Company. So www.LHLC.com. You can also call 800-830-9788 and we answer the phone. We will take care of you. Have a nice discussion to find out what it is that you need, how we can sort this all out, figure out how your house fits on the land, what type of design you want and get you going in the right direction and then make sure that we can help you. We’ve been helping people for 25 years all over the country and below sea level, above sea level, the highest populated city in America, Leadville, Colorado and cities, country, whatever it is. I know we can help you out.

Interviewer: Excellent. This has been a great show. I really enjoyed it. So everyone, thank you once again for joining us on the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. So from myself and Steve Tuma, President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, thank you for joining us and we will see you next time.

Steve Landmark: Well, thank you.

Learn how to evaluate raw land feasibility, calculate legal building envelopes, and comply with zoning bylaws before finalizing your custom home blueprints. We break down the mathematics of property setbacks and lot-coverage percentages—illustrating how a nominal 50×100 foot city lot can be restricted to a 30×60 foot buildable footprint once mandatory front, rear, and side-yard buffers are deducted. Discover why modern building departments require deep geotechnical soil borings rather than outdated seasonal percolation tests to determine soil bearing capacity and identify expansive clay soils. Explore how municipal height restrictions and solar access bulk-plane calculations protect neighborhood sunlight and mountain views, and learn how matching sloped topography to walkout foundations in chalet kit designs or commissioning custom architectural drafting services ensures your project passes both city plan checks and strict HOA architectural reviews.

A: The building envelope is the maximum three-dimensional space where a structure can legally sit on a parcel. To calculate it, subtract required front, rear, and side-yard setbacks from the total boundary dimensions. For example, on a 50×100-foot lot with 10-foot side setbacks and 20-foot front/rear setbacks, the maximum ground footprint cannot exceed 30×60 feet. Furthermore, municipal lot-coverage caps (often restricted to 30% to 40% of the total lot) ensure the combined square footage of the home, garage, and impermeable driveways does not exceed local stormwater thresholds.

A: A percolation (perc) or soil morphology test evaluates how quickly effluent water absorbs into the ground to determine the required sizing and location of an on-site septic leach field. A geotechnical engineering report involves drilling deep exploratory soil borings to measure structural soil strength, identify groundwater depth, and check for expansive clay or bedrock, providing the soil bearing capacity values that a licensed structural engineer needs to design a crack-resistant foundation.

A: The more restrictive standard always takes legal precedence. If city zoning requires a minimum 20-foot front setback but private Homeowners Association (HOA) covenants mandate a 30-foot setback, the home must be placed at least 30 feet from the front property boundary. Violating private covenants can result in stop-work injunctions and fines from the HOA, even if the local municipality issued a valid building permit.

A: In mountainous or densely populated regions, building height caps and bulk-plane angle restrictions prevent tall structures from casting permanent shadows over adjacent properties or blocking protected scenic view corridors. These formulas dictate that as a building rises in vertical height, its upper stories must step back from the property lines to guarantee natural daylight and ambient air currents reach neighboring yards and windows.

A: Constructing on a slope requires stepped foundation walls and deeper footings to anchor the structure into stable subterranean strata, which increases excavation, concrete, and rebar costs. However, sloping topography also eliminates the need for expensive artificial site grading by allowing the builder to incorporate a walkout or daylight basement, converting sloped terrain into accessible, naturally lit living space at a fraction of the cost of building above-grade square footage.

Interviewer: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building show. With me as always is the President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want across the nation and worldwide since 1993, Steve Tuma. How are you doing Steve?

Steve Landmark: Excellent today. How are you doing?

Interviewer: Good. Everything is going well. I thought today we might change things up a little bit. We talk a lot about the building process, about panelized prefab homes. I would like to talk about the land itself a little bit, if you’re up for that.

Steve Landmark: Yeah. That’s an interesting part because it’s – it’s a huge component of the building process. Where are you going to build? What’s the land like? Is it flat? Is it on the side of the hills in the right school district? Is it close to work? All those variety of details.

Interviewer: Well, every home needs to be on a piece of land. So I guess it is important. So just say as a customer, how do I know my land is good for building? I mean what do I need to know?

Steve Landmark: Well, that’s an interesting situation because there’s a variety of concerns. First you have to know that it’s legal to build on. It’s zoned right. The setbacks are right and so those – there are details like that for the building department and zoning department. But then there are other details like, “Hey, is it in the right school district? Is it close to whatever you need for your life?” You know, churches, schools, shopping. Maybe you want to be away from all those items and you want to be out in a rural area.

So a lot of it is just do you like it. Is it in the place? Does it work? Does it work in the budget? Is it the type of land you’re looking for? Some parts of the country, there’s a lot of land available and other parts it’s very limited, so you have to kind of give and take or work off of what’s available at the time.

But the key thing is once you find that piece of land that you like and works for what you want to do is making sure that the zoning is right, that he could build a single family home. You don’t necessarily want to build it in the middle of an industrial complex or something. So you want to make sure that it’s zoned properly for a single family or duplex, if that’s what you’re intending to build.

But within there, there are details like building setbacks. You might notice if you go down a neighborhood, you will see that all the – the front of the houses are on the same – kind of the same length. They’re 20 feet back or 30 feet back. If you’re in a rural area, if you’re building on a couple of acres, it might be hard to do that because people might build farther than the setback.

But let’s take the example of if you’re building in a city lot, say a lot that’s 50 by 100 feet, just a perfect rectangle. There might be a 20-foot setback in the front. So nothing from the front of your house can be closer than 20 feet to the front lot line.

So then if it’s 50 feet wide and you’ve got a 10-foot setback to each side, 10 times 2 is 20, less the 50. That leaves you 30 feet that you can build on. Say the setback in the back is 20 feet. So you’ve got 20 feet in the front, 20 feet in the back, 40 feet total. Less the 100-foot depth of the lot is 60 feet that you can have.

So in that particular situation, you can have a home up to 30 by 60 feet, so that it fits within the building footprint, the building envelope. Now to add complexity to do that, sometimes some communities will say, “Hey, you can only have a 30 percent lot coverage.” They don’t want your lot covering corner to corner. They want to have some green space, spaces for yards, space for kids to play. Just visually appealing situations.

So that’s a situation that you just want to make sure that the house that you want to build is on there. If you want to – if you’re in the city and you’ve got a 50 by 100 lot, you’re not likely to be able to build a 50-foot wide house on there.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Now we can work with you to make that lot usable. You know, come up with a different design and make sure that it works out. So those are the big issues are the building setbacks, to make sure that it works. So that your house can fit on there. Make sure there’s space for driveways, sidewalks, garages, different little areas. That’s the important part is just make sure that it fits for the regulations like the zoning.

Now there are also situations where you’ve got to look at land and – you know, is it sloped or flat? You know, in different situations like that to make sure that the house fits because if you want a house on a – let’s say on the side of a hill, you might be able to work a walkout basement into it.

You know, in some areas, the land – you know, if you go into the southwest, people are typically more building on slabs. So there’s a lot of details that we can help you look into to make sure that the house fits the regulations for the land, but also just makes sense to be on the land.

So that’s something that a lot of people should take a look at and a lot of places with mountains where people want to protect views and do different stuff. There might be height restrictions.

So if you’re an area – a lot of places in Colorado and California will have this where they don’t want you to build a house so tall that your neighborhood can’t take advantage of the view.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So what’s interesting about these, a lot of people say, “Oh, these regulations, it’s just hard. It’s hard. How do I know?” Well, a lot of these are there to maintain the value of your – the community and therefore your home. You know, if it’s a properly planned community, the housing stack looks good. The community feels good. It’s going to be more inviting for someone who wants to buy your home, when it comes to the time that you need to sell it.

Interviewer: It’s funny. You said, you know, you’ve got to make sure your design makes sense for your plot of land. What is that process? How can I be sure that my design, my home will fit on the land? I mean people have been telling me. I’ve been hearing about setbacks and things like that. But how do I know my design will actually fit where I want to build?

Steve Landmark: Well, that’s something that we can help you at Landmark. We can go through and if you have an idea, you say, “Hey, I’m buying this land and here are the dimensions.” We could check the setbacks. We could check the zoning. We could check different regulations, the lot coverage and all those things.

So it’s not something where you can just go out there and there’s a quick one, two, three question. Sometimes you got to look at the design of your home. Because even though someone can say the lot is buildable, is it buildable for the house that you choose to build? Because I think where we become concerned and want to make sure that it works together because like that example of the house that I told you, the lot we just discussed, the 50 by 100 lot, where you would have a buildable footprint of 30 by 60. If you said, “Hey, I want a garage to the side of my house,” and the house is 20 feet wide, well, of the 30-foot width you have available, that leaves you a 10-foot wide house. You would have to figure a particular design to make that work or maybe you’ve got to go with a two-story home.

So that overall planning is something that we can help you with and we’ve got the experience and we can do site plans, get details worked out so that it goes through.

Oddly enough, there are general rules of thumb that can work. But we’ve had some building departments that say the setback is to the edge of your house. Other say it’s to the edge of the overhang at your house. Then others have said if you have gutters on your house, it goes to the edge of the gutter, how far it is protruding.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: And then if you end up in other situations – like we’ve got some projects in Lake Tahoe where you can have a house the second level overhang. It could cantilever. Beyond the setback is if it was on the ground. So that example that I told you of a 30 by 60 house, you could cantilever to the front, giving a bigger footprint on the second level.

So sometimes these regulations, community by community or subdivision by subdivision, can change and they can get a little intricate and we can help out. That’s part of the site plan work and properly designing your home to make sure that you’ve got a set of plans that are good for you to submit for permits.

Interviewer: Now, I’ve heard and read that I may need soil testing on my – you know, before I can even build. One for my – I guess my septic system and one for construction. So explain the difference. I mean what are they?

Steve Landmark: Well, that’s really interesting. There’s a couple of types of soil tests. You know, generally people say, “Well, have a soil test,” and I will be like, “Well, what is it for?” and they will be like, “I don’t know. Some guy came out and took a soil test.”

So we will break it in general for the specifics. If your house is in a septic system, they will need a test. Old times call it percolation, perc test, where they drop water in the hole and see how long it takes to drop. Well, they found out that’s not always accurate because of seasonable water tables.

So they actually take a boring on the soil and test it and get an idea of the makeup of the soil to know how water will transfer through it for the purpose of a septic.

So if you take clay, Steve, if you’ve ever been in a clay field, you could drop water on it and it will puddle there. It could take a long time for it to seep through. But if you’re on a beach and you spill the water, it seems to be instantly gone in the sand.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So different soils have different capabilities for transferring the fluid, which then would – they kind of reverse design it to figure out how big your septic field is and go back to see how much space that you need. So that septic test is very important or the soil test for the septic is very important to make sure that your septic system is properly designed.

Now for construction, there are two others. A geotechnical report and a geological report. The geological report tells the makeup of the soil, of the ground below you, what type of rocks, what type of this, what’s happening.

It’s not that often that those are requested unless you’re like on a fault line or something on the West Coast. The one that’s more typically requested is a geotechnical report and that basically tells you the strengths of the soils. So for simple purpose, everyone has probably walked on a rock, a big piece of granite in a mountain or somewhere. That’s extremely strong. OK? But if you took that same person and you put them say at the edge of a pond, where there’s muck, a regular person will sink just standing there.

So there are obviously different strengths to those soils. So – and the muckier soil, you’re going to sink. So that’s a weaker soil. Something like granite which is literally rock solid, you’re not going to sink. It has got a stronger strength.

So the geotechnical report takes a boring on the soil to find the strength of your soils. Now a lot of people will say, “Hey, I drove my truck on there and it didn’t sink at all.” Well, that’s probably true. But what’s going on two feet down, three feet down? When you have a house sitting on it, what’s going on?

So the geotechnical report tells the strengths of the soil, so that a structural engineer can make sure that their weight is properly supported for your new home.

Now here’s the trick. A lot of places, the building department says, “Hey, you need a geotechnical report.” They will be like, “What’s that?” They don’t ask for it a lot.

Generally where it’s really, really requested is places with mountains or varied soils, expansive soils. Some soils in different conditions can expand and heave a basement floor or heave a foundation.

So generally, where those are more requested are places where you need the engineer-stamped plans. Hurricane areas, earthquake areas, high snow load areas, expansive soil areas.

So you’ve – it’s an interesting situation because a lot of people call their building department and they will be like, “No, you don’t need a geotechnical report.” Well then later to find out that if there’s a problem with the soil conditions, they do because they need to verify what’s there.

So I consider a geotechnical report to be a pretty important situation if you’re in an area where you’ve got varied soils and you’re not sure of the strength of the soils and it’s also for landslide situations if you’re in mountain ranges and things like that.

