NEW In Our View: More Than A Color
Assume for the moment that you care not one whit about the environment and are motivated only by greed and self-interest. You likely, therefore, would be interested in the fact that "green" homes have a 5 percent to 12 percent higher value and spend up to 33 percent less time on the market than nongreen homes. Those statistics come from a study by the Northwest-based Multiple Listing Service of home sales in Portland and Seattle.
from The Columbian Opinion

NEW Estimating Software for Construction
Go to any national convention and you can’t miss seeing dozens of software vendors. It is a big business and there is high value to construction firms. The product has made estimating a less clerical and more of a management position. In other words, it has made estimating more efficient. Due to its power, counting and measuring is less of a task; taking hours instead of days. For those of us who don’t looking forward to the job of estimating, computers and software has made it bearable.
from Construction Contractor's Digest

NEW Getting Injured Workers Back to Work...Even Contractors
You have heard about the benefits and cost savings if you bring an injured contractor back to modified duty. But, how can an injured worker bring any value to a construction site? Statistics show that workers who remain in their regular routine recover quicker then those that don't. In fact, the majority of injured workers who are out of work for 12 weeks or more never return to their original jobs.
from Construction Risk Blog

Measures to Avoid Cracking in Fresh Concrete
Generally, the contractor shall allow for all necessary measures to monitor and avoid cracking in fresh hydrating concrete, regardless the size or volume of the pour. Such measures shall be to the satisfaction of the Engineer and shall be such that maximum surface crack width on hardened concrete measure immediately after the pour does not exceed 0.004 times the nominal cover of the main reinforcement.
from Civil Engineer Blog

Will Nontechnology Lead to Disposable Buildings?
I've been kicking the idea of disposable buildings around for a while. And by disposable I really mean a building that can be completely recycled at the end of its useful life. Traditionally, monolithic stone structures have proven most durable. Ancient cultures that built with stone left their mark all around the globe. We no longer build such enduring structures. Everything we build has a limited life cycle and we can only extend that life cycle through intense—and often expensive—maintenance programs.
from Collaborative Construction Blog

The Many Facets of Green Building Innovation
The process and adoption of innovation are the result of several forces at work, not all of them necessarily aligned: The need to customize the product to fit the specific needs of the client and the need for scope, scale and speed.
from Greener Buildings

Construction: Not Good, But Getting Better
Here's this theme again: The economy's getting better, but it's still pretty bad. It's true for jobs: The economy's adding jobs every month, but there are still far fewer jobs than there were before the recession, and unemployment is still high. And it's true for the construction business, a key source of jobs that rose with the boom and fell with the bust.
from NPR Planet Money Blog

Benefits of Using Silica Fume in Concrete
Silica Fume has been used all over the world for many years in the area where high strength and durable concrete were required. Silica Fume improves the characteristics of both fresh and hard concrete.
from Civil Engineer Site Blog

The Achitect As Urbanist
"The Architect as Urbanist" reviews Paul Rudolph's unusually volatile career, and offers a close and deeply observed reading of several of Rudolph's projects in southeast Asia. All were designed in the last decades of his life, and all have been comparatively neglected in the literature on an architect whose career is now exciting renewed interest—even as the built works continue to be demolished and threatened.
from The Design Observer Group

If It Doesn't Perform, It's Not Green
In a forthcoming keynote address to the Green Cities conference of the Green Building Council of Australia, green building guru Jerry Yudelson intends to tackle a important concern in the sustainable building world: performance. His keynote, entitled “If it doesn’t perform, it’s not green,” is at the center of a hot button topic that seems to be taking on new fervor these days.
from Jetson Green

Debate over Fire Sprinkler Issue Has Many Voices
The nation may be in the grips of winter, but things are heating up in the debate over fire sprinklers. The International Code Council approved a measure in 2008 that called for sprinkler systems to be installed in newly built townhouses in the beginning of 2010 and single family homes in 2011. The move sparked a debate between fire officials and home builders at the local and state levels.
from Disaster Safety Blog

Strong Forecasts for Green Business and Building in 2010
What's in store for green business, building and sustainable sites in 2010? Here are my predictions for the year's emerging trends in retrofits, energy efficiency, alternative energy and more.
from Greener Buildings

Housing the Next Generation with Old Shipping Containers
If the predictions are accurate, America will have to house some 100 million more people by 2040 to mid-century than is now the case. Despite the current round of foreclosures and rising apartment vacancy, over the long term the demand for humane, affordable, sustainable housing is going to escalate dramatically in the coming years.
from New Geography

Risk Management in Construction Project and Planning
Risk management is activity directed towards the assessing, mitigating (to an acceptable level) and monitoring of risks. In some cases, the acceptable risk may be near zero. Risks can come from accidents, natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate attacks from an adversary.
from Civil Engineer Blog

Love That New House Smell?
Today’s new-home construction materials contain an excessive amount of chemicals that evaporate and off-gas into Volatile Organic Compounds. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets, moulding and paneling, drywall, flooring and roofing materials are manufactured using toxic chemicals such as Urea-Formaldehyde and phenolic resins. Paints, stains and sealants are used extensively in just about every room in the house, and contain VOCs that can cause serious health effects. A newly-constructed house will have a significant amount of VOCs in the air because the rate of off-gassing for VOCs is highest initially.
from Eric Martin on Upworld

