Building for the extreme: Hurricanes with Paul Ledet

Sep 15, 2022

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Episode 160:

Today on “The Building Code,” Zach and Charley are chatting with Paul Ledet, owner of CLH Build in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Paul took over the now 40-year-old company from his father and works hard to maintain their exceptional reputation. Replacing their paper processes with Buildertrend has really helped streamline processes during difficult times.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about how to build homes that withstand hurricanes and how project management software helps make it possible.

What are some of the materials you use to mitigate the impacts of hurricanes?

“Basically, you think of it as a system from the slab. Most of our slabs are slabs-on-grade, and everything's anchor bolted, but there's continuous either, plywood around the entire perimeter or half inch oriented strand board. It's going to be certain nail patterns, and the criteria is pretty much the same across the board as a nation. But we just have these extra straps that'll help tie in the bottom plate to the top plate, to the rafters and all the way through and through. Down in Grand Aisle, which is on the coast, we use a lot of all threaded rods that go from the slab through the bottom plate, through the top plate and it all connects to the roof system. It's just one continuous founded entity.”

What is one of your favorite Buildertrend features?

“We use the selection process. We got that pretty much down pat, especially for these custom jobs. I mean, there's so much that goes into just window selections, and they can get so convoluted just from emails and texts. Having a clear and visible ‘This is approved, this is a purchase order for the approved one.’ Even though we gave you 10 different quotes, the window company knows that this is final. Just not having those kinds of little mistakes, it's nice.”

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