Thriving in a ZEN Landscape

Ask any builder around the country about top challenges and you are pretty likely to hear three things:

1. Cost and availability of attractive lots;
2. Finding and cultivating skilled tradespeople; and
3. Creating high brand awareness with prospective homebuyers.

Denver-based production builder Thrive Home Builders (formerly...

5 Podcasts for Builder Education On-the-Go

Home builders are selling an emotional experience as much as a residence to buyers. A big part of that experience is the overall comfort of a home and insulation plays a major role in achieving comfort. But, poor quality installation can negatively impact the performance of the insulation. That’s why hiring the right insulation contractor is a...

Reducing residential construction accidents requires builders and contractors increase emphasis on worker safety training.

The housing industry is changing, and quality insulation installation matter more than ever before. Poor quality insulation installation can reduce energy efficiency, lower a home’s HERS score, prevent qualification for certification and incentive programs even endanger code compliance. In this new video, Insulation Institute lays out the business...

Mold in a home can create indoor air quality and health issues for the occupants, cost builders and contractors thousands of dollars to fix and result in costly and lengthy litigation. Moreover, increasingly tight construction with less natural ventilation may create indoor environments prone to moisture buildup, one of the key requirements for...

Behavioral Economics is focused on understanding how people, with all of our foibles and inadequacies, disrupt the pleasant simplicity of a marketplace full of rational actors. It began as behavioral psychologists started applying their findings to economics and marketplace decisions. The field has gone mainstream, with many best-selling books and...

Even the title of this blog adds confusion to a subject that, on the surface, doesn’t seem like it should be that complex. To say there is “proper” installation implies there is also “improper,” in other words just plain wrong. However, some think the assessment of insulation installation quality is in fact much more nuanced than that. Others...

Farm to table. Sustainable sourcing. Menus with calories disclosure. Today’s consumers want to know what is in the products they buy, where they come from and how they are made. New research from Label Insight, which specializes in product data, shows that the issue of transparency has a huge impact on how consumers perceive brands. The bottom...

Even before the Trump administration’s announcement of an import tax on Canadian lumber there had been 22 percent increase[1] on the cost of lumber since the beginning of the year. These cost increases impact builder profitability and are expected to add an additional $1,236 to the cost of a new home for buyers, according to NAHB estimates[2]....