Concrete Tour: Demos, Networking and Plant Visits, Oh My!
Kansas City hosts this summer's 2005 Concrete Technologies Tour, “Building with Concrete: The Basics and Beyond,” which includes educational programs, networking and behind-the-scenes tours of cement-based building materials and manufacturing facilities.

• Hunt Midwest Mining Materials LLC: Includes a tour of the subterranean industrial park SubTropolis. At 5 million square feet, it is the world’s largest underground business complex. SubTropolis was created through the mining of a 270-million-year-old limestone deposit.
• Lafarge Cement Manufacturing Plant: Lafarge has North America’s most extensive network of cement distribution terminals and packaged product warehouses linked by truck, rail, lake freighter and barge.
• Concrete Materials Company — Ready-Mix Facility: Includes hands-on demonstrations of decorative concrete manufacturing, stamping and staining.
• Contour Products: View the manufacturing process of innovative Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam products, including Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs).

A new annual offering from NAHB’s Concrete Home Building Council, the Concrete Technologies Tour shows attendees the basics of residential and light commercial concrete. The three-day event also includes a golf tournament at the St. Andrews Golf Club and several receptions.

For more information or to register for the tour, visit www.nahb.org/concretetour, or contact the Concrete Home Building Council at 800-368-5242 x8362.

Cement Consumption to Remain Strong
And while we're on the subject of concrete, here's the latest forecast from the Portland Cement Association (PCA): Cement consumption should increase 3.0% in 2005 to another record level of 123.4 million metric tons.  

PCA Chief Economist Ed Sullivan predicts that overall U.S. economic expansion will translate into 3.3%-4.0% growth rates in the Gross Domestic Product for 2005 and 2006. "Even in the context of rising interest rates, sustained high oil prices, an oversized federal budget and trade deficit, and continued upward pressure on commodity prices, the general economic picture is expected to result in sustained growth in overall U.S. construction," he said at a recent PCA board meeting.

The favorable competitive position of concrete relative to steel is likely to continue, he said. Along with favorable changes in the mix of construction activity, this suggests moderate growth for cement overall on a tons-of-cement per dollar-of-construction-activity — or "cement intensity" — basis.

For more information: www.cement.org [return to top]

Learn 'The Whole Building Approach' at Upcoming Ecobuild Conference
More and more builders, architects, engineers, building owners and managers in both the public and private sectors are realizing that an integrated design approach is critical to achieving high-performance buildings. This approach is premised on understanding the "whole building" and analyzing the interdependencies of its various systems.

If you want to jump aboard the sustainability bandwagon, attend the Sustainable Building Council’s Ecobuild America Conference & Exhibition, June 20–23 in Orlando, Fla. at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. "The Whole Building Approach to Designing Sustainable, Secure Buildings" is the theme of this year's SBIC workshop.

Participants in this two-day workshop will examine design strategies for daylighting, security, natural ventilation, passive solar heating, energy-efficient lighting and systems, building integrated photovoltaics, HVAC control strategies, distributed energy generation and acoustics; and they will learn how these strategies can work together to achieve higher performance. Instructors will demonstrate some of the latest energy-efficient design software, review the Internet-based Whole Building Design Guide and discuss the ENERGY STAR label for buildings and equipment, as well as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Rating System.

If you need more information, visit www.ecobuildamerica.com, or contact Sophia Greenbaum, SBIC membership coordinator, at SGreenbaum@SBICouncil.org or 202-628-7400 x209. [return to top]

Which Subcommittee Will You Sign Up For?
In one of the highlights of NAHB's recently concluded spring board meeting, NCBC Chairman Elton Parsons established three new council subcommittees to address council issues, membership and communications.

Ken Ringe will chair the Issues Subcommittee, which will review and analyze commercial industry issues of general interest or concern to council members and provide relevant information to members and NAHB's leadership and staff. Items under discussion will include insurance, ASHRAE, the new markets tax credit and design requirements for commercial buildings. 

