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In the Spotlight: Dietrich Metal Framing Residential building industry slow to abandon structural wood for metal Sunday, June 10, 2001 By Len Boselovic, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Steel studs were supposed to have spotted owls and other endangered forest dwellers breathing easier by now.
Seven years ago, steelmakers set an ambitious goal of persuading home builders to use steel studs instead of conventional wooden ones in 25 percent of new home construction. So far, the industry has captured only 2 percent of the market, having learned the hard way it's not the only industry resistant to change.
"People have been carpenters for a long time," says Dick Berdik, who until his retirement June 1 was president of Dietrich Metal Framing, the country's largest producer of studs and other steel building materials.
"Our market share is in the high 30s [percentage points]," said Ed Ponko, Berdik's successor.
Dietrich is a division of Worthington Industries, which acquired the Pittsburgh-based business in 1996. Dietrich, which employs 1,500, accounts for about $350 million of Worthington's annual revenue of $2 billion.
Only 10 percent of Dietrich's revenue comes from supplying home builders. The rest comes from selling steel building products used in offices, retail centers, hotels, hospitals and other commercial buildings. Locally, Dietrich framing can be found in PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Steelers' new stadium, the Hillman Cancer Center and the University of Pittsburgh's convocation center.
The residential portion of Dietrich's business is growing gradually, and Ponko knows what he's got to do to make it grow faster so those owls can sleep in peace.
The real question, he said, is, "How do you get carpenters to put down their hammers and build houses out of steel?"
When they launched their campaign at home builders, steelmakers thought the metal would be an easy sell. Steel studs had been used in commercial construction for years, so the industry didn't think it would take much to get them into homes. Lumber prices were high, and environmentalists were dogging lumber companies. Steel had other advantages as well. It is lighter and straighter, impervious to termites, and doesn't feed a fire as wood does.
Dietrich and other steel stud makers found out that carpenters weren't the only people they had to win over. Plumbers and other contractors were resistant as well. Housing demand was so strong that many homes sold as fast as contractors could build them. With business that good, builders were reluctant to switch materials or do anything else that might slow them.
Steel was successful in commercial construction because the metal studs were used in nonload-bearing walls. Using the lightweight material reduced the costs of the building's foundation and helped meet fire code requirements. However, homes have a greater concentration of load-bearing walls, so steelmakers had to prove steel could bear as much of the weight of the home as wood.
The fact that building codes are based on wood made that more difficult. Berdik says people who want a steel home must have it designed by an engineer who can prove to building inspectors the design meets code requirements. That adds several thousand dollars to the cost of building a steel home, he said.
Despite steel's slow start, Ponko is encouraged. Recently, sales have been spurred by Dietrich's new steel flooring system, which has holes in the joists so that plumbing, tubing for the heating and cooling system, and wiring can be installed easily.
"It's put steel where steel wasn't -- in houses," Ponko said.
Dietrich also has developed software that converts floor plans for wooden construction to steel-based designs, something Ponko said will reduce design costs and time. The company also is putting more effort into teaching designers, builders and others how to use steel. It's been up to the steel industry to do most of the heavy lifting in that regard.
"There's very little curriculum in schools about this," Ponko said.
One place where steel framing has really caught on is Hawaii, where the island state's rapacious termites feast on wooden-framed homes.
"I haven't seen a termite yet that can eat steel," Ponko said.
As a result, steel studs are used in more than 50 percent of new residential construction in Hawaii. To tap into that market, Dietrich acquired Studco of Hawaii, a metals stud producer, late last year. Dietrich's plan is to use Hawaii as a test market where it can try out new products, different construction techniques and training methods, then bring that experience to bear on bigger markets on the mainland, where steel's share of the market is much smaller.
"It's a great laboratory. There's nothing like a real-world laboratory," Ponko said.
Capturing 25 percent of the U.S. residential construction market would create demand for 8 million to 10 million tons of steel, Ponko said. If steel ever catches on in other markets the way it has in Hawaii, he added, "You could get giddy thinking about that."
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