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WASHINGTON, May 16, 2003 (Hanley-Wood News Service) - Housing starts dropped sharply in April, down 6.8 percent from the previous month, the Commerce Dept. reported Friday. Some good news accompanied the fall in starts, however. Permits issued in April rose 1.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.708...
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Chip maker kicks off Connections 2003 with multimedia demo of new home technology
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With conventional wiring, you turn on the lights by flipping a wall-mounted switch that completes a 110-volt electrical circuit. The system is easy to fine-tune, so light levels can be raised or lowered at any fixture, and new lighting scenes added as they are needed.Equipment maker AMX in...
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The future--at least the one that has collaboration over the Web with 3D presentations--is finally here. And there's even new video software that lets home designers build 3D CAD drawings, develop full-motion videos, and post them on a Web site.
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Home-networking company Home Director may be turning a corner. SummerHill Homes is installing Home Director in 66 high-end condos at the University Park redevelopment project in Palo Alto, Calif.
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BuildTopia recently released BT Sales, a sales front-end that lets builders manage contracts, options, and change orders seamlessly over a Web interface.BT Sales costs $65 to $85 per user, per month; customers are also charged a one-time implementation fee starting at $2,700.
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The much-promised wireless wave is coming. Parks Associates' latest consumer study, "Broadband Access @ Home III," estimates that by year-end 2003, more than 9.5 million households will have a home network deployed, with close to 2 million using wireless technology.
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Kocom USA is now shipping its video door phones and closed-circuit televisions. The closed-circuit televisions monitor any movement in a designated area and provide 24/7 surveillance with recording and remote-viewing capabilities.
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SpeakerCraft's EZ-Pad Series of keypads have been shipping for the past couple of months. Retail prices range from $40 for the function keypad, which controls sources and basic on/off operations, to $400 for the full-featured EZ-Pad Controller.
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BuildLinks, a Web-based tool that manages scheduling, options selection, and change orders for builders has nearly doubled its user base in the past few months to more than 2,500 starts.
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About three years ago, when it became clear that B2B venture BuildNet was doomed, William Robinson, a partner at Palmetto Traditional Homes in Columbia, S.C., started looking around for another software vendor.
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When wildfire swept through Bob Heath's neighborhood in Napa, Calif., a lot of other homes in the fire's path burned to the ground. In recent years, as many as 2,000 homes (annually) have been destroyed by wildfire, a loss inflated by drought conditions in both eastern and western states, along...
Stapleton, situated on the 4,700-acre site of Denver's former airport, was inspired by the historic neighborhoods that surround it. Designed by Wolff-Lyon Architects of Boulder, Colo., Wonderland Homes' Green Court units are 1,183- to 1,770-square-foot, single-family homes clustered around common...
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The affordable combination attracts buyers to Tucson's first master planned community dedicated to the principles of sustainable living. Project: Civano Sol, Tucson, Ariz.; Sales started: January 2003; Sales through February 2003: 11; Units planned: 41; Price: $158,900 to $184,900; Unit size: 1,505...
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Affordable housing in Southern California means housing in the $400,000 range--an astonishing price to non-Californians. Project: Garden Gate at 4S Ranch, San Diego
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The builder offers nearly unlimited customization, from moving walls to building a completely different home, as long as it is compatible with the Sunset Village neighborhood. Roughly half of the lots face state trust land rising into the Superstition Mountain foothills or the golf course.
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The Central Texas division of Ryland Homes won the 2003 EVHA (EnergyValue Housing Award) Builder of the Year at January's International Builders' Show. The NAHB Research Center manages EVHA in partnership with the DOE through its National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
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Recent NAHB surveys document an ongoing trend toward subcontracting by single-family home builders. There's been talk for a long time about the need for cooperatives of small builders to exert buying power in the markets for building materials/components, and in recent years the Internet has been...
With few exceptions, builders nation-wide have seen costs for general liability insurance soar; some have found that insurance isn't available at all. The NAHB has been working on liability insurance--which I have identified as a priority for 2003--and I am pleased to report that we are making...
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- The NAHB criticizes the introduction of the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act.
- Winners named in the Small Active Adult Community category at the NAHB's 2003 Best of Seniors Housing Design Awards.
- NAHB executive vice president and CEO Jerry Howard urges Congress to pass the single-family...
Linoleum is one of the hottest not-so-new products on the market. A common residential flooring product for decades, it fell out of favor with homeowners who switched to vinyl because it was maintenance-free and inexpensive. But linoleum is back again. Technological advances have made it easier to...
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Brenda Kunkel figured she had a whole year to kill before the serious sales and marketing would start for Terrabrook's new community, MiraBay, in Tampa, Fla. It was summer 2002, and the developer was still jumping through countless permitting hoops related to the docks for the waterfront master...
