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Contact Component Runner, LLC
Before starting Component Runner, LLC in July of 2007 our founder, Mr. Chip Dean, worked at MiTek for a total of 21 years after working at two component manufacturers for 10 years before that. Chip was a proud member of the MiTek team and was able to witness, firsthand, the extraordinarily talented people MiTek employed worldwide. During his tenure at MiTek Chip visited hundreds of component manufacturers worldwide and learned that most CM's experience times of extreme bottleneck in design. Unfortunately, there was no solution to the problem other than hiring a smart person and providing on-the-job training. That was then, this is now.
Welcome to the Component Runner, LLC booth at BCMC 2017 in Omaha, NE October 24-27, 2017
From left to right, John Workstus, Project Manager, Dave Bailey, V.P. Operations, Chip Dean, President and Alice Dean, Director of Finance
We had our best show ever with a strong turnout in general. There were an abundance of enthusiastic people interested in growing their businesses. We met and spoke to many companies about their overflow design needs, and we got to spend time with our valued customers.
Component Runner is a current member of SBCA and supports their efforts!
If you spoke to us at the show we sincerely appreciate you taking the time to learn more about Component Runner.
Professional Component Design Group
Component Runner, LLC is an Authorized Licensee of MiTek® Structure. We use MiTek Structure exclusively for providing structural modeling, editing, and estimating services to Component Manufacturers who are customers of MiTek. MiTek Structure is a trademark of MiTek Inc. Component Runner, LLC is not otherwise legally affiliated with MiTek Inc.
We offer a long list of other SBC-related services as well. We know your design needs are variable and like all areas in business there are ebbs and flows that makes it challenging to staff accordingly. Surges in volume create times when your existing staff just can't keep up with the demand. It's during those times that you need a relief valve that you can open and close as needed. We are that relief valve!
Specialties:
- Floor and roof truss modeling and design using MiTek STRUCTURE software, exclusively for MiTek customers.
- Wall Panel detailing for both wall panel manufacturers and framing contractors using MiTek STRUCTURE software.
- EWP modeling and design using MiTek STRUCTURE software.
- We are experts in MiTek data configurations resulting in guaranteed file compatibility.
- We are experts in the PlanSwift software, providing detailed whole-house material takeoffs.
We're available on a job-by-job basis or full-time, we provide detailed time tracking sheets with each invoice so there is total transparency in our cost, we pay MiTek directly for the use of their software, so there are no additional software charges to you. We also carry Errors and Omissions insurance. We strive to be professional in all ways and we are easy to work with.
Finally, a solution for increasing design capacity without adding overhead!
Contact us today.
Wall Framing and Wall Panel Detailing
Component Runner, LLC is an Authorized Licensee of MiTek® STRUCTURE. We use MiTek STRUCTURE exclusively for providing structural modeling, editing, and estimating services to Component Manufacturers who are customers of MiTek. MiTek Structure is a trademark of MiTek Inc. Component Runner, LLC is not otherwise legally affiliated with MiTek Inc.
Wall Panel Manufacturing or Wall Framing in the Field, we're available to help you today.
For the MiTek Wall Panel Manufacturer
We can help you with all facets of wall panel detailing. We will work with your design manager to ensure we're using the same version of MITek STRUCTURE software that you currently use in-house. We will work with your team to develop a "Preferences Chart" that will incorporate your standard methodology for manufacturing panels, This preferences chart will be our benchmark moving forward so we understand your; layout preferences, junction types, blocking requirements, very top plate requirements, panel breaking requirements, stacking requirements and any other details that are important to your plant. We will also capture your MiTek database so the files we return to you are fully compatible with your inventory and preferences. Our team of highly experienced USA wall panel Project Managers will be available to you as needed to help with your overflow wall panel detailing needs. Finally, a solid option for outsourcing wall panel design!
Contact us if you are interested in learning more about how Component Runner, LLC can help you today!
For the Lumber Supplier
With the construction industry on the upswing, there's a growing shortage of experienced framers who are skilled in laying out walls. This creates a problem for framing contractors who are in need of these skills causing costly delays at the job site. At Component Runner, LLC we've received many phone calls from Lumber Suppliers who are interested in adding value to their lumber packages by offering detailed construction drawings for their framing contractor customers, but they don't have the staff to handle it. We can help. Our highly experienced wall panel designers will develop detailed wall framing output for you to provide your customers. We will frame the building and develop framer-friendly shop drawings to make it significantly easier for them to frame walls on-site. Our standard output package includes; Easy-to-read and understand wall layouts, wall framing elevation reports for standard, raked, and balloon framed walls, bottom plate cutting reports, material lists, cutting lists, and more.
