FischerSIPS has had the pleasure of doing work with commercial real estate developer Terry Hunt. Terry’s garage is the first project we have worked on together and we are both excited to do more. We had the opportunity to interview Terry and hear his testament as to what makes this partnership so special which we are proud to share.
Damian Pataluna, owner of FischerSIPS, was first introduced to Terry through their mutual connection Martin Gramatica. You may recognize Martin as a former NFL player from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he played a key role in winning the Superbowl in 2003, who also had involvement in the SIPS industry. He was first introduced to Terry 15 years ago when one of his realtors connected them when he was in need of a building made with SIPS panels. Since then, Martin and Terry have become close friends. As Martin had decided to exit the SIPS industry for other opportunities, he introduced Terry to Damian.
Terry’s first experience with SIPS came only after he had received final stick framing prints costing $18,000 on a project he was working on. Upon learning about SIPS, Terry felt strongly inclined to use them, so he made the pivotal decision to throw out the stick frame plans and re-draw the project using SIPS. He did this while his longtime friend and construction manager “Bucky Fleming” was on vacation. When Bucky returned, he learned that Terry had changed over to SIPS and he looked at Terry like he was crazy. Since then, the decision proved to be the right one as they continued to build 14 buildings with SIPS and have never looked back. They also chose to build the home of the president of his company, Katie Goff, using SIPS.
Terry and Damian’s first project together with SIPS was a Barndominium in North Carolina built last summer. (See picture below)
The project turned out to be incredibly beautiful. Terry chose to use a specialty panel on the roof, offered by FischerSIPS, that uses a rough sawn T1-11 as the interior skin. The temperature in the building has never dropped below 44 F degrees, even during an ice storm when outside temperatures had dropped to single digits. Due to the 25 foot high ceilings, Terry’s HVAC contractor advised him to use 10 tons of heat. Terry chose to reduce that to 6 tons, which ended up being sufficient due to the efficiency of the SIPS. This project also faced some structural challenges due to long spans, but with FischerSIPS engineering and design team they were able to work it out. The project used 2 truckloads of SIPS between the walls and the roof. Damian assisted with everything Terry needed and the project went smoothly.
FischerSIPS is getting ready to start on the Main house that Terry is building adjacent to the barndominium/garage.
“Damian is the type of guy you can recommend. My company is highly respected and we are very selective with whom we use. Damian calls you back, answers all emails and texts. I can’t speak highly enough of him. I am blessed that he can help me finish my career. I have the utmost level of respect for him and look forward to having his help in building my wife Rhonda’s house. I couldn’t be more pleased to have him in my portfolio of contacts,” – Terry Hunt.
Thank you for your partnership, Terry, FischerSIPS is lucky to have you!