Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Email | TuneIn | RSS | More
Show Notes:
You will learn why separating permit drawings from active construction blueprints creates devastating budget overruns, scheduling delays, and structural clashes during field assembly. We examine the costly pitfalls of “real-time design,” where attempting to modify roof profiles, HVAC duct chases, or foundation steps during active framing forces stop-work orders and expensive re-engineering fees. Discover why municipal building department plan review checklists only evaluate minimum life-safety codes rather than whole-building constructability, leaving uncoordinated electrical layouts, plumbing runs, and window schedules completely uninspected. We break down the technical differences between building department energy code prescriptive minimums and actual thermal performance, addressing why glass wall assemblies require integrated structural and Title 24 design rather than isolated R-value calculations. Explore how investing in unified custom home drafting and design ensures that the architectural plans submitted for municipal permits serve as the exact structural instructions used to frame your panelized kit home on-site with fixed pricing.Key Q&A Highlights from Episode 104
Q: What is the technical difference between a permit plan set and a construction building plan set?
A: Hourly architectural designers frequently split documentation into a basic permit plan set designed solely to pass municipal zoning and life-safety checks, followed by a separate, fee-based construction set detailing jobsite assemblies. Utilizing two separate plan sets invites costly field errors, whereas drafting a single, unified blueprint set ensures that the exact dimensions, structural hold-downs, and MEP runs approved by the city match what the framing crew builds on-site.
Q: Why does “real-time design” during jobsite framing cause major construction cost overruns?
A: Attempting to finalize roof truss profiles, interior wall placements, or mechanical chases while carpenters are actively framing creates structural dead ends that prescriptive residential codes cannot resolve. Improvising field framing forces framers to pause construction, generates expensive lumber waste, and triggers municipal inspection failures when the framed structure deviates from the approved permit set.
Q: Does passing municipal plan review mean a house blueprint is fully coordinated and buildable?
A: No, building department plan reviewers exclusively verify that blueprints comply with baseline structural safety, maximum height limits, zoning setbacks, and state energy minimums. Plan examiners do not audit constructability or trade coordination, meaning uncoordinated plans with severe clashes—such as floor joists blocking plumbing stacks or headers conflicting with HVAC ductwork—can easily receive a permit while remaining unbuildable in the field.
Q: How do complete architectural blueprints resolve glass wall energy compliance challenges?
A: While residential prescriptive energy codes often dictate baseline wall insulation levels like R-21, high-performance glass walls cannot physically achieve cavity insulation ratings. Comprehensive blueprint engineering resolves this discrepancy up front through whole-building envelope energy modeling, counterbalancing large expanse glazing with increased roof insulation, orientation shading fins, and advanced HVAC equipment efficiencies to pass code.
Q: Why is foundation wall design dependent on a completed architectural layout rather than general field estimates?
A: Foundation heights, stepped footing locations, and frost depth embeds must be engineered directly to the natural site topography and point-load distributions of the superstructure. Guessing stem wall heights in the field frequently results in daylight openings that cannot accommodate planned walkout doors or poured concrete walls that fail to reach stable soil bearing, requiring engineered underpin retrofits.
Transcript:
Steve Tuma: I think what customers come to us for is so that we can work with them to say, “Hey, you have these features that you want in a home, but how do we make sure your complete project is smooth?”
Host: Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 104 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. With me today, as he usually is, 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, nationwide and around the globe since 1993, Mr. Steve Tuma. Steve, how’s it going, bud?
Steve Tuma: It’s doing going great. It’s a great day. Got a lot done this week, a lot of interesting projects and working through details, helping people get set up, getting houses delivered, starting to work on some multifamily-type projects, and some cool things are happening.
Host: Well, sounds awesome!
Steve Tuma: It is.
Host: So today we’re going to get into a subject within a subject, and I think it’s most imperative. I’m going to discuss with you, Steve Tuma, again give you the opportunity to answer a few questions that are rarely asked regarding Landmark’s abilities and expertise, yet are of the utmost importance. So if you’re good to go, let’s get into some of the questions. And that first one on the table is: Owner-builders can research online, watch shows, gather information, but what issues have you seen in your what now, 33 years of experience that people don’t understand or overlook in their new home building process? I know that’s a lot to chew on, but I’ll bet you can handle it fine.
