Mission: To save lives, have quality of life, builder says
held forth for architects and engineers and argued his case before anyone else willing to listen.
Sponsored conference
Earlier this month, he put on the “Need for Stronger, Safer Buildings in the Heartland Conference” at the University of Central Oklahoma. The keynote speaker was Aris Papadopoulos, author of “Resilience, the Ultimate Sustainability: Lessons from Failing to Develop a Stronger and Safer Built Environment.”
Other speakers were Ryan Colker of the National Institute of Building Sciences; Kevin Davis of Quad-Lock Building Systems; Chris Ramseyer, Ph.D., director of Fears Structural Engineering Laboratory at the University of Oklahoma; and Kevin Simmons, Ph.D., professor of economics at Austin College.
It wasn’t just ICF showand-tell. It was about “fortified” construction in general.
“The city of Moore has adopted a fortified home standard as the basis and I want to see Oklahoma, as a state, do that statewide,” Keeslar said, referring to minimum regulations for high wind resistance the Moore City Council adopted in 2014.
ICF won’t sell itself
Despite the innovation, safety and savings, ICF won’t sell itself, he said, until customers know there are alternatives to traditional stickbuilt houses and know to demand it — and that will require a broader and more widespread understanding of building resilience.
“Why is it important to me? As a builder, if we can’t improve people’s lives, if we can’t save them in times of traumatic events, then what’s the purpose? I mean, people can live in a pup tent. They can live in a painted cardboard box. If they’re after cheap and inexpensive, then let them go that way,” Keeslar said. “But if you want to save lives and have quality of life, then this is by far the best way to go — far better than mere sticks.”
It will take changing more minds, he said.
“The biggest obstacle right now is the builders. The building community will only supply to the customer what the customer demands,” Keeslar said. “The customer needs to be educated and know that this technology is readily available and actually costs them less money.
“Right now the biggest factor is builders not educating themselves so they can communicate that back to the public. They’re happy to give the public exactly what the public’s expecting, which is the cheapest thing that money can build.”
No help from appraisers
In the meantime, he said, appraisers aren’t helping.
“The appraisers simply aren’t giving any credit at all for either energy efficiency or for strength and safety. It’s just not happening. They’re not doing it. Can they? Absolutely, they can. Will they? They won’t. They say that it’s just not important to them at this point,” Keeslar said.
And here, he turns his thinking from the industry to legislation.
“Lawmakers need to be involved and force that issue. None of us wants more government involvement, but unfortunately sometimes the government has to get involved. It’s just like cars. We have seat belts today, mandated. We have things that are government mandated for our own good and our own protection,” he said.