Mass Timber Group Show: Sustainable Building Experts

Structurally Engineered Bamboo - Why It's Better w/Luke Schuette of ReNuTeq

• Brady Potts & Nic Wilson & Luke D Schüette • Season 1 • Episode 32

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The future of building is here, ready to see a transformation with structurally engineered bamboo? 

Luke D Schüette with ReNüTeq® is an eco-friendly material expert who guides us through the use of bamboo as a material in structural construction projects.  With rapid renewability, superior strength, and carbon sequestration, why not use bamboo? 

Luke breaks down why in his story about the Mississippi River and rail systems, where engineered bamboo goes from ecological farms to ReNüTeq®'s certified plant in St. Louis.

He helps us understand the ASTM certification process, sustainability in renewable construction materials, cost- savings, and the intersection of economy and ecology with bamboo.  

Then, he concludes our episode with a hybrid joist system that marries the strength of bamboo and steel. 

Looking for your mass timber community? Attend the 2025 Mass Timber Group Summit in Denver Co - Aug 20-22nd!

Speaker 1:

Hey, remove the preconceptions. Continue to integrate the things that we've learned as architects and engineers for the last 100 years, but then open your eyes to other materials that can be supplemental. Structuralism near bamboo is crazy strong. It's not just renewable, it's rapidly renewable. We're sequestering about 35% more carving on a similar acreage of land and the reef system stays in place, so it's a continuous process. We're only harvesting some chertoles. Our beans came in more cost effective than steel. We beat out steel, especially here in the Midwest. We beat out temperate too. It was the first time a noose had been added into the standard under structural and positive number in 35 years. It was a big deal.

Speaker 2:

This is the Mass Timber Group Show. I'm Nick.

Speaker 3:

And I'm Brady, and we talk to sustainable building experts. Today we caught up with Luke Schuety, the CEO and founder of Renew Tech, a game-changing company making structurally engineered bamboo products for the building industry.

Speaker 2:

This was a great episode because you don't know until you know. Luke's making big waves with new and sustainable building materials, even out competing steel on price. Structurally engineered bamboo is impressive and he takes us on a deep dive.

Speaker 3:

But before we jump in, if you want to learn more about building multifamily mass timber buildings and meet others doing the same just like Luke, we're hosting the second annual Mass Timber Group Summit this August in Denver. We've got 30 plus sessions, three amazing networking parties and building tours of the coolest projects in Denver. Check out the link in the show notes below for more info and if you like these podcasts, subscribing to the channel is the biggest compliment you can give us. It helps us book incredible guests like Luke and brings more mass timber awareness to the rest of the world. So with that, let's get into it.

Speaker 1:

Structurally engineered bamboo is what we manufacture. And what is structural engineered bamboo? Well, it is the composite of engineered bamboo slats to create structural-grade components for buildings, and this is what our entire company is about. We focus on the design and integration of our materials with steel parts for buildings, roof structures, solar-charted structures, and we're excited to continue to grow in this path.

Speaker 3:

So, for somebody that's never heard of structurally engineered bamboo, or even bamboo being used in like Western Hemisphere building, why did you decide to use bamboo Like? What applications or what characteristics make it different than something that might be more familiar to other people?

Speaker 1:

Well, this actually dates back to 2003, my final year of R&T for school, I met with my instructor, a professor, and we talked to him and I looked what are all these different wood fibers from BlueLand, psl, lsl, all of these softwood timber products that you see? And I also had this fascination with the performance periods of bamboo and the different species and how would bamboo be implemented utilizing some of these technologies that we've been doing in this country For about 150 years? You don't think about it, but the BlueLand industry, dating back to Wirehouser and some of these major players, we've been integrating the engineered wood process for about 150 years. So I looked at this and I thought what if we build upon this technology, the adhesive technologies, to include an alternative species? That's essentially what the bamboo fiber is. It's an alternative species that has a little bit different cellular makeup based on the silicon content versus cellulose, and we essentially looked at how this higher performance fiber to be integrated to create the products.