Contact us today if you're interested in learning how Component Runner can be your value-added resource for increasing lumber sales.
1. Our industry is faced with an unprecedented shortage of qualified/experienced design technicians. It's estimated that over 50% of experienced truss design technicians left the industry during the downturn of 2008-2012. Training design technicians from scratch is typically how companies grow their design staff. This process can be time-consuming, non-productive and expensive as often times new designers tend to learn from their mistakes. This has been referred to as the “School of Back-Charges”.
At Component Runner, our Project Managers are industry experts with a minimum of 10 years of experience in component design and component design management. They understand the business and know the MiTek software inside out. We assign a Project Manager to each customer and they become your point of contact for all jobs in our system.
2. All Component Manufacturers experience surges in their design department. Staffing for the surges creates high overhead especially when the Component Manufacturers are located in regions affected by winter. Keeping your design staff intact during slow periods is a common practice because re-staffing when the building season starts can be difficult, risky and expensive if a recruiter is involved.
When you become a Component Runner customer, we are available when you need us. We have no minimums and you only pay us for work performed. This is the perfect solution for managing surges in design. This allows you to staff accordingly and keep your overhead down
3. Large commercial jobs can cripple a design department. Typically, these jobs can take your best designers out of the mainstream for weeks and sometimes months at a time.
Component Runner is a perfect solution for large jobs. In fact, the majority of our work tends to be commercial related. We handle all aspects of the process including direct communication with the Architect and Engineers on the job, if requested. We will create and manage all RFI’s and will create and revise all submittals allowing you to keep your design staff focused on production jobs.
4. Most Component Manufacturers reserve their best designers to focus on production orders which can lead to missed opportunities in sales if the amount of estimating work exceeds the capacity of the design department.
Most of our new customers will use us for estimating work until we are familiar with your design preferences for production work. Some of our customers want us to model and design the building components for the most accurate price, and on larger commercial jobs we have developed a “Quick Quote” process where we break the jobs into different zones. We will design some of the trusses and apply the square foot cost of these representative trusses to each of the zones and deliver a spreadsheet with all the zones represented. Our customers then add their overhead and profit and quote the job. The feedback we get from these “Quick Quotes” is very positive.
5. Approximately 70% of total design time is needed for building modeling (layout) and the remaining 30% of the time is needed for truss design. This creates an opportunity to outsource the modeling portion of the job and keep the truss design process in-house.
Outsourcing component design can be risky if the component manufacture does not stay actively involved in each of the jobs that are not designed in-house. If your design staff can delegate 70% of the work to us it frees them up to do other jobs without losing control on the larger jobs. We have many customers who have used us in this manner.
6. People get sick, go on vacation and sometimes need to take a leave of absence for personal reasons. When this happens wouldn't it be great to have a resource you can depend on to step in and help out during these times?
We have many customers who only contact us under these circumstances. Once you are setup as a Component Runner customer, you can order work from us only when you need help and we will be there for you.
7. Understanding the complex data environment of the MiTek software is necessary for a remote designer to ensure they are providing you with MiTek job files that fully utilize your material inventory and default settings.
Every one of our customers is unique in what they expect of us. Our team is expert in managing the MiTek data and we keep each of our customers database in a secure place on our servers. Our team is very good at ensuring that each job we do uses the current MiTek software version that is running in your office along with the current database that you have. This allows us to guarantee that our jobs will be completely compatible at your end without lumber and plate substitutions.
8. When you work with a remote designer you sometimes experience frustration if they are difficult to reach or are generally non-communicative. Many independent designers have full time jobs and are moonlighting to make extra money. This can be a challenge when you are getting pressure from your customers and you can't reach your designer because they are at their "day job".
All of our Project Managers are available when you need them. They don’t moonlight, they are full time professional design technicians who are focused to keep you informed and to make you a happy customer.
9. Work from independent designers is often incomplete and late in delivery and may include design approaches which do not match your company’s way of doing things.
When you become a Component Runner customer, we will begin with a comprehensive interview with our VP of Operations and the Project Manager assigned to you. They will work with you to complete a Preferences form that will become our go to document for all jobs you send us. This is a living document that will be revised as needed to ensure that the work you receive from us looks like it was done in-house. When you order work from us via our website you will specify the delivery date. Our people work diligently to meet that date and will inform you as soon as possible if they feel the due date is not achievable.
10. Working with independent designers may be expensive especially if they are not organized and do not provide accurate time sheets showing where every minute is being spent.
When we invoice you each month for the work we do, you will receive an accurate time sheet that details every minute we spend on each job. This transparency is important to us as we feel it is very important for you to feel comfortable with our pricing. If you see something on these timesheets that does not look right to you, we will be happy to discuss the details and, if necessary, we will make adjustments to the price.