Steve Tuma: Well, that’s an interesting situation, or very, very interesting question, because what it’s basically saying is, hey, how do I know what to believe? You know, what’s important? So it’s kind of interesting, you know, people watch these TV shows, which to me are interesting because the TV shows promote whoever advertises with them, so are you getting real information? Or even online situations, or, you know, different books that you may read. Everyone’s got their own angle, and what you find out is customers come with different levels of knowledge, different perspectives on how to proceed, and just different perspectives on how they want to get the house going.
But sometimes it’s interesting, people will say, “Well, my building department says an R-21 is code in the insulation for a house.” It’s like, really? Okay, so then what do you do in a house with a glass wall? There is no such thing as R-21 glass.
So what I found is that people will have this information, parcels of information that’s not complete for the project. And they’ll hear this, someone will tell them this, someone will tell them that, they heard about that, they read about this, so they’ll have these little hot spots that are important. And what’s really missing is the theoretical, you know, are you seeing the tree in the woods, or are you seeing the woods? Well, you really got to see the tree in the woods, you also have to see the complete woods to see how it’s put together.
So I think what customers come to us for is so that we can work with them to say, “Hey, you have these features that you want in a home, but how do we make sure your complete project is smooth?” Look at the plans, make sure they’re right. Make sure the customer’s understanding of the project is right. How do things really apply for what they want to build, and does it make sense for the land they have, or the building department, or any code requirements that are there?
So I think the simple answer to that is: Do they understand the broad scope of the project, but do they also understand the individual details of the project? And that’s what we try to do, is take the knowledge that they have and bridge it to the point of, hey, we need this, we need this, we need this to put it together.
Now, that being said, we’ve had some customers that have never built, maybe never picked a hammer up, and then we’ve had customers that are experienced builders as well. So every customer has their own opinion or their own level of knowledge, but in our case, we’re able to fill in the gaps or add different details where they may need a little help, you know, refining different parts of the home project, the home design.
So that, I think, is what’s there. Is just because a building department says, “Oh, we really check your septic,” that doesn’t mean that that’s all that’s important in your house. You know, we look at the architectural design, the structural design, the energy efficiencies, how it fits on the land, you know, any different options for different foundation features, insulation features, window features, things like that. And we could review them with the customer to make sure that they understand the complete project. So we’re not just supplying them a set of plans for a panelized house, but we’re supplying plans for our panelized home package for the complete building process.
And that, I think, is what’s there, is customers don’t always understand the full range of what’s necessary to do it. And that’s why we’re in business. People need the help, they know we can help them, and we’ve been doing it over three decades, 33 years, we’ve been helping customers be owner-builders successfully.
So that’s what I think, you know, is saying what they don’t understand or overlook. They may not understand the whole scope. What’s interesting is they all know that they need help. They’re like, “Hey, I need help with this, I don’t understand it, how can you help it?” And we’re able to put it together. It’s actually pretty invigorating, actually, to help people with these different projects. Every project is different.
Host: Right. Well, as a kind of a follow-up, are the issues surrounding the new home building permit process the only issues of concern when building a new home? I would think obviously not, but—
Steve Tuma: That’s another very cool question, because a lot of people will tell me, “Well, the building department doesn’t require it.” And to me, it’s kind of interesting. Well, is the idea to satisfy the building department, or is the idea to satisfy the building department and build a good home?
Okay, so if your building department doesn’t ask about your HVAC design, does that mean that you should put in a bad HVAC system? No, you should still do it. So we look at the building department as a guideline for what the building department chooses to review, but we also look at our plan process of the complete home.
So a lot of building departments do not do complete reviews of your actual home design, the electrical layout, the plumbing layout, the architectural features, the structural features. They may ask, but do they actually check? I don’t think there are that many that do very thorough checks. And a lot of building departments have very simple guidelines, or like, “Get me plans.” And I’ll talk to them and say, “Well, do you have a detail of what you want on the plans?” They’ll say, “Well, just plans, you know what I mean.”
So we try to have a, and we do have a very complete set of plans so that people can understand the process. So to answer the question, no, we don’t believe that the building department’s checklist is the only thing that’s important to building your home. We believe understanding the complete building process, and the design details, structural details, mechanical details are important. And generally, what we supply in our ability to help is beyond what the building department requests, which I think is what a qualified, good owner-builder wants. They want to know that the whole project’s being looked at instead of just the checklist of the building department.