Speaker 3:

And that's where it started Got it, and structurally engineered bamboo is already folded into the building codes. We talked a little bit before we started recording and you were a part of that. Can you unpack how that journey went?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was an amazing process. It was very unique timing, just even in our autonomy in the United States In 2007, I did some initial testing, actually right here in St Louis, missouri, at a small test line where I tested some structural components that are actually made out at the family farm, gluing slats together and made these components. And then I was in communication with the ASTM Executive Committee, which is familiar with the Engineering Board. Structural Composite, longer Division is ASTM 5446. And that Executive Committee, even though I was young, they allowed me to come and present this alternative structurally engineered bamboo product and essentially it was pretty intense. What we had was about gate or so people in the room. They all represented these major players in the industry that you would all know the names very well, and they allowed me to present and from that moment they appointed me as the chairman of this new task group, which is called the DO70203. And it sounds like it's this honorable thing, but what it really means is that you better figure out what you're doing, get your ducks in a row. You're going to be doing a ton of work and we're going to be cross-examining every step of the way. But it was really something, because at that point, even though they allowed that to take place by nominating into that position, I was pretty hesitant that any progress would even be made.

Speaker 1:

But, fortunately for me, we saw a downturn in the economy from 2008 to 2009. And essentially some of the technical bodies were kind of slowing up and what we did is we just hit the accelerator with getting all of our processes in place and, in fact, a major person from Weierhauser his name is Bruce Craig was essentially a 35-year veteran developed PSL all these major products within Weierhauser. He was given early retirement but we scooped him up and he became an executive advisor for our company and within a couple of years we were able to SCB into AS254.56 under this task group this, like I said, the DO70203, we bid SCBN and it took a few years just this 2009, all the way through 2012. And at this time we also added SCBN into AC47 under the ICCES, which is the International Code Council. So at that time we added it into these two primary governing bodies.

Speaker 1:

What was a big deal is that in 2012, when it was officially added, it was the first time a new species had been added into the standard under structural and positive number in 35 years. So for us in the United States maybe we didn't hear about it too much because it's kind of this small group of the nerdy engineers that are paying attention to this, but internationally, where ASTM was referenced, it was a big deal. In fact, many other countries contacted us to learn more about what had happened, this branding material being added into the standard. So what's exciting now is when you flip open your IBC under ASTM 5426, you see structural engineered bamboo and the standard in the International Building Code.

Speaker 3:

Hey, we're going to get back to the podcast in just a second, but first I have a question for you. Are you somebody looking to build a mass timber project? If the answer is yes, then you need to put together an experienced team.

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 3:

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Speaker 2:

That means they have the experience, network and technology to make your next mass timber project a success. Learn more about Cornerstone Timber Frames by clicking the link in the show notes below. That's exciting. I mean, in 35 years that's just a really cool feather to put on your hat. You're blazing a new trail. If you go to your website, which I hope people go to, it's renuteqcom. I'm looking at some of your projects and one that stands out. Obviously me and Brady are veterans so it already stands out in our hearts a little bit. But the veteran's airport, the roof structure is super cool. What stood out to you with that project?

Speaker 1:

What was really interesting I appreciate you're asking about that it was a new airport terminal Interesting. I'm actually a grad from Southern Illinois University. We have a very strong RLTC program for airline pilots and, yes, veterans. Airport completed in 2016. We did with top care construction.

Speaker 1:

What is really unique about that project? That you do get a chance to check it out. It is a hybrid. What you have is a steel barreled roof system and structural engineer bamboo was integrated as X-bracing. What was so exciting about this project?

Speaker 1:

Not only was it right there in very in Illinois, which is right next to my university, so I had a bunch of architectural and structural engineering professors call and meet for ribbon cuttings and it was all in news. It was a big deal for the university because in their eyes, the product essentially originated from Southern Illinois University, carvindale, the phone, where Buck Minister Fuller established the geogustic doll. So they added this in as another advancement for their university in an airport terminal right there next to the university. And the interesting thing about this is that, because the roof was curving, we were able to do all of our X-bracing members as a curved element intersecting each other and we assisted the structural engineer on the entire connection design and how it braced into the steel ripped vaulted roof.

