Issue Contents

January 2004

Column

Sales and marketing costs should be held to 6% of home building revenue, but builders have a hard time hitting that target.

Satisfaction Begins Before the Sale

The builders that score best in customer satisfaction know their customers, which enables them to target their design and marketing to buyers who will be happiest with them.

Feature

Affordability Redefined

The push for innovative technologies to improve energy efficiency and the growing concern over energy costs have changed the formula for buying power to reflect the true cost of owning a home.

Book Touts Keys to 'Community'

Thomas W. Kopf's new book, Building Community, aims to impart a broader understanding of 'community' to builders and others involved in the community-planning loop.

Builder POV: David Weekly

At David Weekley Homes, it is understood that it takes one set of things to get shoppers to buy and a completely different set to satisfy them after the sale.

Builder POV: Robert White

Venture Homes in Marietta, Ga., was the Atlanta market’s J.D. Power winner for the second year a row in 2003, so president Robert White must have a clue or two about quality.

County-Level Research Bashes Builder Assumptions

Census data and 'life stages' help consultant change at least one developer's mind on product mix.

Critical Thinking Skills

People tend to replicate their past behavior, so understanding what they did in the past provides an accurate barometer of what they will do in the future.

Crofton Springs

On just more than 6 acres, this Issaquah, Wash., neighborhood integrates 121 homes - and seven housing types - into a pedestrian-friendly new home community that looks like it has grown organically.

Dancing Waters

Master planner Laurent Development Co. is sculpting a different kind of community that borrows from New Urbanist and traditional design philosophies to create a hybrid.

Deconstructing Quality

If everyone in each organization in the entire residential construction industry strives to produce quality products, plans and homes, what prevents it from occurring in every home on each job site every day?

Design Sketchbook: Kitchens

To address the desire for the kitchen to function as the home's focal point, you must carefully analyze any floor plan you intend to build.

Don't Skimp on Small-Site Evaluations

Architect Ken Newberry, principal with Newberry Campa Design Studio in Houston, has a motto: 'Everyone deserves a great architectural design.'

Doverra Creates Cast-Stone Mantel

Doverra has created an innovative hybrid of fiberglass-reinforced cement (currently awaiting a U.S. patent) for fireplace mantels and surrounds.

Energy Star to Add IAQ Specs

The Environmental Protection Agency seeks feedback on a voluntary label that builders can use on homes meeting exemplary specifications for indoor air quality.

Fictional Biographies Create Marketing Buzz

To attract targeted buyers to The River Club, its gated golf course community in Suwanee, Ga., Crescent Resources has run a series of two-page advertisements describing targeted residents Jack, Claire, Patrick and Robert. All four people are...

Fixing Community Startups

More money bleeds away during the startup process than anywhere else in home building. Certainly more than during the construction process itself.

Fusion Breaks Out

According to quality experts Dr. Stanley Marash, Paul Berman and Michael Flynn, fusion management takes the aspects that really work from each of the hot methods of the past 30 years.

Grayson Homes Geared to Growth

2004 NHQ Silver Award recipient wins in the race that never ends.

Green Building, Outdoor Living Top 2004 Trends

Green building and outdoor living spaces will be the top home building trends of 2004, according to an informal Professional Builder survey of builders and other industry professionals.

High-Design Waterworks

Two faucet manufacturers team with world-renowned designers to deliver products consumers want.

How to Fix the Profit Leaks in Your Business

Track the time it takes to ensure quality and get it right the first time to turn hidden costs into an unexpected profit stream.

Interior Designer Lynne Forde Breyer

Interior designer Lynne Forde Breyer talks about design trends, working with builders and why she never turns down a referral.

MiraBay

A one-of-a-kind setting on Tampa Bay all but dictates that MiraBay take advantage of the outdoors.

One Banner Year After Another

The NAHB made significant progress on a number of key issues in 2003.

Pre-Sales Boom for Orange County, Calif., High-Rise

With 65% of its 232 luxury units pre-sold almost two years before the first move-ins, what’s the secret to success of Marquee Park Place, the first residential high-rise in Orange County, Calif.?

Pulte's Big Framing and Foundation Fling

Pulte Homes announced it has entered a 'strategic business relationship' with Pratte Development Co., one of the nation’s largest wood framing and concrete foundation companies and a dominant player in those contracting businesses in Arizona and...

Radiant Floor Heating

What makes this still-emerging technology a good fit with the homes you build?

Randy Luther's Product Evaluation Tip Sheet

Centex vice president/construction technology Randy Luther shares his modus operandi for shopping the exhibit floor at the International Builders' Show, including a cheat sheet on what questions to ask at the booths.

Relationship ROI

Nothing exceeds the value of relationships that are based on shared trust, clear communication, performance excellence and a focus on making great things happen through mutual efforts.

Republic Rocks the Cradle

Chicago-based Republic Windows & Doors has committed to working with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry to overhaul its window manufacturing processes.

Supply Chain Integration Paying Off?

A recent survey of the paper and building materials industries shows that improving supply chain efficiency can save big bucks.

Tear-Downs Going Up

Is it a sign of the apocalypse when people spend $525,000 to buy an 8-year-old house just to get the lot? How about when they tear down the 'old' house and spend $1.6 million to build a new one on the lot? This happens regularly in Sarasota, Fla...

The Cortile Collection

The development team of very exclusive The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe envisioned - and is building - an enclave of homes that feature old-world Tuscan architecture.

Top 10 Books for Urban Planners

PLANetizen, a Web community run by Los Angeles-based Urban Insight, compiled this list of the top 10 books published in 2003.

Waterproofing Goes Above Grade

Tremco Barrier Solutions’ Above-Grade Foundation Finishing System extends the same waterproofing membrane used below grade in its Tuff -N-Dri product up to the sill plate.

What is Quality?

Depending on when you ask it, this ticklish question has many answers. Just be sure to ask the right people.

Wood Treatment Goes Deep

Jeld-Wen's new preservative sinks in to prevent decay.

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Reference Library

Professional Remodeler's 2013 Market Leaders

Professional Remodeler’s annual Market Leaders list, which identifies the top...

15 design trends for kitchens & baths

With demand for custom design, remodeling, and renovations at its highest level since 2005, ...

Project Spotlight: Kitchen countered

Normandy Remodeling converts confined kitchen into sprawling galley.

5 bathroom design trends for 2013

Each year, the National Kitchen and Bath Association surveys its members to identify the latest...

6 kitchen design trends for 2013

Each year, the National Kitchen and Bath Association surveys its members to identify the latest...

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