So that’s really interesting, and people may not completely understand the point of that question, because a lot of people think that, you know, all you have to do is satisfy the building department. I’m like, yeah, that’s true, but you also want your house built right, and sometimes that goes beyond the building department checklist. Most of the times it does.
Host: You know, as owner-builders, we’re finding a lot of conflicting information out there. I don’t want to say misinformation, but there’s a lot of different information that doesn’t always match up on how to design and build a new home. How can I know that I can trust information that I find, let’s say online or anywhere, that is relevant to my project?
Steve Tuma: Well, what I found in information like that, and I’ve seen it myself, is that there are different forums, or YouTube videos, or books, or whatever, everyone has an angle. Now, some people, it’s extremely self-serving, and other people, they give you an angle for their experience.
And what we say is, you know, you can’t—I don’t want to say you can’t not believe the information, but you have to take it with a grain of salt, because your building project is probably completely different than someone else’s. Okay, we’ve been doing this for 33 years, and yes, there’s a design, you’ve got to do a foundation, you’ve got to do the house, you’ve got to do energy codes, but every house is different because all of our customers want to design their own home. Their lots are different, the configuration of the lot, the terrain, are they on the side of a hill, is it a flat piece of land, is different.
So the idea is with our system, we’re able to talk to you specifically about the house you want, on the land you want, with zoning issues, building department requirements, energy code issues, seismic issues, wind speed issues. So we’re able to help give you the answer and design specifically to your project.
So a lot of people do research on the internet. I do it on certain things that I’m buying, you know, to kind of get a push start to understand, but how does it apply to you? You know, so let’s just take the situation of cars. If someone has three young kids and they go to a forum of race cars, someone’s going to say, “Hey, this speed demon car is the one you got to have.” Well, that might be true for someone that wants a race car, but if someone wants more of a family car, maybe they need a sedan, a station wagon, or a minivan.
So you’ve got to kind of look at what information are you searching out, and how does it apply to your project? And that, I think, is why there’s a lot of misinformation, and then you also have to look at what’s the motivation of the information. A lot of TV shows are there to support advertisers, and it’s great, but it doesn’t mean that what they’re selling you makes sense for your project.
So what we’re able to do is review with our customers their understanding of what they want, and review these different aspects of their project, and then settle down to say, “Hey, here are different options, what makes sense for you?” And then work through those so that our customer understands why it makes sense.
A lot of our customers are doing this because it’s just a life thing, they want to build a house, it’s an experience. So they also want to learn, they want to understand, it’s part of the excitement of this. And that, I think, is the best thing that we can do, is help answer questions, work through situations so that they understand not just how it applies specifically to a specific part of the home, but also the complete home building process.
One of the things people will ask about is, “Hey, when I do a walkout basement, should I have a cement wall on the walkout, or should it be a wood wall on the walkout?” And there’s different reasons for doing it different ways. People might say, “Hey, why do I want a mini-split heating and cooling system compared to a conventional HVAC system?” People might say, “Hey, why do I want a blown-in insulation compared to a batt insulation?” And they all have their benefits.
So we’re able to help someone through the process to understand of how specific details of their home, it makes sense to proceed to make sure that they get the best home possible for what their goals are. So there isn’t a tried-and-true, one-answer-fits-all. It’s kind of like, hey, what are your goals, what does the house look like, what’s the budget, what are the restrictions, what are building department requirements, you know, things like that so we can get it put together.
So it’s the one-on-one conversation, working with customers directly on exact situations for their house, on their land, with their building department and their budget. So that’s actually very interesting, working with each customer individually from beginning to end of their home project to make sure that it’s done right.
We’re not just here supplying individual panels, we’re helping them with the plan set so that they can build, and schedule, and budget, and understand their complete building process. It’s much more in-depth service. I believe we’re the only one in the country that gets this deep. It’s amazing.
Host: Well, it sounds like Landmark has a lot of experience with helping people actually put together a plan of action or a plan of attack to design and build a new home. There are so many details like site planning, foundation design, energy codes, structural design—
Steve Tuma: How does it tie together?
Host: Yeah, and then you get there and you say, “I’m going to build a house,” and then all of a sudden you go, “But where do I start?”
