KB Home Building Anti-Drought Houses

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KB Home residences fight the drought with a Nexus eWater system. Photo Courtesy of Nexus eWater. 

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While opinions on the causes are diverse and divisive, there is little doubt that climate irregularity has left drought-ridden communities all over the U.S. high and dry. Because the private water industry’s response has been to mobilize for a hike in water fees, many homeowners are seeking ways to substantially rework their water conservation and usage. In its latest partnership with Australia’s Nexus eWater firm, KB Home is the first volume builder to create substantial solutions to this problem.

Beyond merely conserving water with better fixtures and ENERGY STAR appliances, these new homes will recycle 2/3 of the water that they use. The Nexus system will draw in a home’s soapy water from the shower, sink, dishwasher, and laundry into a deep-cleaning system. The filtered gray water then exits the system to be used for flushing the toilet and irrigating lawns and gardens.

Although it isn’t suitable for drinking or washing, the gray water will take an enormous chunk out of a home’s water usage and utility bills. The system is easy to maintain and can be accessed through two circular manhole-like covers on the home’s exterior.

Ralph Petroff, chairman of Nexus eWater, says of their partnership with KB Home that “in five years‘ time, every new home will have a water recycler in it.” The cost to install the Nexus eWater system is just under $10,000 per home, and the prices are expected to decrease as more builders buy in and include the technology in their residential projects.

Petroff even thinks that the system will have a greater impact than solar panels, because “there is no alternative to water. That’s what Californians are discovering every day.”

KB Home, based in California, bought into the technology a while back and has recently announced that it will be a standard feature of 50 homes in a new San Diego development that is currently under construction. KB Home plans to demonstrate the system as a major feature in the model homes it is building in Sacramento and Lancaster.

Tyler Prepares for a Building Boom

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Construction professionals seeking home building job leads should check out HBW’s building permit reports for the DFW metroplex and surrounding counties. According to a recent report by the Smith County Appraisal District, the market for newly-built homes in Tyler and Smith counties is red-hot. Demand is on the rise—especially for high-end homes—but housing inventory is dwindling, creating a tremendous opportunity for builders in East Texas.

Realtor Amy Montayne of Montayne Team says that, “there are just so many people moving to Tyler, migrating here from other states and big cities. It’s exciting, but we’re working ourselves to death. It’s a very, very competitive market.” The seller’s market here is “getting crazy” as Montanye puts it.

Homes in Tyler and Smith counties are snapped up almost as soon as they hit the market. Length of time on the market is one of the key real estate market indicators, and it’s also a bellwether of an area’s economic situation. According to Drew Dunklin, analyist for the Appraisal District, “The [current] median days on market is the lowest I can find in the last 20 years or so, down to 42 days,” which is less than half of the 10-year median average of 90 days, “and supply is down to a record low, where it was in 2006-2007.”

The Tyler market currently sits as 97 to 98 percent sales-to-asking price, which is remarkable considering that it’s areas like Dallas and San Francisco that buyers are “seeing well over 100 percent of asking price. We don’t see that as of yet,” says Dunklin, Currently, builders are just barely keeping the housing stock supply level high enough to meet the demand. A normal, healthy inventory for a new home is five to six months, and Tyler’s inventory now sits as 5.3 months. The incredible demand hasn’t resulted in outrageously inflated asking prices—yet—but Tyler is headed out of the Recession.

New home construction is approaching historic levels. The construction peak for Smith County, occurring 2005 & 2006, saw 1,000 homes built each year. 2014 saw 800 new homes built, and more than 1,000 have been permitted for 2015.

Current market trends indicate that high-end homes—anything over $300,000—are selling incredibly well in Tyler.Historically, the high-end house market has been somewhat cautious in Smith County, but with an improved economy, “those individuals ready to move up to those homes are in a financial situation to do so,” says Dunklin, “there’s more confidence in the market and in the economy.”