Our goal is to be a resource that is available when you need us which will allow you to keep your design staff at the right levels for your business. We have created a team of very good people who will not let you down.
Please consider Component Runner for your overflow design needs.
Contact us today for more information about Component Runner, LLC.
Floor and Roof Truss Modeling & Design using MiTek STRUCTURE Software
Component Runner, LLC is your best outsourcing solution for Floor and Roof Truss design. This is our core competency. Our USA team has a combined experience level of over 325 years and each of our PM's has a minimum of 10 years of experience in floor and roof truss design and design management, in fact, our PM's have an average experience of 23 years! We can help you with your overflow work, whether it's for estimating purposes or complete modeling and design for production.
At Component Runner, LLC we work exclusively for MiTek Component Manufacturer customers using MiTek software
At Component Runner, LLC we will create an exact replica of your MiTek software and data environment on our secure server so jobs returned to you are guaranteed to be designed using the exact version of MiTek software you currently use in-house along with your materials and defaults. Our initial interview process will result in a custom preferences form that will be used to ensure we design trusses using your styles and preferences for framing hip ends, valley sets, unique webbing requirements for manufacturing purposes, proper splicing logic, correct truss labeling, etc. Each company has unique requirements and our entire team is focused on meeting those needs on a daily basis.
Please contact us for more information.
Custom Residential
Our experienced USA-based Project Managers are experts in all levels of building complexity. They are veterans in the SBC design arena and fully aware that to be an effective/efficient component designer one needs to be meticulous and process-oriented in order to produce consistent and accurate results. When it comes to one-off custom residential work, plans typically lack detail in the design of the floor or roof systems, and having the ability to work with plans that lack detail is commonplace for us. Our Project Managers routinely call our customers' clients on their behalf to sort out dimensional discrepancies, discuss truss design issues, and offer solutions for complex framing conditions, etc. This keeps the job moving forward with minimal involvement from your end; which is good when you're already at design capacity and don't have a minute to spare to track down questions on jobs assigned to us.
Contact us if you are interested in learning more about how Component Runner, LLC can help you with your custom residential floor and roof truss projects.
Tract Housing
Housing Tracts typically have multiple plans, elevations, and options. These jobs can choke a design department's ability to keep up with the daily demands of production. Tract Housing jobs tend to be front-end loaded from a design perspective and can take an experienced design technician out of pocket for weeks and sometimes months at a time. These jobs are extremely critical that they're done quickly, but accurately and efficiently designed for the plant; all at the same time. At Component Runner, LLC our team of experienced Project Managers are no strangers to this type of work, We've done literally hundreds of projects that we call "Product Mastering" which requires a consistent and efficient approach so when these jobs are being put into production they're geometrically accurate, properly engineered and optimized for production utilizing MiTek's built-in Production Control List (PCL) function, making it easy to use our work for months and years to come.
Contact us today if you're interested in learning how Component Runner can be your value-added resource for processing floor and roof truss designs for Tract Housing.
Light Commercial
Light commercial jobs require a professional working demeanor and a designer who understands the importance of working with the trades to ensure that the floor and roof truss systems work well from many different vantage points. Our Project Managers have extensive experience working with Architects, Structural Engineers, and Framing Contractors to ensure that the system design not only meets the needs of the structure from a geometric and engineering perspective but also from an HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical perspective. A truss job with webs that interfere with the HVAC trade, or floor truss layouts that do not consider plumbing drops result in field repairs that create unsatisfied customers. At Component Runner, LLC we understand that your reputation in the marketplace depends on smooth-running jobs with minimal trade-related issues. Our company has worked with MiTek STRUCTURE from the first release and is well versed in the Real-3D export capabilities within the software, creating files that are AutoDesk Navisworks compatible so they can be easily merged with other trades CAD work, creating a complete building model that shows all "clashes" with the trades. This exciting visual tool is relatively new to MiTek and certainly will be the standard method to communicate floor and roof truss systems to the trades moving ahead. At Component Runner, LLC, we are doing this today and we can help you get there, making you a stronger candidate for the growing number of general contractors who are employing these tools in their operations and requiring their sub-contractors to comply.
Contact us today to learn how Component Runner, LLC can help you with your light commercial floor and roof truss design jobs.
