Chris Coleman doesn't expect his housing market to get well anytime soon. As president of Northfield, Ill.–based The Dearborn-Buckingham Group, he assumes, only half facetiously, that his company “will not sell a single home” in 2008. But don't count Coleman among the industry's doomsayers, because...
SMALL BUILDERS USED TO BE OVERLOOKED by builder software companies, but that's changed as Constellation HomeBuilder Systems seeks to revive BuildSoft; BuildLinks and Corecon keep making improvements; and products such as the Web-based cost-estimating system 6x6 Builder, by 6x6-Builder.com, hit the...
Alan B. Levan of Levitt Corp is profiled as part of the 2006 Builder 100.
The term custom home conjures up a certain image in the minds of many consumers—a large home, for starters. They may envision a palatial exterior, soaring interior spaces, exquisite finishes, every amenity, fabulous kitchens and baths, to-die-for outdoor entertainment areas. But mostly they think...
ANY NUMBER OF CLICHÉD SUPERLATIVES COULD be used to describe the Washington development team of Jim Gibson and Sam Dunn: heroes, white knights, last-minute saviors, men among men. The terms would all be appropriate for a duo who recently wrapped up a whopper of a NIMBY saga.
REMEMBER THE STORY of David and Goliath? Based on all the standard external measurements—size, track record, market position, etc.—Goliath should have cleaned David's clock.
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AS PRESIDENT OF THE NAHB, I AM ALWAYS pleased to let members know about the products and professional services that we provide. Our mission is to serve the home building industry, and the career center and conferences mentioned below are proof positive that we are fulfilling that mission.
DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR, PAINT PROBABLY offers the best value in a house.
DENNIS ALLEN HAS BEEN A BUILDER FOR WELL OVER 20 years. His custom building company, Allen Associates in Santa Barbara, Calif., has about 90 employees and does about $20 million a year in business. Eight years ago, this home building veteran had an eye-opening experience on what was really...
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- Housing industry expert Bill Webb releases instructive guide that shows how to maximize sales potential and profits in lean times.
- NAHB's Building Systems Councils offer free brochure on the benefits of modular homes.
- NAHB encourages members to take advantage of a free savings analysis...
When it closed 250 homes two years ago, Altmann-Ott Homes ranked as Reno, Nev.'s fifth-largest builder. But this western market of 200,000 people, which issues around 5,000 permits per year, has since become a magnet attracting national builders, several of which “are finding ways to get 500 homes...
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SUBSCRIBERS TO OUR GROWING FAMILY of free e-mail newsletters know that they can find links to recent news articles of interest to home builders. But readers have requested a way to be alerted quickly when important events take place that can affect builders' operations. A brand-new e-mail...
Structure Development Group in Woodland Hills, Calif. is carving a new market niche with its hybrid business model.
RANI HONG WAS A HOMELESS 8-year-old girl in India when an American family named Clark adopted her in 1979. One year later, Rani's future husband, Trong Hong, arrived in the United States from Vietnam when he was 9 years old under virtually the same circumstances.
HOME BUILDERS WORKING ON TEARDOWNS IN historic Myers Park in Charlotte, N.C., had a tough fight on their hands earlier this year when a neighborhood group brought up an arcane open-space rule that threatened to derail the lucrative teardown business for local custom home builders.
Given his success then, years ago, he was running Portland's top home building company, RMP Properties, closing almost 500 homes and grossing about $30 million annually. Then D.R. Horton came calling with the money Pollock thought he needed to grow the company into the regional powerhouse he'd...
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INSPIRED BY ITS SUCCESS IN pooling purchasing power, a group of Northern Virginia custom builders is helping others start their own purchasing cooperatives.
The president of Houston-based McVaugh Custom Homes has been building in one form or another his whole life.
The vast majority -- 88 percent -- of builders surveyed said that their customers are more design conscious than buyers five years ago.