Professional Remodeler articles from January 2005

Professional Remodeler archives from January 2005

Great occupation.
January 1, 2005... By Kimberly Sweet, Editor The 25 best remodeling companies to work for Colleagues who trust each other. Managers who mentor. The chance to develop new skills and advance professionally. These are just some of the basic elements of the...

Coming of Age.(Demographic trends in the workforce)
January 1, 2005... By Kimberly Sweet, Editor How to find, hire and train the next "generation" of employees With a lean staff and regular use of temporary labor supplied by a staffing agency, Louis Krokover of NewDay Development runs his remodeling and...

Changing the employee mix.(Report says employees today have to work harder and produce more.)
January 1, 2005... Kimberly Sweet, Editor As a card-carrying member of Generation X with a baby face that belies my age, I've been upholding the work ethic, drive, maturity, skills and knowledge of my cohort for more than a decade. I've never noticed the...

Home technology and the home office.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Kimberly Sweet Nearly 20 million people worked at home at least once a week in May 2001, according to the most recent available data from the U.S. Department of Labor. Combined with the number of homeowners who need space from which to...

Get the good word out.(Ethics.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Mindi Zissman With company crimes both big and small regularly making headlines, nothing says "trust us" like an ethics and integrity award from the Better Business Bureau. When Firstcall Construction Inc. of Urbandale, Iowa, took home the...

Selling the interior design difference.
January 1, 2005... Karen Wells In each new episode of HGTV's "Designers' Challenge," three designers picked by the producers present their concepts for the same remodeling project to the homeowners. Though the scenario resembles the three-bid sales process...

Build equity with real estate.
January 1, 2005... Kimberly Sweet Creating a remodeling company with sellable value continues to challenge even the best contractors in the business. Some remodeling company owners have turned to purchasing, rehabbing and selling or renting properties to...

Are you dying to grow?
January 1, 2005... By Alan Hanbury Looking at metrics for accounts payable, accounts receivable and working capital efficiency over time and against benchmarks can tell us if we are headed toward being cash strapped or if we can safely grow our business....

Winds of change.(preventive measures for home safety)
January 1, 2005... By Scott T. Shepherd For the PATH Partners Technology and techniques withstand high winds The hurricanes that pounded the Gulf and Atlantic coasts in 2004 left contractors and their customers pondering how to avoid damage when the next...

Down Under: Making the best use of existing space.
January 1, 2005... Karen Wells The story is typical: The owners of this 1,500-square-foot English Tudor needed to expand their living space, but setbacks and architectural controls in their Denver historic district restricted what could be done with an...

Rebuild: A lakeside home rises above restrictions.
January 1, 2005... Renee Young Chicago's North Shore is well known for teardowns, and this 1950s ranch home set on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan seemed a perfect prospect. The roof leaked, windows needed replacing, mechanicals were out of date, and the...

Alcoa.
January 1, 2005... Staff Alcoa Home Exteriors introduces DreamColor, a line of premium siding, shutters, designer accents, soffits and fascia available in 700 baseline colors such as Tropical Coral, Lemon Ice and Lavender CrE me. DreamColor allows for custom...

Pella.
January 1, 2005... Staff Pella's Vivid View window screens are virtually invisible, so the view to the outside is crisp and clear. The windows allow up to 50 percent more natural light and provide up to three times the airflow according to Pella. Backed by a...

Armstrong.
January 1, 2005... Staff Armstrong introduces its new designs for the Memories and Successor flooring lines, which mimic the appearance of real stone, ceramic and wood. Memories has an overall thickness of 0.065 inch, felt backing, and a 10-year warranty and...

Rheem & Ruud.
January 1, 2005... Staff The new Rheem Prestige Series and Ruud Ultra Series 16-SEER Condensing Unit was designed for homebuilders and remodelers specializing in upscale housing. Both are equipped with an Emerson Climate Technologies Comfort Alert on-board...

Epoch Composite Products Inc.
January 1, 2005... Staff Epoch has added a new hue -- Weathered Wood -- to its color palette. The new shade is a natural brown and can be used alone for a traditional look or with lighter EverGrain hues to create contrast. Made from a combination of plastic...

Gentek Building Products Inc.
January 1, 2005... Staff Two new darker colors -- Venetian Red and Classic Brown -- have been added to Gentek's Sequoia Select vinyl siding line, which comes with a lifetime limited warranty that includes lifetime fade protection. Sequoia Select is available...

Merillat.
January 1, 2005... Staff Merillat introduces the Accent Collection featuring three distinctive styles. Estero is modeled after the Mission style, Tapestry has a more traditional look and Windemere has a delicate rope design. The collection enhances cabinetry...

Milwaukee Electric Tool.
January 1, 2005... Staff Milwaukee introduces four new Rotary/Demolition Hammers with 19.9 foot-pounds of blow energy. The new models --A3/4-inch hex demolition hammer, 2-inch spline rotary hammer, SDS-Max demolition hammer and 2-inch SDS-Max rotary hammer...

