Some 1,000 builders visiting Capitol Hill on April 21 as part of NAHB’s annual Legislative Conference told lawmakers that business conditions in the housing industry remain grim in the face of an ongoing credit crisis that has choked off the availability of acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) lending to begin or complete viable residential projects.

The credit crunch has been particularly acute in the housing sector, and builders recently surveyed by NAHB have reported continued deterioration in residential lending conditions.

“Our message to Congress was loud and clear,” said NAHB Chairman Bob Jones. “The lack of credit for AD&C financing must be resolved soon. Otherwise, it could end the budding housing recovery before it has time to take root.”

While in Washington for the April 18-23 NAHB board meeting, association leaders and a cross-section of builders were able to continue their ongoing series of meetings with top federal policymakers to alert them to the dire impact of credit scarcity and to discuss other key housing issues. Read More

Providing a cautionary tale for builders and developers across the country who work on federally funded residential construction of four stories or less, prevailing Davis-Bacon wages for key construction workers skyrocketed last year in Montgomery County, Md., because non-union workers were underrepresented in the survey that determines them.

Labor unions in the county made a strong push to have their members fill out the wage survey. Employers of non-labor union workers, in sharp comparison, did not. As a result, carpenters saw their wages surge by a whopping 63% and other residential construction workers such as plumbers, bulldozer operators and unskilled labor saw their wages rise dramatically over what was actually being paid in the local employment market.... Read More

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that its new Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting rule will apply to all homes built before 1978. The agency is eliminating an “opt-out” provision that largely limited the regulation’s applicability to older homes that were the residences of pregnant women or children under six years old.

Expected to be enforced starting in July, the new mandate will increase the number of homes covered by the lead rules from an estimated 9.4 million to about 79 million, even though the EPA itself estimates that a significantly smaller number of homes — about 38 million — still contain lead paint.

The agency also gave notice that it is writing an additional rule to require more complex dust-wipe or clearance testing, effectively requiring remodelers to fill the role of lead-paint abatement workers. If approved, this rule would become effective in July 2011.

The announcement was made on Earth Day, April 22, the day before the new lead-based paint training and certification requirements for remodelers went into effect.... Read More

NAHB’s Membership Defenders are back just in time for National Membership Day on May 25 to help home builders associations build their membership strength, one member at a time.

This year’s “Superhero” campaign features new tools, a lead list and other valuable resources that will enable HBAs to recruit new members and bring former members back as well as promote the power of participation.

New this campaign are National Membership Day Edit-Me Articles — five focused articles that set the stage for National Membership Day; reinforce the importance of participation; talk the talk and walk the walk; help build strong relationships; and ask for the time to build membership.

All the articles can be edited and trimmed and used in HBA publications and communications as messages from the HBA president, membership committee chair or other appropriate membership recruiters. The Edit-Me articles can be downloaded at www.nahb.org/membershipdefenders. ... Read More