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By Lisa Marquis Jackson. When the city of Santa Ana, Calif., submitted a request for proposals to turn a three-block infill site with a vacant office building and community parking lot into a revitalized mixed-use area, it was The Olson Company, based in Seal Beach, Calif., which presented a unique...
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By Lisa Marquis Jackson. With its European heritage, mixed use has been a way of life in many countries for generations. While many people simplify the term "mixed use" to mean residential and commercial together, Randal Jackson, president and chairman of The Planning Center, based in Costa Mesa...
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The wireless hype machine is on warp factor nine this year, and all the research suggests American consumers want wireless.
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Any seasoned pencil-and-paper designer who has tried to master a traditional CAD system quickly learns that it's usually faster to draw a one-off project by hand than to fire up the computer. Instead of drawing lines and boxes to represent a house, SoftPlan utilizes a palette of familiar but...
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BuildTopia recently launched version 3.5 of its online construction management system. The new release improves the purchasing management and bidding features for both builders and subcontractors.
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By Steve Zurier. Leviton Manufacturing Co. has entered into a technology alliance with Crestron Electronics in which the two companies will jointly market each other's products. The new relationship will start with the development of a system interface that lets Crestron's line of home automation...
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By Steve Zurier. Households with existing home networks are starting to look beyond basic PC functionality to a broad range of home entertainment applications, according to "Status of Digital Networks and Applications," a new joint report by Dallas-based market research and consulting firm Parks...
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By Steve Zurier. Cisco Learning Institute's Home Technology Integrator (HTI) program now includes coursework on Home Automation Inc.'s integrated security and home automation products. The HTI program, introduced in the fall of last year, is a 40- to 60-hour semester course offered at community...
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By Steve Zurier. In an innovative move for the home building industry, Dunmore Homes in Roseville, Calif., is one of the first builders to successfully deploy business intelligence software, which lets users make database queries over a Web browser and view the results graphically or in a data...
By Pat Curry. It's a Monday morning at Milesbrand, and the nation's top producer of award-winning, results-producing real estate advertising has a toughie on its hands. Company president David Miles is running the show.
Hypochondriac homeowners. Turn-tail insurance agencies. Opportunistic attorneys. Have construction-defect lawsuits made your world seem like a hostile place? Here's hope: Most litigation springs from a handful of easily avoidable construction errors. So put on your hard hat and grab your moisture...
Ralph W. Spargo, general manager of Gallery Communities at Standard Pacific Homes, was more than just a casual observer as he watched people tour the models at Front Street last March. "On that first day, as people would go in the front and walk out the back, they would say, 'Oh, this is a front...
Market demand in Los Angeles County is strong, especially for single-family detached homes priced around $500,000. Throw in a Tournament Players Club golf course and a 159-acre oak preserve and you've got some very interested buyers.
The mighty Wasatch Mountains are a fitting backdrop for McMullin Homes' European-inspired cottages, which feature pitched roofs, wood shutters, and a warm stucco finish.
Woodridge's golf course community and River Bridge's posh Belleview neighborhood provided the initial appeal for these attached townhomes, with price and presentation running a close second and third.
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By BUILDER Magazine Staff. This summer, the National Housing Quality (NHQ) Program began piloting its Manufacturers Training Certification Program with Dublin, Calif.-based manufacturer Simpson Strong-Tie. Program requirements are based on a "plan-do-check-act" model and will address how Simpson...
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By David F. Seiders. Falling interest rates were the key support to housing demand and home builders until the middle of this year. In this instance, the rise from the June lows primarily reflects upgrades in economic outlook, downgrades in the threat of price deflation, and statements by the...
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By Kent Conine. One of my proudest moments to date as president of the NAHB was the opportunity to attend the White House ceremony when President Bush signed landmark legislation to cut taxes. Provisions of the economic growth package that the NAHB helped shepherd through Congress are already...
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- The NAHB calls on Congress to boost the loan limits of FHA multifamily mortgage insurance programs.
- The New American Home 2004 (TNAH) to showcase a distinctive loft design at the International Builders' Show.
- Builder confidence in the single-family home market remains solid.
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By Alison Rice. For the past three years, refinancing homeowners have taken out ever-increasing amounts of equity from their homes. In 2000, they pulled out $26.2 billion, a figure that more than tripled in 2001, when it rose to $82.9 billion, according to Freddie Mac.
By Nigel F. Maynard. "There has clearly been a shift in consumer preference from traditional products to different color options and to products that look better," says Brian Chambers, the company's product manager for residential roofing. "There is an opportunity for the builder to up-sell to the...
Most associate it with older individuals or those with physical limitations and with products such as grab bars, ramps, and fold-down shower seats. "Universal design makes sense regardless of a person's age," says Diana Schrage, an interior designer at the Kohler Design Center in Kohler, Wis. "It's...
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All this has builders, developers, and others in the housing industry deeply concerned about their potential exposure to mold-related claims. Some key construction details for preventing mold have been published in a previous issue of BUILDER.