So generally, your building department will request one if it’s an area that has any of these conditions where it’s important to have it. I always kind of tell people, “Hey, if your building department says hey, you might need it, I would say get it.” You know, for the cost of the geotechnical report, it’s – I don’t want to call it insurance but it’s kind of a good – it allows you to sleep at night knowing that your foundation is designed properly. The foundation supports the house.

Interviewer: It makes sense. I would like to talk a little bit about homeowners’ associations, if you don’t mind. If I’m coming into a situation where I don’t know anybody there. I’m building a house in a certain area and they have an Home Owners Association or Architectural Review Board. What’s the best way to – how do I best work with the homeowner’s association before I start building?

Steve Landmark: Well, homeowners’ associations generally – if they’re active, it’s recorded with your deed. So when you purchase the land, you should get a copy of the homeowner’s association requirements.

What the homeowners’ associations try to do is maintain a certain uniformity of the homes. Now some of these homeowners’ associations will be simple. They will say, “You can’t have a farm on your land,” or “Hey, you got to have a house of at least 1500 square feet or the house must have a two-car garage.”

Sometimes they’re very simple. Other times, they’re extremely intricate. We talked about setbacks a little earlier. The city or county may have minimal setbacks but the homeowner’s association may have setbacks that are even more restrictive.

They want bigger laws on the front or houses farther apart or whatever it would be to give a certain feel in the community. But they may also go through there and say, “Hey, you can only have ranch homes or you must have earth tone colors or you must have a three-car garage or your house must be of a certain overhang or must have a certain overhang,” or they may say, “Hey, no modulars.”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: They may not say no modulars but you can’t truck two halves of a house in or whatever. There might be restrictions there on how and what you could build. Generally, they’re pretty cooperative groups. They’re just wanting to make sure that the community is built to a certain standard.

Some are very informal. Sometimes it’s just the owner. You call him up. You give him your plans. Sit down. Have a cup of coffee with him and he signs it or makes adjustments. Other times, they’re more formal where there’s a meeting once a month and you’ve got to prepare and communicate with them what’s going on and show samples of the finishes and colors.

The key to it is no matter what the homeowner’s association requests, we can go through, put the details on the plans and make sure that you’re prepared for it. So that you could present them the proper set of plans and then they can move on to approve it.

Interviewer: We touched earlier on the height restrictions. How often does a homeowner run into that kind of thing or where they want to build? Is that like pretty common?

Steve Landmark: That’s great you brought that up because there are also restrictions, the physical restrictions on where it makes sense to build.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: You know, the types of materials. So in a lot of places, they will do that. Sometimes there are restrictions because of something going on a community like an airport. Other times, it’s to allow visibility. Other times, it’s just to keep a certain look in the community so that it’s a certain style of home.

So – and then there are other portions where wood homes generally go three, four stories. So if someone wants to build an eight-story home, you might have to get the different types of construction methods. But the height restrictions are kind of interesting.

A lot of people go through and say, “Oh, they just don’t want me to build a tall home.” Some of these communities, they will go through and have height restrictions with some pretty intricate calculations to make sure that the sun can come into the community.

Interviewer: Oh, right, yeah.

Steve Landmark: OK. So all of us have been in say old towns or city centers where they have these row houses that are just stacked. No light comes in.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: You don’t get light in your backyard or your front yard or the front porch or in your window. That can affect people. So a lot of these height restrictions also dictate how you calculate the height, so that sunlight can get over and around through your house, into your yard, and also allow sun into your neighbor’s yard.

Interviewer: I never even thought about that.

Steve Landmark: It’s a great thing that you brought up again because it’s a pretty deep subject. Originally it’s just – it sounds simple. Hey, you don’t want to block your neighbor’s view or hey, they don’t want 100-foot houses in a community ranch home. You know, it just sticks out like a sore thumb. But it’s for breezes. It’s for sunlight and I think all of us will agree it’s nice to have a sunny yard. It’s nice to get sun in your – into your windows. It’s nice to get a breeze into your windows.

Interviewer: Right. So you see it as a deep subject or could be a tall tale. So one other thing I would like to hit on. I hope you don’t mind and before you go is, is it harder to build on a slope piece of land? Because I was looking at a piece of land that had kind of a slant to it. But overall, how does the topography affect my home design?

Steve Landmark: Well, it’s pretty interesting. The simple answers, if you have a flat home – or I’m sorry, a flat house, it’s just easier to access the land. It’s easier to put a foundation in. There really aren’t chances of landslide. Chances are it’s more of a stable type of a ground.

So it’s generally easier to build on a flat piece of land. But what’s happening is a lot of people live in mountain areas or different areas where there are hills. They want to take advantage of land. So the slope piece of land presents opportunities for walk-out basements, different views, different home designs.

But in general, yeah, if you’re building on a hill, it might cost a little more just because the physical location of building on a hill, but also the foundation design that has to go into it.

So I will wrap in – you know, a couple of minutes ago, we were talking about geotechnical reports. Hills can have a variety of different makeup of the soils within them. They could be granite. They could be soft soils. They could be whole different types of situations. They could be expansive soils. There could be hydrostatic forces from water, different situations. So they can – flat land can do the same thing. But on the side of a hill, you just get into more intricate situations on stepping foundations. So Steve, let’s just take the example of if you were to build a ranch home in a flat field. You could just excavate for a slab, a crawlspace or a basement.

If you did it on the side of a hill, took that exact same house, you had a walkout basement, you would have to design the foundation to step out of the side of the hill to make that work.

Also on hills, you might have different situations on where you can put septics if you’re in an area that requires septics. So there is a little more complexity to it. But on the other side, some of these can be stunning homes with stunning views that are really, really, really neat homes.

So to design on the side of a hill, there’s a difference. If you’re like in Southern Indiana or Kentucky, that hill is one thing. Then you go to the Rockies or the Sierras. That’s a mountain.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So there’s a different concept in the slope. But basically we can work on all those. Just get some topographical details which will show the topography of the land. Is it flat? Is there a hill? Is it flat on one part with a hill or a mountain on the other? Then we figure out the best place to build a house into the land.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: For the particular person’s use. So a lot of this really depends on your lifestyle, what you choose to do and your availability of land.

Interviewer: Sweet. Well, that’s going to about do it for this episode of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. Steve, if you don’t mind, give us the info on how one would contact you with Landmark Home and Land Company.

Steve Landmark: The best way to contact us is just you can take a look at our website. It’s www.LHLC.com. Kind of like the initials of Landmark Home Land Company, so www.LHLC.com. You could always call us at 800-830-9788. We’re also on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest. You can find us there but we’re accessible. We enjoy talking to people, reviewing their project. I kind of call it doing your homework upfront. Find out who our customer is. They can find out about us and we can kind of have a preliminary conversation to see how we can help them.

Interviewer: All sounds great to me. Well, thank you once again everyone for joining us for the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show and for the President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company Steve Tuma and myself, thanks for joining us and we will see you next time.

Steve Landmark: Thank you.

Learn how off-site panelized manufacturing accelerates on-site dry-in times, mitigates skilled labor shortages, and overcomes short seasonal building windows in mountain and coastal regions. We walk through the exact logistics of flatbed delivery—explaining how 8-to-12-foot wall panels (weighing 200 to 500 lbs) arrive stacked and banded in numbered sequence to match an engineered assembly plan. Discover the equipment trade-offs between renting a cost-effective extended-reach forklift versus an expensive crane when unloading panels and setting roof trusses. Compare the structural and mechanical routing advantages of dimensional lumber, engineered I-joists, and open-web floor trusses for clear-span basements, and see how adapting customizable kit home floor plans with factory-built panelized framing delivers standard stick-built quality with factory precision.

A: Wall panels are manufactured in manageable 8-to-12-foot lengths, stacked horizontally like pancakes in bundles of 8 to 10 panels, and secured with heavy banding on a 53-foot flatbed trailer. Components are loaded in reverse installation sequence—grouping exterior perimeter walls and interior partitions logically—so that a telehandler can stage bundles directly adjacent to their designated location on the subfloor according to the numbered assembly plan.

A: For most single-family residential builds, an extended-reach forklift (telehandler) is far more economical and versatile than a mobile crane. While a crane often costs as much for a single day as a telehandler rental costs for an entire week, an extended-reach forklift can unload the flatbed, stage material around rough terrain, lift roof trusses into place, and hoist wall panels directly onto second-story decks without requiring specialized certified crane rigging crews.

A: Solid 2×10 or 2×12 dimensional lumber is economical but limited in span and cannot be easily drilled for large mechanical lines. Engineered I-joists achieve longer clear spans to eliminate basement support columns, but mechanical ductwork must hang below them inside dropped drywall soffits. Open-web floor trusses feature open triangular web cavities that allow HVAC ducts, plumbing waste lines, and electrical wiring to route directly through the floor depth, preserving maximum basement ceiling height.

A: Window and exterior door dimensions are not standardized across manufacturers; nominal sizes vary by brand by up to an inch or more. Incorporating the owner’s exact window schedule into factory panelization CAD models ensures every rough framed opening, structural header, king stud, and jack stud is built to precise tolerances in a climate-controlled facility, eliminating on-site framing modifications and header retrofits.

A: High-altitude regions like the Colorado Rockies face compressed building windows of only four to five months between spring thaw and winter freezes. By completing architectural drafting, structural engineering, and factory component production during winter, owner-builders can pour foundations immediately upon spring thaw and erect the complete structural framing and roof assembly in days, drying in the weather-tight shell before winter storms halt work.

Interviewer: Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. With me as always is the President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want, across the nation and worldwide since 1993 and that man is Steve Tuma. Steve, how are things in the world of panelized home building?

Steve Landmark: It’s exciting. There’s a lot of things happening, a lot of people building in different areas of the country and under different conditions. You know, hillsides, lakefront and deserts and mountains. It’s kind of neat.

Interviewer: And that’s truly worldwide.

Steve Landmark: Yeah.

Interviewer: Which is great. So we’ve been doing this thing which I think has been very successful the last few episodes. I’ve been reading letters to Landmark from customers and potential customers. Steve, if you’re up for that, why don’t we continue that again for this episode?

Steve Landmark: Yeah, let’s do it.

Interviewer: OK.

Steve Landmark: Let’s see what you have, see if we can stump them.

Interviewer: So this first question is – it goes back to something we talked about on the last episode, about picking a design and plans from your company Landmark and they seem all the plans available from Landmark. And there are how many?

Steve Landmark: I want to say 2500 or so in the website now.

Interviewer: Wow, that’s amazing. So if I pick one of your plans, can I pick my own windows and doors? I think that’s a great question. So as far as windows and doors, which is one of those little things that people just – they have a taste for and they want – they’re envisioning certain windows and a certain front door, certain doors going from bedrooms and things like that.

So picking one of the Landmark designs, are people able to design or pick their own windows and doors?

Steve Landmark: Yes, they are and that’s one of the key elements because those are – they do a couple of things. They keep the weather in and out of the house, but they also give a certain look, a certain style. But there’s also energy efficiency reasons for it.

So there are different types of windows, wood windows, vinyl windows, aluminum windows, clad windows, and they have different looks, different features, double-hung, single-hung, casement picture windows, whatever it may be. People are able to go through and then decorate the home they want. Some people like the simplicity of a white vinyl. Other people want to have a walnut inside with a brushed antique brass inside hardware. So that allows people to go through and decorate the way it is. Then it also allows them – like on doors. You can have a single door or double doors, sliding doors, French doors and as you brought up, it’s also on the inside. What kind of doors do you want? Do you want solid wood doors? Do you want the hollow core? What type of a feel? That’s a very important decorating part but also the energy efficiency component of it.

Interviewer: Yeah. Most people don’t think about that. I mean the aesthetic is what’s important. But to have things functional and to be able to help you keep your – keep the cost down of just your heating and cooling is important.

Steve Landmark: Right. That ties into energy calculations, if you need them, if you’re going to have them for your home. You need to make sure that they’re windows of a certain standard. Then there’s also other situations with tempered glass where you end up in a scenario where – let’s say a patio door. If someone were to fall through it, you don’t want it to break in a sharp spear –

Interviewer: Oh, right.

Steve Landmark: So it’s a safety situation around staircases, glass that’s right above the floor, around water and bathtubs, different situations like that. So we’re able to go through and work with you on the design. Another key one is egress and veterans who want a window that’s big enough to open, so a person can crawl out in the case of an emergency of some type. So there’s a lot of details that we go in and help you design it to make sure it’s right. But then you can choose the window you like and for the budget that you want and go through. Let me add a follow-up question to that. Like can I put a big window on a wall to take advantage of a view? You know, the lake, a mountain or a pretty meadow or whatever it is. That’s part of what we can do to help you in positioning the house on a site, so that you’re able to take advantage of the windows that you like, so you can see what you want to see.

