Hello, febreze-ga!
I am sorry it took me so long to answer your question. However, I have
finally compiled some issues currently affecting the construction
industry that I believe you will find interesting.
There are so many different avenues to wander that it was hard to
limit my search and come to an end. Obviously, you have asked a
question which can branch out in many directions. Nevertheless, I had
to stop somewhere, fascinating as the search became, so here are just
a few of the issues I found most interesting.
Accommodating the Senior Housing Market
**************************************
"Accommodating home modifications and creating more housing choices
will be critical, according to a recently released report by the Joint
Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University."
"Seniors have the highest homeownership rates of any age group, making
up nearly one-quarter of all owners. Though they move much less often
than younger households, people 65 or older currently account for
about one-tenth of buyers of new home buyers. People between the ages
of 55 and 64 account for another tenth.
"Only half of today's senior's with disabilities have the home
modifications they need. "Most seniors of tomorrow will live longer,
live healthier and live wealthier," explains Nicolas Retsinas,
director of the Joint Center. "They want to age in place, though they
will not be able to escape the consequences of aging. Our findings
challenge the housing industry and public policy makers to respond
with home modifications and supportive services that enable seniors to
live safely, comfortably and productively."
From "Housing Today's Seniors," by Heather McCune. Housing
Zone.(04/25/2000)
http://www.housingzone.com/topics/pb/sales/pb00da605.asp
==
"Fully one-fourth of home buyers aged 50 and older are paying more for
the home of their golden years than for their previous house, and
their new home likely features next-generation amenities like
structured wiring and exterior maintenance services, according to a
new national study conducted by the National Association of Home
Builders (NAHB) and Countrywide Home Loans.
The study, to be released at NAHB's upcoming Seniors Housing
Symposium, was designed to determine what today's baby boomers and
older home buyers want and how they can afford the active lifestyle of
their dreams."
"Baby boomers continue to rewrite the rules of consumer behavior at
every stage of life, and home builders and mortgage lenders need to be
prepared to meet their changing demands."
"Builders noted that the majority of buyers use equity in their
current home and are willing to pay extra for high-tech options and
upgrades in their homes. "Successful builders are offering yard
service, high-speed Internet access, universal design features and
social activities to attract 50+ customers," said Kent Conine,
president of NAHB and a home and apartment builder from Dallas."
From "Study Finds Baby Boomers, Seniors Continue "Buying Up," by Steve
Joyce. Building Online. (4/2003)
http://www.buildingonline.com/news/viewnews.pl?id=2230&subcategory=139
==
Pacific Century Homes, "based in Temecula, Calif., has attracted
senior buyers to communities that are not age-restricted by providing
universal design features without raising the homebuyers' concerns
that these features are just for "old people."
"Speaking at the Symposium, Susan Mack, an executive with Pacific
Century, said homebuyers don't need to be aware of universal design.
Pacific Century Homes promotes "Homes for Easy Living" in non-age
restricted communities. This strategy encompasses incorporating
universal design features in its homes, but not marketing those
features directly."
"Houses with universal design features can be beautiful, marketable,
and functional, Mack said, if the builders and the architect
incorporate the concept from the beginning. She indicated a package of
such features can be included for as little as $500 during initial
construction. Once the house is built, the same package can cost
thousands of dollars to incorporate. Pacific Century Homes offers
features such as flat thresholds, level door handles, and pocket doors
in kitchen pantries. "The houses also include lowered storage levels
for vertically challenged' people like me," Mack quipped.
"Furthermore," she said, "the garage doors are one foot taller and one
foot wider to accommodate vans with lifts for wheelchairs, but people
with sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks like this feature for a
totally non-accessibility-related reason."
From "Seniors Housing Symposium Highlights Diversity of Opportunities
for Builders and Remodelers." ToolBase Services. Volume 6, Issue 3
(Summer 2001)
http://www.toolbase.org/tertiaryT.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=1598&DocumentID=3049
Protecting the Surrounding Environment
**************************************
Let's face it.....the construction industry is certainly under attack
by many environmentalists who cry out at the destruction of forests in
the need for timber. So, what can be done to assuage their ire?