Steve Tuma: Well, yeah, this is much like watching a chef put something together. You know, I’m not that much of a cook, so if someone gave me 10 ingredients, I’d probably come up with something, but if you give it to a chef, they’d probably come up with an extravagant meal that’s just amazing. Same ingredients, it’s the knowledge of how to put it together, what are you trying to do, and making it happen. So that’s kind of what we do, we’re kind of like the chef in the process of designing the home and supplying the panelized home package.
Host: A home building chef, but, you know, making a cake is not quite the same as building a house! So I can see where people can actually freeze when you make a decision you’re going to do something as big as build a house, and then you just kind of get cold feet, and I’m sure you guys at Landmark have to talk people through a lot of issues.
Steve Tuma: Well, we’re here, we’re always available to help. People call me nights, weekends, and I take the time to say, “Hey, what are we trying to do here, this is how we proceed.” And it’s the customer support, the working with our customers that I think is the most important part of what we supply.
Many people come to Landmark Home and Land Company thinking they’re buying panelized homes, but the reason they stay, and enjoy, and maybe come back and build a second or third home with us is because of the support and helping through the complete project. It’s much more than just panelized homes.
Host: Have you ever gotten a phone call where people are just so up front and honest and say, “Steve, I’m a deer in the headlights here“?
Steve Tuma: Oh, yeah! Yeah.
Host: And the fact that you’re able to kind of pull them in off the shelf, or off of the ledge, is probably a pretty valuable thing to have when you go into something like that.
Steve Tuma: Well, it’s interesting, because you say that and you’re kind of implying that, hey, someone’s like, “I never lifted a hammer before, I never built.” We’ve had the same thing with professional builders. People that work in big industrial, huge projects, but then it’s like residential, it’s a whole different thing.
Or sometimes there’s a professional builder that’s doing his own home, because the efficiencies of our planning and panelization process where suddenly it’s their home, it’s a lot different microscope that you’re under compared to when it’s someone else’s home. So, yeah, we’re able to help people through, but the customers are very energized to do it, so it’s, you know, it’s kind of just getting a partnership, kind of a marriage as such, to move it along. It’s pretty cool.
Host: There’s a big collaboration, too, that people don’t realize. It takes a lot of people to build a house.
Steve Tuma: Huge, yeah, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s a challenge, but it’s a life experience. And I think as I talk to more and more of our customers about it, they’re all like, “I’ve always wanted to do it. When I was eight, I told myself I’m going to build a home.” Or, “Hey, I’m doing it for the grandkids, I want them to see what grandma did.” We have a couple of people like that now, and it’s amazing to see the motivation of why people build the home, and it’s actually beyond what I thought, you know, the reasons people were.
Host: Do you ever have contractors call you, you know, not just the client or the home builder themselves, but contractors call you directly and just say, “You know what, this is something I’ve never really run into before“? How does that work?
Steve Tuma: Oh, yeah! Well, it’s really interesting, because the home building business is kind of an old business. If you and I rewound to the 1700s, go to the East Coast to some of the old, old homes in America, the building processes are very similar to what we’re doing now. I mean, they didn’t have engineered woods 100 and 200 years ago, but the actual process of putting a 2×4, using a header, having a top plate, having a two-by material or beams or whatever, it’s very, very similar.
So the change isn’t that big, so sometimes you just have different builders that build different ways. It’s kind of interesting, sometimes when they retire, they call us up and say, “Hey, your system’s efficient, I want to do it.” And we’re working with a lot of builders, we’re actually doing homes for people that are architects and structural engineers, they hire us to do the work. It’s kind of interesting. So someone’s a designer, and they hire us to do their house. So it’s pretty cool, actually. And the reason why is they can go out and charge more for the work they do, where we have a very efficient, cost-effective, value-added process because of the way we’re set up.
Host: You know, I’ve been curious, there’s a question people keep coming back to, and that’s where some of what we were talking about getting the wrong information or getting differently placed information out there about home building. But plans and permits, are the plans for permits and building plans, is there a big difference, or is there any difference at all, or how does that work?
Steve Tuma: What I find is that people that get paid by the hour to do plans do a permit plan set, and then they later charge to do a building plan set. Now, to me, I don’t know what the benefit of that is, other than you get to do it twice and probably get charged for it twice.
But in our process, we do a set of plans that is intended for the building permits and also used for the actual building phases. The reason why is more fluid: We want to know that our plans are done right, it keeps the continuity of the paperwork straight, you’ve got less sets of plans around to confuse people. But it’s also, why would you want to turn a set of plans in for permits and then a different one to build from? It just creates problems with the building departments, installation, and inspection processes.
