It has certainly been a great few days. The weather was just beautiful for homecoming, and the Gators did not disappoint. And the great news is not limited to what happened at the Swamp. There are small signs that there is positive activity on the home front. There was a small increase in single-family-home starts in Alachua County from last October to this - 42 to 46, as well as from September to October 38 to 46. Even more encouraging is the jump in new-home starts in Marion County from September to October - 95 to 147.
The good news is not just local. The Fed again lowered interest rates last week, and that could stimulate the economy. Also, an NAHB group of economists announced that the current downturn should end in 2008, and a report from the AGC says that commercial construction continues to keep the industry strong overall. That's news the mainstream media is not likely to share. Finally, in what may be the most encouraging news, there are more registrants for the International Builders Show, scheduled for Orlando in February, than there was a year ago at this time. That could mean that builders are looking for two things - methods to ride out the downturn, and preparing for it end.
By the way, if you have never been to IBS, it is a great showcase for our industry. For registration information, go to http://www.buildersshow.com/Home/
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www.BuildingEdgeMagazine.com
Our October issue is online, and has arrived in the mail. It features Isaac Construction in Lake City. The National Feature is on Weathering the Elements: HVAC, insulation, house wrap, anti-mold products, siding and brick, roofing, pest control . Our Edge Spotlight this month is on Griffis Tile & Flooring.
The November issue, which features Demetri Homes of Ocala will be online in the next week. The National Feature will be on Green Building: engineered wood/stone, heating/cooling alternatives, sustainable building materials, increasing IAQ (indoor air quality), plastic piping.
We will close out the year in December with GC Construction of Gainesville. The National Feature will be on Construction Technology.
We kick start the new year with Allen Stine and All America Homes. Our National Feature will be on Home Technology.
Our Fall 2007 Commercial issue has finally started to ship. It should arrive within the next week or so. I apologize for the delay. Something about this time of year and production never seem to flow as smoothly as it should. This will be remedied before fall next year. This issue should start arriving in about two weeks. The cover story is a feature on Ocala's Ausley Construction , one of the premiere commercial builders in North Central Florida.
The Winter issue will feature Trunnell Construction on the cover. You may remember a few months back we did a residential issue featuring Greg Trunnell, along with Mitch Glaeser and Myles Kinsell, promoting The Palms. This issue is open for sales now, and will close November 29th.
HOME™: Living in the Heart of Florida: The feedback on our newest magazine, Home™: Living in the Heart of Florida has been phenomenal. Distribution is now at about 300 locations, and requests for subscriptions have come in from 14 states. It is nice to see that The Heart of Florida is as popular as ever, and I am humbled that we have been chosen by so many, so quickly to be the vehicle to deliver the news on the area. We have solicited feedback from many about this publication, and have started implementing the ideas to improve even further for the second issue, due to arrive the beginning of January. To be featured, advertise or just interested in receiving the magazine, please email us at info@advantagepublishinginc.com or call us at 352-372-5854, x203.
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Marion County Commission Holds First Springs Protection Ordinance Hearing; Many Questions Remain
More than 200 people packed the Marion County Commission auditorium last Wednesday to express concerns, and question the rush to a decision on the county's springs protection ordinance. The ordinance will force new residential construction that is not hooked to central water and sewer systems to incorporate enhanced septic tanks. It also requires current residences on septic tanks to switch to the enhanced systems if they have any leakage problems. The enhanced tanks could cost as much as $7,500 to $9,500, plus annual maintenance.
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Alachua County OKs Impact Fee Increases
An ordinance enacting impact fee increases that will start in March was approved by the Alachua County Commission Tuesday night, ending a months-long debate that featured growth-management advocates calling for the increases while builders and developers opposed them. The ordinance also provides for annual adjustments at a rate tied to inflation. That issue was the only point of discussion after a cap on the adjustment was sought by Gainesville attorney Melissa Murphy, representing the Builders Association of North Central Florida. Click Here>>
Trust Seeks Projects for Proposed Sales Tax
Community and political leaders will begin developing a list of projects for park and conservation land, schools and roads that could be on a potential sales tax referendum in November 2008. That was the upshot of a Wednesday meeting held by the Trust for Public Land, which will poll residents on projects to learn whether a referendum is viable.
