Builder Confidence on Rise in January
For Residential Pros
“The National Association of Home Builders is reporting that builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family continued to climb for a fourth consecutive month in January, rising four points to 25 on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released Wednesday, January 18. This is the highest level the index has attained since June of 2007.”

The Lean Designer: The best way to prepare for a plan review
Housing Zone
“As many of you know by now Professional Builder is holding three days of plan reviews by some of the top designers and architects in the country during the International Builders Show. I am honored to be part of that group and very much look forward to the event. Here are some juicy insider tips to help you take advantage of the opportunity…”

Seven Steps to Choosing the Perfect Circular Saw
Fine Homebuilding
“We recently reviewed 14 sidewinder circular saws and found seven features that separate the good from the not-so-good. Let’s take a closer look.”

Here’s an interesting story: a company is hoping to be build a new town in New Mexico. Only thing is, you can’t live there. It’s a ghost town.

The town (currently called the Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation) will have all the amenities that a real city would have, including houses and businesses. Everything would be fully functional with utilities. It would even have a mall (not filled with merchandise presumably)!

So why on earth is this town being built? For research of course! Pegasus Global Holdings will use the town to test energy efficient and green home innovations. MSN Real Estate gives an example of what might take place there:

If it all sounds too crazy, here’s a down-to-earth example: Say scientists want to see if a new kind of smart thermostat can make an entire neighborhood more energy-efficient. They could hand out the thermostats to homeowners in Albuquerque and check in on their meters for the next year. But the results would depend on a lot of factors out of the researchers’ control, such as how warm or cool individuals like their rooms to be or the houses’ insulation quality. And if the experimental system doesn’t work, the scientists would have disrupted people’s lives and maybe increased their utility bills.

But nobody would live in the center’s buildings. Computerized systems would mimic human behavior such as turning thermostats up and down, switching lights off and on or flushing toilets, but they would do so under the scientists’ control. A research team could install the thermostats in a block of the center’s two-story suburban houses, then run multiple long-term scenarios, manipulating the imaginary residents’ behavior to see what the energy use is under different circumstances.

Oh, and since there will be researchers and scientists there to run things in the imaginary city, they’ll be staying in facilities underground.

Although building an entire city that no one lives in might seem odd, having this sort of research space might lead to all sorts of discoveries with energy efficiency in the home. What do you think?

Image courtesy of pascalbovet.com on Flickr.

EcoHome has a wonderfully informative article that runs us through the potential pitfalls. Let’s take a look, shall we? We recommend checking out the article for the full look.

• It is important to watch your calculations. Check and then re-check again. Don’t just use the default calcs. As the old saying says, “Measure twice, cut once.”
• Don’t forget the air! Air flow and air filters both play a big part in certification.
• You’ve got to make sure duct leakage is at 6 percent or less for LEED for Homes, so make sure to watch this portion of the building process carefully.
• The simplest thing might be the best thing you can do to achieve LEED certification: communicate. Don’t assume that the left hand knows what the right is doing. The more you communicate with your team, and carefully document everyone’s efforts, the less chance there will be of something slipping through the cracks.

Prequalifying Clients
Qualified Remodeler
“There is an old saying that if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. Similarly, in the remodeling industry, if you don’t know what your business focus is, any client will do. In today’s marketplace, where finding remodeling jobs can be a struggle, accepting clients you avoided in the past may be a necessary evil. However, a group of remodeling contractors in Cincinnati stresses the importance of staying true to your business and yourself.”

Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age
New York Times
Use an iPad on the jobsite as many builders do? Take a moment to remember the driving creative force of Apple.

States With the Highest (and Lowest) Homeownership
24/7 Wall St.
“The dream of owning a home has become increasingly unattainable for many Americans, and the situation is not likely to improve soon, as the collapse of the housing market and the recession continue to take their toll. That is the disturbing conclusion to be drawn from the US Census Bureau’s newly released report ‘Housing Characteristics: 2010,’ an overview of the national home market at the end of the last decade. One of the highlights of the report is a list of the states that have the highest and lowest percentage of homes occupied by their owners. 24/7 Wall St.’s review of the data found that homeownership rates were high in thinly populated states and those with low home prices, while homeownership was low in states with expensive homes and large cities.”

According to a recent survey from the Whirlpool Corporation and Habitat for Humanity International, the most common definition for a green home among builders and consumer was one that reduces energy and water consumption. About one-third of respondents from both groups agreed.

Twenty-three percent of consumers felt a home must be entirely green, floor to ceiling, to earn the label while 35 percent of builders defined homes as green based on their ability to meet certification standards. This is where well-accepted standards such as the ENERGY STAR designation can be so helpful, both to consumers and building professionals.

The differences are staggering, of course. If achieving green status was as simple as reducing energy and water consumption, consumers could rely on new energy efficient appliances to make their homes green. The survey proves several key factors to building green are often overlooked, including green building processes and the use of alternative materials.

Perhaps the most telling statistic from the survey — 74 percent of consumers claimed less than a quarter of their home can be considered green.

So, while green homes remain somewhat nebulous and undefined, the Whirlpool/Habitat for Humanity survey confirms what we’ve suspected for some time: green remains a huge opportunity in the marketplace.