Housing: Density and Desire
Density — the number of units per acre on a proposed site plan — is at the heart of the developer’s mantra: More density, more profit. Meanwhile, environmentalists and many planners preach high density as the promise for a better future. The compression of families is an attempt to curb sprawl and reduce transportation energy consumption. For these reasons, many Green programs demand a minimum density to qualify for certification.
from New Geography

Title of Architect/Engineer Used by Technogeeks
A community member writes: "As a licensed architect, it's frustrating and publicly confusing to see the term architect/engineer used to describe computer-hardware/software positions. It's time to reclaim our titles, which we all worked very hard to achieve and to maintain."
from McGraw-Hill Construction Community

What Builders Should Know about Google Maps
If you are in the home building or real estate arena, you may need some help attracting clients to your properties. The good news is Google has added "home for sale" search features to Google Maps.
from Building Systems Blog

How Are You Preparing for the Fire Sprinkler Mandate?
Given the fact that the International Code Council (ICC) voted in November to keep the language related to mandatory fire sprinklers installed in all new one- and two-family homes in the next edition of the International Residential Code (IRC), I wonder how builders are preparing for the change. After all, sprinklers will be mandatory in new buildings beginning on January 1, 2011.
The Product Guy

Lumber Market May Point to Strength in Housing
One of the surprising bright spots in global commodity markets over the past few weeks has been lumber, a commodity that you would think would be in agony, given the sad state of the U.S. home market. Instead, raw lumber prices are up more than 25% this year, according to Jon Markman of Markman Capital Insight.
from NP Financial Post

Engineers without Borders—US Students Are Safe in Haiti
Students from the University of Wisconsin Engineers Without Borders-UW chapter posted a blog saying the quake was barely a tremor at the location where they have been working on a hydro-electric power generation project.
from Engineers without Borders—University of Wisconsin

When Granny Comes Marching Home Again... Multi-Generational Housing
The driveway tells the story. The traditional two-story 2,200 square foot suburban home has a two-car attached garage. Today’s multi-generational families fill the garage, the driveway and often also occupy the curb in front of the home. The economic crisis that is transforming America is also changing the way we live. The outcome will change the way America views its housing needs for the balance of the 21st Century.
from New Geography

New Advances in Concrete Technology
There have been a number of advances in new concrete technology in the past ten years. There have been advancements made in almost all areas of concrete production including materials, recycling, mixture proportioning, durability, and environmental quality. However, many of these innovations have not been adopted by the concrete industry or concrete users / buyers. There is always some resistance to change and it is usually based on cost considerations and lack of familiarity with the new technology.
from Great Possibilities Weblog

Will Fire Sprinkler Code Requirement Reduce Property Losses?
What will a new code requiring fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family dwellings and townhomes mean for insurers, builders and consumers? We explore the issue.
from Disaster Safety Blog

The Pros and Cons of Deconstruction
Have you ever considered that the old kitchen cabinets you are removing could be used by someone else? While it might seem to be easier to demolish everything, reusing materials is environmentally friendly and reduces your waste removal costs. Plus, there can be other surprising economic benefits. Here is some more really great remodeling information for contractors and homeowners alike.
from National Lumber's Blog

Housing Permits Up 30 Percent Over April 2009; Will Builders Stifle Recovery?
I'm starting to hear the phrase, "pent-up demand" a lot from various investors, real-estate professionals and builders. I started thinking a bit more about this and what's in store for this spring in the housing industry, and more specifically in the new construction industry.
from Bigger Pockets Blog

Some Guidelines for Building ADA Accessible Curb Ramps
As a part of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities, there are certain specifications and requirements that curbs and ramps must meet in order to meet code standards. Below, I discuss the different elements of these standards and the specs that they must meet.
from Let's Blog Construction

The Best Industry in the United States
You may not believe it, but the facts will show our business is unmatched. It offers participants long-term tangible benefits. However, many people will argue that point. Let me show you the many virtues our industry has. You be the judge.
from Construction Contractor's Digest

It's Hot, It's Dry, and It's Almost Summer
For many parts of the United States, conditions are already "primed" for a bad wildfire season. Depending on where you live, the term "wildfire" can have many connotations, especially for residents of the southern California hills and other wester U.S. states that regularly see devastating fires every year. So why am I writing this stuff in a fire safety blog? Because of a factor that's increasingly exposing people and their property to the devastation that can be unleashed by an uncontrollable wildfire: the wildland urban interface (WUI).
from Fire Safety Protection Pro

Staying Green Keeps in the Black
With the ClimateGate scandal and the fiery Copenhagen Climate Conference threatening to cause some building and design professionals to reassess their commitment to the green movement, sustainable commercial and industrial construction just might be facing its most daunting challenge yet. Or is it? The primary reason to stay green is that sustainable construction methods just make good clean "carbon neutral" sense. It's the world's buildings that are responsible for burning half its energy supplies—supplies that one day are going to run out. Which is why despite arguments over climate change, investment in sustainable building strategies does not seem to be slowing.
from CR4 Building Design Blog

What is the True Cost of Going Green?
This past week Elisa Wood of Renewableenergyworld.com wrote a very interesting blog piece focusing on the state of the commercial real estate market and the perceived costs and benefits of green buildings. Ms. Wood focused on what she calls the "ghosts" of green building, the perceived costs of green expenditures which in reality do not actually turn out to be true her post is based on a recent report released by Ceres.
from Green Building & Environmental Trends