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Firm Unveils Post-Frame Construction Equipment

Framer LLC founder Hugh Markin hopes the product he has been developing for more than 30 years will
revolutionize the construction industry. Markin and his business partners Richard Smith and Arlan Landey
unveiled The Framer on Friday in a celebration at the Flagship Enterprise Center. The Framer can perform nearly all the functions of erecting a post-frame building: digging holes, filling them in, placing trusses and carrying materials.

“This is a very significant step in the evolution of construction machinery,” said DeWayne Landwehr of the Flagship, which has a partnership with Framer LLC. “Our goal here at the Flagship Enterprise Center is to foster new business and create new business. Today represents a culmination of the best use of our
process of doing that.”

About 50 people gathered to see The Framer, a 22-foot-long, 7,800-pound piece of machinery that was created to replace all other machinery used in post-frame buildings, such as skid loaders,
scissors lifts, cranes and ladders.

“It’s a lower capital investment,” Smith said. “Instead of having to purchase several pieces of equipment, they just have to purchase The Framer.” Smith said the machine also will save money on labor; it operates
best with a three-member crew instead of the traditional four to six-member crew and can get the work done in the same amount of time or less.

Landey estimated that labor savings alone would pay for the cost of The Framer in just more than three years. The Framer will cost $80,000-85,000 depending on the needed components.

Framer LLC is working with Anderson Tool and Engineering to produce the machines, and Markin hopes to sell 20 in the next year and up to 150 within two years. Any jobs created in Anderson would be with Anderson Tool and would depend on the need for production.

Landey said the company already had 189 leads and two commitments from companies to purchase a Framer. Phil Wheaton bought one of the first Framer prototypes in 1985 and has used it for 22,000 hours and built 3,000 buildings with it. “These machines will sell themselves,” Wheaton said. “Once a company gets one of these in their hands, it will be hard to get it away from there.”

In late April or early May, Framer will have a three-barn build, and Purdue University will study how much time The Framer will save companies working with laborers.

Smith said the post-frame construction industry was expected to grow in 2009 despite the recent housing and construction crisis. “Because the buildings reach out across a broad spectrum of structures, the industry is actually going to grow in 2009,” he said.

Markin has been in the post-frame construction business for more than 40 years. Post-frame buildings can include agricultural, commercial, institutional or residential uses and are popular because they are efficient, easy to erect and easily insulated. The buildings get their name because the frame is based around a
series of poles set into the ground. After sketches, models and several prototypes, The Framer came to
its current model, which is being reproduced at Anderson Tool. For Markin, however, the machine is a solution to a simple problem. “I began to think of a machine that could help me build a building without having to climb those horrible ladders,” he said.
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The Framer specs
— Includes auger to drill holes, truss boom to set trusses,
two-person work platform, back-fill blade to push in dirt, forklift,
material carrier and air and electrical outlets
— 2,500-pound capacity main lift cylinder
— 44 horsepower diesel engine
— Zero-turn maneuvering
— Three in-line hydraulic pumps
— 22 feet long, eight feet wide, six-feet six-inches tall, 7,800 pounds,
12-foot ground clearance

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
By Aleasha Sandley, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer