Builder The new iComfort E30 smart thermostat uses home automation technology to save energy and create an "ideal comfort" temperature. By Lauren Shanesy Lennox Industries Lennox has introduced the Lennox iComfort E30 smart thermostat, a new smart home thermostat that uses home automation technology to create the ideal environment for homeowners while also saving energy. The thermostat automatically [...]

BUILDER Here may be the last thing you thought was the reason it's so hard to attract young adults into the construction trades. By John McManus In April, we asked "Why Don't Young Americans Want to Do Construction Work?" The demographics support the question. BuildZoom chief economist Issi Romem analyzed American Community Survey Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data on [...]

Back to Basics: A Guide to Simple Bathroom Renovations Basic doesn't have to mean boring. Follow these steps to create minor changes that will have a major impact By Kacey Bradley Remodeling a bathroom doesn’t always means tearing it apart and starting over. You can relate this to clients who want a new look for their bathroom [...]

Canada hikes rates for first time in seven years amid hot housing market The central bank raised interest rates to 0.75 percent from 0.50 percent – its first hike in seven years Inflation figures have eased over the recent months, but the bank said this was a temporary move Housing market seen by analysts as a [...]

Builders Starting to Report Shortages of Framing Lumber BY PAUL EMRATH on JULY 10, 2017 • (7) For several years now, the recovery in single-family home building has been hampered by shortages of labor and lots.  Availability of building materials, meanwhile, has not been much of an issue.  But that may be starting to change. In answer to questions on the May 2017 survey [...]

Market barriers emerge as millennials prepare to buy homes By Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin June 12 (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg) Early reports by the Pew Research Center cited millennials (81 million of them) as those individuals born in 1981 and later up until today. Other researchers capped the era at those born between 1981 or 1982 [...]

BUILDER Are builders, developers, investors, lenders, and home buyers ready to take it on? By John McManus A widely held view among developers, builders, lenders, investors, etc., is that government risk aversion went way overboard coming out of the Great Recession, and that's been holding back housing and the economy. There's data loaded for bear as [...]

Home Equity Grows As The Composition Of (Fewer) Refinancings Shifts BY MICHAEL NEAL on JUNE 12, 2017 • (0) According to the Federal Reserve Board’s first quarter of 2017 release of its Financial Accounts of the United States report, household holdings of real estate, measured on a not seasonally adjusted basis, totaled $23.526 trillion in the first quarter [...]

This classic style is more versatile than homeowners may think. Here's how to make it work. By Kacey Bradley Stikwood Though modern design may be all the rage right now, rustic design has become a classic interior design trend for its charm and no-frills beauty. There are various subclasses of rustic design, from industrial rustic to [...]

Game tables, a full bar, a movie theater and industrial style transform an unfinished space into an entertainment haven Jennifer Blaise Kramer May 15, 2017 Houzz Contributor. Lifestyle Writer + Editor.More Sometimes you just want to get out of the house for a night on the town. But these homeowners wanted to create that feeling right [...]