Sponsored Advice for Pros Black Friday Deals for the Pro Black Friday marks the biggest day in retail – providing you with an opportunity to save money on the tools that help you do high-quality...
Sponsored Advice for Pros Pre-Black Friday Deals for the Pro The Home Depot is dedicated year-round to providing builders, remodelers and other contractors with a customized shopping experience that...
Lean Design Design for Custom Infill With a Lean Twist Collaboration is far and away one of my favorite aspects of the building industry. In fact the practice of Lean Design demands collaboration...
Sponsored Advice for Pros Life of the Pro: The Home Depot's dedication to Pro customers Day in and day out, you’re faced with challenges – finding skilled labor, differentiating yourself from competitors and navigating ever...
Sponsored Advice for Pros Bath Trends for the Pro Repairing or remodeling a bathroom that meets and exceeds a client’s expectations while staying on budget can be a challenging and time...
Sponsored Codes + Standards Raised Home—and Renewed Hopes—in the Wake of Sandy When the clouds cleared and the waves subsided following Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, the Santos family found itself picking up the...
Quality Management The Value of Process Process, well love it or hate it we NEED IT! It may not be exciting creating it, setting it up, but process is so very important. I thought...
Quality Management Builders Striving For Continuous Improvement NHQ The 2015 National Housing Quality Award recipients are: DSLD of LA, Gold EYA of MD, Gold French Brothers of NM, Silver These are...
Design Spotlight* UNPUBLISHED Working toward quality management In the October issue, we announce the winners of this year’s National Housing Quality Awards: gold award recipients DSLD Homes and EYA, and...
The Design Side Smart homes versus smart gadgets The cover story of Time’s July 14 issue is a 39-page special report, “The Smarter Home.” Naturally, I had to read it. There’s a lot of talk...
Sponsored blog_entry The ideal insulation installation The development of more stringent building codes, coupled with the growth of high-performance building programs and Home Energy Rating...
Sponsored blog_entry Working smarter, not harder to meet new energy codes When addressing the increasingly stringent new building codes, avoid overlooking the simple solutions that can directly contribute to...
Design Spotlight* UNPUBLISHED An opportunity to do what you do best Twenty-five years ago, a group of Orange County, Calif., BIA members launched a program to help address the problem of homelessness in their...
Sponsored Architecture Outdoor living offers new opportunities Regardless of the season, decks have become an extension of the home. Many homeowners want to expand the footprint of their entertainment...
Quality Management Managerial breakthrough “Breakthrough means change, a dynamic, decisive movement to new, higher levels of performance……..Breakthrough is, then, the creation of...
Design Spotlight* UNPUBLISHED New products offer a competitive advantage When home builders are asked which information they deem most critical to the improvement of their businesses, info about new products is...
The Design Side My ideal home office A recent blog post on the Estes Builders website got me thinking about what my ultimate home office would look like. I’ve been working from...
Sponsored Decking + Railings Deck evaluation checklist NADRA has produced a comprehensive checklist contractors can use to delineate any concerns found during a deck inspection
Quality Management Practicing quality “Of the primary goals of Quality, Cost and Delivery, Quality should always have the highest priority. No matter how attractive the price...
The Design Side Great books for home design Back to the Cabin: More Inspiration for the Classic American Getaway. This companion piece to 2001’s “The Cabin” is a collection of 37...
The Design Side Don’t let setbacks get you down I’ve been talking to builders lately about coping with tight lot setbacks. Some build in the city, where it’s commonplace to see a new home...
Design Spotlight* UNPUBLISHED Good design for all We are living in a new era of design. No longer reserved just for the rich or those with artistic sensibilities, good design has become...
Design Spotlight* UNPUBLISHED Better, not bigger From 1950 to 2013, the average new home in the United States grew from 983 square feet to 2,673 square feet, a hefty 172-percent increase in...
Quality Management Insights to a small business Baldrige recipient This link will take you to the Pence & Freese 2010 Baldrige Application (They earned the Baldrige Award for Performance Excellence for...
Sponsored blog_entry Marine Applications Expand Deck Options Deck projects can expand to include a wide range of applications, such as light-commercial projects at restaurants or hotels as well as a...