FEATURES

  • BD071201084L1.jpg (90)

    Rightsize Your Business

    Stanley Martin Communities began preparing for what it saw as the inevitable housing downturn in a 1998 planning retreat. Nine years later, with its strategy accomplished, the company is standing strong, despite having to lay off a number of employees.

     

INSIDE STORY

  • BD071201034aL1.jpg (90)

    Legal Fight Falls Short

    Builders were dealt a blow in October when the U.S. Supreme Court opted not to hear a case in which Medford, N.J.–based builder MiPro Homes claimed the township of Mt. Laurel, N.J., unlawfully seized a 16-acre parcel that was under site development and had been legally zoned and approved for constru...

     

SUCCESS STORIES

  • BD071201045L1.jpg (90)

    In-Town Advantage

    When Michael Ray and Jay MacDowell, partners in Atlanta-based The Housing Group, built their first neighborhood in East Atlanta in 1999, they were banking on a vision of what the in-town community could be. They envisioned a vibrant village with funky boutiques and a hopping nightlife in place of th...

     

TOP SHELF

  • Top Shelf: December 2007

    This month's top shelf products include the Ratcheting Hex Key Wrench, Cartglass Classic Series of mosaic tiles, Kwik Seal 3.0 kitchen and bath adhesive caulk.

     

PRODUCTS

  • Products: Smooth Surfaces / Glaze of Glory

    Fifteen years ago, before the sustainable building groundswell began in earnest, environmentally friendly products had an organic (some might say earthy) look that only the sandal-wearing hippie fringe could appreciate. If you were looking for a refined finish, you looked elsewhere.

     

TECH TOOLS

  • BD071201061aL1.jpg (90)

    Quick Help

    Intuit never stops improving Quickbooks. The software maker is offering a laundry list of helpful features in QuickBooks Premier Contractor Edition 2008 that should help builders manage more efficiently during these difficult times.

     

NATIONAL BEAT

  • Meeting our Challenges

    Confronting one of the greatest challenges our industry has seen in decades, at its Fall Board Meeting in Seattle the NAHB directors resolved to pursue a prompt response on several fronts to limit the damage of the mortgage credit crunch and restore confidence in the housing market.

     

THE NUMBERS

  • Beauty and the Beast

    While brazilian bombshell Gisele Bündchen may not be an economist, her statement about the economic turmoil in the United States may strike a chord that no market report could. Bündchen, famous for her Victoria's Secret posing, let it be known in November that she would prefer to be paid in euros in...

     

WALKTHROUGH

  • Brookville, Pa.

    Brookville's ascension from a humble 18th-century settlement to a booming 19th-century town is representative of the changing face of the nation in the early 1800s. Nestled in the heavily wooded terrain of western Pennsylvania, the Brookville settlement remained in relative isolation for the better ...

     

OTHER ARTICLES

  • A Tale of Two Master Plans

    The home building industry is in for a long, grueling winter, but there are signs of spring on the horizon. At opposite ends of the country, two new urbanist neighborhoods are sprouting up on sites that were more than ready for a little rejuvenation. Thanks to smart planning and a cooperative effort...

     
  • Bright Ideas

    Homebuilding companies all over the country include the word innovation in their their company's name or in a company slogan describing the work they do. In fact, innovation, or some derivation of it, might be the most popular word that home builders use to describe themselves. Embracing and demonst...

     
  • That Toddlin' Town

    Jim Hughes, co-owner of Wheaton, Ill.–based Wiseman-Hughes Enterprises, used to meet his friend, Buz Hoffman, president of Lakewood Homes, for lunch two or three times a year. But lately, they've had time to get together more frequently, because Chicagoland's usually unflappable housing market has b...

     
  • BD071201017L1.jpg (90)

    Reality Check

    It's been a long, hard year. many of us will not be sorry to turn over that last calendar page of 2007, in hopes that 2008 will offer better days. Unfortunately, we can't know what will happen this coming year any more than we knew how the current one would unfold. With the benefit of hindsight, we ...