Save existing trees around building sites.
"Building with trees doesn't mean stick-frame construction - at least
not in this instance. Rather, Building with Trees is a national awards
program that recognizes conservation-minded builders and developers
who actively work to save and protect a site's existing trees during
construction."
The Building with Trees program is sponsored by the National Arbor Day
Foundation and the National Association of Home Builders.
What are some of the common site design practices among the award
winners?
"The involvement of tree experts from the beginning - before the site
plan is developed - and throughout the life of the project."
"A commitment to educate members of the construction team and all
subcontractors about tree protection goals, requirements and methods
before any work begins."
"A willingness to incorporate existing trees into the concept for the
finished development.
Design considerations include locating roads, buildings and other
features to conserve the most valuable trees and protect specimen
trees."
"The existing landscape determined the layout of our park," said Gerry
Cowart, architect of the winning Jackson Park project. "The primary
trees helped us place our buildings around them. They shaped the
concept of how we would use the land."
From "Building With Trees," by Heather McCune. Housing Zone
(05/02/2000)
http://www.housingzone.com/index.asp
Building Green - Integrating Sustainability
*******************************************
""Green building doesn't mean rammed earth or straw bale houses. It
means employing creative thinking to come up with locally appropriate
strategies to construct houses that make the most efficient use of
materials and land while offering the buyer greater comfort and a
longer-lasting home."
Using this definition of green building, Pfeiffer outlined ways any
builder can integrate sustainable practices into existing home designs
and construction practices. Green building strategies must reflect a
region's climate, material availability and building practices.
"What works in northern Michigan won't work in Houston, Texas. There
is no national way to build green."
(Read entire article for specific tips)
"Integrating Sustainability-Part I," by Heather McCune. Housing Zone.
(5/17/2000)
http://www.housingzone.com/topics/pb/green/pb00ea617.asp
==
From "Integrating Sustainability-Part II," by Heather McCune. Housing
Zone. (5/22/2000)
http://www.housingzone.com/topics/pb/green/pb00ea618.asp
"In the first part of this series, we reviewed the ways builders can
increase the sustainability of the homes they build by controlling air
infiltration - a major culprit in reducing energy efficiency and
homeowner comfort. Nothing suggested was "out of the ordinary," but
rather a simple, subtle shift in thinking and planning, according to
residential architect Peter Pfeiffer, Barley & Pfeiffer Architects,
Austin, Tex. At the National Green Building Conference in Denver,
Pfeiffer defined green building as "creative thinking that comes up
with locally appropriate strategies to construct houses that make the
most efficient use of materials and land while of-fering buyers
greater comfort and a longer-lasting home."
"Now we'll continue exploring ways to integrate sustainable practices
into existing home designs and construction practices by reviewing
Pfeiffer's tips on eliminating unwanted solar gain and managing
lighting loads."
Unwanted Solar Gain:
"To keep a home cooler, increase homeowner comfort and reduce energy
usage, Pfeiffer says builders should consider the following: (Read
article)
Lighting:
Protecting a home from outside sources of heat is only half of the
solution, says Pfeiffer. Builders need to consider internal lighting
loads and investigate new options, specifically: (Read article)
==
From "Integrating Sustainability-Part III," by Heather McCune. Housing
Zone (June 2000)
http://www.housingzone.com/topics/pb/green/pb00fa602.asp
In this last installment of this series, we'll finish our discussion
by reviewing Pfeiffer's tips for mechanical system design, landscaping
and an often overlooked area of green building-health and homeowner
education.
Plumbing Systems
HVAC
Landscaping
Health and Homeowner Education
(Read Entire article for information)
Using New Building Materials as Price of Timber Climbs
******************************************************
From "Steel Standards," by Heather McCune, Housing Zone (07/18/2000)
http://www.housingzone.com/topics/pb/build/pb00ga611.asp
"As the price of wood climbs and the quality of available lumber
declines, more home builders are looking at steel as a framing
alternative for new homes. The problem with steel for most builders
continues to be the learning curve-most framers haven't worked with
steel so an already more expensive product becomes still more costly
because of time delays. Two new publications from the North American
Steel Framing Alliance can help home builders shorten that learning
curve on steel framing."
