How a Kauffman building is made.
Five hands. One standard.
From the lumber that comes through the back door to the truck that pulls onto your pad, every building goes through the same six stages. Same crew, same standards, same lot — twenty-some years running.
Specification
It starts with a phone call or a walk-in. We sit down with the dimensions, the use case, and any options — siding, roof pitch, doors, windows, lofts. Nothing gets ordered before everything is on paper and signed.
If you're not sure what size you need, we'll talk you through it using the photos on the wall. Most people end up one size larger than they planned for, and zero people regret it.
Materials
Lumber comes from a small set of mills we've worked with for years. We sort it on arrival — anything that wouldn't make it through twenty winters of upstate weather goes back. Plywood, sheathing, T1-11, trim — all in stock at the lot, all from the same people.
Framing
2×4 studs, 16 inches on center. Double top plates everywhere. Doubled jack studs at every door opening (we've written about why, in the journal).
The floor frames first, then walls go up around it. The whole thing is built on a flat shop floor where every angle gets squared before sheathing goes on. Buildings that were framed crooked never get fixed in the field.
Roof & sheathing
Roof trusses are built on a jig and lifted up as units. Sheathing goes on with a generous nail pattern — we'd rather use ten extra nails per sheet than have a customer chasing a wind-lifted edge in 2042.
Finish
Siding, trim, doors, windows, paint. This is where buildings start to look like the photo on the lot — and where customer choices show up. Cupolas, transoms, flower boxes, custom paint match — anything that was on the spec sheet shows up here.
We don't ship a building until the finish is good enough that the customer wouldn't want us to come back and fix anything.
Delivery
We confirm 24-48 hours ahead. The building goes on a trailer, the trailer goes to your prepared pad, and the building gets set with the door facing whichever way you wanted. Most deliveries are 1-2 hours on site.
We don't leave until you've walked around it and told us it looks right.
Want one made the same way?
Tell us what you have in mind and we'll give you sizes, options, lead time — same business day.