Thanks for all of your emails,

Here are some more of the particulars on the class.  The class will be April 19th and 20th.  It will be held in Bellingham WA.  It will be a fast paced class, and will not be a big advertisement for a particular brand although we will have some sponsorship.  What we have come up with is this.

Foundations,
  Slab on grade, standard footing, mono poured footing and stem wall, and an insulated slab on grade.

Walls
  Standard ICF walls using two (possibly three) different methods of erecting them and the considerations advantages and disadvantages of them all.

Slabs
  Insulated, uninsulated, radiant tubes, insultarp, stego, waterproof concrete, and more.

Roofs
  As above in the previous post.

Exterior finishes
  Cedar lap, cedar shake, cement board lap, Board and batten, true stucco, and architectural coatings.

Interior finishes
   Drywall, veneer plaster, tricks and considerations for trim, window treatments, towel bar and grab bars, stairs, doors interior and exterior, and so much more.  We will try to show different methods of attaching interior walls, cabinets, and other special conciderations

Windows
   Windows will include vinyl and wood, standard, arched oval and round, even an eyebrow, different bucks to include vinyl and different forms of wood.

Floors
   In a couple of the buildings we will put in lofts.  We will do a suspended concrete slab in one and a traditional wood floor in another.  We will us a combination of Simpson brackets and J-Bolts.

So you can see this will be an action packed class.  We will move quickly, start early and end late.  You can Email me at [email protected] if you would like to participte.  We will have some accomodation packages available.

ICF Contractor   

That is actually a great question.  We really have not looked at that due to the fact that there is not an officially recognized national certifying agency to float our class by that I know of, although we could run the curriculum past the ICFA.  One of the instructors is certified through the NAHB to teach their class, but that class is very basic.  All of the instructors have been or are currently certified to teach at least one or more of the different manufacturer's classes.  We will be using possibly 3 different ICF forms the issue with certification through a manufacturer is that they will want you to go through their class that is wrought with self promotion.

Our class is an advanced class targeted to the building professional that has an understanding of building with wood, concrete, or ICF.  This does not preclude the ICF novice, but they will be well informed that they are behind the eight ball and will be encouraged to take a manufacturer's sponsored class first to learn the basics or we may offer a basic class the week prior.   Also prior to the class each participate will be mailed a comprehensive homework packet.  This way we have all the students informed to specific starting point.

I will bring this up at our next committee meeting and see where we want to take it.

Thanks again

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for all the emails and interest in the class.  I just wanted to take a few minutes and respond to everyone's postings.  But first just a little update on the class.  Due to scheduling difficulties with home shows and such with our instructors the class was moved one week later to April 26^th and 27^th.

ICFNow,

I agree with you that a manufacturer's class is a good place to start.  We too will be charging between $150 to $200 for our 2 day class.  We are securing sponsors to bring the price of the class down for the students.  We feel that we could put together the best class in the world, but without students we just have the "best class in the world".  The money will go towards the mountain of information that is being compiled for the students.  The sponsors will fund the rest of the class and I myself will be on the hook for a lot of the cost.

OKBlocker,

Thanks for chiming in.  I do agree with you that a one (1) day class does not even come close to scratching the surface of quality ICF construction.  I feel that even our class could easily be drug out to a week or more.  As far as your observation of the "certified" installer classes, this is a problem industry wide.  Many manufacturers won't even use the word certified for fear of future litigation that could arise from someone taking a class and equating that with competency.  This is the conundrum we are running into.  We could say people are certified but what does that mean without some type of official industry body setting the criteria for certification.

ICFgal,

I applaud your enthusiasm and agree that manufacturers need to offer free classes if they are promoting their product in their class. Our class will have sponsors to bring down the costs.

Thanks again

ICF Contractor