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Gainesville City Decision Could Sink Plans for Development of Hatchet Creek
The Gainesville City Commission's approval of conditions limiting the number and location of homes in the Hatchet Creek subdivision Monday could cause the proposal to be revised or scrapped, the project's developer said Tuesday.
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Advantage Steel Truss a Small, but Growing, Force in Lake City
It took five years in business for Curt Burlingame and his Lake City-based company Advantage Steel Truss to be named SCORE of the Suwannee Valley's 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year. Burlingame hopes the next five years bring as much success. What began as only an idea, Burlingame opened the company that specializes in light-gauge steel trusses for commercial construction in 2002 after more than 30 years
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Dunnellon to Discuss Plans for Land Use
Residents interested in the city's plan for future development may wish to attend tonight's Planning Commission public workshop, where the complete package of proposed changes to the city's comprehensive plan will be discussed. A proposed future land use map will be presented. It will show the areas where various land uses - such as agricultural, commercial, recreation, conservation, mixed use, public lands and residential - would be allowed.
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Alachua County School Board Considers Zone Changes, New Elementary Sites
An overcrowded Buchholz High School could be helped with a change in school attendance zones, the Alachua County School Board agreed Tuesday morning. The board also discussed the need to build five new elementary schools in the next 10 years and a new high school in the next 20 years.
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Lake City Residents Give City an Earful
An impassioned Dennis Roberts discussed the Publix Supermarket development on U.S. Highway 90 at Tuesday night's city of Lake City neighborhood meeting. Roberts said he was very concerned and angry about the amount of acreage that was mowed down for the new Publix Supermarket. Roberts claimed the development was in violation of the city's tree ordinance, but Councilman Michael Lee said that to his knowledge no violation had occurred.
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Marion Schools Gain 676 Students
Marion County School Board member Sue Mosley was surprised last Monday to learn the School District's enrollment climbed this month to a record of 43,123 students. Mosley, who also is a real estate agent, said she had expected enrollment to remain stagnant because of the area's lagging home sales, which were down in Marion County by 57 percent in September.
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MCBIA Calendar of Events
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BANCF Calendar of Events
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Employers Stand to Gain from Large Workers Comp Insurance Rate Cut
The National Council on Compensation Insurance has agreed to comply with a request by insurance regulators to implement the largest one-year decrease on record in Florida's workers-compensation insurance rates. A week after receiving an Oct. 22 rejection notice for a proposed 16.5 percent rate reduction, because the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation wanted to see deeper cuts, the council has submitted an amended filing indicating it will reduce rates by an average 18.4 percent statewide.
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Manatee County Considers Giving More Control to Planners to Spur Development
Confronted with the ever-growing need for affordable housing, Manatee County commissioners are considering a novel approach that doesn't sit well with all of them: Giving up control of the development approval process. Out of 2,182 affordable- and workforce-housing projects proposed since 2004, only 96 units have been completed.
To a large extent, developers say they are hamstrung by the arduous project-approval process and red tape.
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Peace in Sight in Pasco on Hike in Fees
Hard feelings lingered, but the top brass of Pasco's school district and county government built a tenuous strategy Tuesday on how to keep schools from being overwhelmed by rapid population growth. The School Board and County Commission, flanked by their top advisors, met for the third time this year in an attempt to meet a Feb. 1 state deadline for a plan.
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State Farm's Nonrenewal Estimate Low
Back in July, State Farm Florida told regulators it would drop the windstorm insurance on some 50,000 homeowner, condo, mobile home and renter policies within 2 miles of the coast starting Jan. 1. Make that more than 74,000 policies - nearly 50 percent more. According to updated figures submitted to state regulators, State Farm will not renew 74,098 policies.
