By Fred Seely
Editor
The President’s Project is no longer a “project.” It’s a reality, and it’s for sale.
The “president” is Andy Chambers of the MasterCraft Builders Group, the 2010 president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association.
The “project” is a home that promotes raised floor wood construction.
You’ll find it on the quiet Green Street in the Murray Hills area of Jacksonville’s Westside. It’s a gray, three-bedroom, two-bath house that fits in visually with its much older neighbors. But looks deceive - the home has the latest in everything.
“Somebody is going to get a new home well below replacement costs,” said Chambers. “They’re also getting a very energy-efficient home. The JEA probably will be out there tapping on the meter to see if it’s working ... that’s how little energy it will use.”
Chambers’ company built the home and has it listed for $164,000.
The home’s start came over a year ago there was a seminar at the NEFBA offices to talk about the benefits of raised floor construction.
The seminar was sponsored by a national association once known as the American Plywood Association but now called only by its initials: APA. Almost every major wood mill is a member and the association promotes wood construction, and lobbies for its membership.
A raised wood floor system, according to APA’s website, “is an assembly of beams and girders, floor joists, and plywood or oriented strand board floor sheathing, all properly sized, connected together and placed on a foundation.”
(Note that the word “concrete” never was mentioned.)
The benefits of the system, according to the website, elevates “the living space off the ground, isolating it from moisture and pests.”
Part of the promotion at NEFBA’s offices was a competition with the winner getting architectural and structural plans for a raised floor home, as well as $15,000 in hard cost for building the home.
“I wasn’t there but I won,” said Chambers. “Maybe I was the only entrant.”
He had wanted a signature on his term as NEFBA’s president. Six months before he took over, he had his project.
Chambers pulled together every supplier he could find and numerous companies donated materials and money.
“We want after total quality,” said Chambers. ‘You look at it from the outside and you see the quality. Go inside and look underneath, too. The best.”
The groundbreaking was in April and, since then, the construction has been a classroom. On-site seminars have given local builders a chance to see the benefits of raised floor construction.
“It was constructed with good, solid building practices,” said Chambers. “People got a chance to see how a house should go up.”
So much was donated that he expects a reasonable profit – and every bit of that will go to NEFBA.