FAQ
Below are answers to some of the most common questions we receive at Blue Sky Homes. If you have additional questions, or if there is anything we can clarify or help you with, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
What is a Blue Sky Homes house?
Our homes are built with innovative materials and improved processes to create a timelessly beautiful, custom architectural home on your own property in a turnkey fashion without the frustrations that typically come with designing and building such a home.
Our homes are highly resistant to fire, mold, dry rot and termites, and they are all but maintenance free. At their core is a frame that consists mostly of cold-formed, light-gauge galvanized steel that is factory fabricated but rapidly assembled at the house site. Our homes are far more green and sustainable than a traditionally built home, feature clear open spaces, high ceilings and embrace indoor-outdoor living.
You can move into one of our homes within weeks, not months (or years) from the time construction begins. And finally, our homes cost about the same as a similarly sized traditionally built custom home and come with a fixed-price promise.
If you don’t want to buy a completed home, we also offer our customers the option of buying a just the frame, or a lockablable, watertight shell which you can then finish to your own needs.
Are your homes available where I live?
At this point we offer turn-key homes in select markets in the United States. We expect to be able to offer them elsewhere in the future. Please contact us to get more information. We also offer a DIY package which includes all the architectural plans, engineering, and materials to build a lockable watertight shell. You would need work directly with a local contractor to do the site work, and to complete the interior of the house.
Are your homes prefabs?
No, not as that word is commonly used. Most people, when they talk about “prefab” homes, are talking about entire homes or large modules of homes that are completed in a factory and then shipped as a finished box on a large truck to the house site where they are set in place with a large crane.
Our approach is very different. Most of the elements of our homes are factory fabricated but shipped flat and assembled rapidly at the house site. We believe that this gives us the best of both worlds. We benefit from the many advantages offered by working in a factory setting including the lack of weather delays, access to a highly trained and reliable workforce and precision tools and processes.
Our shipping is very efficient because the majority of our materials are packed tightly together on a truck (and in the reverse order they will be required at the site). Once the truck gets to the site the material is rapidly set in place with minimal lift requirements.
Many rugged or steep properties cannot accommodate a prefab house very readily – if at all. Our approach gives us much greater flexibility in terms of where our homes can be built.
Are your homes “kits” that buyers can assemble themselves?
No. While our homes are designed around a standardized set of material dimensions in a modular scheme they are not kit homes in the same sense that, for example, IKEA furniture is kit furniture. Licensed professionals following standard governmental building codes are required to construct our homes.
Will you sell me the frame only?
Yes. Our sister division, Blue Sky Building Systems works with architects and builders and supplies custom frames and wall panels for their designs. Please note that components from Blue Sky Building Systems can be applied to almost any architectural style. Please visit www.BlueSkyBuildingSystems.com for more information, or contact us about your specific need.
Can you sell me just the plans?
No, we do not sell just the plan sets. We do however offer two options for people who are looking to build a home outside of our market area.
Option 1 – DIY Package: Blue Sky Homes offers the plans, engineering, and all materials necessary to create a water-tight lockable shell based on the o2 Series of designs.
Option 2 – The Blue Sky System: Our sister division Blue Sky Building Systems works with architects and builders to develop completely engineered moment frames for custom home designs.
Please contact us about your specific need.
What are the steps I would go through to have one of your homes built?
An overview of the buying / building process is available here. If you have any additional questions, please contact us, and we will be happy to help you understand the process in greater detail.
How much do your homes cost?
Our pricing is similar to traditional building techniques and will vary based on design; the finish level you select and whether the house is to be built on a flat or sloping lot. Please review our home plans in the Designs section for more detailed information about our individual products and contact us for exact pricing.
You refer to even the pre-designed homes in your catalog as “custom” homes. What does that mean?
Even our catalog homes can be nearly infinitely customized. Once you select the size of home that you want you will be able to choose, among other things, the floor plan, the location of doors and windows, the interior finish package, the exterior cladding material, the mechanical equipment and whether you want your house on or off grade. You will essentially have a custom home.
Why do you say that your homes are all but maintenance free?
Because most of the elements in our homes are selected to minimize the amount of upkeep they will require during their lifetimes. Our galvanized steel frame never needs painting. We offer exterior siding materials that also do not need to be painted. Other than the standard mechanical equipment and appliance servicing requirements your home should require the least amount of upkeep of any home you’ve ever owned.
Is financing available?
Blue Sky Homes does not directly offer financing. But banks and other lenders are ready to lend to qualified buyers. As site-built homes our products are embraced by the lending industry and traditional financing is available.
What do you mean when you refer to your offerings as being “turnkey”?
By turnkey we mean that we seamlessly handle all of the steps required to build your home. With Blue Sky Homes you are getting essentially a custom home built on your own property, with all the construction management done by us.
