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State Examines Contractor Crunch
Some trade organizations in Florida are asking officials to ease licensing requirements for contractors in order to allow property owners to hire out-of-state contractors to help with rebuilding efforts in the wake of Hurricane Charley. However, both the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the office of Gov. Jeb Bush say they do not necessarily have the authority to change current regulations barring contractors with out-of-state licenses. Florida's contractor licensing system can be confusing for consumers; there are two general types of licenses occupational and contracting and many more types of specific contracting licenses. President and CEO of the Central Florida Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors Mark Wylie explains that "an occupational license only means a fee has been paid to a government for the right to do business," while a contracting license shows that one has passed tests in order to gain approval. Licenses are currently distributed both by the state and individual counties, further confusing the process, but county licensing will be eliminated as of Nov. 1. Wylie suggests that in order to avoid confusion and fraud, consumers should ask to see a contractor's current license and verify it either by calling a number or checking online listings. Wylie also urges consumers to get a written estimate before work commences, check the contractor's proof of workers' compensation and make sure all suppliers and subcontractors are compensated before making the final payment. (www.orlandosentinel.com)
Orlando Sentinel (08/25/04) Snyder, Jack
Americans Hang on to Bigger, Better Lifestyles
The Census Bureau has released a new survey documenting that Americans continue to buy ever-larger homes, even though incomes remain stagnant and housing prices are escalating. According to the American Community Survey an annual poll of 800,000 households 46% of all dwellings have six or more rooms and more than 15% have eight or more rooms. The Census Bureau found that more than 22% of home owners contributed at least 35% of their income to housing last year, compared with 19% in 2000. What is more, the percentage of home owners who live in houses valued at more than $500,000 has doubled since 2000 to more than 6%; while one in eight homeowners owns a residence valued between $300,000 and $499,999. The percentage of Americans who live in homes that cost less than $150,000, by contrast, has fallen from nearly 64% in 2000 to about 50%. (www.usatoday.com)
USA Today (08/27/04) P. 4A; El Nasser, Haya; Overberg, Paul
Environmentally Conscious Developers Try to Turn Green Into Platinum
Advocates of green-building design were pleased when the Bank of America and the Durst Organization broke ground earlier in the month on One Bryant Park in Manhattan. The 52-story skyscraper's goal is to be the first high-rise office structure to achieve the United States Green Building Council's "platinum" rating the best score a building can receive under a four-tier rating system developed by the nonprofit industry group. The project is focusing increased attention on the rapidly growing influence of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building standards. Haworth Inc. President and CEO Robert B. Krasa states, "You can't overestimate the impact of the LEED standard in taking a lot of the emotive opposition to green building away. Now, we have a credible way of saying what green means." Of course, platinum-rated LEED structures are significantly more costly to erect than a typical commercial or institutional building of the same size. In addition to being constructed largely with recycled or recyclable materials, One Bryant Park is designed to capture and reuse all rainwater and wastewater. In addition, it will make extensive use of lighting and dimming systems and features an air system that ventilates the building by delivering air from an under-floor system rather than overhead ducts. (www.nytimes.com)
New York Times (08/25/04) P. C5; Feder, Barnaby J.
La Raza: Hispanics Fare Badly in Housing
A new report by the National Council of La Raza concedes that more Hispanic families became home owners during the 1990s but stresses that housing affordability and overcrowded conditions in poor-quality dwellings remain problems for Latinos. When shopping for homes, Latinos also continue to face "rising levels of discrimination" and suffer from a lack of relationships with financial institutions. The Hispanic civil rights organization is calling on public agencies as well as private industry to focus more attention on what it says is an "affordable housing crisis." Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and the non-profit Stardust Foundation have agreed to study the issue of low-income housing, expand the pool of first-time home buyers and develop strategies to make housing more affordable. (www.azcentral.com)
Azcentral.com (08/25/04) Wingett, Yvonne
Mold Liability Nags Restorers of Wet Houses
Increasing insurance claims and litigation related to water and mold damage in homes have made water-damage restorers more aware of the risks involved in their business and have prompted many to seek professional training in order to improve their restoration methods. The Insurance Information Institute reports that mold-related claims generated a record $3 billion in payouts for insurance companies in 2002, compared with $1.3 billion the year before. With both insurance premiums and mold-related liability on the rise, many restoration experts and insurers are signing their employees up for training programs that teach scientific techniques to accelerate the drying process and reduce the risk of mold damage. "If you can dry something reasonably rapidly you won't have any mold problems," says Martin L. King of the Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration. Drying techniques vary, but many training programs are adopting the scientific approach pioneered by Chuck Dewald and his Tennessee-based Vortex Drying School, which was one of the first in the nation to use a mock home for hands-on training. (www.wsj.com)
Wall Street Journal (08/24/04) P. B1; Maher, Kris
Futuristic Concept Home Stresses Flexibility
HUD's Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) has designed a so-called concept house that focuses on flexibility. By separating the electrical, plumbing, communication, and heating and air-conditioning systems, home owners will be able to move walls and install new technologies as needed. The use of standard-size, factory-built parts will enable builders to erect these futuristic homes in as little as 20 days. Meanwhile, replacing traditional electrical wires with wireless systems or electro-textile fabric wall coverings will enhance flexibility. The PATH design will allow home owners to save money on additions and upgrades and rearrange the residence to help them age in place. Moreover, owners should reap substantial resale profits, considering that buyers will be able to adapt the home to fit their needs. Though a builder is still needed to make the design become a reality, PATH expects the structure to be built by 2010. (www.chicagotribune.com)
Chicago Tribune (08/22/04) P. 3N; Sichelman, Lew
New Florida Codes Bring Mixed Success
Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm with winds of around 145 mph, destroyed utilities, homes and buildings even some that were built under codes implemented after 1992's Hurricane Andrew. Twenty-five of Florida's counties were declared disaster zones, and damages to insured structures may hit $14 billion. After Andrew, Florida reevaluated its building code and required stronger mobile homes, for instance, but requiring them to withstand 110 mph winds did little good with Charley. Simpson StrongTie engineers say that materials, construction quality and construction techniques are being investigated throughout the damage zone to be sure that the code is being met, and research engineer Randy Shackelford says he is especially looking for evidence of damage from lateral loads on walls and for window protection. Institute for Building and Home Safety Vice President Tim Reinhold says that the code being considered has nationwide standards in mind, yet Florida experiences stronger, more sustained winds than most other areas. (www.enr.com)
ENR (08/23/04) Chastain, Bill; Sawyer, Tom; Rubin, Debra; et al
Co-Ops Catch on With Minnesota Seniors
Co-op apartments are in high demand among Minnesota's senior population; and Senior Cooperative Foundation CEO Terry McKinley says they are going up so fast, it is impossible to keep count. Co-ops account for just 5% of the nation's community associations, according to Greg Petterson, president of the Community Associations Institute's Minnesota chapter; and over 50% are located in Minnesota. Many seniors prefer co-ops because they pay only a monthly fee that goes toward the building's operating costs, taxes and debt service, rather than having to borrow money to purchase a particular unit. Residents enjoy social activities and shared dinners, and the units usually are indistinguishable from condominiums. (www.ap.org)
Associated Press (08/20/04)
Prefab Becomes Ab Fab
More and more architects are answering the call for attractive homes at reasonable prices by designing prefabricated dwellings, or houses that are assembled from factory-built pieces. The market finally has broken free from its double-wide, boxy image and now is generating much favorable attention. San Francisco-based architect Michelle Kaufmann, for instance, has produced the environmentally friendly Glidehouse. The structure's panels come with built-in plumbing, wiring, and storage as well as concrete counters, bamboo floors, non-toxic paint and tankless water heaters, among other features. Meanwhile, Target now offers $10,000-$26,000 prefab kits from designer Michael Graves that can be turned into offices, guest rooms and other living spaces. Additionally, Valencia-based designer Michael Jantzen has developed M-vironments, insulated panels hung from steel cubes that can be assembled and reassembled into a variety of structures. Though prefab is in high demand among California buyers, experts says soaring land prices limit their cost savings. (www.latimes.com)
Los Angeles Times (08/19/04) P. F1; Biederman, Patricia Ward
ZigBee Takes It Easy
ZigBee networking technology is soon to be included in professional installation kits for light switches, thermostats, security controls and other simple electronic controls in the home. The ZigBee Alliance plans to build off a modest base on the home-automation market before it launches into grander pervasive technology schemes, such as city-wide biohazard monitoring. ZigBee is well-suited for home controls because it quickly sends small packets of information, such as keyboard inputs or on/off switching, over distances of up to 20 feet between nodes. Moreover, ZigBee data piggybacks on intermediary nodes and is only acted upon by the specified recipient device, allowing data to travel the entire network as long as there are available pathways. ZigBee batteries can last for years because the devices only turn on for the moment or so when they are needed, and the non-proprietary technology makes use of the same unlicensed 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequencies already in use for cordless phones, for example. ZigBee promises new home automation capabilities for home owners, possibly as early as 2006, while home builders like the technology because it offers a wireless alternative to costly cable installation. ZigBee-enabled light switches, for example, can be moved without leaving a hole in the wall. Further out, ZigBee, which can be used in mesh networks of up to 65,000 nodes, promises new capabilities for building managers to monitor and even control systems. (www.technologyreview.com)
Technology Review (08/19/04) Brown, Eric S.
Living Well
Computer makers and research groups are working to create tomorrow's digital home environments, tying together many of the technologies and components that are already available today. The Swiss government's FutureLife project is working out possible kinks and using a real-life Swiss family home as a test environment, which has meant at least one evening spent in below-freezing temperatures for the residents who could not get the door's biometric sensor to read their fingerprints. The technology was taken from the banking industry where it is usually deployed in temperature-stable environments, explains FutureLife's Beat Schertenleib. But the FutureLife test family has spoken well of other benefits, including automatic lawn watering and text-message alerts when a digital drop box receives post-delivered packages. Other European research groups are working on similar projects, including the inHaus and HomeLab projects in Germany. Fraunhofen Institute's inHaus project makes use of components and devices already available commercially, ranging from energy conservation technology to Internet-controlled devices. One of the main focuses for the inHaus effort involves integrating these technologies and creating simple, easy-to-use interfaces. Sony and Philips are both working on wirelessly networked home entertainment schemes that could form the foundation for more pervasive home networks. These systems rely heavily on computer technology, including the WLAN standard and network servers that archive, serve up and route digital content to different devices. Both companies are sticking to non-proprietary standards in order to appeal to the widest number of users. (www.taipeitimes.com)
Taipei Times (08/18/04) P. 15
Tools to Help You Stay in Touch, Build Relationships
Productivity consultant Terry Brock underscores the importance of cultivating new business relationships and keeping in contact with existing clients. EGrabber's AddressGrabber and ListGrabber tools make it easy to copy contact information into Outlook, ACT!, Goldmine, Maximizer and other databases. AddressGrabber Business priced at $129.95 lets users highlight contact information within e-mail messages and Web sites and transfer it to a database via Optical Character Recognition technology. Once the information is stored in the database, users can easily create letters and e-mails and send them to the appropriate contacts. With ListGrabber, users can capture lists of names and other information located in Microsoft Word or another such program and enter them into a database. The software retails for $249.95. (www.washington.bizjournals.com)
Washington Business Journal (08/23/04) Brock, Terry
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