Builders well be glad to note that the demand for high-end homes is due to increase over the next year. Existing subdivisions are almost entirely built-out, and while there are several lake lots left, Dunklin explains that there hasn’t been “a lot of new subdivisions being platted in that prime price range. There’s a lot of space out there for expansion, but nobody is doing it right now.”

The increase in employment opportunities indicates that demand for entry-level homes will also grow. But as the city has always experienced a shortage in entry-level homes, this trend is expected to continue. The average new home construction price is $238,000, but the entry-level homes have recently been selling for well over $100 per square foot, which the report notes as a historic high for Smith county.

Orlando’s Sawgrass Pointe Celebrates Grand Opening

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HBW subscribers in the Orlando area welcome the grand opening of KB Home’s new Sawgrass Pointe development. Located off of I-4, SR417 and SR 528, the community is convenient to the area’s choice shopping, employment, and recreation destinations. The lots in Sawgrass Pointe are projected to sell rapidly, and builders seeking residential construction job leads should check out HBW’s building permit reports to learn more about the opportunities in Sawgrass Pointe.

Home buyers can customize any of the ten one-and two-story floor plans featured in Sawgrass Pointe, knowing that they are minutes from the distribution centers, business parks and other major employers as well as the Orlando International Airport. Downtown Orlando is only a 10-minute drive from Sawgrass Pointe. Of interest to retired home buyers is the development’s proximity to The Burnham Biomedical Institute, Nemours Children’s hospital, the University of Central Florida Medical School, and the Orlando VA Hospital.

More than 180 one- and two-story homes ranging from 18,99 to 4,000 square feet will be available, with home prices beginning in the mid-$200,000s. The most spacious of the ome plans includes six bedrooms and four bathrooms. Sawgrass Pointe’s large home sites include views of the community’s landscaped pond or the wooded conservation area in which the development is located. The community also plans to feature a pool with a pavilion and a cabana, and playground. In keeping with KB Home’s high standards, each property in Sawgrass Pointe will be ENERGY STAR® certified, so residents can expect lower utility bills and a smaller ecological footprint.

HBW proudly serves builders in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma. In addition to our Building Trend Activity for Residential Construction Reports, HBW can create a number of custom reports for any need you might have. We also offer exclusive White Paper Reports to help you market your business. White papers start by giving an overview of the trends in your area and then advice on how to turn your weekly building permit information subscription into successful business leads. To show you how we can help your business succeed, HBW is glad to provide you with complementary building data report or one of our specialized White Paper Reports. Contact us today and start making your business more profitable!

Solar is the New Normal

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The excitement over Tesla Energy’s Powerwall and Powerblock is only the latest indication that solar is rapidly becoming the new normal for construction. Growing numbers of construction companies nationwide are including batteries and other equipment alongside the conventional utility panel in many new buildings. It’s more and more common for residential and commercial buildings to incorporate solar panels into the structure’s design from the outset instead of simply making space to include them on the roof later. Designers are also including elements such as solar glass and solar tiles into the exterior of the structures, making solar power less visually intrusive and more architecturally appealing.

As solar proliferates the landscape, the costs of installing solar have dropped sharply. Between 2013 and 2014, solar usage in the U.S. increased 34%. 2014 saw about 200,000 solar panel installations, bringing the national total of solar powered homes and businesses to 650,000, and the total solar capacity to 20,000 megawatts nationwide. This astronomical demand for solar has caught the attention of the construction industry, which is stepping up to meet it. Residential, commercial, and institutional projects of all sizes are being built with solar power in mind:

Residential Projects

Single-family homes, condos, and multifamily buildings are making room for solar. While rooftop solar panels are a major feature of many residential buildings, solar shingles have recently grown in popularity. Contractors have begun orienting structures along the East/West Axis so that rooftops will gain maximum sun exposure. Homeowners are saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs as a result in the shift to residential solar.

Commercial Projects

Office buildings always have high energy needs, which makes the addition of solar panels to lighten the utility load a no-brainer. Office rooftop panels are ideal for commercial structures, which often have expansive, flat-grade roofs that are openly exposed to direct sunlight. Commercial buildings often have a very high square footage of flat roof space to hold many more solar panels than residential homes can.