Building a dream home can be one the most daunting experiences anyone will encounter in a lifetime. The process is often complicated, labor-intensive, agonizingly slow, expensive and almost always downright infuriating.
And all of this is exacerbated if you are trying to build your home in an area remote from where you live now or if you desire to build your home in any ways that are not traditional (such as making the home very sustainable).
Indeed, for most people, building a custom home is simply beyond their capacity. That’s why the vast majority of home sales are for existing homes – either pre-owned homes or new homes that were built on spec by builders.
At Blue Sky Homes our professional design-build team handles everything and completes your dream home very quickly and for the agreed-upon price. True turnkey service.
What if none of your existing designs suits my requirements, will you design a custom home for me using your system?
Yes. Because our system is built upon a common set of dimensions and standardized components we can quickly design homes in a wide variety of configurations to accommodate most requirements. This means that even a very custom design can often be accomplished much more rapidly and less expensively than is possible when an architect “starts from scratch.”
What is Blue Sky Building Systems?
Our sister division, Blue Sky Building Systems, provides components that enable us to build better homes more quickly. At the core of the system is the Blue Sky Frame™, a light-gauge steel framing, factory fabrication of materials combined with site assembly, flexible design and high sustainability. Please visit www.BlueSkyBuildingSystems.com for more information
What kind of roof do your homes have?
For our single-slope roofs our preferred roofing material is a standing-seam metal roof. For flat roofs we specify a FiberTite single-ply roofing membrane.
How strong is a Blue Sky Home?
Extremely strong. Our homes feature a steel bi-directional moment-resisting frame that is exceptionally strong. The frame can withstand the lateral and vertical shocks of a severe earthquake.
The system performs well in conditions that far exceed the minimum requirements of the American Institute of Steel Construction Seismic Provisions of 2002.
For more information about the steel bi-directional moment-resisting frame please visit www.BlueSkyBuildingSystems.com.
What do you mean when you say that your walls are not load bearing?
Traditionally built wood-frame houses use the walls of the house to support the entire structure. Because we use the Blue Sky Frame, a few upright columns bolted together with beams provide all of our structural support. Our columns are placed in the corners of the house or, in larger configurations, along perimeter walls as well. This means we have much greater flexibility in configuring our homes because we can essentially move walls as we please. For example, our exterior walls only need to be strong enough to resist the forces of wind and to hold windows and doors in place. And we can place our doors and windows almost anywhere we want them to best capture views or for optimal traffic flow.
The location of our interior walls is even more flexible since their only purpose is to create and divide living areas. And if for some reason you wanted to, we could build the home as one giant open space.
What are your exterior walls made from?
Our preferred wall materials are rigid-foam panels that come pre-cut from the factory with light-gauge steel studs already embedded. These are what is known as steel thermal efficient panels (S.T.E.P.). Our walls have a R-24 insulation rating and are very strong and durable.
How high are your ceilings?
Our typical single-slope shed roof creates interior ceiling heights up to 12 feet.
Your system sounds technological superior but is it somehow experimental and as such likely to get bogged down in my city’s permitting process because of their lack of familiarity with it?
No. Our system was designed to meet or exceed uniform building code requirements. We provide all of the engineering and design details in our comprehensive plans that are required by each municipality. We do not anticipate any problems with our system during a building department plan check.
The land that I own is very steep and I’ve been told that it will be prohibitively expensive to build on it. Are there advantages with your system in such locations?
Yes. One of the key advantages of our system is that we do not require a flat pad for building. We can anchor our steel columns to virtually any terrain and then “float” the house off of the terrain. Doing so can save thousands – even hundreds of thousands – of dollars by avoiding costly grading, cutting, compacting and retaining wall requirements.
The land I own is completely flat. Would it be overkill to use your system on such a lot?
Not at all. Where we can build what is called slab-on-grade we can save you money because we do not require as much steel in our framing structure.
Do you offer garages or carports?
Yes, we can provide elegant carports and garages to match your home. Please contact us for more information.
How quickly can your homes be built?
A typical home can be built in six to eight weeks. That number begins when we start bolting our frame to a slab or footings and stops when we install the last appliance and wash the windows.
It intentionally does not include any work that is unique to a particular piece of property since the time it takes to accomplish site-specific items will vary widely. Site-specific items include surveying, permitting, any grading, utility work, and installation of slabs or footings.
You say that your frames are fabricated mostly from “cold-formed, light-gauge galvanized steel”. What does that mean to a layman?
At the risk of over simplification there are really two types of steel commonly used in buildings. Structural or heavy steel is the material that you associate most often with, for example, large skyscrapers where builders typically weld elements together to create the skeleton of the building. Structural steel is hot rolled – meaning that is shaped by roll presses when it is very hot and malleable.