Makita U.S.A. Inc.
January 1, 2005... Staff Makita has released a new 7A--inch metal cutting saw, model 4131, which has a 13 AMP motor that cuts through a variety of metals, including sheet metal, steel studs, pipes and rebar, with a no-load speed of 3,500 RPM. The "tool-less"...

Newborn Brothers Co. Inc.
January 1, 2005... Staff Newborn Brothers' new Gator Trigger Series has all steel construction with a patent pending dual component comfort grip and comes in nine models. The caulking gun series consists of a ratchet model in two sizes, a parallel frame...

Clopay Building Products.
January 1, 2005... Staff Revere recently launched Sovereign premium vinyl replacement windows for residential and light commercial remodeling. Steel-reinforced interlocking meeting rails and thickset multi-chamber extrusions add to the window's structural...

Clopay Building Products.
January 1, 2005... Staff Brilliance Series garage door windows from Clopay offer the look of beveled glass using 3M's Accentrim technology. The optically enhanced glass filters light and casts a rainbow of colors that create the illusion of cut glass....

Trustile.
January 1, 2005... Staff Offering MDF and wood doors that are built with traditional stile and rail construction, TruStile has created Authentic Designs, which categorizes the company's more than 300 door styles into nine distinct door series: Arts & Crafts,...

Crossville.
January 1, 2005... Staff Crossville's handcrafted wall tile Savoy comes with a 1Eu2-inch Pinwheel Pattern and a 1Eu2-inch Running Board or Brick Pattern -- both are sheet-mounted for easy installation. Available in 3Eu6-inch and 6Eu6-inch field tiles and in...

Missel.
January 1, 2005... Staff Missel combines design and technology with COLONNA's standalone bathroom design. Elementary components include triangular Missel compact elements that are grouped in a square column (46Eu46Eu115 cm). The four compact elements of...

Louisiana-Pacific Corp.
January 1, 2005... Staff LP's Vinyl Norman Rockwell siding collection is now available in a premium shingle line. The Perfection Shingles are made from a heavy-grade polypropylene material. A water-management system designed to prevent damage to internal...

Peachtree Doors & Windows.(product introduction)
January 1, 2005... Staff Peachtree Doors & Windows adds a new design to its Newport entry door collection, featuring the look of a wood door inside and the appearance of a smooth door on the outside. The exterior is pre-finished and available in six standard...

Warn Industries, Inc.
January 1, 2005... Staff Warn Industries introduces an all-in-one portable winch and carrier combination, the Warn Works 3200AC-R. With an attached carrier that features an integrated mounting plate, roller fairlead, handle and built-in remote dock, the tool...

Crane Performance Siding.
January 1, 2005... Staff The Solid Core Fluted Lineal is the newest addition to the Architectural Essentials line from Crane Performance Siding. Available in 20-foot lengths, the Aspen White lineal comes with a 1 1/8-inch and A3/4-inch pocket and can be used...

Vetter Windows & Doors.
January 1, 2005... Staff Vetter Windows & Doors Insulated Hurricane Impact Products are designed to meet wind-borne debris codes in the Eastern U.S. They have a layer of 0.9- or 0.1-inch gauge PVB bonded between two panes of annealed, laminated glass. Should...

Pi Tape Corporation.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Staff Pi Tape measurement tapes are engraved and acid etched on a ground surface featuring a fixed reading that does not require periodic adjustments. Styles are available for low-light environments and stainless-steel tapes for use in...

Honeywell.
January 1, 2005... Staff Fire Control Instruments' NetSOLO Broadband is designed to deliver full-network control and communications, digital messaging, live voice instructions and fire fighter telephone communications through a distributed network fire alarm...

Our goal: To be your indispensable business partner.
January 1, 2005... Niles D. Crum, Publisher, 630/288-8160 At Professional Remodeler, we've always been committed to providing you with the best information, business strategies and innovative ideas to make your business as successful as possible. That's why...

Generation gap.
January 1, 2005... Staff Working out age differences in the workforce Allison Perry Iantosca is a second-generation manager of F.H. Perry Builder Inc., a Hopkinton, Mass., residential remodeling and custom home building firm founded by her father, Finley...

38 Great Ways ergonomics can save time and money.
January 1, 2005... By Jeffrey A. Smagacz, CPE, CIE Every inch is worth a mile when it comes to reducing ergonomic risk Supporting a world-class work force requires a world-class work environment -- one that is safe, healthy, comfortable and productive....

In Alignment.
January 1, 2005... By Kimberly Sweet, Editor A smooth design/build process calls for having the right people in the right roles Reaching full growth potential as a company requires having more than one person -- especially if that person is the owner --...

New choices in scheduling software.(Editorial)
January 1, 2005... By Kimberly Sweet, Editor Features and pricing cover remodeling firms of all sizes If there's one thing we know about remodeling, it's that the schedule always changes. At the same time, if there's one thing that we know about...