Interviewer: Right. I didn’t even think about the safety factor. The safety factor is just as important as the aesthetic, in fact more important. That kind of information is what you will get when you contact Landmark because everything about building a new home, it’s not just about how it looks but a lot of other functionality. When someone picks a design from Landmark and then decide what – where they want windows and all the flexibility that’s available through you guys, are the rough openings for windows and doors installed in wall panels when they’re delivered?

Steve Landmark: Yes, and that’s very important because not all window sizes are standardized among window manufacturers. People will say, “Oh, I’m just going to use this standard window. Can you put it there?” Well, this manufacturer is this size. You know, someone may have a three-by-five-foot double hung window. The other manufacturer might be three-foot-one-inch by five-foot-one-inch. So even though they’re kind of the same size, it’s a different actual opening. So patio doors and windows, we need the actual dimension. Now what’s good about that is we will supply the plans with the window, suggested window sizes up for what you tell us. So then your window manufacturer or supplier can just go through there and say, “Hey, you need a three-by-five double hung in the window. You need a five-by-four picture window in the living room,” and then they can go through to get that list with the performance values for energy calculations and then also the rough opening sizes and the types of windows, so that we can be sure to put them on the plans and it’s accurate for permitting. There’s something that gets interesting about this. A three-by-five window on a double-hung might need egress for fire. But in a single one, in a single-hung window, that exact window may not need egress.

Interviewer: Wow.

Steve Landmark: So you’ve got to look at the specifics of this and like I mentioned before, if you went and took that window in a bedroom, but then took that exact same window and put it say over a bathtub, by the bathtub, it would have to be tempered glass in case someone was in the bathtub and slipped and stuck their hand down the glass for support. It wouldn’t get sliced. So there’s a little bit of work involved with windows. But we’re fully capable of helping you through it. You just kind of need to let us know what you need and we will design it.

Interviewer: Sounds like a lot of fun work too. I mean that’s the fun part of building a house is kind of going out and looking for those windows and those doors and then having someone like Landmark to be able to tell you, “Yeah, we can make that work. That sounds fun.”

Steve Landmark: Well, our customers also like to know what they’re building.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Steve Landmark: They want to know what they’re spending their money on. They want to know that it’s done right. They want to see it. They want to control it. That’s kind of the situation is you know that these features are in your home. So it’s easier for you to justify your budget when you know you’re getting a properly-built, properly-designed, properly-insulated house.

Interviewer: There’s a letter here from a gentleman who has a lot of different variables. I would like to take them one at a time. He would like to know – and this is pretty much a generalization. How big are the wall panels and how much do they weigh? So when Landmark delivers those wall panels, how big are they?

Steve Landmark: Well, generally, wall panels will be broken up depending upon where windows are – you know, openings, windows and doors and corners and things like that. As a general rule of thumb, we try to make them eight to ten feet wide, the longest one being about 12 feet. Occasionally you get smaller ones if you’ve got a cut in the corner or something like that. But generally that’s the way that they are and they can weigh say 200 to 500 pounds depending on the size and the size of headers. So if you’ve got a wall going around a patio door, if you’ve got a six-foot wide patio door, it’s going to be a pretty big wall, seven or eight feet wide, big and with the headers. So something that I should do as a follow-up when we – right before we deliver a home, we supply assembly plans, make sure what each wall panel looks like and where it is placed on the house, along with trusses. So people are familiar with what’s being delivered. Then as the delivery is being made, we send pictures so people can look to see how the truck is loaded. So there are no surprises. Everything is laid out there, showing how the house gets assembled. They will have this information prior to the delivery. They can review it, get comfortable with it, understand it, review it with their framer if they’re hiring someone and that just makes it easier.

Interviewer: Right. Now you just brought up something. You said truck. Explain to the people listening how is a panelized home delivered. Can you give us that overall? Put it in our mind’s eye.

Steve Landmark: Well, it’s basically delivered on a semi-truck, just like the semi-truck you would see on the highway every day, the 53-foot flatbed plus the tractor on the front. So basically wall panels are stacked like pancakes. Generally eight to ten tall and they’re bandied together. So someone could use a forklift to slide the forks under the bundle of walls, lift them and then move them into position where they will be needed. That’s the advantage of the assembly plans. It will say, “Hey, walls one through seven are on the back of the house.” When you see them stacked like pancakes, you take walls one through seven and bring them to the back of the house.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: The trusses are also bandied together and stacked. So they can be lifted off. They’re stacked like pancakes and then like – you know, say we have to deliver some raw materials, two-by-tens, twelves, whatever it may be, they’re bandied just like you would see in a lumberyard in bunks. So it’s a very clean process and we stack the truck and make it easy. A lot of people ask, “Hey, is it loaded in the sequence that I will need it? Can you keep the truck there?” The idea is to get the truck out of the way, so your framing crew has the space to work around it.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: But the bundles will be stacked in a sequence that they will be used. Occasionally, there’s an odd size or something that has to be out of sequence. But generally, they’re stacked, so you can look at it and say – like I mentioned, walls one through seven are on the back. Walls eight through twelve are on the side. You could put them in locations where it’s convenient for framing. So it’s not a flatbed truck. We deliver as close to the foundation as we can get. We have to be safe of course and make sure the road is passable. But we’ve been able to deliver all around the country in mountain areas, cities, rural areas, wherever it would be.

Interviewer: It just sounds like a big puzzle, but it sounds like an easy puzzle.

Steve Landmark: Oh, we give you the answer. That’s the cool part about it. It’s wall one here, wall two there, wall three there. Just got a call today. A couple is retiring, building a house in the UP. He said the truck showed up. We had it unloaded in two hours. He said, “And my wife and I started putting walls up and took pictures. It was amazing.”

Interviewer: That’s great.

Steve Landmark: They just had to do it and –

Interviewer: How much fun is that?

Steve Landmark: Yeah. They said this is amazing.

Interviewer: Well, let’s follow up on that. How many people does it take to assemble a Landmark panelized home?

Steve Landmark: Well, generally, we suggest that you have one knowledgeable framer that understands the concepts of framing and then a couple of laborers. Depending on site conditions, you can have two people or three people. Sometimes people try to get five, six, seven, eight people. But there’s a certain point where I think it’s a little bit too much. So I would say three to four people. You know, with one person being a – understanding the framing concepts.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Then others kind of just being labor and muscle to help put things in place and we suggest people get some equipment. You know, maybe a forklift or extended reach forklift or something to help move – unload the truck and then move the materials around the site.

Interviewer: Right. That makes sense. Now that leads right into this next question. A gentleman wants to know, “Do I need a crane to assemble a panelized home or will a forklift work?”

Steve Landmark: You don’t really need a crane. Cranes generally cost more. It’s a more specific operator. In general, the cost of a crane for a day is what a forklift or an extended reach forklift would be for the week. So unless you have a site that requires a crane, you’re on the side of a hill or just – there’s something in the site that doesn’t allow the maneuverability of a forklift or an extended reach forklift, a crane could work. But that’s more site-specific. Now there’s other points. If you’re building a big three-story home, you might need something with a longer reach. But most homes, you could with an extended reach forklift. You can get the panels up there. The roof trusses up there and make everything happen. So some people just manhandle them. We always say, “Hey, get the equipment. It’s probably safer, faster and easier and it’s a lot of work assembling the panels.” So the equipment I think will make it go a lot quicker and be easier overall.

Interviewer: Here’s a question from a lady. It sounds like she has done her homework a little bit. Dear Landmark, how do I decide between dimensional wood floor systems and I-joist or a floor truss system?

Steve Landmark: That’s interesting because that depends on the use and your intended need. Dimensional wood is like a two-by-ten or two-by-twelve. Well, those are solid pieces of wood. You can’t really drill through them. You might be able to drill an inch or two through there, but you can’t really run duct work through them and they’ve got a limited span. I-joist, it’s an engineered wood, kind of like a piece of OSB with a block of wood at the top and bottom like an I-beam. If you were to take a slice of it, it would be like an “I”. Those are engineered and they can have a longer span. OK? And then the open web floor trusses, they’re a web. So you can actually pass duct work, plumbing and electric through them and they again can have a longer span. So the point being is what are you intending on doing. So let’s just say you were building an affordable ranch on a crawlspace. The most affordable way is to go with a dimensional wood, like a two-by-ten.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: You’re not going to be living in the crawlspace. You don’t need hear clearance. The duct work can go there. Then the result is going to be the same. If you then decided, “Hey, I want to have a basement. But my basement isn’t going to be storage. I’m going to have a pool table. I’m going to have a gaming room with a home theater. Maybe an entertainment area and I want it to be open.”

Interviewer: Sounds like my kind of home.

Steve Landmark: Well, Steve, all of us have been in the home where there’s a post and no matter where the post is, it’s in the wrong place.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So what that bigger span of the I-joist does is it eliminates beams and posts, making for a bigger open area, like in a basement. But not just the basement and great rooms. You know, in upper level floors as well. So it provides a span. Now the floor truss is open web, so you could pass the duct work through. So let’s just say you had eight-foot wall in the basement. Using an I-joist or dimensional wood, you would have to hang the duct work below it. So maybe by the time you box in the duct work, you end up with a seven-foot ceiling.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Steve Landmark: Well, with the floor trusses, you can run the duct work through the trusses and with an eight-foot wall, end up with a little bit under an eight-foot ceiling. You have to consider the floor slab. So I’m using rough numbers there. So that’s the point is it allows you to run duct work and plumbing through there. So it’s a quicker, easier assembly not just in the wood structure of the home in our panelized package, but also for plumbers and electricians and heat people. So it really comes into what’s your intended use and the design of the home. If you have big, open areas, you’re more likely to use an I-joist or a floor truss.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: And the cost goes up a little more for each one. But there are cases where the cost isn’t significantly different for the design. So it’s – those are the basic situations of how big of an area do you have to span across. Then we could determine the system and that’s what we can get involved to kind of work with you to say, “Hey, this is where it makes sense under these conditions. This is where it makes sense under other condition.” So it’s a – but that’s what we can do to help you. That’s a key element. That’s a good question. It’s a little deeper than most people understand. But as people learn things, they’re asking that question more and more.

Interviewer: Like I said there, people doing their homework. So yeah, it’s – do a little investigation on your own and you can ask more intelligent questions, which is always helpful. You know, we’ve kind of touched on this before in past episodes. But we talk about getting our design, deciding on the design of the house. If I want to make changes to my panelized home during the design and then the building process, can I make changes to my panelized home?

Steve Landmark: The answer is yes. The situation though, the deeper answer, is we should look at the conditions. If it’s in the design process, the preliminary plans, where we’re just working the design of the home – you know, where do you want windows? How big do you want rooms? What do you want the house to look like? It’s real easy to change it on paper. Once you get into the engineering phases, it gets a little harder to do changes. But it’s still possible if absolutely necessary. It gets to a budget point and a sensibility point. Changes during the construction will delay your schedule and it will also cost more in any building system. No matter what you use, that would increase the cost. So that’s why we say let’s do all the changes on paper. It’s easy to say, “Hey, let’s add a window. Let’s move a door. Let’s make the house a foot bigger.” Once the house is assembled, it’s just like a stick-built home. Yes, you can do changes. It’s just you have to realize that some things are already there. You got to remove it and then you’ve got to replace it. So it’s going to hurt your schedule a little and it’s going to cost you a little money. So it’s wood. It can’t be changed. That being said, some people think the nature of building is doing changes. They say that’s part of it. Well, that’s also a big part of the reason why people go over budget, because of the cost of the changes. Steve, it’s the same thing if you went to a restaurant. When you’re looking at the menu, it doesn’t really hurt anything. If you say, “Oh, I want the spaghetti,” and then you change your mind to the chicken, well if you ordered it, the cook is cooking your food. It’s a little bit harder to change, much less as when it’s delivered to your table. You say, “Hey, that spaghetti looks great. But now I just have a taste for chicken.” It’s extra money. It’s extra time and it goes there. So to avoid those problems, we tell and suggest people that they take the time to understand their design and make sure that it’s right.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Because the changes, yes, they can be done. It’s just it’s a little bit awkward to do it. So if you can avoid it, it’s possible. There are people out there that say, “Hey, I heard panelized homes can’t be changed.” Yes, they can be changed. It’s just like a stick-built home. You can change it. It’s just like anything. Once you’ve done a process to go back and redo it, it can add complexity.  Let me add one point. It depends on what you’re changing. If you said, “Hey, I’ve got an interior wall that’s 10 feet wide and I’ve got a three-foot door in the middle. I just want to move it six inches,” that probably isn’t any big deal.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: But if you said, “Hey, I need to add another wing to this house,” it’s more work to do it. So it depends on what it is. We will be as accommodating as possible. But it’s always good just to do – as we say, do your homework upfront. Design it right and then built it. You will control your schedule, your headaches and your budget a lot more.