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Tax Board Wants to Try to Solve Property-Tax Problem
Members of the citizens panel empowered to put tax proposals onto the November 2008 ballot said the Legislature ''didn't go far enough'' and ''rushed to judgment'' in its attempt to address property taxes. So the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission said Thursday it wants to finish the job. ''This is a major, major issue and it should be viewed on the top of the list of what we should deal with,'' said Jim Scott, vice chairman of the panel.
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Florida Gains Ground in Survey of Business Climate
In an annual comparison of each state's business climate, Florida has come in at No. 9, moving up two notches from last year to crack the top ten. The rankings, released Thursday in Site Selection Magazine, showed that the Southeast continues to dominate as the region most attractive to business leaders. Magazine editor Mark Arend said the latest survey confirms the now well-established pattern of moving factories and offices to the less-unionized South, he said.
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No Point to More Growth Rules if Growth's at a Halt
A recent headline in the Wall Street Journal asked, "Is Florida Over?" The article makes a case that our state's population growth has slowed to a crawl and that Florida may have actually begun to shrink. Retirees and working residents tell why they are moving to other places. It appears the quality of life and economic opportunities that have drawn so many of us here over the years no longer outweigh our high housing prices and property taxes, which shift the burden onto newer residents and businesses.
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What Will Tax Relief Do for Real Estate?
Will the Legislature's latest tax fix juice up Florida's languishing real estate market? Realtors say the tax-relief package passed Monday should help get buyers and sellers to the closing table, if it's approved by voters Jan. 29. But just how much it will stimulate a sluggish market beset by multiple problems is uncertain.
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Property-Tax Measure Heads to Voters
Outmaneuvered and out of time, the Florida House railed for hours against a scaled-back property tax plan -- only to pass it Monday evening because the state Senate all but forced the vote in the waning hours of the lawmaking session. Now Florida voters will have to decide Jan. 29 if it's enough. It will take 60 percent of the vote to pass.
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International Builders' Show Bucks Trend of Housing Downturn
Despite the country's slowing housing market, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) announced last week that attendance registration for its International Builders' Show® (IBS) was up 15 percent compared to this time last year. The IBS is the housing industry's largest annual light construction trade show and exhibition, held Feb. 13 - 16, 2008, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
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Housing Economists Expect Market Turnaround for 2008
Economists who participated in the National Association of Home Builders Fall Construction Forecast Conference said that they expect the industry to bottom out and to start turning around in 2008. The housing should begin to turn around next year for a number of reasons: the overall economy and job growth continue to move ahead at a decent pace, core inflation is under control, the late-summer credit crunch in mortgage markets is showing signs of easing, and the supply-demand equation will be better balanced as builders begin to whittle down excess inventories.
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Fed Cuts Key Rate
The Federal Reserve, confronted with surging oil prices and a slumping housing market, cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday, the second rate reduction this year. The central bank lowered the federal funds rate to 4.5 percent in an effort to stimulate economic activity and keep the country from dipping into a recession. The move will make it cheaper for consumers and businesses to borrow money.
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Energy Efficiency Ranks #1 in Consumer Green Building Priorities
A new survey conducted for the National Association of Home Builders confirms that a desire for greater energy efficiency drives consumers to choose a green-built home. Green building is the home buyer's best defense against soaring energy costs, but it is up to the nation's builders to make sure the cure is not more expensive than the problems itself. The NAHB Green Building program is being launched with the goal of cost-effective green building.
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Leading Organizations to Host Symposium on Affordability
The National Association of Home Builders in conjunction with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Education Association are holding a symposium to develop a broad national coalition that understands and voices support for housing issues at the local level and to compile a tool box of techniques and programs to help a local coalition improve housing affordability. The symposium is scheduled for Nov. 5 and 6.