So we have one set of plans that’s meant for the permitting and the building phases. It’s very important, because then once the building department approves it, you have that, you build exactly what’s approved, and you’re ready to go.
Now, someone’s going to be like, “Well, why are there changes?” I just had this conversation with a couple stick builders this week, “Well, what if something has to be done on-site?” I’m like, well, you should figure it out before in the planning stages. If you’re getting permits and then doing real-time design while you’re out there framing a house or installing a foundation, you’re just opening the door to budget overruns and scheduling delays. It gets expensive and very annoying and stressful.
So what we do is we look at the process of saying, hey, let’s get the information up front so we can properly design your foundation, we can properly design the energy efficiency, the architectural features of your home using the right materials that are available at the right price, so that while you’re building, you don’t have to make changes.
So what I found is people that do that, there’s an inherent process in there where their work continues where they can bill for it. Makes no sense for me in properly taking care of a customer. And why have all these things open, because what people don’t realize, if they want to do quote “real-time design” while the house is being framed, figure out what the roof’s like, you’re going to end up in a corner. You’re going to make a decision that later is going to kind of kick you in the butt.
So with our process, we work to work all those design details up front, because our customers are a little more picky on it, they want to know their budget, they want to know what they’re buying, they want to know what’s being built instead of, “Oh, we’ll figure it out later.”
So that’s why, in our case, the permitting plans are the building plans. It just leads to less communication issues, it makes it more fluid for the inspectors and the builders to know what’s being done, and it’s easier for the customer to understand what’s going on, and it’s also easier if people have financing involved for everyone to agree on what’s being built. You minimize risk, and change, and headaches, and stress.
So our process is meant to, I say, do your homework up front, let’s detail it out, let’s get you one clear and accurate set of plans instead of having confusion. And the reality is, if people aren’t making decisions now, they’re not going to make them later, it just creates bigger problems. When people don’t want to make a decision, “Oh, what toilet do I want to put in? Well, do I want this?” They’re just kicking the can down the road. At some point, you’ve got to make decisions, get the plans put together, and then execute the building process. People will have better control of their budget, their schedule, and the headaches.
Host: Well, that sounded—this episode sounded like there was a lot of information that we can actually hold onto! The way you explain things is always just so up front and without all the wish-wash and everything, so—
Steve Tuma: Well, it’s direct and accurate information. If people are giving you smoke and mirrors, probably because they don’t have the answer or there’s a surprise around the corner.
And this is particularly interesting, because this, these topics we went over today, can get pretty deep. So I would encourage people, if they’re interested to know about their specific project and how we can set a timeline and processes for it, is to contact us. In fact, I’ll give them my number right now. If someone’s got an idea, or, “Hey, how do I do this with my house?” It’s there, because there are a lot of details to look at, but we’re completely set up and ready to work.
So people can call me direct. I’m Steve Tuma, my cell phone is 708-205-2043, and give me a call and we’ll talk about it. Have some fun doing it.
Host: Can you go ahead and give us some more information, too, about Landmark? What’s the website, what can we find on that website, all that good stuff?
Steve Tuma: Well, our website, the Landmark Home and Land Company website is at LHLC.com. And on our website, you can see thousands of plans, discussions on what we supply, these podcasts are on there, videos, just a whole bunch of details, and someone could send us an email through the website. They can also find a plan and send an inquiry in, or they can give a call to 800-830-9788, and Mike will answer the phone and have a discussion on the project.
And we are very proactive, we answer the phone, and we do like to talk to our customers to find out exactly what it is we can do to help them, help them through the process of understanding the house, the building process, and permitting process, and delivery of our panelized home packages. We’re proud of it, it’s a very cool process.
And 33 years of it’s pretty exceptional, too, so probably be around another 33 years if people want to build a house now, then their vacation home, then their retirement home, we’ll be here to help them.
Host: Nothing wrong with that!
Steve Tuma: That’s right.
Host: And there it is, episode 104 of the Panelized Prefab Kit Home Building Show. And we want to thank all of you for listening in and for all your inquiries into panelized home building. So for Landmark Home and Land Company President Steve Tuma and myself, have a great week, and we will see you next time. Thank you, Steve.
Steve Tuma: Thanks. This was really interesting one, it could get deep. People should contact us, we’ll give them details.