Multi-Family
Multi-family jobs are unique in nature. Most apartment complexes and hotels are made up of structurally independent units connected to form buildings. The key to efficient multi-family component design is to design the individual units properly from the start and using the multi-family tool available within the MiTek STRUCTURE software, the units are essentially "copied and pasted" to create buildings. Once the unit layout is complete, the common areas, hallways, stairs, and elevators are finished and the level is completed. This saves a tremendous amount of time as compared to drawing each level from scratch. A successful multi-family design model using this feature results in a dynamic link between the master units and each occurrence of those units in the building. This means if a unit changes for whatever reason, the designer simply modifies the "Master Unit Plan" and the entire model is "updated" to reflect the change. This allows a large multi-family project to be created relatively quickly and modified very easily if needed. At Component Runner, LLC about 25% of the jobs we do are multi-family projects and we are ready and able to help you with these projects.
Contact us today to learn how Component Runner, LLC can help you with your Multi-Family floor and roof truss design jobs.
Quick Quote Estimating
It has been said that estimating is more art than science but in today's market in order to be competitive you must be accurate and that requires modeling and designing the panels or trusses for quote purposes. This makes sense for smaller jobs but the large commercial jobs require a different approach which requires some design and a lot of guesstimating.
At Component Runner we have developed a Quick Quote process which combines modeling and design with accurate area zones and Excel to create a fast and accurate estimate.
Why Outsource to Component Runner?
Variable Cost versus Overhead Cost
In today's economy, businesses are avoiding adding overhead whenever possible, sometimes to the detriment of growth. As business improves we see increases in estimating and production design that can easily overload your already stretched design staff. Why not outsource your overflow design work and win more business?
Since 2007, Component Runner, LLC. has provided hundreds of MiTek Component Manufacturers with a viable outsourced design solution at reasonable rates.
We like to think of ourselves as the "half person" you wish you had now and then. With Component Runner we are that 1/2 person. we are available to you on a job-by-job basis allowing you to use us only when you need us. This allows our cost to be directly attributed to individual jobs making it a variable cost versus an overhead cost.
Professional and Legitimate
When you outsource something as important as SBC design, you may feel a loss of control because the designer is off-site and potentially unaccountable. This can cause frustration.
At Component Runner, our USA-based Project Managers are hand-picked and bring a minimum of 10 years of experience in the SBC industry in design and design management. In fact, our average PM experience equals 23 years! They represent some of the SBC industry's best component designers and are focused on quick turn-around times and excellent customer service. Our USA team has over 325 years of design experience!
In July of 2007, Component Runner, LLC started in a barn in Massachusetts. Since then we have worked with hundreds of MiTek Component Manufacturers and to date we have completed over 11,000 jobs.
Communication is never a problem with our team because we know the importance of meeting, and exceeding our customer's expectations.
We are a MiTek STRUCTURE Authorized Licensee working on your behalf
Component Runner, LLC is an Authorized Licensee of MiTek® Structure. We use MiTek Structure exclusively for providing structural modeling, editing, and estimating services to Component Manufacturers who are customers of MiTek. MiTek Structure is a trademark of MiTek Inc. Component Runner, LLC is not otherwise legally affiliated with MiTek Inc.
Insured for everyone's protection
Component Runner, LLC carries errors and omissions insurance to protect our company, our associates, and our customers.
Contact us today to learn more about Component Runner!
Q/C Review Service
Component Runner USA based Project Managers have the experience to help you with your internal review process. We can help you create a Quality Control process that will help eliminate design errors.
We fully utilize the tools within the MiTek software suite to help us quickly check the model for geometric accuracy as well as the details surrounding the floor structure, walls framing details and roof truss systems.
You do the work, we'll check it for you.
Contact us today to learn how Component Runner, LLC can help you with your in-house Quality Control needs.
Component Runner Services
The below list represents the bulk of what we do. We're experts and specialists in all MiTek software and our deep understanding of it makes us very easy to work with. We create a customer environment for each of our customers allowing us to run the exact MiTek software versions you run in your office for both engineering and layout programs, eliminating incorrect materials and design defaults. We meticulously capture your MiTek data so we can mimic your office in terms of master defaults, material inventory and any combination of options specified in the MiTek database.
You will be assigned a Project Manager who knows your business! We have assembled a team of SBC Design professionals with double digit years of design and management experience. These experts will always be there to ensure that what you get back from us is what you need, not what we think you need, requiring the least amount of re-work needed at your end to fit your requirements. Once we are done with the learning process we will be a great resource for you when you are overloaded and need help now!
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Component Runner, LLC is not owned or operated by MiTek. Component Runner, LLC is an authorized Service provider of MiTek and is fully licensed by MiTek for the use of the MiTek software for the benefit of MiTek customers. |
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People - The most important part 2) Our PM's are provide daily review of our design team progress plus Q/C checking |
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Building Information Modeling using MiTek SAPPHIRE Structure and MiTek eFrame software. |
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Structural Framing, Wood Truss and EWP Design Services |
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Professional Engineering Services |
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Material Estimating Services using Planswift and MiTek SAPPHIREStructure software |
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