Benson Bondstone believes in empowering people. How we live that belief is by building custom homes and custom structures in and around the Coeur d’Alene area that are more affordable, more environmentally friendly, more durable, safer, and faster built.
With our PermaPanel system, framing out a new construction on even something as grand as a custom 7,000 square foot home, for example, can be finished in a week—from foundation to roof. Any structure with a foundation, walls, and roof can be built with the PermaPanel, and be built faster, will resist floods and fires for over five hours, and be more energy efficient—saving you potentially tens of thousands of dollars in energy consumption over the course of your home’s life.
Here’s a quick breakdown.
But here’s the thing, most people aren’t asking themselves how can my home be built safer? And building a home in Coeur d’Alene is no different. Back in the sixties, Ralph Nader wrote a book entitled Unsafe at Any Speed and it shook people into action. See, much like the home building industry—no one was asking the right questions—how can we make our driving experience safer while still keeping the costs down.
Here’s the thing, by the time you’ve read this article, another home somewhere in the United States will have burned down. We (as a people) have made great strides in putting more awareness in people about how to keep things safer using existing construction methods.
But that’s treating the symptom instead of treating the cause.
The PermaPanel solves a home burning down before the fire even starts.
What we’ve done is taken the very best of proven construction methods that are pretty prevalent in Coeur d’Alene like structural insulated panels (SIPs) and insulated concrete forms (ICFs), and made them into a simple building system that is stronger, safer, more energy efficient, easier to build with—and most of all—more affordable.
In fact, the PermaPanel is so simple to build with, that a Coeur d’Alene do-it-yourselfer could have a few buddies come over, and in under a week, have their dream, craftsman home or tiny house framed from foundation to roof in under a week.
In most instances, the PermaPanel will cost less than traditional stick framing—without sacrificing the beauty of a customized home.
The PermaPanel includes what several specialists can do in one full system as well as drastically reducing the time it takes actually build the home.
Consider the savings that combining all of these materials into one system could give. About half of the cost of building any structure is the material cost. The cost of studs and sheathing is going up without a clear sight of when the material cost will lower. Besides that, it’s not the most environmentally friendly.
The time it takes to build a home makes an enormous impact on how much the home costs. Consider a general contractor who has to pay his employees for three months worth of work versus the contractor who pays his employees for a week. It’s the same with the electricians and plumbers, with the added benefit of not having to wait for or work around other crews. Plus, all that is required are your regular tools. No need for specialty tools.
The other half of the price of building comes from labor. The more people involved the more expensive. This goes without saying—but imagine the cost savings you can enjoy by not having to have drywall installers or framers. It’s substantial. Beyond that, with the rise of Pinterest do-it-yourselfers have been empowered and are on the rise. If you’re that person, the cost savings—as well as the ability to now build your home—are incredible.
Most fires don’t get hot enough to burn concrete. We’ve developed a system of interlocking, specialized, aerated concrete panels—that are lightweight—yet—structurally sound. We’ve consulted with scientists and engineers at MIT, experts from around the globe, seasoned contractors, and of course, our own construction experience, and have developed the patent-pending PermaPanel system. Every single wall, every floor, every ceiling in your home can be built with these panels.
So how does it solve the fire problem?
There’s no wood in the walls, floors, or ceilings. All of the electrical lines are stored safely inside of the specialty concrete. Your house can’t go up in flames.
See, one of our co-founders was nearly killed in a house fire when he was a mere seventeen. A grease fire caught the oven. He army-crawled through the smoke and burning house and turned off the main breaker. When the firefighters arrived on the scene, the flames were so huge they told him the house was lost and not worth even trying to save.
His parents were out of town, and though it wasn’t true, he believed the house fire was entirely his fault.
He begged the firefighters to please try, and for some reason, one of them took pity and began to fight. They calmed the raging flames and saved the home.
Weeks and tens of thousands of dollars later, the burned sections of the house were rebuilt. But they were rebuilt with the very same materials that nearly killed our founder in the first place.
With the PermaPanel, the chances of a home going up in flames are so drastically reduced that house fires, especially in the Silver Valley and Northern Idaho areas can be a thing of the past.
