Avoid the Mass Timber Budget Blowup w/ Mason Brandt of Woodcore Engineering

Attend the Mass Timber Group Summit: https://www.masstimber.group/summit Learn from real mass timber projects and industry leaders. Join our Newsletter: https://www.masstimber.group/newslett... Budgets are tight. The client wants exposed wood. And somewhere around 90% DD, someone asks if you can just swap the steel grid for timber. Mason Brandt has seen that question blow up more than one project. Mason is the president of Woodcore Engineering out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania — a specialty engineering firm focused on wood and timber. He's worked on north of 25 mass timber projects, and on more than one of them he's been the person who kept timber on the table when the budget said otherwise. In this episode he breaks down why the timber decision has to happen in SD, not DD — including how species selection affects structural capacity, bidding leverage, and interior finish, the difference between design assist and delegated design, and why getting a fabricator in the room early is one of the most practical things a team can do to protect schedule and budget. Real examples from a train station in Maine and a school addition outside DC. 🔴 Subscribe for more Mass Timber expert interviews:    / @masstimbergroup   Share this episode with an AEC friend:    • Avoid the Mass Timber Budget Blowup w/ Mas...   Join our newsletter to learn from real mass timber projects and industry leaders. https://www.masstimber.group/newslett... 0:00 – Why timber has to be decided in schematic design, not DD 6:47 – Moving mass timber from concept to construction: what actually has to go right 8:29 – Keeping timber as an option without going all in: hybrid structures and mixed materials 9:48 – Species selection and why it's nothing like specifying structural steel 11:07 – The NDS supplement: not everything listed is commercially available 13:08 – How shipping costs and regional sourcing affect species choice 15:33 – Doug fir, southern pine, European spruce: matching species to project location 16:24 – Buy America funding and the Canadian spruce to southern pine pivot 18:07 – Design assist vs. delegated design: scope, responsibility, and when to use each 20:14 – Delegated design and connection detailing: how it works in practice 23:36 – Field constructibility: tolerances, sequencing, and why it has to work before it hits the site 25:09 – Train station in Maine: navigating a species switch and a tight assembly sequence 27:51 – Elementary school addition outside DC: pulling a 40% overrun back into budget 31:11 – Setting client expectations early and why the timing of your involvement matters 32:38 – Clarity is kindness: what good specs actually look like 33:09 – Top lessons for designers and engineers working on their first timber project 35:36 – Go see construction: the best thing a new engineer can do 37:22 – How to reach Mason and Woodcore Engineering