A new eight-story apartment building in Kansas City has started construction and will be built using a superior flooring system fabricated from innovator TotalJoist.
At the time of this article’s writing, Legends 267 Luxury Urban Apartments at the Legends Outlets Kansas City is still basically a hole in the ground. But the world-class project itself has been years in the making and has gone through a few iterations, at one time using wood as a key structural solution.
‘Steeling’ the Show with Cold-Formed Steel Innovation
“There’s nothing good about wood buildings,” says Jeremy Dahmer, CEO of Steel Tek Framing.
“You have to worry about fire, rotting wood, destructive termites, wood expansions and contractions and pricey maintenance.”
Dahmer’s Steel Tek provides lightweight steel solutions throughout the Kansas City region.
Many components, his in-house team can roll-form on its own, like trusses and studs. But when he bid on the Legends project, he knew that he would need to rely on his partner TotalJoist, for which he has been the authorized dealer since 2019.
TotalJoist by Bailey Metal Products is a leader in engineering and fabricating proprietary cold-formed steel framing systems. Through our full-service approach, we can manage many aspects of a building’s structure, whether the application is a hotel, condominium, industrial mezzanine or custom home.
Dahmer relied on our team in several smaller commercial projects and shortly after became an authorized dealer. He explains, “They complement what we do here at Steel Tek. I’ve been framing with metal studs for over 20 years, but they have a much more efficient process for large projects like Legends.”
“The developers thought steel was going to be more expensive,” Dahmer adds. “I went ahead and bid the project with cold-formed steel and sold the benefits it brings through other aspects such as insurance savings as well. They wound up with multiple bids, and much to their surprise I was the low bid.”
After discussing the obvious and not-so-obvious benefits of choosing cold-formed steel, the owner, architect and engineer all agreed to use TotalJoist, a lightweight steel joist, as a key structural component.
Why Are Developers in Kansas City and Across North America Choosing Light-Gauge Steel?
With so many challenges facing the construction industry, decision-makers are now thinking smarter than ever before when it comes to choosing which materials and processes should be used in constructing the buildings of tomorrow, such as Legends. Even with all of these additional benefits, Dahmer explains that the cold-formed-steel options are still 2%–4% within the price of wood.
Lower insurance was another key benefit for the Legends project. Builders’-risk insurance reductions saved hundreds of thousands of dollars alone, partly due to steel’s fire resistance and the expedited construction schedule by incorporating prefabricated components. Since joists include large pre-punched service holes to eliminate bulkheads, the overall height of the building was reduced by almost three feet and exterior cladding materials were reduced, which resulted in a lower tier of insurance.
Other key factors influencing the decision to go with cold-formed steel were:
- Steel joists are lighter than wood joists, which will help to ease Legends’ installation process and also help to prevent foundation issues down the road.
- Steel and gypcrete are superior to wood and gypcrete, ensuring that the building’s occupants enjoy high acoustic ratings and enjoyment for generations to come.
- Our joists can span longer distances and increase the overall square footage of the building without increasing the building size.
- Steel is 100% recyclable with less waste on the jobsite and is far more durable, resulting in a more sustainable solution to constructing mid-rise buildings.
The Future is Formed With Cold-Formed Steel
“In my opinion, Legends could not have made a better decision – steel is the future,” says Dahmer. “It always should have been the main choice for construction. Wood’s great aesthetically, like for log cabins, but for your average residence or apartment or commercial structure, there should be no reason why we shouldn’t be using more steel.”
According to Dahmer, steel should never be an alternative, it should be the only way. Cold-formed steel has certainly gained a lot of traction over the past few years because of the fluctuating lumber prices, wildfires and wood’s unreliability, and he hopes to see more buildings like Legends understand the cold-hard facts on cold-formed steel.
To learn more about how lightweight steel framing solutions and how they can benefit mid-rise residential projects like Legends 267 Luxury Urban Apartments, visit www.TotalJoist.com. Our all-steel prefabricated joists, floors and walls result in high-quality building structures with greater flexibility of design in a shorter timeframe.
For more information on professional cold-formed-steel solutions in the Kansas City area through Steel Tek Framing, visit www.steeltekframing.com and email CEO Jeremy Dahmer at jeremy@steeltekframing.com.