Interviewer: Controlling the headaches is the most important thing.

Steve Landmark: Right.

Interviewer: Here’s a question. Dear Landmark, I live in the mountains in Colorado, an area with a limited building season. How would a panelized home help me?

Steve Landmark: Well, that’s really interesting because Colorado has got a lot of seasons and some of the higher elevations. The snow flies in fall through beginning of summer.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So there may only be a four, five-month building period. The benefit of the panelization is we could do all the design, engineering in winter. So that when you break ground in spring, as soon as it thaws there and the weather is better, the framing process is quicker. So if you get in a more complex home, you could save a considerable amount of time in weeks, sometimes even months in a large home, so that you’re able to get the house – the structure up and dried in. You know, the roof on the windows. So that then people can work and finish the house. That’s a key element and not just – she’s from Colorado. But there are hurricane seasons in Florida. There are just different seasons in the plain states where it gets colder and then there’s other situations of availability of contractors. What’s interesting is a lot of people think, “Hey, I want to build through summer. That’s when to build.” It’s like, “Well, hey, you can also build in fall and then finish the inside in winter.”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: And get your choice of contractors because they’re not as busy. You know, in areas where the climate gets colder. So your ability to control the schedule is very important, especially in the places with a limited building season.

Interviewer: Wow, there’s so much – just so much to know and it’s crazy. Landmark, it just seems like the way to go. You guys seem to have so many answers. Just the little things. It boggles the mind, the little things that you have to think about when you’re building a house and it’s really nice to know that there are companies like Landmark. You guys are there to answer so many questions. It’s great.  There’s one last letter I would like to get to here. It’s a pretty simple question. Dear Landmark, is panelization just like a stick-built home?

Steve Landmark: Yes, it is. In fact, it’s a more efficient method of stick-building. What we’ve basically done is taken the same concept. So if you take a wall panel – if someone was stick-building, meaning getting the sticks, the two-by-sixes, the two-by-fours and so on, getting them delivered to site, cutting them, building a wall and lifting the wall up, they’re doing a lot of work on site potential for lower quality work just because of work conditions. You’re working on the ground or in areas where it’s just not an optimal place. You’re affected by weather. People make mistakes. They cut boards and then you need another one. There’s generally a lot more waste. What we’ve done is we’ve taken that process of building the wall panels in sight, in a controlled environment, so that all those details can be put together and then we deliver the wall panel to the site and it’s put up.

So a lot of stick framers will be like, “I’ve never done a panelized one.” Well, you have done panelized if you’ve done stick-built because you’re making your own wall panel and then lifting it in place. The difference is we’re pre-designing it. So you’re not out there having to cut and measure and do as much cutting and details. Everything is there. So you just assemble the walls and put wall one up, wall two up, wall three up. You know truss one, truss two, truss three. So you’re assembling. So it’s much quicker. So just like a little bit earlier in this conversation, a retired couple of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, husband and wife, decided to put a couple of walls up. I think they said they did the back half of the house in an afternoon and they were just happy taking pictures of each other.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: You know, putting it up. So when you look at the speed of assembly, it helps because there’s labor shortages. Some framers aren’t as qualified as others. This allows you to get your house built under a controlled situation and a controlled budget. That’s the key element. So it is just like stick-building. It’s just a more efficient process and it’s a more controlled and more cost-effective process.

Interviewer: It’s funny. This is something that I’ve never brought up in the podcast before. But whenever we’re talking, your passion and your excitement about seeing people getting the new homes, getting into their dream homes, it’s just amazing. It seems to me like you and your brother Mike, who helped you build the company back in 1993, you guys both have this sort of personal interest in seeing people get what they want. I think that’s great.

Steve Landmark: Well, it’s a lot of fun. You know, and we’ve been doing it since 1993 and it’s still exciting because it’s not just saying – you know, it’s not like, “Oh, here’s another gallon of milk.” I’m sure grocery guys are very passionate about their business. But you’re affecting people’s lives. The family I’m talking about, it’s their retirement home. They sold their business. They’re retiring. They’re buying acreage. They’re going to be able to have family over, friends over, boat, fish, do whatever it is that they choose to do. Sometimes it’s the first home. Sometimes it’s the retirement home. Sometimes it’s a moving-up home. Sometimes it’s a vacation home. We had a spurt where a lot of families were building kind of compound type homes where the family would get together. You know, the grandfather had the land some place. Well, as the family grew up, everyone moved away. But they realized, “Hey, we still want to do the holidays together.”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: The big weekends, the birthdays. We want to have our central point. So when you get a picture of a family, from five years or ten years ago, saying, “Hey! Look, the grandkids are here for the first time,” or “Hey, here’s my husband. He carved the mantel.”

Interviewer: Right, yeah.

Steve Landmark: Or hey, my husband did this or hey, my wife did this or hey, we – we put all these different details into the home. There’s one family. I got a picture. It was one of the most interesting pictures. She sent a picture of daffodils that his grandfather planted in the ‘50s. Just this yellow field and it’s there with the house. So you start looking at this. It’s not just a house, like hey, a place to stay warm. You’re affecting people’s lives.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: As people retire and they still want a home office for a little retirement job or as people telecommute, as millennials need different working conditions, as people live in different ways, it’s kind of the dining room is taken away to the game room, to the great room. So it’s interesting to see what you can do and – one of the neatest things, we just got a picture from a family building in Anderson Island, Washington State. A lot of people are building homes and their kids are involved.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So you see a 70-year-old, a 15-year-old, a 12-year-old. See this? The organizational knowledge that they gain? The working with the family? The pride that this is my home? I bet that kid keeps his room a little cleaner when he built the house. You know, than if he’s just thrown in some apartment someplace.

Interviewer: I will bet. I will bet.

Steve Landmark: And then a lot of people have active lifestyles. So that particular home on Anderson Island, the walkout basement is kayak and canoe storage.

Interviewer: Wow. Right.

Steve Landmark: So you can just run up and down to the water and have your stuff and have it secure in there and then other people are into skiing or any of the outdoor sports and they need a certain garage for whatever hobbies they happen to be or craft rooms or porches overlooking it. So it’s important to have a house. But to have an environment that you truly enjoy living in, that’s a whole different world and that I think is why people enjoy working with us because if they want to do changes, we don’t sit here and say, “Oh, it’s another $4000 to do this.” It’s like, hey, let’s change it. We’re in the preliminary plan stage. Let’s move that window to take advantage of the view. One of the neatest stories I had from a guy in Arizona. Leroy, he said, “Steve, I’ve been married 50 years and I promised my wife that I’m going to buy her a new home.” He said, “I just turned 78. I better get it for her.” He got the garage and the porch, so they could look over the land and she wanted a kitchen laid out a certain way with windows in the corner, so she could look over the land. Apparently she’s a master pie cook – pie baker, sorry. So this house was designed around him goofing off in the yard and playing with his toys in the garage and her baking pies.

Interviewer: That’s great. That’s the best.

Steve Landmark: So he said, “Seventy-eight years old,” and I was like, “Wow!” Energetic, happy. I get Christmas cards from him every year. It’s amazing. That’s one of the most amazing things out there.

Interviewer: Well, that goes back to the passion that you guys have. I mean that’s testimonial right there people. They’re following up with you and keeping in touch with you and showing you the flowers they’re growing around their new home and sending you Christmas cards and you guys should be proud of that. That’s really amazing.

Steve Landmark: It’s amazing and then when a customer calls back after 10 or 15 years and says, “Remember me? I want to do it again,” like yeah, let’s do it!

Interviewer: That’s great.

Steve Landmark: Let’s go have some fun.

Interviewer: That’s fantastic

Steve Landmark: Right.

Interviewer: All right. So we’ve come to the end of another podcast. But before we sign off, Steve, once again please give us the lowdown on how we can connect with Landmark Home and Land Company and basically where we go for all the information.

Steve Landmark: Yeah. It’s very easy to get in touch with us and yes, we are responsive. We answer phones. We return emails and if you do get a voicemail, we will call you back right away and get you taken care of. But the key to it is you can call us at 800-830-9788. You can look at our webpage at www.LHLC.com. That’s the initials of Landmark Home and Land Company, www.lhlc.com. You could submit an inquiry through there or you can email Mike at [email protected] or email me Steve at [email protected].

Interviewer: That’s great and yeah, I just always enjoy these talks we have because I learn so much and I get excited just hearing about other people building their new homes. It’s inspiring. So congrats on all you guys are doing over at Landmark.

Steve Landmark: Well, thank you.

Interviewer: Well, that’s it for this episode of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. So for Steve Tuma and myself, thanks again for listening everyone and we will see you next time.

Steve Landmark: Have a great day.

Learn how foundation selections, perimeter wall geometry, and zoning envelopes govern construction budgets, structural engineering, and permitting speed. We examine the practical trade-offs between concrete slabs, raised crawlspaces, full walkout basements, and elevated pilings—explaining how pier foundations offer low-impact, cost-effective alternatives on sensitive wetlands and steep grades. Discover why quoting generic “cost per square foot” figures is fundamentally misleading, showing how roof pitches, ceiling heights, and perimeter corners exponentially increase framing and foundation costs compared to simple rectangular layouts found in value-engineered home plans. Finally, explore how organic passive solar orientation, exterior siding weights (such as masonry ledge footings vs. lightweight fiber cement), and local zoning setback formulas are coordinated into permit-ready blueprints for custom panelized kit homes.

A: A flat square-foot calculation fails to account for three-dimensional geometry, structural volume, and finish density. For example, a basic 1,000-square-foot rectangular ranch with 8-foot flat ceilings and a 6:12 roof pitch requires significantly less lumber, drywall, and foundation concrete than a 1,000-square-foot home with 10-foot walls, a steep 12:12 roof pitch, multiple dormers, and an intricate kitchen layout, despite having identical floor plan square footage.

A: Every additional exterior corner in a building footprint introduces structural complexity that multiplies labor and material costs across every trade. Each corner requires additional foundation formwork, dedicated rebar corner ties, extra framing studs and structural posts, complex roof hip and valley rafters, and intricate exterior siding transitions. Designing a straightforward four-corner structure significantly reduces construction costs without sacrificing interior space.

A: Full-thickness natural brick or stone masonry carries substantial dead weight that must be supported by an engineered concrete brick ledge cast directly into the foundation wall and footing. Manufactured adhered stone veneer is significantly lighter and attaches directly to the exterior wall sheathing via wire lath and mortar scratch coats, eliminating the need for widened concrete footings and saving thousands in foundation excavation and material costs.

A: Building setbacks define the mandatory buffer zones from the front, rear, and side property lines where no permanent structure can be erected. Lot coverage is a separate zoning restriction that caps the total percentage of parcel ground area that can be covered by impermeable surfaces—often including roof overhangs, detached garages, driveways, and covered porches—to preserve natural green space and prevent municipal stormwater runoff overload.

A: Constructing on traditional continuous concrete footings requires heavy site excavation, soil disturbance, and clear-cutting, which can violate conservation restrictions near protected wetlands or steep hillsides. Concrete or steel pier foundations elevate the structural frame above the natural terrain with minimal excavation points, preserving the existing soil hydrology, reducing site-clearing costs, and allowing stormwater runoff to flow freely beneath the living area.

Interviewer: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. With me as always is the President and Founder of Landmark Home and Land Company, a company which has been helping people build their new homes where they want, exactly as they want across the nation and worldwide since 1993, Steve Tuma. How are you doing, amigo?

Steve Landmark: Doing excellent. How are you doing today?

Interviewer: I’m great. So in the last couple of episodes, we’ve been doing this thing where you’ve been asking general questions from customers and prospective customers of Landmark’s coming to you through the website and I thought we would continue that. It just seems to be a good format for us to go with and it gets right to the people. If you’re good with that, I would like to kind of continue with this episode.

Steve Landmark: Yeah, I think that makes sense. It will be informative for people. You know, get them maybe a step ahead, maybe two steps ahead if we give them some basic questions and some basic answers that are common for people in pretty much any project no matter what state you’re building in or if you’re building on a hill or flat land or whatever the building site may be. There are some basic questions that I think we can answer.

Interviewer: Good. Yeah, it’s very American to go right to the people. So we’re going to start off here with a question from a customer that’s asking Landmark, “What are the benefits of the different foundation types, basement, crawlspace, slab, piers?” Can you answer that?

