Business
Business
Advice from industry experts for how to run your business, based on the real-world experience of your peers.
How Green Building Can Increase Profit and Lessen Impact
In this Taking Care of Business segment, green builder and designer Steve Pallrand joins our host Duane Johns to talk about the benefits of offering green services, plus how to incorporate green practices into your design process
Custom Builder
HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge Announces Forthcoming Resignation
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge has said that she intends to leave office later this month
Custom Builder
Why Start a Custom Building Business?
In this Taking Care of Business segment, expert coach and trainer Scott Beebe joins our host Duane Johns to talk about where custom builders could be getting off on the wrong foot
Business
Custom Builder to Talk Color Design with Becki Owens at IBS
At this year's IBS, renowned designer Becki Owens will sit down with host James McClister, editor of Custom Builder, to discuss a variety of topics from basic color play in design to the Allura Spectrum palette, a collection of Sherwin-Williams colors curated for the benefit of pros
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Leadership
'Golden Handcuffs' For Supers
Construction superintendent is arguably the most important management position in a home building company. After all, this front-line manager has responsibility for the quality of the delivered product and controls direct construction costs that represent 50 percent of the selling price. Yet many builders struggle to keep supers from job-hopping around the local market.
Construction
Eagle Clips Land Flipper
When you're walking a land parcel before acquisition, don't forget to look up...and remember the story of one land owner who moved a little too fast for his own good in an attempt to capitalize on Southwest Florida's red-hot land market. Last year, Mark A. Borinsky, 39, of North Port, Fla., sold a parcel for two and a half times his original investment of $59,000.
Leadership
Lingering Myths about Generation X
Generation X attracts more speculation, controversy and debate than one would care to master. The conversation began in 1991 with Douglas Coupland's book, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, which profiles a group of "underemployed, overeducated, intensely private and unpredictable" twenty-somethings who have "nowhere to direct their anger, no one to assuage their fears and no cultu...
Leadership
Customer Relations
In this six-part series, we interview leaders at Pulte Homes, the first national company to win the National Housing Quality Gold Award. In these conversations we share with you the practices that helped one of the nation's largest home builders achieve the NHQ, the hardest award to win in home building.
Leadership
Soaking Up The Sun
In Sacramento, Calif., home owners can generate their own electricity on cloudy and cold winter days. On sunny day, these same home owners generate nearly all the power needed to meet their home energy needs. Local builders have partnered with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District to develop Zero Energy Homes, which feature the latest in energy efficiency equipment, tighter building standar...
Leadership
DSI Architectural Products
DSI Architectural Products fabricated this four-level, copper stairway system. All four levels are constructed of copper pipe with an applied patina finish giving the system an aged appeal. This particular stairway was designed for a home buyer looking for an alternative to traditional stairway construction materials.
Leadership
Green Payback
Nearly half the consumers considering a new home purchase or a significant home — that responded to a recent NAHB Research Center survey — say they would incorporate green products into their homes, especially if they save them money. For those respondents who don't plan on investing in green or energy-efficient products, 56 percent attribute that response to a lack of awareness of ...
Leadership
Color Blox
Color Blox, Corssville's next generation of color tile is a porcelain stone tile that saturated through with a choice of 20 colors. Color-infused neutrals and darks, such as silvery Slinky, ivory Sand Box and bluish-black Night can be combined in a multitude of combinations with Yellow Brick Road, Limeade and Caboose red.
Leadership
Typical Home Mold Defined
The data on mold in homes in the last few years created concern among home builders, fear among their customers and cash for many businesses — home inspectors — that didn't exist before the mold threat. Trouble is, all of the data on mold in houses and all of the related news stories stem from homes that experienced significant water damage.
Building Materials
Used Textures
Appearing to be recycled from a building long exposed to the elements, Stone Mountain Brick Co. introduces four new veneer styles for its brick and stone. "Used textures" have a slightly worn face with a few random indentations in each brick surface. In sharp contrast, the fresh-looking wirecut style has blunt, uneven grooves that stretch vertically across the surface of each piece.