PB May 2004

The biggest key to inoculation is to follow through with reassurances that you could handle problems or reduce their impact. Customers want to believe that you have everything under control.

Custom builder Mike McGuffie of Regal Classic Homes in Orlando, Fla., is using Web cams on his jobs to keep customers informed of progress and trade contractors and vendors on their toes.

In a series of cyclic shear wall tests on structural insulated panels, APA - The Engineered Wood Association found that SIP walls perform similarly or better than stick-built walls under simulated earthquake conditions.

'If L.A. had a Main Street, it would be Wilshire Boulevard,' says the video for The Californian on Wilshire, a 23-story luxury condominium project scheduled to open in 2005.

In a new home market dominated by Craftsman homes, a two-builder team brought European flair to middle-market buyers in Portland, Oregon.

With the Southern California housing market red-hot again, Irvine-based MBK Homes has created a customer management program to prevent the camp-outs and lotteries that home buyers dread.

With home sales booming and recent price increases in petro-leum products and building materials, the stage is set for the Federal Reserve Board to raise interest rates, which could put a damper on housing demand.

Building higher-density communities with tighter infrastructure designs and community services can save significant costs, according to The Brookings Institution's Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy.

The latest project from Joyce Homes in master-planned Highlands Ranch, Colo., is in Firelight, an upscale subdivision of detached single-family homes with its own homeowners association.

Think twice before developing large, controversial parcels.