Insights for building better

Practical guides on estimating, specifying and buying building materials — written by the people who do it, for the people who have to make the numbers work on site.

Materials guide

Roofing sheets: gauge, coating, and the bill that arrives in year six

Almost nobody's roof fails at the sheet. It fails at the fasteners, the laps and the valleys — the parts nobody compares when they are comparing quotes.

BK Admin4 Sept 20262 min read

Materials guide

Telling good cement from bad, before it goes into the mix

A bag that has taken on moisture looks exactly like one that hasn't. The difference shows up three weeks later, in a slab you cannot unpour.

BK Admin4 Sept 20262 min read