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Sometimes it pays to take risks. Just ask Chris Chambers, president of Western Pacific's Orange County/Inland Empire division. As a result of a well-planned and executed program, each of the 10 plans has sold equally.
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After a year of plunging shipments, plant closures, and the exits of major financing companies, the manufactured housing industry finally got some good news. In April, legendary investor Warren Buffett announced he would buy Clayton Homes for $1.7 billion in cash.
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Q. Can you suggest some new and updated laundry room layouts for a number of different-sized floor plans? A: In response to the changes in the ways people live today, we're finding laundry rooms in all sorts of places and configurations in the house. Half of consumers (mostly families) prefer to...
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The active adult development community eagerly anticipated The Mews. Research among local consumers by Goswick Communications, based in Houston, found not only a desire for a variety of housing types in various smaller-scaled neighborhoods but also a strong desire for a gate-guarded community.
When Allan Anderson, a Petersburg, Ill., builder heard that a local family had contacted the University of Illinois looking for affordable housing help, he became a man with a mission.The builder had just learned about a new program created by the Portland Cement Association called Team Concrete.
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In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that the owner and corporate broker of a real estate company was not personally liable for the discriminatory acts of an employee.The case, Meyer vs. Holley, involved David and Emma Holley, an interracial couple who tried to buy a new...
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Home builder groups in Texas and Colorado are sponsoring legislation that would make it more difficult for consumers to file and collect damages on defects lawsuits. Legislation in Texas would create the Texas Residential Construction Commission, a nine-member panel that would resolve disputes...
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But in January of 2001 that balance tipped suddenly, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the government in the case of Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) vs. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. While some of it supports the view of the NCHE, the group has one big fear: that if the...
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How do builders educate officials without alienating them? KB Home thinks education is a solution. KB Home stepped up to the plate to help educate local officials in the California area known as the Inland Empire.
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A survey of development-related issues shows that affordable housing and loss of open space rank highest among concerns of both public officials and private citizens. By Matthew Power The Urban Land Institute (ULI) recently launched a Web site, smartgrowth.net, intended to solicit alternatives to...
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The company exhibited for the first time ever at the International Builders' Show last January.
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A billion-dollar-plus project is rejuvenating Baltimore's historic Fells Point neighborhood. The developers believe Harbor Point is the ideal location for a new federal courthouse.
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Every builder is looking for that elusive integrated software solution, but Terry Covington convinced two software companies to help him build one.Covington says the integrated system can net a 5 percent to 7.5 percent decrease in direct construction and administrative costs.
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A new study from the NAHB Research Center suggests that on-demand water heating saves energy most dramatically in homes with lower daily hot water use. They compared the efficiency of a point-of-use electric hot water system with PEX plumbing to a conventional hot water tank with copper...
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There are dozens of well-meaning lawmakers and lobbyists in Washington who would love to see the government pass a tax credit that would create a market for affordable single-family homes.The NAHB estimates that over five years the tax credit could produce as many as 250,000 new and rehabilitated...
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Scott Sullivan, former CFO of WorldCom, has a few expenses that need clearing up since being fired for his role in the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The realtor selling the house told the South Florida Business Journal it will hit the market at $22.5 million.
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The NAHB is looking for members willing to share information on the difficulties they have encountered in obtaining wetlands permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The information will be used in affidavits or legal briefs supporting the trade group's legal action efforts.
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Math achievement 9 percent higher, reading achievement 7 percent higher, behavioral problems 1 percent to 3 percent lower--these are among the benefits for children living in an owned rather than a rented home. A study from Ohio State University published in Real Estate Economics found that living...
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In Ohio, thousands of unionized trade contractors will soon carry cards stating that they have tested free of drugs. Under the ID card plan, workers are tested once each year for various drugs, and a quarter of participants are subject to random testing during the year.
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When Lennar Homes announced plans to put 160 townhomes on a 23-acre site in Tarpon Springs, Fla., it needed a density-rezoning permit. Fortunately, Lennar's contract to purchase the land was contingent on the rezoning, so it didn't have to eat the land costs.
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KB Home continued its southeastern expansion with the purchase of Atlanta-based Colony Homes in March. Technical Olympic already builds in Denver under the Engle Homes brand.
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The Greater Atlanta HBA last February filed a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta, claiming that the fees local builders pay for permits are illegal because they don't receive permits in a reasonable time frame.
Chances are when you buy your groceries, even if you buy them from Genuardi's in Philadelphia or Bruno's in Alabama, you buy them from one of 10 chains that control more than half the grocery action. This year, D.R. Horton tops our BUILDER 100, having exceeded 30,000 in U.S. closings last year, an...