Predatory lending and bad faith contracts will be minimized by changes that are coming in August. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Ever since bad faith contracts and predatory-lending tactics caused real estate crash of 2008, reforms in the home lending-and-borrowing process … Continue reading
Category Archives: Code Enforcement
Concrete low-rise construction is very popular in the U.S., but older structures pose serious threats during an earthquake. An “alarming number” of low-rise concrete structures located in major earthquake zones have not been retrofitted for earthquake safety. Concrete buildings located … Continue reading
After slipping to second place in the 2015 Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety’s ratings of hurricane building codes, Florida has passed measures to strengthen the code, which will likely return Florida to a #1 rating. These updates to … Continue reading
Austin has been feeling a housing crunch for the past few years now, and as the tech explosion continues to bring transplants to Austin, it’s only getting worse. Many homes in Austin feature “accessory dwelling units” (ADUs)—also known as granny … Continue reading
Natural disasters are dangerous, unpredictable, and damaging. They cost upwards of $ 110 billion in economic impact and property damage in the U.S. each year. While it is unlikely humanity will harness the weather to keep such occurrences from happening, … Continue reading
This Friday marks the kickoff of Building Safety Month, the International Code Council’s annual safety awareness event. The purpose of the event is to bring safety professionals together with community members to promote an understanding of the building code, demonstrate … Continue reading
2015 saw the state of Florida slip to second place in the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety’s ratings of hurricane building codes. The 2015 update of the original report came during the opening session of the National Hurricane … Continue reading
Last Friday, a bill passed in the Georgia congress that would effectively ban state-owned construction projects from employing the LEED green building standard. This move is a serious blow to the major cities of Savannah and Atlanta, which have seen … Continue reading
At the end of December 2014, the Small Business Administration issued a proposed rule to implement provisions of 2013’s National Defense Authorization Act which require significant modifications to the subcontracting limitations for small business concerns. Specifically, the modifications concern the Limitations … Continue reading
As we here at HBW have blogged about before, the LEEDv4 standards are significantly more complex than the current LEED 2009 standards. The complexities are so significant that the USGBC extended its deadline for the standards changeover until 2016. One … Continue reading