Speaker 1:

And we're extremely proud of this project because it was the first time the material had been added into an airport roof system in the United States, right here in Illinois. So that was a major success. You know I had to get some of the quotes from the airport managers to the factory construction. I mean it was absolutely seamless how our beams just dropped right in. The other key point which we were not expecting is that our beams came in more cost effective than steel hot form steel which, if you think about steel when you start bending it and making curves, is not cheap. So this is where, uniquely, even as a young company, newer technology we were able to actually beat off the principle of steel.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's super interesting. Like generally, when people think about newer technology, especially in the building industry I mean, even look at mass timber they're like, yeah, it's super cool and super sweet, but you know what's the premium that's going to cost me? It's really great that you guys are able to like outcompete, like right off the bat when you're swapping out bamboo for steel. What other applications does structurally engineered bamboo play really well with?

Speaker 1:

I would say, my biggest focus. As I mentioned, I have an architectural background and I'm always thinking about how we can build in the most high performance way, and so you're seeing an example of a hybrid application here. But my focus, one of my strongest focus and passion, is glass systems. So what you see here there is a cross section of a typical structural glass system or curtain wall system, and right now we're doing a project where we're spinning 42 feet. Now I get familiar with curtain wall design and you want to span 42 feet. What that means, if you're going in with aluminum, is that you need to take that large cross section of aluminum and load it with steel to be able to handle the wind loading, or you need to build a grid work of steel behind it to resist the wind loading. Now the glazing and facade engineers know that you need to resist a deflection of about three quarters of an inch, the L over 240. So you have these wind loads coming in, and so how can we have something that's aesthetically pleasing but yet still have a structural capacity to where you don't need to come back with steel to make it more rigid? Well, that's essentially what we're able to do. We're able to accomplish the structural element as well as the glass connection all within one component. And what we obviously know which is a great benefit of timber and other non-filtrials is that this is thermally resistant. So even the connectors that are coming through the glass aluminum system are actually penetrating. There's the connecting to and fastening to a thermally resistant material which, as you know, reduces thermal rigid. So, from a performance standpoint, when we look at potentially these front end costs be out, we always want to be able to say, look, maybe we're spending a little bit more of fun, but what is your life cycle analysis? What is your operations costs? We did a study actually with the University of all, the Michigan-Payner BANA, where we were able to take a standard type of building, about 10,000 square feet, and simulate when you utilize a thermally-resistant material with the art values that are associated with structural engineering at Banu, you can actually start to downsize your HVAC equipment. These are real costs. Not only are you going to spend less money on your energy, but you can actually end up buying smaller HVAC equipment. This is wine from a building envelope in a closure standpoint.

Speaker 1:

I'm extremely passionate about Vlanskenskijls. This is uniquely a focus of ours. Now in Europe you'll see timber various different spruce, large species of timber used in glass but what you'll see is that whenever you have something that's extremely strong the rigidity values are close to three times the strength of typical timber is you're able to reduce that cross-section. Now, in a building, that's important, but on glass it's even maybe the equally, if not more, important, because you want to reduce those cross-sections as small as possible so that when you look at the glass, you're not just seeing a wall of beams. If you're looking at an angle, you want those cross-sections to be small. This is something I would say is probably up there at the top with full structural systems. We also are looking at structural glass.

Speaker 3:

Got it. We just talked a lot about your operational costs, but then also very much so plays into your operational carbon. The lower your operating costs, the lower demand on the HVAC, the less thermal bridging. All that plays into your operational carbon aspect, which generally is what initially draws people into this mass timber, structural engineering, bamboo, like these natural, organic, renewable materials. Then, on that note, we're going to switch the conversation over to embodied carbon. Can you explain a little bit about how structurely or, excuse me, about how bamboo is grown, harvested, like what the carbon sequestration metrics look like compared to, say, a softwood, lumber species?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. If you're a ballast simply within lead you're looking at trying to work the hardest domestically, produce within a 500-mile radius, if at all possible, and have those materials implemented for the project. We are the only company in the United States, as well as your, that is actually producing product from our source materials out of the Western Hemisphere. What that means is essential. South America were zeroed in on Colombia and Ecuador for this absolute performance species of bamboo called Guadalajara. When we look at the entire supply chain, which we actually control, we are coming into it with the initiative to make it as efficient as possible. What we have uniquely here in the Midwest is the Mississippi River. We also have a lot of nice rail coming into the Midwest.