Steve Landmark: Yes. They each have their benefits and sometimes it’s just a regional acceptance of it. So basements are very common in the Midwest because there aren’t really – you know, the ground, you can dig into it. It’s usable. It’s very common. Sometimes it’s tornado shelters. It’s also something where a basement is a very affordable space to finish out. You know, say if you were on a hill, like a walkout to a lake or just a walkout to the backyard. You could finish that basement for relatively little money and then double the size of your home. Crawlspaces are more maybe if there’s a limitation as to why you can’t go down deep or some people just don’t like basements. A slab is basically a cement slab just laid right on top of the ground. That’s something more in Southwest California where that’s more common.

Now any of these foundations can go anywhere in the country. It’s just what’s more typical and then piers are unique. So I’m kind of summarizing each one. We will get on some details. But piers generally go in an area with floods. But what’s interesting about piers is we are getting people that want to have low environmental impact foundations.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So they don’t want to tear the side of a hill up or whatever it might be in. They would just use piers because they’re in a smaller home. It’s easier to put in. Some people can actually just put piers in and not have to go through the whole cost of the foundation. But that’s the basic summary on it. But let’s go through them again.

So basically, a basement would be if you want the living space underground and sometimes exposed for like a walkout situation. If you grew up with a basement, you’re probably going to want a basement. Some people use basements just for storage. Other people, it’s for man caves, workshops, drive-under garages, whatever it might be.

You can put your mechanicals down there, plumbing. All your plumbing will be down there, your heating systems, water tanks, different things like that, to keep them out of the house if you want. The crawlspace will lift the house above the ground but it won’t create a living space like a basement would be. So sometimes people like the crawlspaces, so that they can go underneath. You know, if they need to do some maintenance or little storage areas. They can have a crawlspace to lift the house above the ground, but also still have the footers from the crawlspace. It will go deep enough to go below the frost lines in the areas. Slabs are typically done. They’re generally the least expensive way to build. The plumbing and details can go under the slabs. So if you have an issue with a pipe, it could be a little bit of a problem and break through the cement. But it’s considered to be more affordable and generally slabs are done in areas where you don’t have a very deep frost line because at a certain point, if you have to make the footer go down so much, it means we will just do a crawlspace. Like we said, piers are to lift the house above the ground like in a flood area, by a river where it might flood and Florida, you know, for hurricanes, so that the water surge can go underneath the house. Now we’ve done houses and piers in New York in different areas where there are different flood situations. So we can design each of these foundations. We can engineer each of these foundations and we can also work with you to make sure that the foundation type is right. So if you’re not sure, you can give us a call or email and just ask us. Say, “Hey, I’m considering this. In my specific situation, what makes sense?” So we could take the general concepts that we spoke about and then go through and figure out how does it apply because a lot of people say, “Hey, I’ve never built a house in a …” Just people don’t build houses on basements in California.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: And I could sit there and say we’ve done them. Imagine a house going down the side of a hill where it’s indented into the bill. So you’ve got like a three-level home. The middle level being the main level, the upper level and the lower level kind of a lookout basement. So there are situations where sometimes you follow the norm for the area and then there are situations where you can adjust it. Like I mentioned with the pier foundation, a lot of those people are doing those just for the low environmental impact. It’s pretty interesting. So there is flexibility. The bottom line is we can help with the design and understanding for each particular project.

Interviewer: Well, I would imagine that Landmark would be there to – let’s say I did want a basement and I wanted in California. But maybe there’s too much granite underneath the lot that I’ve built. So I would imagine Landmark could be there to advise me on things like that as well.

Steve Landmark: Right. Depending upon the conditions. Like if you’re building on a granite, just a flat, granite slab, that might be a little bit expensive and hard. But if you’re on the side of a hill, there might be an area in your lot where it’s more affordable or easier to work with. But either way, we can work with that to sort out what situation makes the most sense for your particular need. That’s the key to it. We could use these general guidelines. But at some point, we have to refine it down to what makes sense for you.

Interviewer: So you would let me know if dynamiting is not a cost-effective way to go.

Steve Landmark: Right. People have done it. But it gets expensive. Usually on projects like that, there’s just a pre-mold view or something that just has to be taken advantage of or sometimes if people don’t get geotechnical reports, it’s kind of a little bit of a surprise. So we suggest in areas that might be a little trickier to get a geotechnical report to avoid surprises in the ground.

Interviewer: I like the idea about piers even not in hurricane zones or high flood zones, which is because of the lower environmental impact. I think we’re probably going to be seeing more and more of that in the future.

Steve Landmark: Well, a lot of that is happening because some people are building in very interesting areas around wetlands, around the sides of hills or sometimes it’s just an affordability factor because the wetland areas, there are government regulations. So you can do certain things. You can affect a certain part of the area.  So with a pier system, you can span the house over some ground conditions and then avoid impacting the ground. But a lot of people are also going through – say it’s a situation where someone wants to do a mini home, a tiny home or smaller home. You don’t have to go excavate a big hole. You can just put a pier and kind of like a deck. It’s a little different but it’s the same concept. Like a deck and then build a house on top of it.

So if someone really wants to control cost and do a lot of work themselves, those opportunities are there. So it’s a multifaceted answer. It’s not just an if-then-do-this. It’s kind of a, “Hey, what do you mean? What are your goals?”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: And that’s I think where we can help you come up with the right design.

Interviewer: Yeah. There are so many variations. It just seems like Landmark would be one way to go to get all of the answers because most people, when they’re especially building their first home, there are so many variables. It would be nice to have somebody like Landmark on the other end of the phone to kind of talk you through that stuff.

Steve Landmark: Well, that’s where we’re helpful. I was talking to someone and they jokingly said, “Steve, I got my internet PhD.” You can go online and get every opinion that you want to hear. You can find it. But after looking at all these ideas, watching TV shows, how do you really know what impacts – you know, how it works with you?

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: That’s the point that we can do to help.

Interviewer: So here’s another letter. Dear Landmark, I’ve heard about organic design. What is organic design and can I incorporate it into my new home?

Steve Landmark: This is a really interesting one because it’s becoming more and more prevalent. Organic design is basically just working with nature. You know, taking advantage of the sun in winter and kind of blacking the sun out in the summer, taking advantage of breeze, using sustainable materials, using materials that aren’t going to poison the air in your house, details like that. Frank Lloyd Wright was kind of the godfather of organic design. But it’s kind of interesting. If you look at this Steve, if your great, great, great-grandparents came over here from Europe or wherever they would have come from, they’re probably farmers. So they would know that they, we need to have overhangs to keep the summer sun out. We need to put certain trees around the house to stop a breeze. We need to know that we’ve got tall windows. You notice that on old homes. There’s a lot of tall windows. So the heat can escape out of the top.

Interviewer: Oh, right.

Steve Landmark: So there’s a lot of elements in the design, how the house faces, where they put it on hills. Well, that’s what’s kind of working with nature to keep your house cool and warm because back then, they didn’t have the convenience of pushing a button and the air conditioning or the heat coming on.

They didn’t have all the modern toys. So what’s interesting is back then, it was a – they would just – being farmers, they would have their 10, 20, 100, 200 acres and then they would farm and put the house. Well, as America grew, suddenly subdivisions happened and technology grows. So there’s water at houses. There’s electric. There’s gas pipes. But suddenly you’re buying a lot that’s 100 – by 100 and it’s along a road. So you can’t choose the orientation of the house. The way the subdivision is laid out, your house will face the road most likely. So you can’t angle the house easily to take advantage of the sun. You may not be able to have the right overhangs to black or let sun in and all these other details. Then as it became, it’s like, “Hey, why deal with the breeze? Let me just push this button, use some electricity and get the air conditioning going.” So suddenly we got away from that. Well now as we’re kind of history repeating itself, we’re like, “Hey, let’s control our energy use. With the proper design, we can have a more comfortable home and more affordable utility bills.” It’s kind of interesting. It’s a neat concept that people are catching on to. Generally we need to know about it or if you want to be involved with organic design at the beginning stages because it’s not just the floor plan. It’s where it’s going around the house. Where is the house? Are you doing this in Florida? Are you doing it in Alaska? Are you doing it in Illinois, Colorado? Where are you? Then what is your land like? Is there a good view? Is there a certain orientation you wanted?

So it can be pretty in-depth. But we’re fully prepared to work with you through that process.

Interviewer: Now, I had a question because we’re talking about incorporating different things into different designs and Landmark offers a whole lot of designs. I don’t want to call them templates. But it’s more like – it just seems like there’s a flexibility with each of the Landmark designs. So let’s say I pick a set of plans from Landmark. Am I able to design my own kitchen and bathroom layouts if the design is not exactly what I’m looking for?

Steve Landmark: Yes, we can actually work on every component of the house. You know, a family room, a TV room, a gaming room, a garage, a basement play area, a craft room. But kitchens and bathrooms are the ones that are most commonly dealt with. So what our designers do, we would draw the complete set of house plans up. You know, show a suggested kitchen layout, bathroom layout with the dimensions. Now we don’t supply cabinets and countertops. But you could take those – our plans directly to your kitchen and cabinet supplier and then they can go lay everything out. So if you want a rack for trays, if you want a wine holder, if you want a bread box, you can design all of that in. So it’s truly your kitchen, the way it works.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: What’s interesting about that Steve, a lot of people don’t think about this, but there are kitchens for right-handed people and there are kitchens for left-handed people.

Interviewer: Oh, yeah, I’ve heard about that.

Steve Landmark: Yeah. So if you had a dishwasher in your house, generally your dishwasher would be – if you’re right-handed, your dishwasher would be to the right side of your sink. You could rinse in the sink and with your right hand easily put them into the dishwasher. If you were left-handed and your dishwasher is to the right, it’s kind of just an awkward movement. I guess you would get used to it. So those are the things that we can work out. That’s also the same case with laundry rooms Steve because if someone has got a family, they might want a folding table, a wash tub and other details to make it easier. So we can completely design the home. But you’re right. That’s a good question because those are the areas where people seem to spend a lot more time really detailing them out.

Interviewer: If somebody is looking for some just cost-effectiveness or just a price point for a certain customer, what’s the most affordable design that that customer should look for?

Steve Landmark: The most affordable way to build is four 90-degree corners. So if it’s a ranch home, make it 24 to 28 deep and then as long as you need to make it. That in general is the way to go. If it’s a two-story, you would just stack the boxes on top. The reason being is corners cost a lot. If you have a corner and a wall, you’ve probably got a ridge or a valley in your house design. That corner is going to be in your foundation, your drywall, your siding, the framing. It’s going to carry up to the roofing. It just takes a lot more time to do that.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Now that being said, sometimes simple is more. You can still take a very simple structural design and dress it up to make it look like a million bucks. So if someone says, “Hey, I want to control my cost, but I still want a house that I want to be proud of,” we could do that. You could put a porch across the front or a little decorative dormer, maybe a small bump out. You know, just little details that can be done. So in general, the less corners in the house, the more affordable it’s going to be. Now, that being said, if you just have to have a house with 30 corners on and an extreme roof pitch, we can still help you with that. But a lot of people are just really interested in building a house that they believe is sensible and controlling the cost. Sometimes empty nesters, first-time home builders or home buyers, and then other times with – maybe relatives are moving in for whatever reason. The parents or grandparents are moving in. So they’ve got to stretch the money. Now these homes can be just as energy-efficient. They can be just as fun. You can still design them the way you want them to be. We can still put luxury features. You can still design your kitchen. So you get to go through the whole process. It’s just the bottom line cost is controlled.

 Interviewer: Here’s a simple question. Dear Landmark, I’m wondering, is square foot pricing accurate?

Steve Landmark: No. No, that’s one of the most interesting things that we hear. People call up and say, “What’s the square foot price of it?” and then I remember someone telling me way back, a good friend Don. He said, “Steve, square foot pricing is kind of like calling a grocery store and asking how much dinner is.” So you might be able to use it as a guideline but it can be very deceptive. First of all, people count square feet in a house much different. It doesn’t include porches. It doesn’t include garages. It doesn’t include basements. So typically when people are doing square foot pricing, they might want to understand the building process a little more because not every square foot of a house is the same.  So if you had a big, open living room, that’s what I will call a simpler square foot. If you have a very intricate kitchen with upper cabinets, lower cabinets, granite countertops, a square foot in that room is going to cost more.

Interviewer: Right, got it.

Steve Landmark: And then the simplest relation that I think people can see just in their mind is if you add the all-American ranch. You know, just a boxy home like we discussed just a little while ago, a thousand square feet, four corners and a 6/12 roof pitch. That thousand square feet is going to be some of the most affordable square footage out there. But if you took that same design, put 10-foot ceilings in it and a 12/12 roof pitch, a steep roof pitch with some dormers, the square footage is the same. The walls are taller. The roof is more complex. So of course per square foot, it’s going to cost more. So that’s why it’s very deceptive to go through and say, “Hey, what’s the square foot of a house?” because there’s just so many variations that it’s not an accurate representation. You know, like we talked about foundations. It’s also where are you building it. Are you building it on the side of a hill in California? Are you building it on a flat slab in Iowa? That will vary tremendously. So I would ask people to look a little deeper, to see what’s included in what you’re paying for. That’s the important part, not some low quote of, “Hey, this is how much a square foot.” You need to know the cost for what you’re building.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Not some guess that someone is just throwing out.

