PB December 2004

The lesson of the two Elizabeths is that as an industry we must begin to see salespeople in a holistic manner, as complete members of the team. It's no longer enough to simply bring in the bucks

Peter S. Reinhart, senior vice president and general counsel for Edison, N.J.-based K. Hovnanian Cos., believes the ever-populous Garden State needs higher density zoning. But first, state planners must wrest power from municipal leaders, who lack the political will and courage to implement it. "If we continue to allow local authorities to make these decisions without consideration of overall s...

When we dig into the data from our most recent Builder Financial Study (the 11th consecutive survey of Lee Evans Group clients), we find house prices in 2003 ranging from $98,800 to $3.2 million, but no direct correlation of price and profitability. Thirty-eight percent of the builders had average sales prices under $200,000, 29.

Public/private partnerships present a compelling win-win for builders of all sizes. When, for example, planners in Washington, D.C., wanted to replace a 1920s-vintage public school, they put out a request for proposals, but no bidders emerged — that is, until a restructured RFP allowed development of an apartment building on a 1.

The story of Dorothy's quest to meet the Wizard of Oz is analogous to what often happens in the world of personnel and executive recruitment. Working within process-bound organizations, we often journey down long and winding roads, only to have the end result fail to meet our expectations. An example of this happened to a top-shelf candidate we know.

Builders have long railed against inclusionary zoning, a popular municipal tactic that requires a number of homes in a new community be set aside for sale at below-market prices. Builders say it violates supply-and-demand common sense and yields less, not more, affordable housing. New research from the Los Angeles-based Reason Public Policy Institute bears them out.

Read the Special Report this month and the likely result will be a rewrite to the 2005 business plan already on file in your office. Like every company selected as Professional Builder's Builder of the Year, Bigelow Homes in Aurora, Ill., shows home builders a better way to prosper in this ever-changing industry.

Dilbert, the tech-geek's cartoon hero, has moved out of his cube into a home, courtesy of Scott Adams, Dilbert's creator. Adams has launched the Dilbert Ultimate House — DUH — in an attempt to present his alternately whimsical and serious ideas on a plan that is both "wife bait" for Dilbert and useful in real life.

For years we've placed tremendous emphasis on the design and construction of front entries. From richly detailed doors to elaborate foyers with vaulted ceilings and multiple layers of crown molding, formal entryways all contribute to the initial impression of a home. At least they do if you're a guest who actually enters through the front of the home.

Clever Homes, a San Francisco construction-systems company that develops pre-fabricated homes partnered with Affordable Green Development and CNet Networks to unveil the "Now House," a 2,400-square-foot-house that cost a little over $100,000 to build and includes the latest electronic gadgetry. On display in the parking lot at SBC Park in San Francisco, the project demonstrates that affordable ...