Daily 5 Remodel covered this topic recently from the perspective of a builder and he made some very interesting points about how he uses it. Here are some that we think are extra important. Check out the rest here.

• Company info: Bob Fleming of Classic Remodeling & Construction keeps a number of company factsheet PDFs on his iPad. It’s an easy way to show your customers who you are.
• Before & After: Fleming uses his iPad to show customers the “before” picture of a project, a rendering of an architectural drawing and the finished project. Pretty impressive for a new lead who isn’t sure what they want or who they want to work with!

We are giving away iPad 2s to 10 lucky winners! They will come loaded with Integrity information, so you can have the latest info right at your fingertips, including:

• Useful product guides
• Idea-generating case studies
• Photo galleries
• And more business-building tools

Want to have the chance to win one? It’s easy: Just visit the contest page and follow the entry form. Official contest rules can also be found on this page. Good luck!

Image courtesy of Apple.

Help us keep in touch with you! All it takes is a few seconds of your time. You can find the signup form here. We look forward to keeping the conversation going with you! As always, we value your comments and would love to know what you think.

Image courtesy of Ed Yourdon on Flickr.

Qualified Remodeler has a great blog post on things you need to have on your website. First off, start simple: let people know how to contact you. You need to provide an address, phone number and email at the minimum. It seems like a no-brainer, but if people can’t reach you, they can’t hire you.

Some other things we think are helpful: images and descriptions of past projects you have worked on, biographies of company executives, company history and testimonials from satisfied customers. You may also want to include information about any certifications your company has and education materials for your customers so they understand more about the building and remodeling process.

What’s on your website? What would you like to add? When you are exploring other companies’ websites, what do you like to see? Let us know in the comments!

Sub-Zero/Wolf Shares Kitchen Design Trends
Residential Architect
“Kitchen appliance manufacturers Sub-Zero and Wolf have collaborated with three notable designers to identify current kitchen design trends and predict future directions for the space that has become the heart of the home. New York–based interior designer Jamie Drake, Chicago-based kitchen designer Mick De Giulio, and Atlanta-based kitchen designer Matthew Quinn joined together to analyze kitchen designs entered into Sub-Zero and Wolf’s biennial Kitchen Design Contest, track the design trends illustrated therein, as well as through their own practices, and pinpoint potential evolutionary developments that may yield future trends in kitchen design.”

Socially Connected Remodelers
Daily 5 Remodel
Remodeling professionals talk about their experiences with social media.

Can We Build in a Brighter Shade of Green?
New York Times
“A so-called passive home like the one the Landaus are now building is so purposefully designed and built — from its orientation toward the sun and superthick insulation to its algorithmic design and virtually unbroken air envelope — that it requires minimal heating, even in chilly New England. Contrary to some naysayers’ concerns, the Landaus’ timber-frame home will be neither stuffy nor, at 2,000 square feet, oppressively small.”

Product Pros and Cons: Asphalt Roofing vs. Metal
BUILDER
“The roof is arguably the most important surface in a home, perhaps even more essential than the exterior walls. As the most exposed plane, the roof has a mammoth task. It’s under constant assault from the sun and rain, and, if leaky, could result in thousands of dollars worth of direct repair as well as ancillary damage. Still, a roof is one of those things that many consumers don’t think about until there is a blizzard, hail storm, or rainstorm.”

Right-sizing Your Price: How Architects Are Tweaking Fee Structures in a Touch-and-Go Economy
Residential Architect
“To sustain their businesses during what likely will be a long, slow recovery, some firms also are getting creative with their pricing, without cutting too deeply into their profit margins. Call it phase two in the survival of the fittest: When overhead is cut to the bone, the only thing left to flex is the fee.”

As technology has advanced, so have the opportunities for builders. When laptops became lighter and more transportable, it was easy to throw it in your bag on the way to a jobsite. And when technology became more mobile with the introduction of smartphones, it became even easier to stay connected on the jobsite. Now you could not only take calls from people, but also stay connected to the Internet and access important documents.

The introduction of the iPad is a game-changer for builders as well. It’s lighter and even more portable than a laptop, but with a larger screen than a phone. As Construction Informer points out, it can help reduce the need for builders to carry around hundreds of pages of drawings and specs. Handy!

How do you feel about this new technology? Do you have an iPad? Are you sticking with a smartphone or laptop? Or are you a proud Luddite? Let us know if mobile technology is helping your building business!

Photo courtesy of Apple.

Cnet’s Green Tech blog offers a good introduction:

Building the smart grid means adding computer and communications technology to the existing electricity grid. With an overlay of digital technology, the grid promises to operate more efficiently and reliably. It can also accommodate more solar and wind power, which are inconsistent sources of energy that can become more reliable with better controls. Much like computers and routers manage the flow of bits on the Internet, smart-grid technologies use information to optimize the flow of electricity.

So what exactly can a smart energy grid do for homeowners? Among other things:

• It can heal itself: Using sensors built into the system, pieces of the grid can communicate with each other, reporting problems and balance load distribution to remedy current problems or alleviate looming trouble.
• Encourage consumers to proactively monitor and reduce energy usage: If you’re able to see how much energy you’re using and which appliances or devices are using the most, you can easily make changes to save more or conserve energy.
• Enable “electricity markets”: Consumers can better control how much energy is used and even when it’s used, avoiding peaks in demand  times high demand
• Make alternative energy sources easier to use: As explained above, with a smarter, more flexible power grid, solar and wind generation become more reliable.

Some are leery of the benefits, though, and are concerned about the impact on consumers’ pocketbooks:

Consumer advocates have a different perspective. First, even with stimulus grants, consumers have to pay part of the cost of any smart meter rollout, but much of the benefit is in lower operating costs for utilities. More crucial, all consumers, including those who can’t or don’t want to be responsible for monitoring their electricity use, could be exposed to volatile prices. An elderly woman home alone on a summer day could see rates in her community triple or quadruple without being able to do much about it.

Exactly when and how smart grid technology will be implemented in homes across the country is, clearly, not yet known. But with consumers increasingly demanding efficiency-driven remodeling and renovation projects, one thing’s for sure: It’s only a matter of time.

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