Speaker 1:

What we're able to do is optimize our logistics into the middle of the country where we produce the product. Then out from here we have about five business days. Now you asked a question about carbon. What we're looking at is okay. Yes, timber has a great story for carbon.

Speaker 1:

Bamboo also does, not only because we're producing it within a region, but also because it's not just renewable, it's rapidly renewable. What that means is if you were to take and I'm going to use some farming metrics here if you're to take one acre of land and grow that in, let's say, southern Yellow Pond, you're going to get about eight tons of usable fiber from that piece of land. If it's clear cut, you're going to use that. The race is significant in land waste, as we all know between 30 to 40% waste depending on how small the trees are that are being harvested. But within that same period of time let's say 30 years of a typical timber growth cycle you're able to pull 14 tons of usable fiber from the bamboo farm every six years.

Speaker 1:

So this is when we're talking about rapidly renewable. That's what we're talking about. Carbon sequestration is all part of this. So the total in body balance you when we're producing the product is right there as far as the production costs with engineered timber or GLULAB, lvl, poc, all these engineered structural composting products. But the difference is is because in the growth cycle we're sequestering about 35% more carving on a similar acreage of land, so it's extremely renewable. It's sequestering that carbon If we can utilize it into a project where it's a permanent structural fixture. That is carbon sequestration in its peak, and so that's essentially what's happening when we're implementing structural engineered bamboo from a carbon standpoint.

Speaker 3:

Got it and when? So after somebody harvests bamboo, does a team have to go in there and replant it?

Speaker 1:

No, this is the unique thing that I appreciate you bringing that up. The root system stays in place, and I'm not going to call myself a tree-hubber or something necessarily. I love all the different species of wood. I really like exotic species of wood that grow in all these different places. Downfall, though, is that when you harvest a tree, unfortunately you are incurring significant soil erosion because the root system is removed, and there is going to be soil erosion as well as ecological offset with regards to the animals and things that are running around With bamboo. It's a continuous process. So the farms that we source from the root system, it is all in place. We need to have mature bamboo plants, so at least eight to 10 to 12 years old. Then we get to harvest that on a annual basis, and the root system stays in place. So it's a continuous process. We're only harvesting these in chikol. They're seasoned, they're treated and then milled and engineered into our product. So, yeah, it's a little different process, but, to answer your question, the root system stays in place.

Speaker 3:

Got it? Yeah, so there's an entirely different carbon track and it's not just the same as we're planting trees or bamboo and then harvesting and repeating the cycle, like you're just continuously using that same root system, so it stays in place and the plant stays alive. That's super interesting when you so after the bamboo was harvested and you mill it and you get it on the boat up here. You guys' manufacturing plant is in St Louis, correct?

Speaker 1:

Correct.

Speaker 3:

Right. And then, what does the process look like for manufacturing structurally engineered bamboo?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so this material here. This is an example of our rad lamb beam. If you could see how it's laid out here. We're optimizing that natural curvature of the fiber and then we're mirroring it on itself to create stability within the beam, and so this process, essentially, is optimized within our facilities here in St Louis. But what we're importing from the America is Ecuador, colombia is this slat. So this slat, before it ever leaves Ecuador, is tricky. It's drawing to about 900% moisture content and it's bundled together and that is our feedstock that comes from the United States and we engineer that together. No, the positive side is, as I mentioned, we've taken this through the whole process within the ASTM. We also are implementing US technologies as it relates to adhesives.

Speaker 1:

Now, you've probably heard of many different types of adhesives and I'm not going to list off any brand names, but this is an area that we have zero compromise on. With regards to performance, bamboo is more of a closed-cell high-silicor content 5 down at the cellular level. We have to make sure we're using an adhesive that actually can bite into that fiber. We've done lots of testing on all kinds of different adhesives. Looked at some adhesives that are more considered green or whatever. The key is that all the adhesives that are in the industry right now are all low of your C, meaning below the 0.275 per million. It is cured within our shop as it goes out that adhesive content is actually inert, meaning it doesn't have very little off-gassing after it's cured within our shop.

