What materials does the Haven cutter handle?

James Hardie fiber-cement and LP SmartSide engineered-wood lap siding, trim and battens, in planks up to 16 ft for LP SmartSide and 12 ft for Hardie.

Does it cut board and batten or 4x8 sheets?

Haven is adapting the design to cut board and batten boards. It does not cut 4x8 sheets.

Who measures the wall?

Today a person calls the length, the way a siding crew does now. A sensor that measures the as-built wall is the next add-on.

Do I buy the machine?

No. You lease it for 12 months after a paid pilot. Haven services it and adds any downtime to the end of the lease.

Haven Robotics · Drawing set 002 · On-site siding cutter

The bottleneck in siding installation is measuring and cutting. We’re building the cutter that takes it off your crew.

It is an on-site cutter for fiber-cement and engineered-wood lap siding. It sets up beside the wall, someone calls the length, and it makes the cut. Your crew hangs. This set shows a filmed crew day, the machine, and what it does not do yet. The last sheet is a pilot request.

REV B · Prototype in development

Concept image of the Haven cutter on a rail beam beside a house with fiber-cement lap siding at a jobsite — Fig 0 · concept image from the CAD model

Drawn by: J. Matheson, EE
Program: BYU/USU Sandbox
Tolerance: ±2 mm target
Service area: Utah first

SHT 01 · Time on siteFilmed, modeled

How time is spent on the job site

As filmed · the crew’s full workday

Modeled with the cutter · the same workday

We filmed one siding crew on a live job and logged what each person did.
Measuring and cutting by hand took 16.6% of the day. Waiting or idle took another 21.7%.
Placing the siding took 24%. The rest is the wall, moving material, talking, setup and cleanup.
With the cutter, modeled: cutting by hand drops to 1.7% and waiting to 7.0%.
The crew finishes 30% sooner. A model of a filmed job, scaled to a full workday.

Haven time study, one Utah siding contractor. One crew filmed on a live job, scaled to a full workday on the assumption that the unfilmed hours look like the filmed ones. The cutter bar is modeled. Measuring at the wall stays with your crew. Each bar adds to 100.

SHT 02 · The machine · Proposed

Rail, collar, saw

A long rail beam on folding legs sits beside the wall with the planks on it. A collar crawls along the beam and stops at the length. A circular saw head crosscuts the plank.

It is a tool for your crew. Someone still calls the length and your installers still hang every piece.

Prototype in development. The CAD model, drawings and 3D-printed parts exist today. The images on this page are renders.

Render of the cutter: a collar gantry carrying a saw head on a rail beam with folding legs, planks on the bed, beside a sided house — Fig 1 · the cutter on a jobsite, render from the CAD

Render of the saw head and side roller riding on a fiber-cement plank — Fig 2 · saw head and side roller, render from the CAD

Render of the cutter beside a house with cut and uncut planks on the ground — Fig 3 · set up beside the wall, render from the CAD

SHT 03 · The cut

Scroll to make the cut

The collar crawls to the length.

The saw head feeds across the plank on a rail in the collar’s top beam.

The automated cutter maintains a 2 mm tolerance.
TOL ±2 MM TARGET

Positions from the CAD motion plan. Not a measurement.

SHT 04 · ScopeDoes and does not

What it does, and what it doesn’t yet

Does

Fiber cement and engineered wood

James Hardie and LP SmartSide lap siding, trim and battens, cut to length on the jobsite.

Does

Long planks

Planks up to 16 ft for LP SmartSide and 12 ft for Hardie.

In design

Board and batten boards

We are adapting the design to cut the boards used in board and batten. 4x8 sheets are still out of scope. If board and batten is a large share of your work, say so on the request form.

Lease

Haven keeps the machine

You lease it for 12 months. Haven services it, and any downtime is added to the end of your lease.

Speed

30 to 40% faster installs

Contractors often guess higher. We quote under it.

Later

A sensor that reads the wall

Today a person calls the length, the way your crew does now. A sensor that measures the as-built wall (framing never matches the plans) is the next add-on.

Render close-up of the collar and saw head over a fiber-cement plank on the rail beam — Fig 4 · collar and saw head over the plank, render from the CAD

The cutter is machine one. We are building toward a robot that installs the siding too, and it starts with the cut.

SHT 05 · PilotTen slots in the first round

Request a pilot slot

We bring the machine to one or two of your jobs, run it with your crew, and hand you a report of the labor time it saved. We are pre-launch, so the first round is small.

Weeks 1 and 2: we run the machine
Weeks 3 and 4: your crew runs it while we watch
The pilot fee is non-refundable and counts toward a 12-month lease if you sign within 60 days
The fee is quoted on a call