It's easy to work with. They're very informed. They know what the choices are, but they still prefer a wood-framed home. Others say that isn't so, that consumers have been led by builder preferences, who have in turn been led mostly by cost issues. But I've always lived in a wood-framed house and it's always performed well for me.
Houses also look identical whether they're built of wood, steel, concrete or anything else.
There are so many excellent Web sites out there with so much good information now. That has really changed things for the consumer. But besides information, there are also I-joists and OSB panel, which mimics plywood. Wood I-joists, a manufactured wood product used to underpin floors, have grown from 14.7 percent of the subfloor market to 23.5 percent since 1995, a dramatic increase, figures show. It's a different wood today.