Table of Contents July 2010

Editor's Notes

• 

  Apple–All Day

  Home builders should look at this innovative company as one to model themselves after.

   

Products

• 

  Merchandise Mart

  These products can help home buyers save water, energy, and resources.

   

Top Shelf

• 

  Look, No Wires

  RF Lighting Control offers wireless lighting control for new and retrofit construction.

   
• 

  Cover Up

  Cover2 offers a more stylish over-the-glasses eye protection.

   
• 

  Smart Cookie

  The Energy Smart 9-watt LED bulb offers the output of a 40-watt incandescent.

   
• 

  Roll On

  Cougar ridge vent is made with nylon instead of fabric.

   
• 

  Big Deal

  Isis large-diameter fans keep large luxury houses cool.

   
• 

  Pipe Fit

  Tailpiece Extension Cutter makes cutting thin-wall PVC easy.

   
• 

  Pizza Parlor

  Artisan Fire offers restaurant-style pizza at home.

   
• 

  Grip It

  The DPG260's silicone palm improves grip for power tools.

   

Crowe's Economy

• Debt and Taxes

  Congress may restrict or eliminate certain housing tax breaks.

   

Digital Home

• 

  Checking In

  Great place to evaluate new automation systems.

   

• Consolidation Trend Among Home Builders Bodes Well

  Important benefit would be the likely decrease in product pricing do to economies of scale.

   

Features

• 

  Innovation’s Next Steps

  Change that is likely to benefit builders in the new economy.

   
• 

  Design of the Times

  New residential design concepts challenge old rules relating to suburban zoning, construction methods, and neighborhood planning.

   
• 

  Quantum Leap

  From tough times sprang new ideas whose action plans have made companies better operators and more competitive.

   
• 

  Inventing The Future

  To pull their way out of the recession, builders, designers, and inventors are pushing the creative envelope with new designs, construction solutions, and management systems.

   
• 

  Home Builders Need to Innovate or Die

  Future success in home building will depend on continuous innovation.

   
• 

  That’s Green?

  High-performance and resource-efficient building practices can transcend housing styles to include traditional and classic forms.

   

National Beat

• Part 1: Cabinets and Countertops

  Conducted in early 2009, sheds light on changes happening in kitchen remodeling.

   
• 

  Green Building Fastest-Growing Trend in the Housing Industry

  The NAHB and its members are leading the way in the effort to make new homes greener.

   

Last Word

• 

  Doug Yearley Takes the Reins at Toll Brothers

  20-year company veteran expects to pick up where his mentor, Bob Toll, is leaving off.