Interviewer: Especially when you’re tweaking your own design, things like that. It seems like it’s just kind of voodoo logic if you’re trying to get like a square foot pricing. It doesn’t seem like the way to go to me.

Steve Landmark: Like I say Steve, it’s calling a grocery store and saying, “How much is dinner?”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Or how much is a bag of groceries? What are you filling it with? Day old bread or Chateaubriand?

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: It’s the same bag, different cost. It’s the same concept.

Interviewer: Right. I want to go over a couple of things that we slightly hit on, on previous episodes. But they’ve just been in my mind and things I wanted to see if we could cover a little more extensively. I would like to know why living here in California, I hear a lot about energy calculations. Tell me why energy calculations are so important.

Steve Landmark: Energy calculations are theoretical calculations to show the heat or cool transfer performance of your home. The reason for that is you want to make sure your house is energy-efficient. So your energy bills aren’t high, but also to make sure that you’re comfortable. So those theoretical calculations will go through and say, “Hey, you need an R-48 ceiling, insulation in the ceiling. You need so much in the walls. You need windows of a certain performance value. You need your foundation to be insulated a certain way, certain types of water heating systems, certain efficiencies in the heating and cooling systems.” So that’s the theoretical calculation to say, hey, this house will conform with the code requirements. You mentioned California. California is one of the leaders in making homes more and more energy-efficient every year. A couple of years ago, they tightened their guidelines by 30 percent. That’s a pretty big belt-tightening. But when you look at the people’s energy efficiency, it has gone way up and their energy bills have dropped. It’s important. But there’s something to this. I mentioned it’s a theoretical calculation. That means that this plan has to be followed and it’s not just that you say, “Hey, I’ve got R-48 insulation in the roof.” It’s the proper installation of the insulation, the proper installation of the windows and other details so that they can do their job properly. The great situation is – that I’m going to review is duct work, metal duct working. Sometimes those can leak 10 to 25 percent if they’re not installed by a conscientious installer. Just because someone has been doing it for 30 years doesn’t mean they’ve been doing it right for 30 years, especially as technology and practices have improved. So you can say that hey, I’ve got a 98 percent efficient furnace. But if the duct work is leaking 25 percent in your heated or cooled air, you’re not doing anything. You’re wasting that money. So it’s the proper installation of the heating system, the cooling system, the hot water system, the windows, the siding, insulation, the right types of doors, details like that, that’s there. So it’s the installation which is equally as important and that’s why people like building their own home with us because they get to specify it and they get to see that it’s installed right. That’s a key point to it. So I kind of gave two answers there, the understanding of the energy calculations but also making sure that the theoretical energy calculations are brought to life by the proper installation of the recommendations.

Interviewer: Speaking of going over things twice, we have a three-part question. We will handle them one at a time. But the question is, “Dear Landmark, I have a three-tiered question. First of all, how do I find out about building permits? Second, what is lot coverage? The last part of my question, what are building setbacks?” So let’s go and start with building permits there.

Steve Landmark: Well, those are all kind of intertwined. Building permits are basically – well, there actually are some parts of the country where you don’t need building permits. They’re just not populated. The counties don’t have funding for it. But in general, building permits would be issued by your city or your county, sometimes townships in certain areas. But they will generally have a guideline and you could call them or talk to them or go in the office and find out what they need. They will generally have a list saying, “We need these items.” They will tell you if you need – what type of architectural plans, if you need structural engineering, if you need energy calculations, site plans and other details. So in the simplest form, some of these, you just need architectural plans. You know, the floor elevations, the sides of the house and the floor plans. In the more sophisticated areas, you might need engineered plans, stamped by a structural engineer, site plans, energy calculations, noise of pavement, landscaping plans, site plans and just a variety of other details to submit for permits. So the best thing to do is find out who controls the permit issuance. Like I say, it’s either the city or the county or the township and they can usually provide the information. Sometimes it’s right on a website and they will give details of exactly what is required. Now sometimes this can be a little tricky. So if someone interested, maybe they want to make contact with them and get details. But if they need a little help sorting some of this out, they can give us a call and I will have our contact information at the end of the show. But they can give us a call and find out. You know, we can guide them through the process because sometimes building departments will say, “I need engineering.” Well, that’s kind of an open-ended answer. Engineering of what? Do they need civil engineering to find out grading plans and drainage plans or do they need structural engineering? So those are little things we can work through. We know the language. So we can work through. So if you contact your building department and it still throws you for a little loop, we will help out and work through the process. I think the second one was lot coverage.

Interviewer: Right, lot coverage. What is lot coverage? Explain that.

Steve Landmark: The concept being is that they don’t want your house taking the full lot. They want to have certain green areas or driveway areas or areas so that houses aren’t literally right next to each other. So a common number is to say that your lot coverage can’t be say over 35 percent of the lot. So if you have a 10,000-square-foot lot, 35 percent would be 3500 square feet that you can cover.

Interviewer: Got it.

Steve Landmark: Now the interesting thing – and this is where we come in – is what do they consider lot coverage. Is it the footprint of the house? Is it the overhangs of the house? Is it the driveway and the sidewalks? Those would include your garage. So there could be little tricks there and this is extremely important because you tied into what are building setbacks, which I think was the next one. The setback is if you have a – say a 50 by 100 lot and your front setback is 20 feet, 5 feet on each side and 20 in the back. So on your 50 by 100 on sides, you’ve got 5 on each side, that’s 10. So you got 40 feet wide to build in. Then of the 100, you’ve got 20 in the front, 20 in the back, 40. You’ve then got 60 left over. So you’ve got a 40 by 60 pad that – or building area that you can work within. Now if you’ve got a big acreage in a rural area, the setbacks will give you a lot more options on where you can put it. But those – you have to consider those. Now it can get a little detailed but that’s what we can help with. So if someone says, “Hey, there’s this lot coverage situation. Here are the setbacks. How do we work it?” we could find out the details of how lot coverage is interpreted. Another thing I want to bring up is some areas – it’s kind of interesting –have height restrictions.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Steve Landmark: OK. So in Colorado, along the – in the mountains, also along the ocean, you will have it because they don’t want people blocking everyone else’s view. So they want to know that a house isn’t over 25 feet or 30 feet or 35 feet tall and they may have different ways of calculating the height. So it’s not just go to the front of the house and measure it from the ground up. They can have different points from where you measure and different ways of measuring to develop an average, say if you’re on a sloped lot. That again is what we can do. We’re working on a project in Northern California where he’s affected by lot coverage, setbacks and height restrictions on a sloped lot. It’s getting to be pretty interesting on how we’re making this house come together. So it takes a little bit of work. This is again doing your homework upfront.

Interviewer: So this is – I saved this question for last because this is something I’ve been very curious about. This customer wants to know, “What kind of siding can I put on a panelized home?” I’ve been wondering about that myself because it seems to me you can build a house and you have a certain idea of what you would like, bricks, stone, log, cement. What are my limitations as far as siding for a panelized home?

Steve Landmark: There really aren’t limitations. It’s much like a stick-built home. If you want to do all brick, stone, cement, log, vinyl, whatever it is that works or any combination of those, we can design it in. So there really isn’t a limitation and that’s a nice thing because some people will actually go through and do combinations. They might do like a stone ledge or brick ledge. Let’s go back to that simple ranch home. Maybe the first four feet is a brick or stone and then above that is a cement board or some people – suddenly if you took that same home and put it in the woods, maybe you would like a stone base like along the foundation and then log siding.

So there’s a variety of different sidings, shingles. There’s a lot of vinyl and different things that you could put on to a home, to really dress it up and give it that look. So the limitation is pretty much endless. It’s what do you want to put on there and what works within your budget. But it is important to get an idea of the siding. I will tell you the reason why. If you only use real brick or real stone, they weigh a lot. So they have to be supported by the foundation. If you’re going to put the fake stone on – and some of those are looking pretty good, right? They’ve really improved those. Those don’t weigh as much as a real brick. So you don’t have to have the footer system and the foundation. So there are cost savings there. That’s pretty interesting.

Interviewer: There’s so much to go over. We never seem to have enough time on this podcast to get everything in. Before we go, once again Steve, give us a rundown on how we can connect with Landmark Home and Land Company. How do we get a hold of you guys?

Steve Landmark: Well, it’s very simple. We’ve got our website at  www.lhlc.com. That’s kind of the initials of Landmark Home Land Company. It’s actually Landmark Home and Land Company. But we just have the initials www.lhlc.com and you can email Mike. He can help you, [email protected]. I’m available at [email protected] and then our 800 number is 800-830-9788 and we’re available. We like to talk to people and see what we can do to help and some people, it’s easy to email, some it’s to call, some it’s to submit an inquiry through the webpage. So whatever is easy, just get in touch with us and we will do everything we can to help you out.

Interviewer: Yeah. I would really recommend the website. Definitely check it out. There’s so much information on there. I think it’s really worth going over thoroughly because there’s just so much there that you can find out about on the Landmark Home and Land Company website. So that’s going to do it for this episode of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show for Steve Tuma and myself. Thank you guys for listening and we will see you next time.

Steve Landmark: Thank you. Have a great day.

Learn the critical distinctions between modular box trailers, site stick-building, and off-site manufactured panel systems to determine the best construction method for your lot. We break down the structural and financial differences between modular delivery constraints and custom panelization—explaining how precision computerized framing eliminates jobsite lumber scrap, reduces roll-off dumpster fees, and bypasses the zoning stigmas or financing caps common to modular trailers. Discover how to incorporate heavy architectural finishes, such as 1-inch thick Southwest clay floor tiles, oversized grand pianos, or 20-to-30-foot cathedral ceilings, by engineering the structural framing upfront. Finally, explore why retrofitting rough openings into existing shear walls after framing causes structural failures, and see how our prefab vs modular home comparison provides the clarity you need to design and assemble complete home building kits with total confidence.

A: Traditional stick framing involves ordering loose dimensional lumber to an exposed jobsite where carpenters manually measure, cut, assemble, and stand each wall section by hand. A panelized wall system builds the exact same wood-stud structure inside a climate-controlled facility, pre-nailing the exterior sheathing, cutting rough openings for windows and doors, and numbering each panel section to match an engineered assembly blueprint for rapid on-site erection.

A: Modular homes are constructed as rigid 3D box units restricted by highway transit widths, which limits architectural floor plans to long, rectangular footprints that face restrictive community covenants and resale appraisal stigmas. In contrast, panelized homes deliver flat-packed engineered framing components that appraise, finance, and inspect through local municipal building departments as 100% custom stick-built residences.

A: Exterior walls on custom engineered homes often function as designated shear walls designed to resist lateral wind shear and seismic forces through specific nailing patterns, anchor tie-downs, and continuous structural sheathing. Cutting a new rough window opening through an existing shear wall breaks that continuous structural membrane and weakens load-path resistance, requiring a structural engineer to recalculate the wall’s capacity and specify reinforced framing headers or alternate hold-downs.

A: Standard residential floor joists and subfloors are calculated for standard uniform live loads (typically 30 to 40 pounds per square foot). Heavy concentrated dead loads—such as 1-inch thick regional masonry tiles, large multi-hundred-gallon aquariums, or grand pianos—exceed standard deflection limits, requiring engineers to stiffen the floor system by decreasing joist spacing to 12 inches on center or incorporating engineered I-joists and double LVL perimeter beams to prevent structural sag and tile cracking.

A: Standard on-site framing generates significant scrap lumber and off-cuts that end up in rented roll-off construction dumpsters, increasing owner-builder disposal expenses. Panelization plants utilize computerized linear optimization software to nest cuts across bulk lumber orders, utilizing drop cuts down to two inches in secondary components and recycling wood shavings into agricultural animal bedding for zero material waste.

Interviewer: Hi everyone. Welcome back for another episode of Landmark Home and Land Company’s Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building show. With me today as he is for every episode, wouldn’t be much of a program without him, the President and Founder of the Landmark Home and Land Company Steve Tuma. Steve, how are you?

Steve Landmark: I’m doing great. It’s a nice day today and we’re working away. What do we have? A second round of questions, common questions.

Interviewer: I hope you don’t mind but this is – I just set this up to be sort of a part two of a conversation we had earlier where I’ve pulled some common questions from people that have written into Landmark regarding the process of panelized home building. So if you’re good with that, I’ve got a few more questions for you to tackle, if that’s OK.