The Membership Subcommittee, under the direction of Leslie Mostow, will focus on local council development and membership recruitment. The subcommittee will review membership materials, survey members to determine what services they want from the council and develop membership programs and marketing plans.

The Communications Subcommittee is chaired by Carl Harris. Members will form the editorial board for Commercial Builder magazine, providing recommendations for the yearly editorial calendar in addition to selecting themes and profiles for each issue. The  group will work on expanding the magazine’s circulation, generating advertising revenue and diversifying the editorial content. The subcommittee is also responsible for helping to build content on the council’s Web site, www.nahb.org/commercial.

All of the subcommittees welcome new members. Contact NCBC Trustee Chairman Elton Parsons at eparsons@buildersinc.com to express your interest. [return to top]

Top Cause of Construction Fatalities? Falls!
Falls continued to be the leading cause of construction fatalities among OSHA-investigated cases in 2003, according to research from the University of Tennessee.

The university's Construction Industry Research and Policy Center has analyzed OSHA information on construction fatalities for the past 13 years. Statistics show that falls from or through the roof of a building represented the most commong cause of construction worker deaths, accounting for 10.7% of fatalities. Falls from or within the structure were the second most common cause, accounting for 10.5% of deaths. The third leading cause was being crushed or run over by equipment operated by someone else, which accounted for 7.9% of the fatalities two years ago.

For more information, visit the Construction Industry Research and Policy Center Web site at http://bus.utk.edu/cirpc. [return to top]

Watch Your Mail for the Summer Issue of Commercial Builder
In just a couple of weeks, you’ll receive the summer issue of Commercial Builder magazine, one of the Commercial Builders Council’s most important benefits. In this issue, look  for a profile of Colorado builder David Hicks of Prince Creek Construction and learn how he has leveraged his company’s resources to become successful in the mixed-use development arena.

Also on tap is “Advice from Two Builders” about how they made the leap from residential to commercial, a feature on finding the right software management tools for your commercial construction business, and CB’s Second Annual Commercial Products Round-up. We also have a wrap-up of the Construction Specifications Institute’s large commercial construction show, info on how the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 will benefit construction companies, marketing tips for the busy builders, the latest industry news and much more.

We’re always looking for commercial builders to write for CB — are you interested in sharing your experiences with your fellow builders? If so, contact Jill Pivovarov, 800-368-5242 x8455. [return to top]

NCBC Fall Board: Put It on Your Calendar
Okay, get out that PDA, open up MS Outlook or flip to September in your calendar — it’s time to schedule Fall Board, to be held from Sept. 7-10 in Reno, Nev.! You’ll be especially interested in reserving Thursday afternoon, Sept. 8, so you can participate in an NCBC subcommittee or trustees meeting. In addition, the NCBC Headquarters will be open on Friday, all day Saturday and on Sunday from 8:00 am to noon.

Click here for more information about the fall board meeting. If you have any questions about the NCBC portion of the program, please contact Carmel Nayman at 800-368-5242 x8410 or cnayman@nahb.com.

DATE	MEETING/EVENT
Wed., Sept. 7
10:00 am - 12 noon	Joint Council Chairs
1:00 - 5:00 pm	NAHB Executive Committee
Thurs., Sept. 8
1:00 - 2:00 pm	NCBC Communications Subcommittee
1:00 - 2:00 pm	NCBC Membership Subcommittee
1:00 - 2:00 pm	NCBC Issues Subcommittee
2:00 - 5:30 pm	NCBC Trustees & Planning Meeting
Sat., Sept. 10
8:00 - 10:00 am	Area Caucus 1-15
10:30 am - 2:00 pm	NAHB Joint Executive
2:00 - 5:00 pm	NAHB Board of Directors
Sun., Sept. 11
8:00 am - 12 noon	NAHB Board of Directors

Italics – non-NCBC programs [return to top]

Awards Deadline Is July 25, But You Can't Win If You Don't Enter
Would you like to showcase your commercial project before a national audience? Win recognition for your construction team? Enjoy the accolades of your peers? Of course you would! But there’s a catch — you need to submit an entry to the 2006 Awards of Excellence program.

