Builder Magazine: Sitework

Case Study: Starting Over in the Lower Ninth Ward

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:55:40 EST

The Make It Right Foundation seeks a better approach to creating sustainable neighborhoods in New Orleans.

Tech Spec: Clay Nation

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:53:02 EST

If you've ever visited Texas, you know that the state?and everything in it?is really, really big. But did you know that Texas gets bigger? Every time it rains.

Pulte Offers to Repurchase Homes Damaged by Slope Failure

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 12:47:40 EST

Builder will rebuild retaining wall that collapsed in this San Antonio community.

San Antonio Takes a Harder Line With Builders After Last Month's Hillside Collapse

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:59:13 EST

A “slope failure” at a Centex subdivision exposes lax enforcement of permitting procedures.

Fed Sees Economy "Leveling Out"

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:24:42 EST

The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee, ending its two-day August meeting, on Wednesday said it believed "economic activity is leveling out" but that it would keep the target for its federal funds rate at 0% to 0.25% and likely will keep it at "exceptionally low levels" for "an extended period."

Complaints Rise About Hazards of Halted Construction Sites

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:45:56 EST

Halted construction sites are not just nuisances to the cash-strapped developers of the properties, but they cause problems to surrounding neighborhoods as well. Complaints of scattered steel pipes, broken glass, and crumbling sheet rock seem to be rampant in overbuilt areas such as Florida. And residents are reportedly irate due to the safety and environmental hazards that these unfinished properties cause.

Bargain Basements

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:41:13 EST

New building code standard, ACI 332, offers builders a better alternative for building concrete basement foundations.

Making Builder Web Sites Easier To Find And Use

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:09:31 EST

Search engine optimization and site usability are critical factors

How and why Modular homes work in coastal areas or those at risk of flooding

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:21:03 EST

Overcome coastal flooding worries by using factory-built homes.

Better Site Planning and Cheap Ways to Greeen a House

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:19:36 EST

No conversation about green building can commence without a discussion about the site.

A Dry Season

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:04:45 EST

A 2003 United Nation report made a grim prediction: More than half of humanity will be living with water shortages within 50 years. That same year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said 36 states expected to suffer water shortages in the subsequent decade. Those predictions have come to pass for many parts of the country, only they've happened a lot sooner than officials were expecting and in states not normally associated with water problems.

10 Things You Need to Know About Modular Homes

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:04:44 EST

Surely you've heard the industry's sales pitch by now: lower costs, speedy construction, excellent craftsmanship, and quality building products in a controlled setting. Builders who use modular systems say you can believe the hype. But before you run out to your local supplier or modular home manufacturer, you need to do your homework.

Saving Water Sells Houses

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:37:43 EST

Deirdre Irwin, the coordinator of the Florida Water Star program for the St. Johns River Water Management District in Palatka, Fla., says she's probably the only person who's happy about the slump in the housing market. That's because it's given builders the time to participate in Water Star, a LEED-type certification program that rates new-construction homes on water conservation. "The response has been overwhelming," she says. "Our timing was fortunate. A lot of builders told me if I'd come to them two years ago, they wouldn't have been able to talk to me because they were too busy."

Tech Spec: Confessions of a Modular Home Buyer

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:32:31 EST

Ordinarily, I hate it when journalists resort to personal experience for column material. Just this once, I am going do it, because I am doing something else I will do only once in this lifetime: Building a house. It's a modular house, and I am amazed at how quickly and efficiently the construction process has progressed.

Feature: Here Comes the Neighborhood

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:31:46 EST

After David and Roger Cohen figured out how to build whole houses in on-site neighborhood factories, they toiled for five or six years registering patents for parts of the process. The hard work was over, or so they imagined. Little did they realize that there remained the task of selling in the concept to an industry that operates fundamentally as it did scores of years ago.

Farm Fresh

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:37:40 EST

LAST YEAR, FORBES PROCLAIMED SAGAPONACK, N.Y., the country's most expensive zip code, with a median home price of $2.7 million. When architect Michael Lomont staked out a street address for his young family in this once agrarian community on the eastern tip of Long Island, he paid less than half that amount—$1.3 million including land, site work, and construction costs—and ended up with a brand-new home. The 3,000-square-foot abode he designed and built on a 1.25-acre lot, just a half mile from the beach, is a soulful place with a zen-like quality. And it's green, too.

Buried Treasure

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:24:33 EST

In November, the crew at Lennar's Central Park West high-rise development in Irvine, Calif., uncovered the remains of a 30,000-year-old giant ground sloth. The animal would have been 6 feet tall and weighed 3,500 pounds when it roamed the earth during the Ice Age.

Making Time

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:43:52 EST

WE ALL KNOW THAT time is money, making it easy to see that time wasted is money lost—and there may be no industry where that point is made more plainly than in home building.

Invisible Men

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:21:04 EST

The big builders that build two out of every five of the nation's new homes collectively pay at least $8 billion a year to hire undocumented workers, according to an analysis by BIG BUILDER. And they like it that way.

Time-Savers

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:07:52 EST

The building process is inherently slow, but here are some products and systems that can help you shave days off your schedule.