In Financial Management - Part 1, we discussed the importance of setting up a solid accounting system to accurately measure what has happened in the past so we can make better decisions for the future. In Financial Management - Part 2, we discussed the i
A National Association of Realtors' (NAR) study of second home purchases recently revealed a wave of new speculators in the real estate market. With investment home sales making up 23% of the real estate market, homebuyers are turning to real estate
As reported in the January 2005 issue of PB, building science is a systems approach to home building that considers relationships between a home's components and its environment. The goal of building science: to optimize occupant health, comfort and
Wood University, the free online education portal of the APA-The Engineered Wood Association, now offers a course on building structurally sound wood-framed structures. WU 201: Design of Wood Connections is broken down into four successive/progressive/co
It's a busy Saturday afternoon and one of your sales associates has just finished working with a customer. By chance you overhear the customer whispering to her friend, "I don't care how much it costs, I want it anyway." Stunned, you step
Many a builder has faced the quandary of building homes with steel, which can be costly but more consistent or building with wood, which can warp and be labor intensive. One company has brought an innovative solution to the marketplace. FrameMax, a compa
Accustomed to building a handful of homes each year topping out at about $350,000, David DeBord was ready for a new challenge that would become his first New Urbanist outing, his first plan drawn by an architect rather than a designer and his first attem
Architectural Traditions — designers and manufacturers of crafted doors, windows and hardware — created a program on its website where builders and consumers alike can design doors specific to the house being built. Visitors to the site first
If you're searching for melancholy, look up one of the Giant 400 home builders who sold his company two or three years ago. Unquestionably, he'll tell you he had reason to believe the market was at its peak — the very best time to cash out.
The Sharrow Group, a Rochester, N.Y.-based executive search firm specializing in the housing industry, has created a quick checklist of questions a builder should ask prospective management hires during interviews:
