The National Green Building Standard™ (ICC 700-2008) for all residential construction work including single-family homes, apartments and condos, land development and remodeling and renovation has been approved by the American National Standards Institute. The National Green Building Standard is the first green building rating system to be approved by ANSI, making it the benchmark for green homes.
NAHB will host a teleconference Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. EST to discuss the new standard. To participate, dial 1-800-860-2442 and ask for the “National Green Building Standard” Call.
The standard defines what green practices can be incorporated into residential development and construction on a national scale and how home owners can operate and maintain their green homes.
As part of the stringent process required by ANSI, NAHB and the International Code Council assembled a fully-inclusive and representative consensus committee composed of a broad spectrum of builders, architects, product manufacturers, regulators and environmental experts. This group deliberated the content of the standard for more than a year, held four public hearings and evaluated more than 2,000 public comments submitted for consideration.
For more information on the teleconference, click here.
A crash course on BUILD-PAC basics will be held at the NCHBA 1st Quarter Meeting in Pinehurst on Feb. 17. To sign up, please RSVP by Feb. 13 to Erin Jones at (919) 676-9090 or by email at
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The Hickory & Catawba Valley Home Builders Association is offering the Green Building for Building Professionals class on March 30-31 and the Business Management for Building Professionals on April 1. These classes are part of the NAHB Certified Green Professional Designation.
Carl Seville of Seville Consulting is the instructor. Classes will be held at the Hickory Metro Convention Center. See flyer form for cost and registration information.
The 1st Quarter Meeting is scheduled for Feb. 17-18 at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club. The first day will consist of committee meetings and an evening "get-acquainted" reception. The Board of Directors will meet on Wednesday morning to conclude the meeting.
If you have thought about getting more involved in NCHBA activities or want to know what is going on in the association, join us at the 1st Quarter Meeting. A list of committees and councils is included on the registration form.
Please complete and return the registration form to NCHBA. If you intend to stay overnight, you must make hotel reservations directly with the hotel.
The Spring 2009 North Carolina Builder Institute session is scheduled for March 3-5 at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh. Registration is now open for a wide range of courses.
The North Carolina Home Builders Educational & Charitable Foundation, Inc. is now accepting nominations and applications for its college scholarships. The foundation awards scholarships based on a combination of need and merit to four-year college students entering their junior or senior year and technical school students entering their second year who have declared their major in a construction related field.
To be eligible a student must meet the following criteria:
Applicants must be nominated by a NCHBA member firm.
Nominees shall be immediate family members - related by blood, (i.e. children, step-children or grandchildren). Students related by marriage, (i.e. son-in-law, daughter-in-law, etc.) shall not be eligible.
Immediate family members of any current trustee of the NCHB Educational & Charitable Foundation, Inc. shall not be eligible.
Awards are for one year, but scholarship winners may submit a renewal application and be considered for renewal if they make satisfactory progress in their studies.
Only full-time students will be considered. NCHBA defines a full-time student as one taking a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester.
The deadline for entries is April 30, 2009. For a nomination form or an application packet, contact NCHBA at (800) 662-7129; (919) 676-9090 or e-mail: . Mail completed applications to: North Carolina Home Builders Association (NCHBA), P. O. Box 99090, Raleigh, NC 27624.
The Eastern Carolina Safety and Health School is scheduled for April 2-3 at Craven County Convention Center in New Bern. Some topics for the school include the new NCDOL crane standard, combustible dust, loading dock safety, NCDOL Occupational Safety and Health update and arc-flash safety. The ECSHS will also host 10-hour general industry and construction workshops on April 1 at the Craven County Convention Center.
For more information, contact John Hodge at or (252) 633-2817. The school's Web site is www.ecshs.com.
The Green Building Council has started a green building listserv where council members and active participants can share ideas, news and events on green building and sustainability issues that are happening all across the state. Postings can pertain to legislative or public policy agenda items from across N.C. The group can share ideas on how to market their companies and increase brand awareness, and share verification information and feedback from different associations. In general the listserv will be a place to post information that others can benefit from or items that need action taken from our NCHBA leadership.
The group, called nchbagreen, is on Yahoo and the address is http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/nchbagreen/. If you have trouble joining, send Erin Jones an e-mail at and she will send you an invite to join.
Bonded Builders Warranty Group will award a $35 gas gift card to members of North Carolina Home Builders Associations who bring in their first ever new member that is approved by your association. Along with the $35 gas card we will provide a framed certificate of recognition printed on fine parchment paper.
Simply send Bonded Builders a list of names of recipients so you (or we) can give the award at your membership meeting. All we ask is that, as in any promotion, you let your members know the gas card is from Bonded Builders. This promotion is simply designed to support local home builder associations and does not require builder participation in our programs. Any member of your association is eligible to receive this award when they bring in their first ever new member to your Association. Others can also receive the award by bringing a paid new member application to a local golf tournament. Their recruit may also receive this award should they play in the same tournament.
Bonded Builders is doing this to help stimulate membership at a time when members are not thinking about asking. An association does not need to have participated in the Spirit of Membership programs in the past in order to participate now.
To claim awards, please e-mail or fax the following information to Andi Lindberg, Bonded Builders Warranty Group, at or fax: 941-743-0534
Your contact information
Award recipient’s name & company name
Name of HBA
Name of HBA President
The date by which you’d like to receive the award (over)
We will make every effort to produce the award and send it to you – along with the gas gift card and frame – prior to the date you’d like to present it. When you receive the award, your HBA president should sign the award and then put it in the frame.
The Lake Norman HBA University now offers the NCBI Accreditation Program as part of their program of classes! No longer will you have to drive to Raleigh for your NCBI designation courses. Classes are being held at Mitchell Community College in Mooresville, N.C., on a monthly basis. The cost for HBA members is $180 per 8 hours and $95 per 4 hours. Upon completion, builders receive this prestigious designation not only with NCBI, but also with the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors.
Worsening Data Underscores Need for Housing Stimulus
In the latest clear evidence of worsening distress in the housing market, the U.S. Commerce Department today reported that sales of newly built single-family homes slid 14.7 percent to the lowest monthly pace on record in December of 2008. This double-digit decline, on top of substantial downward revisions to home sales data for the previous three months, brought the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home sales to just 331,000 units for December, representing a 76 percent decline from the market peak in 2005.
“What more proof do you need that the housing downturn is accelerating -- bringing the economy with it -- and that the government must take substantive action to get qualified buyers back in the market?” said Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. and newly elected 2009 Chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Click here for the entire article.
Crowds are Smaller at International Builders’ Show as Industry Weathers Downturn Builders, remodelers and other members of the home building industry are back at work this week after more than 60,000 attended the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) International Builders’ Show® in Las Vegas Jan. 20-23.
In the midst of the most severe housing downturn in recent memory, attendees took advantage of more than 250 educational sessions and exhibits showcasing products and services from more than 1,600 companies to arm themselves with information about the latest industry trends, research and new products – the better to respond to demand when the market returns. Click here for the entire article.