Steve Landmark: Yeah, let me know what they are and we will get some good answers, because I know there’s a lot of questions out there. People just don’t understand. They have a perspective of how to build – maybe they built 20 years ago. Maybe their friend built. Maybe they watched a TV show. Maybe they watched someone build a house in their neighborhood but it’s always kind of like how does this boil down to – how does this affect me?

Interviewer: Right. Well, I could send these to you in advance but that takes all the fun out of it for me. So let’s just –

Steve Landmark: Yeah, thanks for putting me on the spot.

Interviewer: So here’s some of the more basic simple questions, but these are the things I think people want to know right off the bat. So to start off with, this lady wants to know, “What does panelized actually mean?” I guess what she’s asking is, “What is a panelized home?”

Steve Landmark: Well, panelized home is – it’s kind of interesting. It has been around for a little while. We’ve been doing it decades, helping people build their house and it’s basically a more efficient method of building a stick-built home. So for simplification processes, if you had a 40-foot wall in a house, we may make that into five eight-foot sections.

So we would put all the studs there, the bottom and top plates on, the exterior sheathing and the rough openings for the windows and doors. You would then assemble the home package and put wall one up. Next, put wall two. Next, put wall three and go around the house and install all the walls and then the roof trusses on top of it.

Now of course previously, if it’s on a slab, we put it on a cement foundation or a floor system if you had a crawl space basement or a pure type of system. So the panelization is basically panelizing.

Now a lot of people say, “Oh, wow, that’s different. My builder doesn’t understand that.” Well, it’s pretty much the same process of stick building. We just do it in a more efficient method in a controlled environment inside of a production facility.

So a stick builder may take a bundle of two-by-sixes, cut them a size, make a wall, put it up. It takes longer. There are mistakes. You’re affected by weather and sometimes it’s just harder to build on a construction site than in a controlled area.

So where panelized home systems like ours, the one that Landmark has, is just a more efficient method of stick building. So it’s not affected by the restrictions of modulars, prefabs and all these other words. Now let me jump into something else because this is the part where people that are just learning about different building things, they will say, “Well, that’s prefab.” Well, prefab is extremely generic. If you say prefab, people typically think of those trailers on metal frames that are brought down the highway and brought to a site.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: They may even think of a prefabricated modular. Well, you could have a stick-built home with a prefabricated truss. So prefab kind of covers all of it. But generically, I think people look at it as trailers. That’s kind of like the difference of saying, “Hey, let’s go have some food,” compared to, “Hey, let’s go get a cheeseburger with two pickles, fries and a Coke.” You know, that type of a situation.

So what it is, is the panelization just is more specific about it. We’re taking advantage of the production line to create a custom stick-built home.

Now that doesn’t mean it gets to be more expensive. It means the efficiencies are there, that make it easier for us to design your home and for you to control the cost and build your home. That’s the key element. It gives you the control and cost through our process and that I think is where it is so with us. It’s not just the actual wood structure of the home. It’s making sure it’s designed properly, engineered properly and energy-efficient. So I guess that’s the long way around of answering it. But I think that’s a detailed one. So people might have to rewind that to hear it or give us a call or send an email. But basically, we’re making wall sections and panels, so that they’re brought out for quicker, easier assembly, minimize the mistakes, minimize the waste, make it easier.

There’s a lot of places where you have limited building seasons. You take the mountain areas in Colorado. You take other areas where there’s wet seasons. There’s – and then there are other times where hey, you just want to get in your house. So I think that’s the main definition as we look at it and the benefit of the panelized process.

Interviewer: Well, a lot of people might be – I mean it is a little confusing. I mean there’s so many – the vernacular here, there are so many different words. Just run us through a real simple – just pretend I’m a third grader. Give us the difference between a modular home, a stick-built home, a prefab home and a panelized home, which is what Landmark does.

Steve Landmark: So modular and prefab, prefabricated – well, prefabricated can be relatively generic. But modular means it’s made in modules. Generally those long rectangular sections that you see going down the highway. They’re made into plans and aligned and brought out. They have restrictions because of shipping, the line size and other scenarios. So generally, they’re back to your designs.

Interviewer: You’re limited to what you can fit on a truck.

Steve Landmark: Exactly. It’s like going to the car dealer. You can’t say, “Give me a car that’s 16 feet, 3 inches wide, this and this.” You know, they’re kind of like, hey, here it is.

Steve Landmark: Right.

Steve Landmark: Do you want a blue one, a red one, big stereo, little stereo, leather seats, cloth seats, whatever? That’s kind of the point of the module where a lot of it is built, brought on site and then the two halves or four quarters are put together to create it. Generally, pretty restrictive in design. A lot of places will not allow them in their communities. There are certain stigmas associated with them.

The benefit of them is at times, they have a cost advantage or they’re quicker to build. But you’ve really got to look at it of what those advantages mean compared to your appreciation of the house that you are –

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Landmark: Is it worth moving in a month quicker for a house that you’re going to be living in for 20 years if you don’t get the kitchen you want?

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: I mean that’s someone’s individual decision. I know with me, I would wait a month to get the house I want.

Interviewer: Well, of course. There’s a certain passion to building your own home and that’s – I don’t see much passion in a modular home.

Steve Landmark: Right. They work. They do have their spot in certain communities, in certain areas, in certain dollar values. But they’re restrictive overall in the design and what you can do.

Stick built is the traditional building method where sticks, you take two-by-fours or two-by-sixes, put the sticks together and make a wall, build a house. That’s kind of the typical custom home builder that you see. You can pretty much build anything. You can design anything. The cost will generally be more because there’s more man labor and putting it together, the details, then also the details that you’re going to add to it.

Now some of those could be very simple homes. You can stick build a home that looks like a modular. You can stick build an extremely extravagant home as well. So that kind of puts it out. It generally costs a little more.

Prefab, I think like we just discussed, prefab I think is kind of more associated with the trailer modular where they have the metal frame underneath. That’s just considered to be lower cost. You have to determine if the quality is something that you like and you have to see if it’s allowable in your community. They fit a certain segment of the market. Generally those people – there’s something in the cost that they want to do and the size of the home and they’re very limited in designs. Where panelization is closer to stick build but it’s a more efficient method.

We’re making the wall panels offsite and bringing them in, so that it’s a quick assembly onsite. It takes less labor. It cuts the labor cost. It cuts waste and little things that people don’t think about. With less waste, there’s less dumpster cost. There’s less clean-up cost.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Landmark: There’s less stuff laying around. There’s less situations where people need a two-foot board, so they go get an eight-foot board, cut two feet off and throw six feet away. You know, the little details like that. It’s – there’s a green element to it where in our production facility, everything gets used, down to two inches. That gets used and the two-inch things get ground up and brought to places for animal bedding.

So inherently in our process, it’s a greener process. It’s more efficient and our computer SaaS and software programs allow us to optimize the use of materials. So the computer program will go through and say, “Hey, this house needs so many two-by-sixes. How do we cut the two-by-sixes so we get the most usable wood out of the least amount of wood?” That’s a cost savings. It’s easy and hey, it’s good for our environment.

Interviewer: Here’s a lady who writes and she says, “Dear Landmark, it has always been my dream to have tall ceilings. If I work with you, can you make my dream come true?”

Steve Landmark: Yes, we are capable of having designs and that’s one of the things. Modulars are generally restricted on heights. We’ve done ceilings in the 20, 30 feet tall.

Interviewer: Wow.

Steve Landmark: Sometimes that – there are certain engineering issues that come into it. But sometimes the question is, “Hey, can I have a tall ceiling?” when the question should also be, “Can I have a tall wall? Can I have a tall ceiling through like the same structure using a scissor truss?”

So there are different ways of developing a tall ceiling or tray ceiling, cathedrals, vaulted, whatever it would be or an open-the-second-level type situation. So we’re completely capable of designing that in.

Interviewer: So even if somebody has got elaborate beams, you guys will figure out how to make that work one way or another.

Steve Landmark: Right, and that’s where we work in the overall design process of making sure that there’s a design that’s not just – looks good to you but structurally it works. Make sure it works in the budget. Make sure all around it works for energy, efficiency, making sure that there’s space for insulation and other details and also make sure that the plans are clear. So your building department understands them. Your homeowner’s association understands them. Your contractor understands them.

If you’re going through finances, your bank knows what’s getting built.

Interviewer: Sure. What about – it’s kind of along the same lines. People have their dream ceilings. People also have dream kitchens and dream bathrooms. Can those be designed through Landmark? I mean can you get pretty specific about people’s needs to have that dream kitchen per se?

Steve Landmark: Yes, we can work with them and different people have different lifestyles and methods. Some people want a simple kitchen. Other people entertain a lot or other people, their life is around the kitchen. That’s where the family gets together for dinners or get-togethers or holidays or whatever it may be.

So yes, we’re completely capable of working with someone to make sure that the space is right for the kitchen. Now the actual kitchen cabinet design, like for bathrooms and kitchens, we would put all the dimensions on our architectural plans and have a suggested layout. They would take that to their local kitchen person, vanity person, whatever and then work with them to fit the details and the space allowed.

If they finally need a little extra space, we can adjust our plans and tune them up properly, so that it’s the way that they want them.

Interviewer: So basically it’s kind of a two-tiered system here, if they want specialty cabinets. You know, the builder has to make sure that the dimensions and everything are going to be right. You can’t just go out and buy cabinets after the home is built and start throwing them in there. They’re not going to fit.

Steve Landmark: Right. We do all that in the planning process. So that’s where we would go through and say, “Hey, for me – you know, when you told us your kitchen was 12 by 12 and there’s a window in the middle of the east-facing wall,” and then they could go to their cabinet designer and work around that.

Now let’s just say the cabinet designer says, “Hey, wait a second. You guys are growing your own herbs. Let’s put a bigger little garden window there. We can then change the garden window or the position of the garden window,” or if you find out that hey, there’s a different layout because someone wants the washer in a certain area or certain plate tray or different situation in the kitchen, we can work around that.

That’s the key element is we will supply the information to make sure that someone can customize and personalize the home to their exact needs. That’s the key to this. Get what you want instead of getting a house with some of the things you need and then you working around it.

Interviewer: That’s great. Here’s a question. What all is included in a Landmark Kit Home Package? That’s a basic question but one that I think most people will be curious about. What exactly do you get in your package?

Steve Landmark: We supply the plans, architectural plans, structural design, energy codes, mechanical design if they need it, foundation design, the plans you need – the actual paper plans you need to submit for permits or electronic files if your building department wants them that way and then delivery of the panelized home package directly to your building site.

So we’re taking some of the hardest, most in-depth parts, putting them together so that the information across the plans is uniform, approved by your building department and that’s what ends up – we supply in the panelized home package. So it’s easier for inspections. So that’s when we supply the plans and the wood structures. Some people have said, “Hey, it’s the skeleton, the bones, the wood structure, the insides.” That’s what we supply.

Other people would – or our customers I would say can then personalize their home. So way back, we used to supply siding and windows. But then what we found out is if you were to build a certain – you know, just take a 1500-square-foot ranch and you were to build it in Florida. You might put a different roof on it than if you took that exact same house and moved it to the southwest. Maybe you put a tile roof on it.

Maybe if you went into the mountains, you would put a metal roof on it, so that the snow comes off easier. There’s also different concerns. You build in some of the easier climates, say Tennessee. You’re going to need different windows than if you’re building in the deep desert in Arizona. You know, there are different energy efficiencies. There are different looks. There are different types of windows that do different things and that is the main reason because our customers were saying, “Hey, can I delete the windows?” and after a certain point, I was like, “Why don’t we just do what the customers are telling us?” Let me design the home.

You know, so someone – the husband and wife can work together to get the cabinets they want, the siding they want, the roofing they want and a lot of these homeowners’ associations might have a little say in it and mainly our customers enjoy designing their home. They want to know that hey, they want this particular type of a metal roof or architectural shingle or tie all over –

Interviewer: Or even down to the faucets in the bathroom.

Steve Landmark: Well, that’s exactly the case. Some people might be more concerned about a certain modern look and that’s the situation where someone is able to go through and make sure that they get the house they want instead of saying, “Hey, here’s a faucet. If you don’t like it, change it.” So you’re paying for it twice.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Just do it right up front. Get the design that you want. Like in the case of windows, get the energy efficiency that you want. In the case of cabinets, get the look that you want, the type of material that you want, the type of countertops and doors and cabinets, carpeting, tile. You know, different situations like that and that’s why – now the key to it is we can put these details into plans.

So – and we kind of want them in the plans because if you go put a tiled roof on the house, it’s going to weigh more than an asphalt shingle.

Interviewer: Sure, yeah.

