NBN Online for the week of February 26, 2007

Rapid Changes Foreseen for Home of the Future

The pace of change in the American home is expected to accelerate dramatically in the next several years, according to 60 NAHB interviews with some 500 architects, designers, manufacturers and marketing experts asking them about what they expect to be prevalent in average and upscale homes in 2015.

The big news is that single-family homes are expected to end the growth spurt that has persisted, with some cyclical interruptions, since 1973. “We don’t think the size will rise anymore,” Gopal Ahluwalia, NAHB’s vice president for research, told an audience at the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla. earlier this month.

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Lumber Prices Provided by Random Lengths

Apply for ‘Buy Now’ Advertising Assistance Grants From NAHB

If your local association is currently engaged in an ongoing advertising campaign in print, radio or television outlets, or if you are planning such a campaign, have your association apply for a “Buy Now” advertising assistance grant from NAHB. To date, 12 local associations have already applied.

NAHB launched the multi-million dollar grant program last week to assist local home builders associations in an effort to bolster home sales in markets hit hard by the current housing downturn and help offset the cost of local ad campaigns.

Learning Program Knocks Down Language Barrier for Hispanics

A new self-paced learning program is now available to help the home building industry’s 2.5 million Hispanic workers learn to speak English. Sed de Saber™-Construction Edition, sponsored by Lowe’s, was created by the Home Builders Institute (HBI), the workforce development arm of NAHB, to address job site communication and safety challenges presented by the language barrier.

Sed de Saber™-Construction Edition uses the Quantum LeapPad™ plus a microphone and seven interactive books to teach Spanish-speaking workers more than 500 words and 340 phrases, providing a functional level of English language conversation and comprehension in an average of four months.

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