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NAHB Research Center Awarded OSHA Safety Training Grant
The NAHB Research Center, the housing research arm of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is the recipient of a 2007 Susan Harwood Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Awarded annually through a competitive application process, the grants support safety and health workplace training and education programs. The Research Center and NAHB will use the $241,248 grant to conduct safety training sessions in home building markets across the United States.
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Low Rates Lure Refinancers and Boost Mortgage Demand
A refinancing waves pushed total mortgage applications higher on the lower 30-year mortgage rates since early May despite a small drop in demand for loans to buy homes. The Mortgage Bankers Association's mortgage applications index rose a seasonally adjusted 3.8 percent to 681.7 in the week ended Oct. 26. Purchase applications have been exaggerated on the high side in recent months as borrowers, facing greater trouble getting mortgages approved by lenders, who have become more restrictive, apply multiple times for one loan.
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Mortgage Rates Drop to Lowest Level in Five Months
Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to the lowest level in five months as evidence mounted that the economy is slowing down. Freddie Mac reported that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dipped to 6.26 percent, down from 6.33 percent the last week. It was the lowest level since 30-year mortgages were at 6.21 percent the week of May 17.
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Eco-Friendly Homes Move into Mainstream
The new homes that will line a rural tract in suburban New Jersey will have walls insulated by blue jeans. In Dallas-Fort Worth, a starter home will come equipped with a computer-controlled vent that pulls in fresh air. The green movement that has spurred schools to discourage paper lunch bags and motorists to trade in gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles for hybrids is creeping into the housing market as a growing number of builders construct environmentally friendly homes and state and local governments offer incentives to create such communities.
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Green Building Industry's Growth is Revolutionary Says New Book
With the number of LEED-registered and LEED-certified green building projects increasing at rates approaching 70-80 percent year-over-year, the new book by leading green building consultant Jerry Yudelson entitled "The Green Building Revolution" shows why this trend has become a "revolution." Yudelson's book not only chronicles the dimensions of this growth, but provides its manifesto as well.
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Nonresidential Construction Job Growth Offsets Housing Slump, AGC Says
"Nonresidential construction employment grew again in October, belying the notion that the housing slump is dragging down all construction," Ken Simonson, Chief Economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), said today. Simonson was commenting on the November 2 payroll employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). An acceleration of hiring by architects and engineers suggests even better news ahead.
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Kohl's, H.H. Gregg Slated for Ocala Retail Center
Several big box retailers, including Kohl's and H.H. Gregg, plan to open stores at Berkshire Oaks, a new shopping center being developed just west of I-75 on Southwest College Road. "Kohl's is going in there," said Nancy Overstreet, zoning chief for the city of Ocala. "The only reason I know there's a Kohl's there is they've asked about signage. They submitted some sign package stuff to me so I can tell them whether it will go or not."
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Orlando Architects Top Choice to Design Belleview Police, Public Works Offices
An Orlando-based architectural firm scored higher than two local firms to become the top choice to design a new building to house the city of Belleview's public works and police departments on the 27-acre property off County Road 484 which will also include several county-owned buildings. The six-member interview committee, led by Belleview City Commissioner Ken Nadeau, spent just over four hours on Thursday morning reviewing proposals from five applicants.
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ConsensusDOCS Releases Guidebook to Accompany Contracts
ConsensusDOCS, the first-of-its-kind collaboration to publish fair and balanced standard construction contracts and forms, released the first edition of its guidebook, which provides an overview of the main contracts and forms as well as individual highlights and possible project-specific considerations for modification. The guidebook includes contributions by participating endorsing associations of ConsensusDOCS, and it supplements the consensus provisions in the 72 ConsensusDOCS contracts and forms, which cover all project delivery methods and help to facilitate the use of innovative technologies like Building Information Modeling.
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AGC of Greater Florida Calendar of Events
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Residential October 2007
Commercial Fall 2007
HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida
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