Institutional Projects

As most primary and secondary schools are state-funded, governments are pursuing solar initiatives for school districts all over the nation. Rooftop solar panels on the school buildings, and solar panel plains on the vacant space next to sports fields are becoming more and more common. Medical facilities, which are typically very energy hungry, are also eager to include rooftop solar panels. Everything from private clinics to major hospital centers have embraced solar as a way to lower their typically extremely high energy costs.

Construction Employment is an Economic Engine

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The construction industry is a major driver of the economy.

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New home start numbers are a classic indicator of a region’s economic health. But as Sharon O’Malley of Construction Drive recently discovered, it’s the construction industry’s high employment rate that helps drive the economy.

April’s numbers were especially good, with the construction industry adding 45,000 jobs nationwide which helped push national unemployment to its lowest level since May 2008. According to Friday’s U.S. Labor Department report, April had the best levels of construction employment since January of 2014. In fact, the construction industry ranked third behind healthcare and professional/business services in number of jobs added. But while many new jobs were created, the turnover for existing jobs had reached its lowest level since 2006. Bloomberg news claimed that these record numbers were “one clear bright spot” in the national picture, and Anirban Basu of the Associated Builders and Contractors says that the data “strongly suggested that employers viewed the recent bout of economic weakness as temporary.”

The residential sector accounted for a 2,800 job gain between march and April, totaling 41,20 across the past 12 months. The gain reflects a growing need for skilled labor in the homebuilding sector as well as the difficulty that contractors have had in finding qualified workers. Sales of existing homes jumped in March, leaving a lower-than-expected inventory, which makes new home construction a priority to meet demand. The past winter was especially tough on housing starts, and it kept potential buyers out of the weather and away from open houses. With the spring thaw has come a bloom in industry activity, which is especially clear in the specialty trades sector. April saw construction employers add 20,800 jobs for residential trades, for a total increase of 112,100 over April 2014.

Neil Dutta of Renaissance Macro Research reports that “The housing numbers in this report are checking off all the boxes,” and that “none of these things would be happening if the housing market weren’t picking up.”

Nonresidential construction numbers were a bit softer than expected, with a total of 7,800 jobs lost last month offset the gains made in other construction sectors. The rise in commercial and institutional building starts in 2014 indicate that this slump is a temporary one, with Robert Murray of Dodge Data & Analytics reporting a “favorable” future for nonresidential building jobs. 16,600 jobs have been created in the non-residential industry since April 2014.

Things are considerably brighter for the specialty trades contractors in the on-residential sector, with 20,200 jobs being added in April for carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and skilled carpenters. A total of 76,400 jobs in the skilled specialty trades were added in the past 12 months. A rise in heavy and civil construction projects created 8,400 jobs in April, reaching a number of 33,100 positions since April 2014.

Top Mobile Apps for Construction Professionals

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As mobile technology and construction management solutions improve, more and more construction professionals rely on their tablets and smartphones for work. Construction industry-specific apps for increasing productivity and easing collaboration have exploded in the past few years. Here’s a rundown of the most useful and popular apps for 2015:

1. Construction Manager

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According to the website, Snappii’s Construction Manager is “designed to ensure the accurate and regular flow of information between company headquarters and construction sites.” This app generates project estimates, tracks information, keeps daily reports and maintenance logs, calculates measurements, exports to PDF format, and works in both online and offline modes. Over 500,000 construction professionals use Construction Manager to transfer logs, reports, estimates, and time sheets between the site and company HQ, and sales representatives can generate construction and repairs estimates for clients on-the-spot. Available on iTunes and Google Play.

 

2. iSafe Inspections

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Safety is always a paramount issue on the construction site, but it’s also one of the most laborious aspects of the job. Pervidi’s iSafe was designed to automate the safety inspection process. Contractors can automate any kind of inspection, such as safety audits, work orders, property assessments, asset management, as well as generate custom forms. iSafety will also automatically create Corrective Actions based on inspector input, track deficiencies, and enhance mobile data collection on-site. Available on iTunes and on Google Play.

 

3. Fieldwire

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Fieldwire is one of the few apps on the list whose developers are also experienced builders who know that construction professionals need to get the job done. This planning app enables foremen, project managers, engineers, and superintendents to work together more efficiently—without leaving the job site. The organizational features allow crews to review the latest plans and share critical information such as punch lists and photos. The Universal search features keep information readily at hand, and the Aglie task scheduling makes it easy to keep the high-priority tasks at the top of the list. Available on iTunes and Google Play.

 

4. Safety Meeting App

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This app will save contractors many safety-related headaches by automating the OSHA-mandated safety meeting process. This app allows builders to schedule meetings on more than 950 OSHA-Approved safety topics, send notifications, document meetings, accidents, incidents, and near-misses. With only a single account for the entire company, this app stores data for active and inactive employees, allows for multiple admins, and exports reports in PDF format. Available on iTunes and Google Play.

 

5. PlanGrid– Second year on the list!

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An ultra-fast blueprint viewer for Android and iOS, PlanGrid allows builders to mark-up and store project designs and forward them directly to their work crew members’ phones. PlanGrid can be used off-line, progress photos can be pinned to the blueprints, detail callouts are automatically hyperlinked, all markups and notes instantly sync across all platforms, and there is a searchable, automatic rolling issues log. It can also be used to create, maintain, and share punchlists. Available in a variety of price plans including a free version, PlanGrid can be downloaded and installed from the Google Play and iTunes stores.

 

6. Construction MasterPro App– Third year on the list!

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Calculated Industries’ Construction MasterPro is hands-down the best construction math calculator on the market, but at a price point of $69.95, it can put a bit of a dent in the wallet. Fortunately, the folks at Calculated have developed an app that will turn your smartphone or iOS device into a virtual Construction MasterPro calculator that is every bit as powerful as the original, but only costs $19.95. Available at the Google Play and iTunes stores.

Cultivate a “Client-for-Life” Culture for Your Remodeling Business

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One of the more difficult aspects of being in the construction business is that the product is very long-lived (if it’s built well) which seems to seriously reduce the likelihood of repeat customers. This doesn’t have to be the case, though, as Architectual Building Arts president Melinda Monroe has discovered. In an interview with Karen Rivedal of the Wisconsin State Journal, Monroe discusses how builders can cultivate a client-for-life relationship with many of their remodeling customers.

One of the first changes to make in cultivating a client-for-life relationship is looking at how the projects fit into the larger neighborhood and urban context in which the home is located. With the housing and job markets still in recovery, many homeowners are demanding whole-house renovations. “Last year was the year of the bath — everybody was doing their bathrooms,” Monroe notes, “This year, it’s very different. It’s a lot more whole-house remodeling we’re seeing, (doing) lots of different spaces in the house, and additions.” But it’s important for builders to realize that they aren’t just changing a home, they are “changing the urban fabric,” as Monroe says, and the work is “really about maintaining the homes in a certain area and updating them for the long term.”

Nowhere was this philosophy more clear than with ABA’s renovation of the master bathroom of a historic home built in the 1920’s that was designed by classic regional architect Frank Riley. The tiny shower and cramped vanity were transformed into a spacious master suite bathroom with steam shower and tub, yet the design flawlessly melds with the design sensibilities that are unique and original to the home. ABA’s remodel beat out six other finalists to won the 2015 National Contractor of the Year award from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. The award-winning work garnered many accolades, but it also won a client-for-life, as the homeowners are currently consulting for additional remodeling of their historic home.

Another aspect of the client-for-life relationship is maintaining a company culture that emphasizes fostering relationships through communication. As construction is a male-dominated industry, the business culture tends to emphasize practical, pragmatic, pointed communications both inside and outside the company. Creating a culture of connection means creating a business environment where are everyone enjoys working, and communication strategies foster “relating to” others rather than simply “informing at” them. This same strategy should also be used in company communications with clients. One of Monroe’s sure-fire plays to keep clients in the fold is to hold an annual party for every client on the ABA mailing list, to show their appreciation for their clients. “Clients are really the bloodline of our business. We have over 350 on our mailing list,” explains Monore, “and every year we throw a party for them to celebrate the fact that we wouldn’t be here without them.”