Speaker 1:

The other misconception is that there must be more adhesive. We must be using tons of adhesive to make this product. If you think about what I just said with regards to the cellular makeup being more dense, what that means is less absorption. When you have less adhesive absorption, it allows for more adhesive to stay on those space lamps and we end up using between 35-40 percent less adhesive than even standard glue lamp and or PSL LVO. But to clarify, we are utilizing US-based adhesive technology companies to supply all of our adhesives. Like I said, we have zero compromise with regards to the performance. What do you think? Adhesives that have the fire performance, 50 plus year track record, all extra grade type one adhesives in the process Got it.

Speaker 3:

You guys have a lot of tech and research built into this entire process, because you build this industry from the ground up, which is super cool. But outside of the bamboo itself, you're a real big proponent of hybrid systems and integrating structurally engineered bamboo in with other forms of steel. I'm curious about the piece that's sitting on your desk behind you. Can you tell us about that open frame system?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Shoes have been an amazing technology from their inception. What you're seeing when you go into any large span type of structure typically, if you look up, it's going to be steel open wide joists. What we have here with an open, wide joist technology is typically, when you want to do some nice span, you're using hot form steel, and it's well-lit bar joists that are creating those long spans. What you end up with, though, is also thermal performance challenges, right, because you're dealing with one of all steel solution.

Speaker 1:

Now, a hybrid system similar to this is in production right now, and with a great company. The difference is that their top and bottom ports are just typical dimensional lumbar and they're using cold form steel with a pinned type of system, but what we're seeing here is all welded steel, with the top and bottom channel is all black form steel, and it's actually fastened into the top and bottom cord of Sturgeonly engineered bamboo. Now, the reason we established this product is because it was requested. This product has actually been in development for more than eight years as a hybrid. What you're seeing is where the load really comes in now. It's actually sleek inverted. It's a vertical alignment here, but this is the variant layer here that ends up bearing on some sort of beam. Now that could be a glulium beam, it could be a steel beam when we look at these hybrid systems. But the majority of the load and the shear volumes that come into a choice like this are most heavy on the end conditions. So that's why we have this completely boxed-in type of scenario here.

Speaker 1:

It's all all the way around to encapsulate the Sturgeonly engineered bamboo so all those loads can be transferred into the joists and then you're getting all of those similar conveniences that we typically see with joists. So thermal performance now with the Sturgeonly engineered bamboo integrated. But obviously floor-to-floor heights can be reduced, which obviously impacts the total height of the building. Major budget play there because the building can be a little shorter but still have the same amount of space interior. Then that's a big win from a budget standpoint. So obviously the mechanical electrical systems can pass through the joists and making it more efficient. The major kind of separating component of this is that structure in the near bamboo is crazy strong, especially in tension. So we have the materials integrated in these tensioned lamb integrations here on a joist which is absolutely taking advantage of the performance fiber of the bandwidth.

Speaker 3:

Got it and like what would be. So you talked about that lower floor height, which means like smaller or shorter buildings, but then I imagine that cost also transfers to like less facade costs. Is that true? Like, how do the costs with these systems stack up?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, this is the basic budgeting analysis and volume engineering that goes into any project.

Speaker 1:

How can we, you know, have less glass by reducing our floor to floor heights, for example? The glass and exterior materials are by far the most expensive part of the building because we're resisting all the elements, the weather and air infiltration, water infiltration. So we're talking about, you know, sealants, gas, get certain, glylicin and aluminum, other expensive materials. So we cannot just reduce those floor to floor heights. We're going to be, you know, in the grain with regards to budget reduction. So we're playing on some of these things that are common create cost effective measures, as you see, in a building, but we're able to integrate our materials and take advantage of it in such a way. Now this product is being optimized with a major joist supplier here in the United States that has all the certifications, all the testing, and so, when it comes to volume and spans, we're pushing 80 plus speed spans with these and we have the capacity to do an amazing floor to floor indoor roof system very cost effective, then more lightweight, obviously.

Speaker 2:

I was curious about the manufacturing of it in general. I mean, how far out are some of your lead times right now? And then, even in the same sense, was there any new technology? Or when it comes to like pressing this bamboo to make it work, that was different compared to, like you know, cross laminated timber, or maybe like a glue lamp with dimensional lumber.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know we touched on the patented process which is this brand live. Quite frankly mentioned earlier where we're. We're lambing in the high performance portion of the fighter. Now this process has been like a cell, obviously by a comedy, to to zero in on the highest performing spider of the bamboo and actually remove some of the lower performance on bamboo coal. It's a little bit different than a tree. It's the edge of the coal that has just really high model of silica fiber. It's almost like glass. It's so dense and then as you go into the inner wall of the fiber then it has less silica fiber.

