Issue Contents

The Water and Gas Safety Valve (WAGS) from Taco, a pump and electronic control manufacturer based in Rhode Island, shuts off both the gas and water feeds to a hot water heater in the event of a leak.

So, what are the right questions, and how do you ask them? There are no hard and fast rules, but help is available in getting started, including books of questions that can be used verbatim or adapted to your needs.

A few recent innovations in choosing interior and exterior paint mean builders can delegate at least one chore to someone else - the buyer.

Builders who put many of their investment eggs into the housing basket might suffer significant (and disproportionately large) losses when, and if, the housing markets turn down.

As a boy, Gene McKown of Ideal Homes in Norman, Okla., went to a pie supper and witnessed an auction for the first time. After college, McKown enrolled in auction classes. Since then, his reputation as an auctioneer has grown to the point where...

In some parts of the country, multifamily builders are replacing masonry parapets with 5/8-inch (15.9mm) Type X gypsum board as a roof underlayment.

Wrong hires cost you at least two times the salary. You'd never skip due diligence on a piece of land or an acquisition, so why trust only your instinct on an investment as costly as people?

Bringing your team along as you innovate is another part of the challenge. People hate change. Builder John Wesley Miller calls it the Jonah Complex: Don't tell me it's better. I like it here inside the whale.

Measure what drives your goals. Inspect what you expect monthly. Identify weaknesses and repair them. Reward and celebrate success.

Former national salesperson of the year Cydne Combs, of Prudential New Homes in Ontario, Calif., anchors her sales approach in home construction. The idea is to be a guide to help people through a complicated process.

In a bold and unexpected pairing, Samsung's Staron solid surface has teamed with custom staircase manufacturer StairWorld Inc. to create the Staron inlaid staircase.

For small builders interested in experimenting with new technologies, educate yourself with whatever resources you can find and start with what you're comfortable.

While nobody can argue that green building isn't the right thing to do, local building officials still need to be convinced about the soundness of pursuing unfamiliar development proposals or building techniques.

The old HR model had these people in a strictly tactical mode, moving payroll and benefit papers, and posting jobs. Today a good HR professional is worth the same financial return as a seasoned chief financial officer.