The All American Home: Creating Jobs by Building American

Anders Lewendal is a homebuilder from Bozeman, Montana who also holds a degree in economics.  Last month, on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, journalist David Muir featured him and his endeavor to create more jobs in America by convincing contractors to build with American-made products.  Lewendal asserts that if every builder used 5% more American materials, over 220,000 jobs would be created in our country.

The videos below feature a home Lewendal is building using 100 percent American-made materials – the nails and screws, the tape, the paint, the insulation, the duct sealant, the door hinges, the windows – everything.  To accomplish this, he used a list of American manufacturers who produce the building materials needed.  Compiled by The All American Home, this list is growing, and includes companies from over 33 states.  Lewendal encourages other contractors to join him in this effort to build with more American-made products.

ABC visited one of the companies on Lewendal’s list, Maze Nails, whose products may cost a little more than their Chinese counterparts, but deliver a more consistent quality, which ends up jamming nail guns less often.  The Illinois company is proud to be one of the last companies who manufacture nails in America.

What about the cost of building American?  The Montana home featured in the report cost only 1 percent more than it would have if foreign-made materials had been included, making the American-made option a reasonable choice as well as one which will benefit the country’s economy.

You can watch the entire report in the videos below.