Reinventing the Nail November 28, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, insurance, manufacturing, architecture , add a commentPopsci.com has an interesting article about how Ed Sutt, the son of an architect/contractor in suburban Connecticut, stumbled into an idea to redesign one of the most basic tools of construction: the nail.
Sutt, who now works for Stanley Bostitch, researched the problem of houses collapsing during hurricanes to help design a new nail, the HurriQuake.
Tests conducted by researchers at Florida International University and the International Code Council—the independent building-safety standards organization—confirmed that the HurriQuake has more than twice the “uplift capacity” of standard power-driven nails. Other independent tests showed that the HurriQuake can double a typical home’s resistance to high winds and add up to 50 percent more resistance to earthquakes.
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Big Dig Firms Sued Over Tunnel Accident
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, insurance, manufacturing, transportation, architecture , add a commentMassachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly announced he will sue 15 companies that worked on the $15 billion “Big Dig” roadway project in Boston, alleging negligence that caused a ceiling panel to fall and crush a woman this past summer.
The civil suit claims project manager Bechtel/Parson Brinckerhoff was “grossly negligent” in building the tunnel, part of which collapsed less than four years after it was opened. The lawsuit also names the manufacturers and distributors of the epoxy used to hold bolts.
The family of Milena Del Valle, the 38-year-old woman killed on July 10th, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in August.
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Deere Profit Estimates Worsen November 21, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, agriculture, construction, manufacturing, finance, forestry , add a commentProfit at Deere & Co., the world’s largest farm equipment manufacturer, will fall below analysts’ estimates in 2007, according to the company.
Total net income of $150 million to $175 million for the first quarter was the company’s prediction, resulting in 65 cents to 76 cents per share. Analysts on average were expecting 97 cents per share.
Chief Executive Officer Robert Lane is limiting production to prevent excess inventory due to higher fuel and fertilizer costs which the company expects will hurt farm budgets.
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Wages Rise for U.S. Workers November 20, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, real estate, retail, finance, management , add a commentFor the first time in years, paychecks in the U.S. rose faster than the cost of living. The pay increase amounts to four percent over the past twelve months, a gain that hasn’t been seen since 1997.
From Christian Science Monitor:
“The striking feature of this expansion has been that … real wages for the typical worker haven’t risen that much,” says Richard Berner, US economist at the investment bank Morgan Stanley in New York. But with real incomes rising, he says, “you get a picture of an economy that can weather this housing storm.”
The risk of recession hasn’t disappeared, he and other economists say. But with a fairly tight job market and low unemployment, many expect that paychecks will keep rising solidly in 2007.
Add fewer layoffs this year and the economy might just have something to be thankful about this Thursday.
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Housing Starts Lowest in Six Years November 17, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, real estate, finance , add a commentOctober starts of new homes plunged a whopping 14.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.486 million, the lowest since July, 2000, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Building permits also took a hit and were down 6.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.535 million, the lowest in nine years and the largest percentage drop in seven years.
The retreat by home builders led many experts to abandon hopes of a quick recovery in the housing market.
From MarketWatch:
But Stephen Stanley, chief economist for RBS Greenwich Capital, saw a silver lining in the October data.
“We see this as an unambiguously good thing,” he wrote. “The faster builders address their bloated inventories and bring the pace of home construction down, the quicker the housing correction will play out and the economy can return to a more normal footing.”
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Nonresidential Construction Still Growing November 16, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, public utilities, real estate, retail, finance, architecture , add a commentDespite lackluster sales in the residential arena, nonresidential construction spending has risen for 15th consecutive month, leading to an overall construction spending increase of 6.6 percent in the first 9 months of 2006 over the same period last year.
From Architectural Record via BusinessWeek:
Hotels and resort-related construction spending saw a 48 percent gain over the first nine months of last year; retail stores, shopping centers and malls were up 37 percent; hospital spending grew 25 percent; and manufacturing increased by 23 percent. Multifamily construction, meanwhile, was up 18 percent year-to-date, as a surge in rental facilities is offsetting a dip in condominium building.
Highway and street construction, meanwhile, rose 16 percent year-to-date over 2005, while educational construction increased by 7 percent. Other positive growth areas include sewage and waste disposal and transportation facilities. Nearly all of these categories are expected to grow in 2007, due to a fundamentally strong economy.
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Micro-CHP Makes Inroads November 15, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, government, public utilities, real estate , add a commentResidential micro-combined-heat-and-power (micro-CHP) units are making their way into the U.S. according to this article.
Used for years in industrial applications with much larger units, the technology has finally gotten small and quiet enough for serious consideration in residential settings and is already available in Europe and Japan. Combining an internal-combustion engine generator with high-efficiency home furnaces, the unit heats a home while outputting one to four kilowatts of electricity—that’s $600 to $3,200 worth each year.
Slowly gaining ground, the trend is “not at all pie in the sky,” says Cheryl Harrington of the Regulatory Assistance Project, a nonprofit that helps states and nations develop energy policy. “The question is how to get electric utilities to actively support this kind of generation when it is on the customer’s side of the meter.”
Micro-CHP doesn’t come cheap - just with a long-term discount. Basic systems cost from $13,000 to $20,000, installed. Even at the lower range, that’s at least $6,000 more than a new high-efficiency hot-air furnace, even after a gas company rebate. Result: The payback period on the initial investment is three to seven years, depending on the cost of electricity, say officials at Climate Energy. The company expects to install about 200 systems next year, mostly in New England.
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Home Depot Forecasts Tough Year Ahead November 14, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, retail, finance , add a commentThe nation’s leading home improvement retailer said its per-share profit could shrink 12 - 16 percent in the fourth quarter and more weakness is expected next year as the U.S. housing market continues to struggle.
From Reuters:
In home improvement, “I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom yet,” Home Depot Chairman Robert Nardelli told analysts during a conference call after finance chief Carol Tome gave the fourth-quarter forecast.
“I don’t see anything that suggests it’s going to get significantly better in ‘07,” Nardelli added.
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A New Spin on Housing November 2, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, real estate, architecture , add a commentCan’t decide which way the house should face? Then feel free to change your mind. Every 30 minutes, this house, located in Australia, can rotate a full 360 degrees to take advantage of a different view or to be more energy-efficient by taking advantage of the sun’s rays. From the site:
The Rotating House™ rotates a full 360° around a central core of plumbing and electricals. Computer-controlled rotation gives you complete control over your view.
Want to build your own? The owner has been kind enough to provide instructions.
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Trammell Crow to be Purchased by CB Richard Ellis November 1, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, construction, real estate, finance , add a commentAccording to the Associated Press, CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. has agreed to buy competitor Trammell Crow for $1.79 billion. CB Richard Ellis is already the world’s largest commercial real estate services company, and the purchase would create a company with over $4 billion in annual revenue and more than 10 percent of the commerical real estate market.
With nearly 50 offices in the United States, Trammell Crow employs about 6,200 workers and posted 2005 earnings of $59.4 million on $896 million in sales.
CB Richard, based in El Segundo, Calif., employs about 14,500 workers and posted 2005 net income of $217.3 million on sales of $2.91 billion. Chairman Richard Blum owns 14 percent of the firm through his Blum Capital Partners.
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