(Read on!)
The challenge of designing intelligent buildings
*************************************************
From "Implications & Challenges Facing the Intelligent Building
Industry," by Per Bjorkdahl, TA Control Pte Ltd.
Automated Building.com (9/1999)
http://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/sep99/articles/tacc/tacc.htm
"You can not take a building and make it intelligent, the building has
to be designed "intelligent" from the first draft on the drawing
board. Far more than the technical systems must be considered when
designing an Intelligent building. An intelligent Building is not only
the building itself and the systems installed. There must be a
commitment from the developer / owner that this is and will be
maintained as a intelligent building."
(HUH???? Actually, this is a very interesting concept. See the entire
article for tables and diagrams, also.)
"I would say that what we expect is in fact high efficiency.
Efficiency in the respect of receiving the highest possible output
with the lowest possible input. One example could be the energy
supplied to a building. The efficiency of the energy usage must be at
or very close to 100% and it is the systems forming the intelligent
building that is making this happen, being everything from the
control system to the space planning of the office. As most previous
research concludes the Intelligent building is in fact highly
efficient rather than intelligent. But let us not confuse the issue,
let us still use intelligent buildings as this is what the industry
tends to use."
"To be able to asses the degree of intelligence we have to look at the
specific needs of a specific building. A system installed in a
building considered as intelligent might not be considered
intelligent if the usage of the building was to change slightly. It
might be the capability of the system to be able to adopt to the
changes that makes it intelligent."
"Despite the negative relation to the cost of utilization, the trend
seems to be in favor of intelligent buildings. The reasons for this
are probably several but the competitive office space market is
surely contributing to the demand for "something extra" to be offered.
The situation is similar to any industry offering "state of the art
technology", it is available but you have to pay a premium to get it.
The energy price and increasing salary costs are other factors that
affects the acceptance of intelligent buildings as the cost of running
the building is continuously increasing."
"The intelligent building is definitely here to stay, it is just a
matter of time until developers, owners and consulting engineers are
fully aware of the possibilities it offers and that the available
techniques are becoming known by the industry."
The high cost of Liability Insurance
************************************
Contractors are under increasing pressure from potential lawsuits and
the cost of protective insurance has taken its toll on small and
large companies alike. The smaller contractors are definitely under
the greatest pressure.
Take, for example, the situation in California:
"California's lawsuit-dependent system of dealing with construction
disputes is inefficient and costly for homeowners. An epidemic of
class-action lawsuits has led to a collapse in the construction of
affordable, land-efficient townhomes and condos because builders and
subcontractors can no longer obtain or afford liability insurance on
these projects."
From "The Solution to California's Housing Crunch." California
Building Industry Association.
http://www.cbia.org/internal.asp?siid=14&ssid=85
==
California contractors are not alone in this. And the problem doesn't
just center around condos and townhomes. Owners of individual homes
are also tightening the screws and contractors are having a hard time
funding their own insurance costs.
From "Home Building Experts Address Challenges of Risky Business."
BusinessWire. (January 2003)
http://216.239.57.100/search?
q=cache:QHw_9-Dlx5wC:quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/cd/Bnv-quality-built.RhDU_DJH.html+
home+building+experts+address+challenges+of+risky+business&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
"Today's severe liability insurance crisis, along with burgeoning
construction defect lawsuits and the increased focus on mold issues,
threatens the continuing strength of the nation's housing market.And
this dire situation is demanding more effective risk- management
strategies of homebuilders, from implementing quality assurance
programs to owner-controlled insurance plans."
Using Creativity in the Challenge to Develop More Housing
*********************************************************
What about all those empty commercial buildings sitting around
unused? Could they actually be turned into residential units? This is
exactly what some developers are doing!
Read "Developers get creative with conversion projects," by Jessica
Materna. San Francisco Business Times. (7/5/2002)
http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/real_estate/residential/2002/07/08/sanfrancisco_focus6.ht
ml
Some excerpts follow:
"With the demand for housing still hot, a growing number of developers
are eager to turn empty commercial space into living space. Projects
already being bandied about among city planners, developers and
community groups would total more than 500 residential units."
