Focusing on the processes and people that are our business with an eye toward improvement reveals flaws we’d rather not see. But it is as Michael Dwight says: a problem can’t be solved until it has been acknowledged.

Field superintendents are our industry’s first and last defenders of quality homes. Their challenge is to build quality homes, sometimes despite a building production system that does not always work right.

Pinehills builders has bundled high-speed Internet access, satellite TV (from DIRECTV) and telephone services in packages that give all their homeowners the options they want now, and may want in the future.

It will happen one day. Maybe it already has. A technology consultant will conduct a review of your systems and suggest a company-wide replacement of hardware and software. Try not to listen, even though the thought of fixing everything at once is sedu..

Achievement Award winner Peter Anderson applied his knowledge as a licensed electrician and contractor and developed a four-year Building Trades program at a Virginia high school.

Achievement Award winner Casa Verde Builders have given at-risk youth and distressed neighborhoods in Austin a chance to rise from the ashes.

Achievement Award winner McStain Enterprises has a simple mission: 'Building a Better World.'

Lumber may be the best example of the connection between a builder and his materials.

Achievement Award winner Sarah Susanka believes in quality, details, craftsmanship and comfort over square footage.