PB March 2005

Predicting the Future is tricky business. Last year, housing experts uniformly predicted that home building would come off its hot streak, but record results proved them wrong. Now they agree that decline will come this year. According to the NAHB, 2005 will show a modest decline in total housing starts from 1.

Because of its tight housing market, finding available land in Ventura County is a rarity. However, builder/developer Vintage Communities purchased 290 acres of land as an improved tentative tract map in 1999, now known as Hidden Valley Estates. Vintage swept up this available land because it's close to Thousand Oaks, CA, yet rural in its feel.

"Concrete Floors and Moisture," a new book from the Portland Cement Association, explores ways to present unwanted moisture in concrete floors

The builder is New Urban Communities, a niche specialist in both density and infill. Principals Kevin Rickard and Tim Hernandez are well acquainted with both profit and peril in their specialty. Dedicated New Urbanists, they loathe front-loading garages, but Old Palm Grove is half front-loaded because, they say, flexibility is the first prerequisite to high-density success.

Notice one less label on gypsum products lately? You will if you haven't already. The task of specifying gypsum board products just became easier as a single ASTM International reference standard, ASTM C 1396, has replaced eight standards previously used to designate specific gypsum board products for residential and commercial construction.

"Factory-built" usually conjures up images of industrial construction, but how does building a home that looks exactly like other homes, performs better, and can be finished in 20 days grab you? That is the vision of the PATH Concept Home, which proposes the use of factory-built components to expedite the construction process from the typical six months.

At first glance, it looks like a meticulously detailed 19th-century rehab. Upon closer inspection, Brian Pennings' home reveals a new custom home clad in vinyl, composites and seemingly every engineered building innovation. Only the beveled-glass mahogany front door and stone veneer of the exposed foundation is real.

The Council of Community Services and the Art Museum of Western Virginia hosted some of the world's top leaders in design, housing and sustainable development on January 14 for the Cradle to Cradle Housing Design and Construction Competition. A team of international jurors reviewed more than 625 submissions.

Today's homebuyer is more aware of design elements than ever before. Even first-time buyers have definite thoughts and ideas regarding what they consider "good design." Because today's homebuyer is so keenly aware of design, it pays for builders to analyze their floor plans before beginning work on a project.

Clopay Building Products introduces its new Avante Collection of garage doors. "This door was exclusively available for commercial use, but we saw an opportunity for a residential application to meet the needs of design-conscious homeowners seeking urban accents for modern homes," says Pat Lohse, director of residential marketing for Clopay.