Security

  • What Jobsite Thieves Are After

    Nothing is safe, and nothing is sacred.

  • Make Your Jobsites More Secure

    Tips from the field on reducing theft.

  • Ripped Off

    To say that jobsite theft is rampant in home building would be an understatement. In a recent Builder survey, 90 percent of respondents said they had been victims of theft within the past year. Losses ran from lumber and copper wiring to office supplies and diesel fuel. Of those who reported thefts...

  • Open House

    MODEL HOMES ARE ESSENTIAL MARKETING tools for many builders. But these homes can also be among the more vulnerable elements on jobsites, which are often susceptible to illegal entry and theft.

  • About the Project Sponsors

    The Insync home could not have been built without the support of its many sponsors, a select group of building product manufacturers and suppliers that contributed to this innovative endeavor.

  • Digital Home: December 2006

    - Sharp's Aquos LCDs now come at 42, 46, and 52 inches; the addition offers builders even greater selection of high-quality HDTVs at competitive prices. - Eaton Corp. makes its products available online at the CompUSA and The Home Depot Web sites.

  • Team Effort

    GREG NUTT, PRESIDENT OF SOUTHAMPTON Homes, is very clear about the demographic he's targeting with the AMX system that will come standard at Regency Estates, his new, 61-unit townhome project in the Chicago suburb of St. Charles, Ill., which is also where the builder is based.

  • It's a Snap

    BUILDERS ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR low-cost, home-tech upgrades that bring the digital lifestyle to life for their home buyers.

  • Digital Community

    MOST OF THE COMMUNITY INTRANETS that builders have rolled out do a good job of letting homeowners form clubs or sign up for a golf game online, but very few manage security rights well, and even fewer integrate with a homeowner's consumer electronics and home automation system.

  • Line in the Sand

    MERITAGE HOMES RECENTLY GOT A GLIMPSE OF WHAT THE future of home building might be like if stringent homeland security and immigration reforms that are pending ever become law. In the fourth quarter of last year, the federal border patrol relocated one of its checkpoints in Arizona to within a...

  • First Steps

    A NEW JOINT STUDY ON HOME TECHNOLOGY by Parks Associates and Builder finds that 56 percent of home builders look for new products to set them apart from the competition. Leading devices include home controls, security systems, central vacuums, and entertainment systems.

  • Digital Briefs: June 2006

    - Alarm.com now offering PDA connctivity for its wireless security systems. - Home Automation Inc. introduces Lumina, a low-cost lighting product for home buyers.

  • IP in the House

    NETSTREAMS OF AUSTIN, TEXAS, IS among the few home-tech providers that can offer builders a distinct path to creating home systems that run over Internet protocol (IP).

  • New Direction

    SMARTHOME, BEST KNOWN AS AN ONLINE distributor of home automation products, has reconfigured its corporate image, changing its name to SmartLabs to better reflect the company's recent shift toward new product development.

  • Making Waves

    These have been heady months for the Z-Wave Alliance.

  • Wired for Profit

    If you aren't actively selling digital technology, you're leaving some serious money on the table.

  • World Tour 2006: Cutting Edge

    Americans love their ipods and their big plasma-screen TVs, but the United States is still far behind the curve compared with Asia when it comes to wireless technology and home automation.

  • Seattle Area Gets Hip

    The debate over whether wireless will one day eliminate the need for structured wiring has for years ended with some major sticking points—first and foremost that there are no wireless systems that can reliably run high-definition (HD) video.

  • Trend 5

    NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN home automation will drive costs down from in excess of $50,000 to about $10,000 for an average 2,000- square-foot house in the year ahead. Here are a few companies with systems that come in at right around that amount ...

  • Product Placement

    DATA RELEASED EARLIER THIS YEAR BY Parks Associates—a research firm that focuses on technology for the digital home—provides evidence that home builders may finally become a much more important channel for selling home-technology products.