Speaker 1:

So in the patent we're optimizing that horse portion fire and we're milling it into these radial slats that then go into the final components that are implemented into the joists, into all of our structural components and what was amazing about this, this technology integration, is that our cost actually went down, because if you look at the cross section of this conventional engineered bamboo product, you'll see tiny rectangles in which you're seeing is actually a waste of the highest performance fiber, and also these slats because they have to be smaller, because you're working with a curved coal, you're actually creating more waste. So with the integration of this patent, we actually create a much higher strength product while making the product cheaper. We're more cost effective for projects, got it?

Speaker 3:

And so you've got incredible manufacturing capabilities. You got the logistics all figured out. You've been building buildings since 2009-ish somewhere in there. What are you guys after next? Is there anything you can share with us about projects that you're working on or where you're taking the company?

Speaker 1:

Yes, we have some great projects. We are coming out of hopefully even worse of a pretty difficult time in this country as it relates to manufacturing. Any of your podcasters or anybody out there in the business world will be lying and said it's been easy to do business on this client. So what we're focused on is essentially really bolstering up for US processing and manufacturing. Now, as a newer company, we have some great industry partners from glulam fabricators from different parts of the country, east, west coast, southern states. There's even a newer company that we're working with out of Arkansas. You know, conway. Arkansas is a great Midwest region for us to work with.

Speaker 1:

So as far as scalability, that is our goal because we do have some size of projects that are moving forward. Now we have some smaller projects here in St Louis that are great, but I would say our goal is to continue to streamline our supply chain because what we saw in the pandemic you know that fretful time where commodities were all over the place, the cost of everything from eggs to timber were fluctuating, and what we have been able to do is because we control our supply chain. We established our supply chain. We were nearly impervious to some of these influxes because we were still contending to source from the same place. Obviously, logistics plays into that fuel costs.

Speaker 1:

So there was some movement to continue to refine our supply chain and more operations right here in St Louis more automation, more robotics and so forth. You know Hyundai gears and things like that, cnc processes and we're also continuing to expand into very similar to the glass types of systems, other industrial applications. So this is where that's. A major sector of our company is that we do products that are not even within the building industry are milling because of the performance and sustainability. And finally, we're going into industrial applications where typically steel and other metals are used and replacing it, such as high volume distribution robotics facilities. Unable to mention the names of the companies that we're working with, but major companies are integrating this material into their operations and into their products.

Speaker 3:

Got it and so, going from you know let's rewind this conversation you know, almost two decades ago, from like bamboo not even being a part of the building code, you took it through that you set up an entire manufacturing and supply chain. You know you're sourcing products from the Western hemisphere, you're patenting new process and put it together and then, ultimately, you're building buildings here in the States. Where do you go to learn how to do this? Like, what have you done, or sources that you've learned from? That kind of like guided you in this business journey.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know there have been some great conferences that I have been affiliated with over the years. You know I've been part of the American Institute of Architects conferences there's Greenville, and I would say you know, as opposed to looking at, you know some of the standard places that you know. Maybe some get information. I would say that you know learning and immersing yourself as architects, as engineers, to look at alternative materials.

Speaker 1:

That's the kind of the difficult part in our country and myself and many other professionals in the field will continue to spec the products they've used before. You know whether it's in glass system, they all aluminum glass systems. You know, I see all these beautiful timber structures, mass timber, and then I look close, it's all aluminum lights where you're missing a huge opportunity for thermal performance to look at a hybrid glass system along with that, if you're doing all this work to integrate mass timber, let's look at other hybrid solutions to be building fully functional and at the highest level of performance thermally and aesthetics and, you know, from an innovation functionality standpoint. So, yeah, I mean the QCAN, that is, people who are specifying architects and engineers to attend some of these conferences where innovation was being presented.

