Citation Homes Building Systems

The Citation Homes Building System begins with one important goal in mind: your satisfaction with and enjoyment of your new home. We take great pleasure in building homes for friends and family of happy Citation Homes homeowners.

We are equally proud of the long term relationships we enjoy with the independent builders we serve in our upper Midwest six-state region, some of which are second (and soon to be third!) generation Citation Homes builders.

Since 1965, Citation Homes and our independent builders have been setting the standard for fine homes. Equipped with the latest automated equipment, Citation Homes' experienced staff produces wall panels, floor trusses, roof trusses and many more components for your new home in a controlled, indoor environment. This greatly speeds up the on-site construction process and allows your home to be weather tight in a few days. This, in turn, reduces the chances of future problems caused by moisture, such as delamination, mold and lumber twisting.

No surprises. That’s a cornerstone of our building system. When you build a Citation Home, we’re going to ask lots of questions and address most of the choices you will want to make up front. For example, many folks are surprised that we want to know early on if they prefer stained or painted woodwork in their home. But this decision affects the window selection, which in turn may affect the price. The opportunity to have the home you’ve dreamed of can turn into a nightmare if important choices are not dealt with in advance. People may fall in love with certain materials and finishes, only to have their hearts broken when they learn the products weren’t ordered in time, their selections have been discontinued or they are backordered six weeks. The stress mounts when they have to make entirely new selections in 24 hours, oftentimes conflicting with prior decisions.

With plans in hand, you and your Citation Homes team will work through building products selections for those decisions that need to be made up front. This ensures products are available, plus the price and quantities are guaranteed. You are protected from interim price hikes or items “ missed” on the materials take-off, which saves you money.

"No surprises” is also what your builder wants. With Citation Homes, there’s no sorting out inferior lumber dropped off at the jobsite, no late or missed deliveries, no hoping that the materials estimates were correct. Citation Homes trucks arrive on time with the right materials for your new home. Every component is marked for final assembly at your site, saving valuable time on site. We even load our trucks in the best order to facilitate placement into your home.

The Citation Homes Building System ensures that you get a quality-built home. Initially, we “pre-build” your home on computer before any of the manufacturing begins. We carefully analyze the structure and engineer the entire home to perform at the highest level. The resulting construction drawings integrate many facets that are separated in traditional on-site construction. For example, differing interpretations of standard blueprints can lead framing carpenters and roof framers to differing assumptions, resulting in costly rework or compromised quality. Additionally, our computerized engineering ensures compliance with your local building codes.

Our building system is also environmentally friendly. The construction drawings identify every single piece of lumber used to frame the home and match it to the optimum piece of lumber for the application, resulting in very little waste. In fact, we reduce typical framing waste – and the resulting cost of clean-up and landfill disposal – by more than 85%. Our engineered wood components and trussed floor systems are stronger and stiffer than large dimension solid lumber yet eliminate the need to harvest old-growth forests.

Our homes are engineered with all of the trades people in mind. Floor trusses make easy access for plumbing, electrical wiring, and heating duct runs. Our pre-built stairs can be securely fastened in place immediately, rather than having people climbing up and down ladders while carrying heavy loads. Plumb walls make installing cabinets and trim easier, and are another visual reminder of the quality of a Citation Home.

In Citation Homes manufacturing facilities, workers with the benefit of table-top work heights and automated equipment produce pre-built components for your new home to exacting specifications. Our indoor production greatly reduces worker fatigue, the negative effects cold or wet weather has on laborers, and simple human error. These efficiency gains help keep your costs down. At the same time, our jigs and wall tables ensure wall panels are straight and true – something that is difficult for even seasoned framing crews to consistently produce at the building site. Our system also eliminates “forgotten” items. The exact quantity and type of materials are brought to each workstation prior to assembly. Every single item will be used. With conventional homebuilding, extra materials are usually ordered to offset damaged and stolen goods.

It takes quality products to produce a quality home. That’s why we use #2 and better studs, as compared with “stud grade” lumber commonly used in homebuilding. The #1 select 2x6s we use in wood foundations aren’t even available through most lumberyards. All structural panels are APA-rated to assure consistent quality. In critical applications, we utilize machine stress rated lumber rather than relying on inconsistent, visually graded wood. This means, for example, our pre-built stair systems are twice as strong as conventionally built stairs, giving a more solid, squeak-free performance. Also, we back every one of our homes with a 30-year structural warranty. Even if your builder retires, we’ll still be there to take care of you if there is a problem with the products we supplied.

This is also why we use top quality, name brand products from leading manufacturers. After evaluating their performance, we have deemed these products to offer the best value for our customers.

Because we build hundreds of homes every year, we buy lumber and other building products at the best possible prices, keeping your costs down. Gerkin WINDOWS & DOORS TM: "We reduce typical framing waste ...by more than 85%." We are proud to offer the option of permanent wood foundations in lieu of more common concrete basement walls. Our permanent wood foundations are warm (R-22 insulation vs. R-1.57 for an 8” thick poured concrete wall) and dry.

If you are considering finishing the basement as living space, you owe it to yourself to check out this option. Once a basement

hole is dug for a wood foundation, the framer takes over. Construction doesn’t have to stop in cold weather. Wood foundations are easy to finish and very cost competitive with other finished basement approaches.

From the time our trucks arrive at your new home site, your Citation Homes builder takes over. Home buyers familiar with traditional homebuilding are generally astonished by the efficiency and speed with which their new Citation Home is built.

As the prebuilt floor trusses are installed, other carpenters are fastening the floor sheathing with another team setting the wall panels. The process repeats for a 2-story home, followed by the roof trusses being set in place, then sheathing and shingling the roof.

Once the home is structurally complete and weather tight, your builder schedules his team of sub contractors to handle the remaining items, such as drywall, electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, floor coverings, etc.

Fine homes start with excellent design and we’re proud to have teamed up with America’s largest home plan design service, Design Basics. We've selected several of Design Basics’ most popular designs to use in our system. Exciting architectural elements; open, flexible spaces; and the most-wanted amenities are hallmarks of these designs. In addition, we can work with any Design Basics home plan. Truly, the resulting homes are artistic masterpieces in three dimensions!

Each plan we selected has gone through our engineering and estimating system, which means virtually instant, up-to-the-minute pricing. But if you don’t see the perfect home here, we invite you to visit our web site and review other Design Basics home plans.

Fine homes are a result of a quality buying and building experience. Your independent builder has recognized the value that Citation Homes offers, and is equally interested in your complete satisfaction. With most of the decisions made early in the process, you’re assured of getting the home you expect at the price you were quoted. Both you and your builder can take pride in knowing your home is well-built, environmentally friendly, energy efficient and very strong.