Some examples:
"Taking the top half of the largely empty 40-story former
ChevronTexaco building and creating up to 140 condominiums."
"Transforming The Presidio's 310,000-square-foot Public Health
Hospital into as many as 300 apartments and a hotel."
"Turning part of the Old U.S. Mint Building at 5th and Mission streets
into housing."
"Turning the former Japantown Bowl into 48 condominiums, retail and
parking space
"Few developers are willing to say a structure they spent millions
building or rebuilding as offices in hopes of catching the dot-com
boom now looks like a better place for housing.
"... some industry sources expect it's only a matter of time before
downtown's landscape changes to make room for more housing.
"I would predict that in three to five years, more people are going to
live downtown in rehabbed office buildings, and they're going to have
more of a downtown like you would see in New York City, as far as
people being able to walk wherever they like," said Alan Mark,
president of the Mark Co., which specializes in city condominium
sales.
(Read entire article for more!)
Training skilled workers by employing transitional veterans!
*************************************************************
This is a very interesting concept that was news to me! The "The
Helmets to Hard-hats Program" is highlighted in the following article:
"Keynote Address by Edward C. Sullivan." President Building and
Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO. 2003 National Legislative
Conference. (April 7, 2002.)
http://www.buildingtrades.org/news/2003Conf/sullivan.html
An excerpt follows:
"The Helmets to Hard-hats Program is now operational. This program,
developed by the Building Trades Department, attempts to address the
shortage of skilled workers in the construction industry by linking
transitioning veterans to job opportunities and training.
"Helmets-to-Hardhats is a win-win-win for the Building Trades, for the
industry and for veterans. And I must say that this program could not
be more timely. When our brave young men and women currently serving
in dangerous assignments around the globe return home, this program
will be ready to serve them --to link them to the job opportunities
they will need ...a small measure of appreciation for their
sacrifices for our nation. We are very excited to see this program
take off, and I'm sure you will be, too."
Mold and Lawsuits
******************
"A new wave of toxic mold problems has been developing this year and
continues to spread, affecting houses, homeowners, builders, and
insurance companies in many parts of the country, not just in moist
climates."
"Mold is not new, but recent lawsuits against insurance companies and
builders have attracted much attention from national media and local
newspapers."
"One regional builder organization is moving to help builders deal
with the mold issue. Timothy L. Coyle, senior vice president of the
California Building Industry Association, said before the state
legislature that a coalition of business leaders had pledged its
commitment to "complete an exhaustive, science-based review of the
issues surrounding mold." He said, "We do not have a complete
understanding how molds have come to exist in buildings or how to
remediate when they do. Nor do we know how serious a health problem
these molds may represent. Indeed, the information available today is,
at best, mixed."
From "A Growing Issue: Mold Lawsuits Affecting Builders Nationally."
ToolBase News. Volume 6, Issue 3 (Summer 2001)
http://www.toolbase.org/tertiaryT.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=1598&DocumentID=3047
====
Some Miscellaneous Challenges
*****************************
The following excerpt is from the CERF Executive Summary
http://www.cerf.org/pdfs/about/ExecutiveSummary.pdf
Key Drivers in the Business Environment
1. Threats fromhuman caused and natural disastershighlight the need
to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience in infrastructure and
utility systems.
2. Globalization of competitive marketsis becoming the norm rather
than the exception in the new economy.
3. Sustainabilityis becoming an accepted design criterion requiring
innovation on both the supply side and the demand side of the
infrastructure design lifecycle.
4. Rapidly advancing technology and innovationconstantly creates new
alternatives and new competitors.
5. Customers are rapidly becoming more knowledgeable and
sophisticated, demanding more creative solutions.
6. The global population growth, occurring mainly in the developing
world, is rapidly expanding human needs.
===
Interesting Additional Reading
"Building Vulnerability Science," by Russell Gentry and Craig Zimring.
Research Horizons.
http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/reshor/rh-win02/r-science.html
==
I hope the information presented above gives you some interesting
issues to ponder. I know it did for me!
umiat-ga
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