Each year, the Commercial Builders Council recognizes the best of the best with a variety of awards for commercial building projects. There are numerous categories in which to enter — retail, commercial, institutional, medical, industrial, recreational, entertainment and mixed use commercial/residential — and six different divisions for projects of varying sizes.

All the details, including an entry form, are available in the brochure, "2006 Awards of Excellence: Building Excitement," which you can access by going to the Commercial Builders Council Awards of Excellence Web page. Once there, just click on the link to download the brochure. Additional questions? Contact Carmel Nayman at 800-368-5242 x8410. [return to top]

When the Condo Boom Starts to Fade
Multifamily builders and developers at NAHB Multifamily's Pillars of the Industry Conference in Miami this spring reported brisk sales and handsome profits in today’s booming condominium market, but they also indicated they want to be prepared for what happens when that market starts to fade.

One strategy that some builders believe will help them through the cyclical downturn is to avoid the high end of the condo market where prices have been zooming from $500 a square foot and up in locations such as Miami and metro areas along the East and West coasts.

“We believe that the affordable side is more protected when the current condo market starts to go away,” said Leonard Wood, president of Wood Partners. In the Atlanta market, where Wood’s company is based, affordable means 900- to 1,000-square-foot apartments selling in the $275-$300 per square foot range.

Wood’s building experiences testify to the strength of the shift in today’s multifamily market dynamics away from rentals to the for-sale side. Encountering softness in the rental market, Wood chose to switch from leasing to selling the 500 units in the twin towers of his first high-rise project in mid-town Atlanta. During the first month, 100 homes were sold and after 10 months the project was sold out, which was “amazing for a place that hadn’t been a big condo market,” he said.

Wood is now building his fifth major condo tower in Atlanta, and he said he believes that “infill has some real legs to it” because people don’t like traffic, but they do like infill amenities. “There’s some depth to the market for a high-quality, affordable product,” he said, and demand for entry-level housing should hold up.

Wood said that there are virtually no traditional garden apartments being built in Atlanta today because with land prices sky-high, it’s just too hard to bring them on line. The story is true just about everywhere, he added, with some major exceptions, such as Houston and Dallas. About 60% of the units currently in the company’s pipeline are headed for the condo market, he said, and everything that is being built or converted is concrete construction.

Bruce Duncan, president and CEO of Equity Residential, said that land prices are headed for a correction in overheated markets. “Land prices will come down,” he said, “and there will be much more volatility.” Duncan advised builders to be cautious at the high end of the market, but more confident about moderately priced products.

Panelists at the NAHB conference weren’t too concerned about the 10% investor share of buyers that typifies today’s condo market nationwide, but they did express wariness of places — such as South Florida and Washington, D.C. — where rough estimates of the investor share range from 20% on up.

Those who view today’s high land prices as a benchmark are probably mistaken, said Tom Baum, president of Bozzuto Development Company in the Bozzuto Group. He said that “current prices are unsustainable” in the Washington, D.C. market, where contractors have also been boosting their prices, by about 30% in just the last year. “That’s got to be worked out,” he said.

Baum noted that his company has been “through the ups and downs of good times and bad,” so it hasn’t “dived head-first” into the current condo frenzy. Bozzuto most recently has been focusing on suburban four-story elevator buildings targeted to empty nesters, which he described as “a strong niche” on the edge of the explosive high-rise boom.

To prepare for the less vibrant future, Duncan said builders should examine their price points. “Look at rent vs. buy,” he said. At $160,000-$175,000, “you’re not out of kilter at that level.” As you go up the price scale, however, and the cost of owning becomes increasingly higher than the cost of renting, the viability of that product becomes increasingly untenable when times turn down.

For more information: www.nahb.org/multifamily [return to top]