Speaker 2:

It's important to get out there and shake hands and talk to people. That's where it happens is back to the napkin type of things. Well, back to the napkin type of discussions that happen just over a drink or something. And we're very excited to have you come out to the mass timber group summit coming up in Denver as well. So if people can come out there and talk to you first hand and do a little bit of back of the napkin drawing, and maybe we can get some projects going out there and bamboo as well, so we're excited for that. So, but before we ask your last question, where could people find you or connect with you and the organization?

Speaker 1:

I would say you know, aside from the website, which you already mentioned, I would say LinkedIn is probably the most powerful source. You know, obviously you immerse yourself in some of these other platforms, swagger down with everything. It feels like LinkedIn as it relates to the professional fields of structural engineers or architects. That's going to be the best path and I would say that you know, just reach out right to us and you know, as far as what our team has made up of architects, engineers, operations guys we know what the process of a project typically is. I know a lot of these other companies do too, but I feel like we've really optimized our process from preliminary coding to design assist to getting things together in a manner that the bank understands all the key stakeholders in the project. We can pull things together very quickly.

Speaker 1:

Even though it's newer and even though it seems like it's different, it's all the same field. It's the same engineers, it's the same architects, even the people who process our products from the Hundegger operators. All the same machinery, same with these tech knowledge. It's all the same industry, even though we're looking at an alternative material. It's benefiting the entire industry. We're all getting to do more projects and more work all together. So it's not like, hey, that's not necessarily timber, no, it's all the same Executing efficient projects together, and that's how we encourage people to submit us a project. Let us quote it we beat out steel, especially here in the Midwest. We beat out temper, too, because we're looking at products coming from Canada or all these different places, so we can be extremely efficient with regards to the delivery.

Speaker 1:

I would encourage you to check out some of our projects. One of the ones I was showcasing is the BMW solar canopy project. What was amazing is that structure, designed to withstand 200 mile an hour winds, was built in one day. So one of our key elements, of our company, is that we get into the details from every pole, every plate. How does this thing come together? Seasoned people including my other brother who is also an architect, you know gets into the details with how we detailed these connections and joints and everything out to make the project together as fast as possible with efficient, efficient as possible.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome to hear, though, that you're able to be cost competitive and you're actually able to beat out the other traditional ways of building, or even, you know, mass timber, I think you know I don't think anybody has a blanket, you know, fix out there. There's so many different ways to build these buildings, and this is just another incredibly sustainable way and a great example to do that. So thank you for coming on. We appreciate that Talking a little bit more. Last question If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the industry, what would you change and why?

Speaker 1:

I would wave that magic wand and I would say, hey, remove the preconceptions, continue to integrate the things that we've learned as architects and engineers for the last 100 years, 200 years, even back thousands of years. For me, summary all with, but then open your eyes to other materials that can be implemented. I think that as a human race, we unfortunately kind of get stuck in things. You know, many thousands of years we could only think of stum, then we started thinking about steel. And now, you know, right here in St Louis Nick, you talked about how you love St Louis you know that the longest span bridge is made up of three different materials, called the Eads Bridge, and it's the only one that's still standing, because it integrates cold-forged steel, then it integrates mild steel and stone peers coming up for the Mississippi.

Speaker 1:

So obviously, the St Louis Arch, isa, major force of innovation. We are here in St Louis to also bring more material technologies forward. So we feel like we're in a perfect position right here in the West. And, as you know, then I could wave that wand. I would say look at the new materials that are coming online, from timber products to hybrid products, and try to implement. You know, implement some of these systems that are big.

Speaker 3:

Yeah well, thanks for coming on, luke. I mean this has been a super enlightening conversation and thank you for introducing us to Structurally Engineering of Bamboo, explaining you know the pros, the cons, everything in between, like your logistics supply chain, bringing it into the code. This entire conversation has just been like packed with knowledge, and I encourage all the architects, engineers, people that are speccing this stuff to reach out to you and find out more about what Structurally Engineering Bamboo can do for them. And then personally, like we're looking forward to shaking hands and cheers and a beer at our conference next August. So thank you for coming on.

Speaker 1:

I'm very much looking forward to that. I really appreciate this opportunity and I hope you have a good rest of your week.

Speaker 2:

Cheers.

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Brady Potts

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Nic Wilson

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