Cold-formed steel is, as the name suggests, formed into desired shapes using steel that is “room temperature” by using machines to slowly shape it. Typically the steel is a lighter gauge (thinner) than structural steel, which allows it to be shaped without the application of heat. Additionally, almost all cold-formed steel is fabricated using steel that has been galvanized. That means that it never has to be painted or otherwise treated to prevent rust, unlike most structural steel.
Most structural steel is welded into place. This requires highly skilled welders and specialized inspectors to ensure that the welds are sound (often including x-raying). We bolt our cold-formed steel elements together without need for specialized torque tools.
Isn’t steel more expensive than wood?
Both wood and steel are commodities and as such are subject to price fluctuations. And while steel historically has cost more than wood on a “stick-by-stick” basis our homes require much less steel than if they were built of wood because steel has a higher strength-to-weight ratio.
How do you prevent the steel in your homes from introducing unwanted heat or cold into the structure?
We do this in several ways. We provide more than enough insulation in our walls, ceilings and floors – just as must be done for all wood-frame homes. In most of the places where there would be an uninterrupted steel “pathway” for heat or cold to penetrate the structure we add what is known as a thermal break. For example, where our aluminum sliding glass doorframes sit on steel base plates we insert strips of a half-inch thick material called high-density polyethylene (HDPE) to provide a thermal break.
All of our external walls consist of steel thermal efficient panels. These panels offer high levels of insulation. They consist of high-density polystyrene foam that has been married with light-gauge steel studs.
In temperate climates our thermal calculations tell us that the amount of heat or cold that will enter the structure is negligible. In colder climates we mitigate these issues by way of additional insulation strategies.
I own property on the ocean. Is there any concern that your steel frame will rust?
No. All of our framing steel is galvanized at the highest quality level. The most that may happen in a heavy salt-spray environment would be what is called white rust. White rust can create a slight discoloration but it does not degrade the integrity of the steel itself.
Most residential homebuilders are experienced in wood construction, not in steel construction. Does that pose a challenge for you?
No. We use our own teams – alongside carefully selected local resources – to ensure that the homes we build meet the high standards we have established.
What do you use for the exterior deck on your homes?
Blue Sky Homes can be built with any type wood or steel decking, depending on customer preference. The standard material is a galvanized light-gauge steel McNichols Perf-O-Grip Decking.
Does the Perfo-Deck get hot in the sun?
Though looking at it you might think that it would. However, the perf-o-deck reflects most of the solar energy and does not get very hot. Additionally the perf-o-deck has a lot of holes in which allows quite a bit cooling via air-flow and there is minimal surface area which makes contact with the bottom of your foot. Therefore, the perf-o-deck is quite comfortable to walk bare-foot on, even on the hottest days.
What sort of warranty do you offer?
Our homes are eligible for a new home warranty from the contractor that is standard for your area.
I see that some of your homes are clad on the outside with corrugated steel. I prefer a more traditional look. Is it possible to clad a house with materials such as wood?
Absolutely. We offer a range of exterior siding materials.
How energy efficient are your houses?
Our houses are designed to be very energy efficient. We offer walls with an R-24 insulation rating and our floors and ceilings have an R-40 rating. Please contact us for more specific data.
You assert that steel is a greener product than wood. The timber industry suggests otherwise. How do you respond?
Looked at side-by-side, steel has many environmental advantages over wood as a building material. It takes 25 old-growth trees to build a 2,500-square-foot house. We can build that same house out of steel using seven recycled automobiles.
Indeed, the steel we use in our homes is manufactured from no less than 70 percent recycled steel. The process we use to turn this raw steel into framing elements for our homes produces almost no waste because we use computer-guided equipment to form, cut and punch pieces to exact specifications. Any waste that does occur in our factory is captured there and recycled. At the job site there is virtually no waste at all since each element that is shipped to the site is pre-engineered right down to the holes that are pre-drilled for bolt connections. And at the end of its useful life, a house built of steel is 100 percent recyclable. Steel is the world’s most recycled material.
These days wood is typically harvested from second- and third-growth commercial forests that themselves often create substantial damage to fisheries and other elements of the ecosystem. When finished lumber is delivered to a job site most of it is cut on site, creating substantial amounts of waste that must be hauled away. By most estimates only a fraction of the wood waste from a typical house under construction is ever recycled. Building the average wood-frame home generates approximately 50 cubic feet of landfill waste.
Do cell phones get reception inside a steel-frame house?
Yes.
Why do you use steel instead of wood in your homes?
We feel that steel provides homeowners a stronger, longer lasting, more sustainable, and safer house. A full summary of why we use steel can be found here.
Still have a question?
Please let us know if you have any questions:
