Your home is an investment, and the value of that investment is determined by the housing market. According to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, nearly two-thirds of homeowners say they will invest in renovation projects this year. You can increase the value of your home as an…
Are you ready to buy or build a new home? If so, you probably read all the news stories and predictions that the market has a long way to go before it starts to recover and that home prices will continue to fall for months or years to come. If…
Forbes published an article today titled “The Happiest Careers In America.” The article highlights the results of a new survey from job site CareerBliss.com that revealed the top ten happiest professions in America. The survey results measured nine factors of workplace happiness, including the individual’s relationship with their boss and…
Single-family housing starts in 2010 totaled 475,000 – a 7 percent increase over 2009 but still substantially below the 1,256,000 average starts per year from 1995 through 2003. .Think the decrease in demand for new home construction has resulted in lower prices for building materials. Think again. Prices for materials…
Think the decrease in demand for new home construction is resulting in lower prices for building materials. Think again. According to the September 16 producer price index (PPI) report by the U.S. Labor Department, prices for construction materials edged up 0.2% in August. Prices are 3.6% higher than one year…
The 2010 AVID Home Design Driver Research Survey showed that the majority of home buyers rated energy efficiency as a “Must Have” for their new homes. Although Boise and southwestern Idaho have some of the lowest power rates in the nation, home buyers still want their new homes to be…
The 2010 AVID Home Design Driver Research Survey provides some insight into what features today’s home buyers equate with a green home. AVID Ratings is a a leading provider of enterprise-level surveys specializing in the home building industry. The AVID survey studied the preferences of nearly 12,000 North Americans who…
For the past five months (September 2009 through January 2010), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen 0.2% per month. Building materials prices are an exception to general inflation trends, which appear to be tame. On a year-over-year basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is up 2.6%. Excluding food and…
The headline read “Construction Worker Rated the 8th Worst Job.” Being a Builder who started out as construction worker, I just had to investigate further. Here is what I found. The headline referred to JobsRated.com’s 2010 Jobs Rated report which the website says “offers a comprehensive analysis of 200 different…
Welcome to the first in my series of blog posts on the Business of Building. Let’s start with a quiz. In a normal market, what is the average Net Profit for a Builder? Is it 21% to 30% 17.3% to 20.9% 3.7% to 8.7% -5% to 0% It has…