The third part of Monroe’s client-for-life strategy is identifying and embracing key building trends, particularly green-building trends. Market demand for green building and LEED certification has really skyrocketed in recent years, a trend that homeowners are wary of due to the higher costs associated with building green. Monroe says that although green building can be more expensive, it “doesn’t have to always [be that way]. It often depends on how long a product’s been out on the market.” New “building science and building products improve year after year,” says Monroe, with sustainability and longevity being key factors in what is developed for the market. The goals of green building are about “building to last.” Educating clients about the ways that building green is better for them and for “the next person who’s going to be in that space,” helps them come to realize that “longer-lasting is better for the environment, too.” This education process is part of the way that ABA creates lifelong relationships with their clients.

Plano Parkway Welcomes New Development

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HBW subscribers seeking residential and commercial construction job leads in the DFW Metroplex are very excited about the Rosewood Property Company’s new Heritage Creekside development. Last Tuesday, developers and city officials broke ground on the 156-acre mixed-use development. The site, located between Custer Road and Alma Drive along the parkway, will offer a multitude of single- and multi-family residences, thousands of square feet of office space, and a dazzling array of retail and restaurant options for residents.

The plans for Heritage Creekside swung into action last year, and the zoning for the development was approved by City Council in October. Insiders consider this to be a signature project that will attract upscale residents and businesses to the area. Phase 1 of construction is slated for fall 2015, with the first residential move-ins scheduled for July 2016.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Plano mayor Pro Tem Lissa Smith praises the development, saying, “What an incredible project … for the gateway to Plano on the southern edge. The development will be one of the most beautiful and unique developments along Pittman Creek,” she adds, “and the mixed-use design will help relieve traffic congesting during the day and provide a beautiful gathering place in the evening.”

Roughly 2.3 million square feet of the Heritage Creekside development is dedicated to office space, which project designers expect to anchor the project. There will be about 1,300 multifamily residential units, as well as several hundred attached and detached single-family houses and townhomes. Residential space will give way to restaurants and retail along Pittman creek, which cuts through the middle of the acreage.

Heritage Creekside will be built in two phase. To the east, Phase 1 will consist of residential and restaurant space and should be completed next summer. 327 multifamily units, 100 single-family homes, and 3 restaurants will wind along the east side of Pittman Creek. Phase 2 will add more single and multifamily housing, millions of square feet of office space, 50,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, and a 15-story hotel. The bulk of the development will be office space for a large corporation. Developers believe that the residential Phase 1 will drive interest and demand for the retail and office space of Phase 2.

This $900 million project will bring thousands of new jobs to town, which will spur the development of central Plano in much the way that Legacy town Center and downtown Plano have spurred economic growth in other parts of the city. Although Plano residents were generally skeptical about the project, Rosewood held multiple open planning meetings with residents and HOA’s to hammer out their differences regarding traffic congestion and school overcrowding.  The key determining factor in securing resident cooperation is that Heritage Creekside is less of a standalone development, and more of an extension of Plano’s existing neighborhoods.

Rosewood Property Company president Bill Flaherty says, “we took a very active position with the neighbors, and they took an active position with us, and that collision, I think, resulted in really a much better project.” The “bold” mixed-use plan will, Flaherty hopes, “lead others in central Plano, and that idea has gotten us to this day and I think will result in an extraordinary project.”

Lowe’s Introduces In-House 3-D Printing

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For developers selling newly-built homes, custom, built-to-order properties are the name of the game. In addition to a fabulous floorplan and well-appointed living space, current home buyers want designer touches and fixtures that inevitably drive up the materials costs. Now, imagine that you could meet buyers’ expectations of designer fixtures in a custom home for the same price you’d pay for less fabulous features? Lowe’s Innovation Labs has made all of this—and more—possible with their Orchard Supply Hardware Store 3-D printing lab.

