Precast Offers Appealing Options For Homeowners

Last year’s single-family housing starts registered the highest total in more than 20 years, and 2000 ’space isn’t far behind. With suchcontinuing demand available, developers and homebuyers are looking for ways to create new homes that are aesthetically pleasing, cost-effective and quick to produce. Precast concrete components are offering designers a variety of newsolutions, being used for everything from foundation walls to garage floors to entire façades.

Single-family housing starts experienced a banner year in 1999, according to market reports, rising well above expectations. Starts reached 1.340 million, a nearly 5-percent increase overthe previous year, according to the National Association of Home Builders Economics department. Starts in 2000 are expected to fall off slightly, by about 5.6 percent to 1.267 million units, NAHB predicts.

The robust 1999 market was a boonnationwide, according to the analysis in“Construction Outlook 2000” producedby Robert A. Murray, vice president ofeconomic affairs for the McGraw-HillConstruction Information Group. “Thesuperlative performance by single-familyhousing during 1998-1999 was geo-graphically wide-spread, including all 50states,” the report said.

Although precast concrete’s impact onthe single-family housing market hasbeen small to date, that may change inthe future, says William R. Von DerAhe, president of Affordable Construc-tion Concepts LLC in Chicago.“Typically, specifiers don’t think thatprecast concrete lends itself to theresidential market,” he says. “In the past,they’ve tended to create concrete designsthat were boxes — plain-faced designsthat gave no feel for the neighborhoodand its traditional look.”

The developer has worked with a Chicago-area precaster and architectural firm to change that image. Theconcept for the homes originated withprecaster Prestress Engineering Corp. inPrairie Grove, Ill., which sought newoptions for using its soundwall forms.“I had seen new developments in thecity that resembled suburban-typeconstruction, and it looked out ofplace,” explains Chris Newkirk,president of PEC and leader of PCI’sSingle-Family Housing marketinggroup. The two joined with PiekarzAssociates Inc. in Chicago to create aformat that would provide aneconomicalsingle-family home withstrong aesthetic characteristics.

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Precast Offers Appealing Options For Homeowners
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