22 Markets to Watch: The 2011 BUILDER Market Health Index
Builder Online
“The 22 markets profiled here provide a fascinating snapshot of an industry attempting to pick itself up off the ground. Some witnessed big permit increases last year, even though their economic metrics are poor. It’s as if builders there called the bottom and are preparing for an upturn. Others are bracing for a double-dip. New foreclosure tremors, the outgrowth of the economic recession this time and not the housing bust, have shaken their metrics, raising questions about when they will recover. Still others stand out for their continued, obstinate weakness. It’s hard to mount much of a housing recovery when people are still abandoning a metro market, unemployment is rising, or incomes are dropping.”

The designer’s hand: The value of designing by hand
Architect Magazine
“Is there a place in the modern architecture practice for handmade design drawings? Peter Pennoyer—who leads an eponymously named New York firm that produces classically inspired designs for houses and apartments, as well as institutional and commercial projects—believes so.”

Colors that clients want
Qualified Remodeler
“What’s the hot new color? What’s the latest trend in home products and interiors? As a remodeler, you hear these questions constantly. As you know, having the right answers for your clients can translate into quicker sales and more satisfied buyers. Knowing what is hot in the marketplace will set you apart from your competitors. The one true font of knowledge on this subject is an organization called Color Marketing Group, the international organization that forecasts and tracks color trends. Its purpose is summed up in its tag line: Color sells and the right color sells better.”

What’s the biggest misconception about green building?
In my particular market: That old building methods are somehow “green” while newer building technologies are not. I’m often asked to do “strawbale” or “cordwood” or “adobe.” While those methods may (or may not) be green — depending on sourcing — they’re certainly not as durable. The other mythconception is that green equals more expensive. It can, but that’s not a universal truth.

You use the phrase “a healthier home.” What makes a home healthy?
Lack of toxins in the environment. Toxins can come from a variety of sources — including the inhabitants. In building, two of the most common sources of toxins are paint and flooring. But that’s hardly an exclusive list. But pollen and dust mites and other things can also be present in the home. Air flow is critical to a healthy home.

What drives decision-making for your clientele: Cost or conscience?
In a word: Yes. I haven’t had a client yet where vision and cost didn’t collide at some point in the process. Sometimes easily, sometimes grudgingly. Now more than ever, folks in my market are pinching pennies. Green has to equal savings for it to even be considered.

Which climate provide the best opportunity for green building?
Right now, the homebuilding market definitely seems short of opportunities — in my market, anyway. Some kinds of commercial building seem to be shaping up, and some of those projects are green. [Matson touches on that in this article.]

With spec homes so scarce, how and when should builders experiment with green building?
That’s a tough one in any environment, thanks to our lovely tort system. My preference has always been to experiment with the customer’s permission. Something they’re interested in pushing the envelope on, knowing they’re out there, pushing the technological envelope.

Look into your crystal ball: Where is green building in 2021?
Dude! I’ll be retired. Seriously, though, it’ll be the building standard for all buildings that contain conditioned space I should imagine. And it will affect those that don’t have conditioned space (garages, etc.) to the extent that toxic chemicals, are, even now, being removed from building materials.

Note: We conducted this interview via Twitter, using the tag #buildchat to label and track the discussion. Follow @integritywindow on Twitter for information about upcoming #buildchat interviews.

• Focus on marketing. Getting the word out can differentiate you from your competition. This might mean anything from renting billboard space to targeted mailings to allowing a recent customer to open their home for a private event to showcase your company’s work.
• Take a look at your website. To tie in the the point above, marketing is important, especially e-marketing. More and more people research and get most of their information online. Make sure your website is up to snuff. Don’t have one? It’s time to look into that. We offered some more tips here.
• Think about social media. This is yet another important part of marketing! Does your company have a Facebook page or Twitter account? How about a Flickr page full of project photos?
• Learn a new skill, or brush up on one. Is there some sort of technical or business skill that you wish you knew? Now is the time.
• Go green. It’s here, it’s happening. How can you build green?
• Attempt to have fun. It’s easier said than done of course, especially in this economy, but what a great thing builders and remodelers can do: create and transform houses and buildings, build houses, apartments, buildings etc. From us to you, thanks for all your work!

• Amazing builder videos
• DeWalt-16 Nail Gun by David Wiggins
• Q&A with green builder Matt Risinger of Risinger Homes
• Case study: LEED silver-certified home in Oregon
• Remaking the American housing model

Of course, new construction isn’t the only realm in which energy efficiency and sustainability are important players. Green building provides a compelling profit motive in an otherwise tough economic climate, but it also has the altruistic motive of environmental friendliness. And along those lines, green remodeling is a place in which you can make a positive impact.

In an interview with Custom Home magazine, green builder Ray Tonjes explains why he feels green remodeling is an important cause:

New construction has always been the primary focus for most of the green building programs and energy code changes. But if you think about it, the low-hanging fruit for real progress is with the country’s 100 million or so existing homes. Selective deconstruction and repurpose, use of more durable materials, recycling of construction waste, as well as energy efficiency upgrades in additions and remodels, is rapidly becoming a bigger part of the overall housing industry.

Later in the same article, he offers this take on the future of green building and remodeling:

I think green building is a temporary phenomenon, which serves to bring attention to the issues around it and provide a structure for change. In another 10 to 15 years, these concepts will be the norm and there will be no need to differentiate. We will be back to simply being home builders again.

Food for thought as you head off for a long holiday weekend. Happy holidays!