Lowe’s Orchard Supply Hardware Store in Mountain, View, California, has made it possible to install those eye-popping vintage bathroom fixtures for a fraction of the cost you’d expect. They can even create limitless color, texture, and shape variations on classic fixtures for no extra cost. Even better, they can replace a perfectly matched but hard-to-find antique cabinet fitting in your current renovation job for the same price you’d pay for a contemporary one.

Although 3-D printing is increasingly common, most casual users don’t have the knowledge to program the printer to create an item. Lowe’s new system will allow builders and homeowners to design and print their ideas without the need for programming skills or other special knowledge. The service is aimed at customers with no knowledge or experience of 3-D printing, and seeks to help them create something from scratch or from an item scan.

Kyle Nel, Executive Director of Lowe’s Innovation Labs, says that the new system “makes it very easy for the average person to be able to take something that’s in their head and solve a need that they have. If you can take red eye out of a photo you can create pretty much anything.”

Users can choose from a wide variety of templates for common fixtures and features. They can print it out in the store, or they can take it home and tinker with the design until they are satisfied with the outcome. Afterwards, they bring the design back to be printed. Some of the designs have to be sent out to third-party printers, but most of them can be printed in-house. Stainless steel and plastic are the most common materials, but for those who don’t mind paying a premium, Lowe’s offers gold alloy for 3-D printing as well.

3-D printing is a boon to both customers and retailers. Customers want more choices, but a store can only stock so many models, which limits buyers’ options. Better yet, customers who want a one-of-a-kind item will have no trouble getting exactly what they want.

 

Stronger Building Codes Lessen Disaster Impact on Whole Community

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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, it is completely possible to lessen the impact of natural disasters. Stronger building codes are the simplest and most-effective way to improve the odds of a community surviving a natural disaster intact.

The best form of disaster preparedness is mandatory building standards. By and large, the part of the building code which deals with disasters is formulated by factoring in “acceptable losses.” That is, they factor in the probability of risk as related to disasters to determine an acceptable level of damage and loss within a given property unit. This level is determined regardless of the disaster’s cumulative potential to wreck and entire neighborhood or town.

A town’s ability to survive a natural disaster intact isn’t based on mathematical probabilities, but on their preparedness to handle the consequences of an insufficiently strong building code. The best way to prepare for a disaster is to build stronger, better, more resilient buildings and infrastructure so that the community is less vulnerable to losses in the first place. Towns that wish to do better than meeting acceptable standards of loss can improve their building codes, which will ensure that a majority of structures and the hidden infrastructure remains intact.

Studies have shown that every dollar spent on hazard mitigation saves an average of four dollars in property damage from disasters. According to Steve Szoke, director of codes and standards at the Portland Cement Association, “We’ve seen the devastating damage of Super Storm Sandy and the battered Jersey shore, or when a tornado rips through Arkansas,” and these major storms that have happened within the last five years have “caused billions in damages.” Calling for stronger codes,” Szoke says, “would allow for communities to bounce back sooner after another disaster.”

The yearly direct cost of property lost or destroyed in a natural disaster tops $35 billion. Despite the obvious benefits of stronger building codes, many communities in disaster-prone areas have yet to strengthen their building codes. States and cities do not react by building stronger homes and structures after a tornado, hurricane, or earthquake.

Worse yet, the current building codes represent the minimum requirements for construction, which ensures only the lowest acceptable level of quality.  The National Trust for Historic Preservation estimates that 82 billion square feet of our current building stock will have been demolished and replaced at least once by 2030, because buildings aren’t built to last any longer.

To mitigate these catastrophic losses, it takes comprehensive community planning and codes that yield solid, robust buildings. In addition to meeting the bare minimum safety standards, upgraded building codes are a good financial move. Adopting the most recent version of the International Code Council’s building codes will enhance a community’s economic viability by decreasing the negative financial impact of disaster damage.