Steve Landmark: So we need to have the structural design to know that the roof system will support that additional weight and then as I’ve discussed before, where you put this house can affect the insulation types and there are some places that want to know exactly what type of insulation you’re putting in.

You’re not saying, “Hey, just put an R-21 in the wall.” They’re going to be like, “OK. Is that bad? Is that going to be blown in? Is it a foam? What is it?”

Those are things that we can work with and what it really comes down to is people can then understand what it is they’re building, where their money is going and make sure that it’s the actual product and then verify that it’s installed by someone that knows what they’re doing.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: The key elements.

Interviewer: Well, it seems like then there’s a good reason why people – you know, Landmark is not going to be supply windows, doors, the siding, as we mentioned roof, cabinets, all the finishing materials. There would be a good reason when building a panelized home to make sure you have all of these elements upfront, so you can just work them into the design. It seems like there’s a lot of reason for that.

Steve Landmark: Well, there’s a big reason because in certain places, like the floor tiles are one of them. Someone will say, “Well, I want to put a floor tile in.” So if you go get the typical quarter-inch, lightweight floor tile, it has got a certain weight. But sometimes people in the southwest will put in the thicker tiles that are an inch.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: They weigh more. The floor system needs to be designed for that. While I’m getting into that, I will throw something else. The use of the room. Someone might say, “Hey, I’ve got a living room.” You know, I just want a bunch of my friends to come by.” Well, someone might go through and say, “Well, I’m a piano player. I’ve got a grand piano. I want it in the middle of this room because I want to hear it. I want to have my own concert.”

Well, how much does that grand piano weigh? Oh, and by the way, you have a fish tank, the 500-gallon fish tank?

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Were you looking at it? We’ve had other people say, “Hey, everyone in my family is 6’6”.” They’re a big family. We want solid floors. So that’s a lot of what we can work with, to get taken care of.

Interviewer: Well, that’s interesting. Here’s a question. Can I make changes to the panelized package once I’ve purchased it? Is that possible?

Steve Landmark: Yes. Well, there’s a couple of answers to that. You can always make changes. There’s the point of when it’s sensible to make changes and financially make sense and doesn’t create scheduling issues. On paper and the design phase, we can always go do those changes. It’s better to do it before we finalize them in the engineering phases.

But if someone absolutely has to have something done for some reason that arises or a building department throws a little curveball, yes, we can do it. You can also change a panelized home once it’s framed.

Now just like a stick built home or something else, you got to see how it affects the structure. In some areas – we had a person do this just a couple of weeks ago. They built a garage. Then they decided they wanted another window.

Well, in some areas, you can just put that window in. In other areas where homes are engineered, that wall may be a sheer wall. So it might have been built and reinforced certain ways. So when you poke a hall in the middle of it, it may affect the performance of that sheer wall.

So in that case, the customer called up and said, “Hey, Steve. I want to put a three-by-five window in the garage. I want to be able to look to see who’s coming up my driveway.”

So in that case, we went through. We got it taken care of with the engineers and he went through to install it. So if you could think about it upfront, it can be done. It’s just a little bit more of a hassle to do it later. But anything can be done but we suggest let’s do the homework upfront. Design it right.

Interviewer: Sure.

Steve Landmark: So there aren’t limitations. I guess sometimes there would be extreme limitations. If someone said, “Hey, I built a two-story. Now I want to change it to a ranch,” that would be an issue. But as far as just little stuff here and there …

Interviewer: So Landmark can’t show up with a chainsaw and just take that top floor off. It’s what you’re saying.

Steve Landmark: No, no. That’s not usually the way it works.

Interviewer: So dear Landmark, how do I determine my foundation type? Can you explain land, energy efficiency, cost, local customs, et cetera?

Steve Landmark: Yeah, there’s a lot of situations with foundations and it kind of depends on where you’re at and what the building conditions are and your building department and energy situations. So sometimes people will say, “Well, a slab is the least expensive.” Just a cement slab, poured cement and that may be the case if you’re building on flat land.

But if there’s a slope to the land and you’ve got to make a flat building pad, there’s a cost to do that. So maybe it’s better to go with a crawl space. Maybe if you’re around the side of the hill, it’s better to have a basement, so you can have a walkout basement, you know, type of a situation.

So a lot of that can be dictated by the site conditions. A lot of it can also be dictated by local customs. So if you’re building say in Iowa where land is pretty much flat, you can’t put a slab there. But I think you will find locally people will more likely do a crawl space or a basement. They like to have access under the slab to – you know, for storage or for any maintenance of pipes or heat ducts. It’s just customary or they do a basement.

You get into parts of California, Arizona and Mexico. Slabs are more typical just because the landowners out there, that’s how they did it. It’s just the way it works. But we have done crawl spaces and basements in those areas.

So a lot of it really comes into the terrain, the local practice, and sometimes cost. Then there are other times where people just say, “Hey, a basement, I want it. It’s cheap space.”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: And if it’s workable, you could do it. Other people say, “Hey, a basement is just a dark room. I’m never going to go there. So I don’t want it.” So a lot of it, you got to look at the land, the lifestyle, what you choose to do and the cost and just what’s typical for the areas.

Interviewer: Here’s another simple question but very important. Dear Landmark, who can assemble my home package kit?

Steve Landmark: Anyone with some framing knowledge. We’ve had customers actually assemble them and any framer can put it together. A lot of times stick framers will be like, “Well, I’ve never done a panelized home. I don’t understand this.”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: It’s kind of interesting because their process of stick building is like panelization. They get the materials. They make the walls. They stand the wall up. They brace it. Then they go make the next wall, stand it up and brace it.

So that is very similar. It’s just kind of a mindset where maybe they just haven’t looked at it from a different direction.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Steve Landmark: So anyone with framing knowledge can put it together. Yes, we have had customers that – or framers frame and build their complete home. You know, everyone in the family gets together and literally touches every component of the home. We’ve also had customers more kind of directed, act as the general contractor and have the local subcontractors build it.

So I would say anyone with framing knowledge can go through and do it. Of course if you’ve got an extremely complex home, you’re going to have to have a lot more framing knowledge than if you were doing a simple boxy [0:25:15] [Phonetic] ranch home.

Interviewer: Has Landmark ever had to get on the phone with a contractor who had just kind of talked them through any kind of process or –?

Steve Landmark: Well, that’s a great question that you developed because it’s – we supply a very clear and accurate set of assembly plans that shows where each floor joist goes, that shows where each wall panel goes. It goes where each roof truss goes.

But yes, even so, someone will call and say, “Hey, what about this?” or hey, the customer wanted a change or hey, we’re used to this. Can you clarify what’s going on here? So we are fully available to review any of the assembly plans and the key to it is that those assembly plans are sent to you before the house package delivery. So you can preview them and have an understanding of what needs to happen.

So it’s not just a surprise. Hey, here’s a house. We give you the answer in a sense to the assembly. So you can go through and look at it. If there’s any questions, you can contact us and we will review them. But even so, if during the framing phase you have a question saying, “Hey, what about this or that? I’m a little confused,” we can walk you through the process.

Interviewer: Right. Does Landmark install the rough openings of windows and doors? I mean it’s a little foggy in my mind still. So if I buy a plan, you guys have those openings within the kit. Once they put up a wall, those rough openings for windows and doors are there.

Steve Landmark: That’s exactly right and that’s part of the design process. So in the preliminary design stage, you might say, “Hey, I’ve got a view. I want to have a big window. A six-foot wide, four-foot window and next to it two big sliders.” You will say, “Oh, about a six-foot slider,” or something like that.

So we will draw it in to get the preliminary plans worked out. But as you proceed, we will need more of those details. Regular doors like the entry man doors are generally standard sizes. But windows are not. So we might draw in – say you like a typical bedroom window, a three-by-five egress, double hung window. Well, your manufacturer might be three-foot-one-inch by five-foot-one-inch.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So we would have to adjust that and yes, the rough openings are properly installed. The headers are properly installed. The jack studs are all properly there to support the opening and we put that on the plans that you approve. We then manufacture it and the walls show up with the rough openings and that’s very important. One tricky little point is doors. Everyone thinks a door is the one that you and I walk through. It’s very important to know that the garage door is sized –

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: It’s pretty interesting because we work around the country. So someone in the city might just have a little SUV that go in and out. You know, go shopping, run around, bring the kids to school. Someone by the ocean or in mountains might have a kayak.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: And they’re like, “Hey, I want to put the kayak on my SUV. So that when I leave Saturday morning, I just jump in my car and go.” Well, that’s going to need a taller door.

Interviewer: Sure, yeah.

Steve Landmark: You know, and then we got to work that in the design. So that’s one of those thing where a lot of people will say, “Hey, can’t I just use a standard window size?” I wish it was. But the window companies are not standardized.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Some window companies will build to the size that’s drawn on the plan. So there’s kind of a little, “If then, how do we react to the situation?” But that’s one of the key elements. Yes, the rough openings are there. Let me tie something else to that. All those window sizes and everything are tied into the energy calculations. So they know you’ve got so many windows this size, the type of glass and it works. So that’s an important part of making sure that the windows are designed properly.

Interviewer: Well, that’s an important question. It leads into this last question that I have for you, which I think it’s pretty funny. But here’s a lady that writes, “Dear Landmark, I love a lot of light and therefore a lot of windows. I don’t need anything fancy. Can I just use standard window sizes?”

Steve Landmark: Yeah, that’s kind of the situation. There isn’t a standard and here’s something else. I like a lot of light. There’s a view. It depends on what the view is. Are you having a view of your favorite rose bush? You know, which is limited or is it of your favorite mountain range?

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So that’s the situation with the standard window size where we got to – we have to kind of figure out what size will work there. But the actual size of the actual glass unit will probably be dictated by the window manufacturer. Now sometimes we have people do custom windows. You know, if they need a big glass wall where that’s all totally custom-made and custom-framed. But yes, we can do it. That leads to another question.

Standard window sizes and structural engineering. You know, if you – you know, what we’re talking about here. If you’ve got a view of your favorite mountain range. We have to make sure that the windows are supported properly and there’s enough strength in the wood around them to support it. So let’s just say you had a – you wanted to have the biggest view of the Sierras and you had a wall that’s 40 feet wide. It would be very hard to put a 40-foot piece of glass in there.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: So sometimes there are situations where maybe we could get 30 feet or two 15-foot sections. So that’s what we have to work in the design elements of someone is pushing something to an extreme. But that’s where we get involved in the whole design concept, the whole engineering, the whole energy code situation, to make sure that the end result, you know, getting you from A to Z, is proper.

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: You may understand steps B, C, D but we were looking at the overall picture of how this works. Steve, while we’re talking about windows and big views and glass, that can affect your energy calculations.

Interviewer: There you go. Yeah.

Steve Landmark: Because if you have a house with a big glass wall facing south, that sun is just going to create heat within the house and suddenly, you would need a different air conditioning or heating system or a different type of insulation system. That’s a key element of the proper design, which is why we like to look at these concepts that you talk about. It’s not just saying, “Hey, here’s your kitchen. I hope you like it.” It’s, “Hey, here’s your kitchen. I worked with your cabinet designer to make sure it works for what you intend to do.”

Interviewer: Right.

Steve Landmark: Hey, you want a window. What are you wanting to do with that window?

Interviewer: Yeah, that’s so important because just wanting one specialty thing that’s your dream can cause a domino effect in every other part of the building process.

Steve Landmark: Right. It’s not a big deal. You just need to let us know about it and we will figure out the dominos in that sense.

Interviewer: That’s a good thing. Landmark will figure out the dominos. I think that’s a good selling point. So let’s talk about the website and how anyone interested in Landmark Home and Land Company and the panelized home building process goes about contacting you guys.

Steve Landmark: We’ve got a pretty cool website that we’re constantly improving and we’ve got videos on there, so people can watch some of these topics. They can read things. So the podcasts are up there. We’ve got details on – you know, just facts about us, where the panelization process it, what our builders do, plan selections. By the way, you can build any plan that you want.

Our website is www.LHLC.com. It’s kind of like the letters for Landmark Home Land Company. It’s Landmark Home and Land Company but the letters are www.LHLC.com. You could call us also anytime at 800-830-9788 and we will go through and help you with what you need.

For some of our customers, it’s the first time. Other customers have done it a couple of times or they’re repeat customers and they want to do it again. So we will take the time and work with you, so you understand what it is that we can do to help you get the house that you want where you want to build it. That’s the key.

Interviewer: Well, that’s great and Steve, thanks for being here again. We’re about out of time for this episode and it has been a real treat, once again picking your brain about Landmark Home and Land Company and about the panelized home building process. So for Steve Tuma, President of Landmark Home and Land Company and myself, I would like to say thanks for being with us once again and we will see you next time.

Steve Landmark: Well, thank you.