| Family Entryways |
For years we've placed tremendous emphasis on the design and construction of front entries. From richly detailed doors to elaborate foyers with vaulted ceilings and multiple layers of crown molding, formal entryways all contribute to the initial impression of a home. At least they do if you're a guest who actually enters through the front of the home.
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| Special Report |
Imagine a community where home buyers can watch their children ride their bikes along the sidewalk from their front porch without the worries of traffic being a danger. Imagine a neighborhood where residents walk to the community post office each morning to drop off outgoing mail, and stop in at the attached café for a coffee to start the day.
One simple rule governs marketing at Bigelow Homes: say nothing in any communication that any other builder in the market could say. As is usually the case with what looks simple on the surface, the secret of Bigelow Home's marketing efforts goes far beyond the sell line in any advertisement. What Bigelow does so well is articulate to buyers the values that the built-in features of the communit...
When the editors of this magazine look at candidates for the most historic and prestigious award in the American housing industry, PB's Builder of the Year, we search for a company with ideas our readers can use to grow the profitability of home building businesses across the country. We look for a business model that fits market conditions emerging in today's national economy, but with broad a...
It would be rare to find a home builder who has not made a public claim to positively impact society. Ownership housing plays a big role in knitting together the fabric of community in America. But what would happen if social engineering role, along with nurturing the natural environment, became your central reason for being? Would your company be more, or less, profitable? The answers are on d...
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| Entry Doors |
If there were a way to increase a home's value by up to six percent, most builders would rush to learn how. One answer lies in paying attention to the entry door, according to the National Home Valuation Study, recently conducted. "Why build a house without a beautiful front entrance? It doesn't make sense," says Dave Koester, brand manager for Weather Shield Windows & Doors.
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| Plans and Projects |
Phoenix, a consistently strong housing market, keeps pushing its boundaries with communities on the fast-growing citiy's outer ring. One of the newest is the master plan of Verrado, a half-hour drive west of the city. There, with its Horizons neighborhood, Engle Homes' Arizona Division shattered preconceived notions of the prices the market would support at the edge of suburbia.
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| News2Use |
How are new home sales likely to fare in 2005? According to economists at the National Association of Home Builders' Construction Forecast in October, single-family production will set another record next year. However, says David Seiders, NAHB's chief economist, "activity will flatten in 2005," as it is in the process of "topping out.
Peter S. Reinhart, senior vice president and general counsel for Edison, N.J.-based K. Hovnanian Cos., believes the ever-populous Garden State needs higher density zoning. But first, state planners must wrest power from municipal leaders, who lack the political will and courage to implement it. "If we continue to allow local authorities to make these decisions without consideration of overall s...
Public/private partnerships present a compelling win-win for builders of all sizes. When, for example, planners in Washington, D.C., wanted to replace a 1920s-vintage public school, they put out a request for proposals, but no bidders emerged — that is, until a restructured RFP allowed development of an apartment building on a 1.
Builders have long railed against inclusionary zoning, a popular municipal tactic that requires a number of homes in a new community be set aside for sale at below-market prices. Builders say it violates supply-and-demand common sense and yields less, not more, affordable housing. New research from the Los Angeles-based Reason Public Policy Institute bears them out.
Dilbert, the tech-geek's cartoon hero, has moved out of his cube into a home, courtesy of Scott Adams, Dilbert's creator. Adams has launched the Dilbert Ultimate House — DUH — in an attempt to present his alternately whimsical and serious ideas on a plan that is both "wife bait" for Dilbert and useful in real life.
Clever Homes, a San Francisco construction-systems company that develops pre-fabricated homes partnered with Affordable Green Development and CNet Networks to unveil the "Now House," a 2,400-square-foot-house that cost a little over $100,000 to build and includes the latest electronic gadgetry. On display in the parking lot at SBC Park in San Francisco, the project demonstrates that affordable ...
TimberSIL Nontoxic Pressure-Treated Wood: A sodium-silicate-based pressure-treatment system for wood that relies on a mineralization process rather than toxins to prevent infestations and decay. The patented chemistry and heat-treatment process result in the infusion of microscopic glass "crystals" throughout the wood, providing a permanent, insoluble treatment with no dusting or leaching.