Architect Daniel Gehman with Thomas P. Cox Architects, at the behest of the builder, specified steel framing for all three floors. The result: tall, narrow homes that exceeded the region's tough seismic requirements--and sold out completely in the $700,000 range, well above the initial pro forma...
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By Matthew Power. Six years ago, Therma-Tru Corp., Maumee, Ohio-based maker of wood-grained fiberglass doors, sued Plastpro, of Livingston, N.J., over patent infringement. A few weeks ago, a U.S. district court judge rejected most of its claims, allowing Plastpro executives to do a victory...
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By Alison Rice. When the fifth-largest home builder in the country changes its policy on warranties and binding arbitration, builders notice--especially when arbitration is being touted as a key solution to construction defect lawsuits. But KB Home's decision to revise its warranty choices and...
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By Kathleen Stanley. At least that's what Bruce Bleiman, president of Unique Homes of Charlotte, is finding out. "I like to think that we offer great quality anyway, and that the guys are going to do their very best, but when they've got the cameras there and the possibility that the eyes of the...
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By Matthew Power. A new construction executive salary study from Specialty Consultants (SCI) of Pittsburgh says that the prosperity of the home building industry hasn't meant continued compensation growth for managers. One surprising finding: Although commercial construction has tanked, due to "the...
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By Steve Zurier. The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), a nonprofit group based in Chicago, has asked the city of Chicago to include provisions for coach housing in an upcoming rewrite of the city's zoning code as a way to offer more low-cost housing options. The MPC is working with the city to...
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By Matthew Power. In response to huge jumps in single-family home prices (15.3 percent between February and March of this year alone), many Sacramento, Calif.- area builders are turning back to condominiums as a way to achieve high densities and affordability. Many builders have reportedly asked...
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By Christina B. Farnsworth. Furnished by PowerLight Corp. of Northern California, it provides enough electricity to power over 200 homes during the day. "Thanks to our deployment of solar power, innovative energy-efficiency measures, and cogeneration, [we] anticipate savings of more than $800,000 a...
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By Steve Zurier. That's why the EPA funded the Construction Industry Compliance Assistance Center, which has set up a Web site providing links to the most common construction-oriented environmental regulations. In the future, the site also will feature a Compliance Summary link, an interactive tool...
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By Kathleen Stanley. Los Angeles-based developer Urban Partners has completed phase 1 in the construction of Del Mar Station in Pasadena, Calif., a transit-oriented, mixed-use project under development in Los Angeles County. The Gold Line will run right down the middle of Del Mar Station, a...
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By Alison Rice. Venting a home's plumbing system through air admittance valves, rather than piping, "reduces builders' risk and cost at the same time," says Luhr, president of Quality Built, a Poway, Calif., firm that inspects new homes for builders. These vent pipes "allow a little bit of air into...
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By Alison Rice. the online bank, has introduced a home loan for the ultimate forward-planner: a portable mortgage that can be taken out at today's historically low interest rates and applied to a future home purchase when, one assumes, rates would be significantly higher. "It's for those who see...
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By Steve Zurier. In an unusual case, the Minnesota Supreme Court will rule on whether general contractor John Arkell, president of Carriage Homes, will go to jail for violating the state's building code on the Southwinds project, a 38-unit condo development in Austin, Minn., near the Iowa border...
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By Kathleen Stanley. Architects, designers, and home builders looking to feature vanities fashioned from high-style furniture now have a resource that cuts down on the head-aches associated with a true custom project. For a full list of more than 250 showrooms, check out www.vanitybath.com.
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By Steve Zurier. The Greater Atlanta HBA reached a $1.65 million settlement with DeKalb County over a prolonged pattern of overcharges on building permit fees. In an earlier decision, the Federal District Court in Atlanta ruled that DeKalb County's use of permit fees violated state law, a verdict...
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By Alison Rice. In a $990 million cash transaction, Lennar has joined with former affiliate LNR Property to purchase Newhall Land and Farming Co., a Southern California developer founded in 1883. One challenge: Newhall's ownership of Valencia Water Co., which means the California Public Utilities...
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By Steve Zurier. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas signed a bill earlier this year that establishes statewide uniform residential construction standards and creates a nine-member Texas Residential Construction Commission that will register home builders, oversee state-sponsored inspections and dispute...
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By Kathleen Stanley. The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture has been awarded the $100,000 Latrobe Fellowship to pursue research into how the brain perceives architecture. The nonprofit Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, based in San Diego, supports research that bridges neuroscience...
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By Alison Rice. More than 14 million American households spend more than half their income on housing, according to the Harvard Joint Center's 2003 State of the Nation's Housing report. The major reason: Those 55 and older are maintaining mortgage debt at higher levels and for longer than in the...
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By Boyce Thompson. I read in the paper the other day that new homes make you fat. That's because of all the breakfast islands, home-theater popcorn makers, bedroom refrigerators, and wet bars builders are installing.