"Like outdoor living enthusiasts across North America, we've been looking for a product that brings all of our Outdoor GreatRoom elements together," says Dan Shimek, Fire Stone Home Products president and CEO. "The Fire Stone Pergola does more than provide a setting for our outdoor ranges, fireplaces and grill islands; it brings family and friends together.
A hybrid eucalyptus tree, Lyptus is quickly becoming one of the world's most important hardwood lumbers, says manufacturer Weyerhaeuser, primarily because it represents a sustainable and renewable resource. In density, strength and technical properties, it compares favorably with hardwood maple, and it rivals cherry and mahogany in appearance.
Keeping up with the times of busy lifestyles and people wanting to stay close to home, Toll Brothers' latest model features a room dedicated to meditation or a spa-like environment. This room creates ideas for home buyers wanting a room different from the rest of the house, a place to get away from home within the home.
While 2004 looks like another banner year, healthy top-line numbers can mask a growing problem for those in politically constrained markets like Massachusetts. There, despite a 10.5 percent increase in total permits, those issued for detached single- family homes are expected to continue a trend of recent years by dropping 5.
The good news out of the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate is that experts there see no pricing bubble in the California housing market. The bad news is that they are concerned about current high use of adjustable rate mortgages — especially down the road, as more of these loans convert from fixed to adjustable rates.
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| Perspective |
Read the Special Report this month and the likely result will be a rewrite to the 2005 business plan already on file in your office. Like every company selected as Professional Builder's Builder of the Year, Bigelow Homes in Aurora, Ill., shows home builders a better way to prosper in this ever-changing industry.
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| Family Entryways |
For years we've placed tremendous emphasis on the design and construction of front entries. From richly detailed doors to elaborate foyers with vaulted ceilings and multiple layers of crown molding, formal entryways all contribute to the initial impression of a home. At least they do if you're a guest who actually enters through the front of the home.
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| Lessons Learned |
In my "Lesson's Learned" column last month (November PB), we spent a morning with two very successful salespeople — Liz and Beth. The magazine arrived just this week and I have already received e-mails from several people in different parts of the country saying, "Hey! I know both of them!" One person even claimed, "I know exactly who you are writing about," and went on to name names.
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| Bottom-Line Building |
When we dig into the data from our most recent Builder Financial Study (the 11th consecutive survey of Lee Evans Group clients), we find house prices in 2003 ranging from $98,800 to $3.2 million, but no direct correlation of price and profitability. Thirty-eight percent of the builders had average sales prices under $200,000, 29.
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| The H.R. Dept. |
The story of Dorothy's quest to meet the Wizard of Oz is analogous to what often happens in the world of personnel and executive recruitment. Working within process-bound organizations, we often journey down long and winding roads, only to have the end result fail to meet our expectations. An example of this happened to a top-shelf candidate we know.
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| News2Use |
Building industry consultant and PB columnist John Burns believes multifamily housing is about to break out of the doldrums afflicting that sector for the last decade. "Due to changing demographics, and a multitude of psychographic trends, there will be a world of opportunity for multifamily builders over the next few years," Burns says.
The once red-hot Las Vegas housing market is now showing signs of a return to normalcy, proving once again that markets do work, if they are allowed to function. Larry Murphy, president of Sales Traq, a Las Vegas firm that tracks new housing production within the context of the whole housing market, reports prices are now on a plateau in both the new and resale housing sectors.
San Francisco Bay area's Ponderosa Homes showcases its Zero-Energy home — one of the home builder's newest options — at The Classics at Ironwood in Pleasanton, Calif., through an inviting "Green Gallery." The gallery, located in the garage of a Zero-Energy model home, features comfortable seating, Zen-like décor, and four main exhibits: Energy Efficiency, Natural Resources, Wat...
Crosswinds Communities, headquartered in the Detroit area, recently enjoyed huge success with a lottery that resulted in 49 home sales in one day in its 727-acre, award-winning master-planned community, The Sanctuary, in Ovieda, Florida. While most lottery-style sales are used when demand far outstrips supply, Bob Kanjian, president of Building Solutions, who handles marketing and on-site sales...
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