CBF2010 - Winter

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ColoradoBuilder Winter 2010

FORUM

Journal of the Colorado Association of Home Builders www.hbacolorado.com

Power shift!

builders may hold ground with more business-friendly legislators next year

Four Mile Canyon wild fire Boulder County adapts its code to help owners rebuild homes


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features

ColoradoBuilder FORUM

contents »

winter 2010 vol. 14 no. 5

20 Four Mile Canyon fire the costliest in state’s history How Boulder County’s code adjustments can affect other fire-prone areas’ wild fire codes

38 | Builders gain from new products at RMBC Products help you build smarter, faster, greener — and save a few bucks while you’re at it

44 | RMBC Recap Networking, education, new products were key to a profitable event

45 | Thanks to RMBC sponsors, exhibitors, members Your participation made this year’s RMBC possible

15

Republicans take State House GOP House majority means more opportunities for business

COVER PHOTO: The Ellsworth residence, designed by Rodwin Architecture and built by Pendleton Homes, is a 2,000 sq ft home in Allenspark that uses both passive and active solar and is sited to capture the sweeping views of the mountains beyond. Photo courtesy of Paul Mouraille.

46 | New member benefit saves you, helps CAHB ProHome Colorado helps builders and their home buyers through its home warranty program


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departments contents »

10

President’s Letter

12

From the Hallway

30

34

It’s been a great year. Thanks for your help!

Meet the six new GOP House members

Giving Back

Playing House: How Alpine Cabinets keeps kids’ “American Dream” alive

Building by the Law

Court finds newly enacted construction defects legislation a matter of law. Will others do the same?

Colorado Builder Forum is printed on elemental chlorine-free paper in conjunction with the International Joint Commission and is consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standards.

Please recycle this magazine.

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Winter 2010

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President’s Letter

despite the economy, it’s been a great year. Thanks for your support! By the time you read this letter, the mid-term elections are over and we’re spared from the plethora of political ads for another year and a half. While every candidate promised to create jobs and turn the economy around, I must admit I remain a bit skeptical about their ability to do so. While U-3 unemployment figures for September remained at 9.6 percent, the U-6 unemployment figures rose .4 percent, month over month, indicating that the current unemployment trends will remain high, and the outlook for new home construction Emil Wanatka will remain relatively flat as high unemployment continues. CAHB President In response to this “new norm,” smart builders are finding ways to adapt by becoming better educated about building homes, and running their businesses. They’re improving their floor plans, responding to the demand for smaller, greener homes, providing better costumer service, reducing cycle times, and generally working both harder and smarter. This response to a challenging economy is indicative of the work ethic, creativity, and resourcefulness of the home building industry, and why I’m confident that we as an industry will succeed going forward.

RMBC a great success! The success of this fall’s Rocky Mountain Builder Conference in Beaver Creek was a perfect example of how builders are taking advantage of educational opportunities and working to improve their knowledge and more effectively run their businesses. More than 200 members from across the state participated in the event, attending some of the 11 outstanding educational seminars, visiting with nearly 30 exhibitors, and accessing some of the nine networking sessions. In addition to providing opportunities to our members, this year’s event reversed the trend of the past two years and actually turned a profit for CAHB! On behalf of the entire CAHB membership, I congratulate and thank our sponsors, exhibitors, presenters, the conference committee, and especially our own Amie Mayhew for making this year’s event such as success.

Board reallocates dues The CAHB fall board meeting was also held at the Rocky Mountain Builder Conference and I want to recognize the accomplishments achieved at that meeting. As I mentioned in my previous letter, this recession has created economic hardship not only for our industry, but for this organization, as well. In response to this challenge, the Board of Directors unanimously ratified a reallocation of dues, as was recommended by the Executive Committee. This reallocation of dues, coupled with the cost-saving measures the Executive Committee implemented in the past year, will ensure our ability to meet our 2011 fiscal budget, and allow us to set aside significant reserves for future needs.

Thanks for everything I’m proud of the achievements of this organization this past year, and especially proud to have served as CAHB president in 2010. Thanks to my fellow Executive Committee members for your support, and a special thanks to Rob Nanfelt and Amie Mayhew, without whose help I never would have lasted through the year. In closing, I’d like to remind you that while we all go about our daily lives attending to our businesses, communities and families, there are dedicated volunteers and staff at CAHB who, every day, fight for our industry and work to protect our interests as home builders.

ColoradoBuilder

FORUM

www.hbacolorado.com Winter 2010 vol. 14, no. 5

Official Publication of the Colorado Association of Home Builders

CAHB Senior Officers President Emil Wanatka President-Elect Peter Tobin Treasurer David Tschetter Secretary Jeff Piper Immediate Past President David Hansen Government Affairs Chair Chris Elliott Executive Officers Council Chair Roger Reinhardt State Representative to NAHB Skip Howes

CAHB Staff Executive Vice President Rob Nanfelt Vice President of Public Affairs Amie Mayhew Executive Secretary Sally Kemp

CAHB editorial board Tom Brinkman, Chair Bill Armstrong Randy Feuerstein

Tom Hayden Duane Marlatt Peter Tobin Merlin Widick

600 Grant Street, Ste 550 Denver, Colorado 80203 P: 303.691.CAHB (2242) F: 303.639.4954 www.hbacolorado.com Dedicated to the advancement of the home building industry, Colorado Builder Forum is published five times a year for members of the Colorado Association of Home Builders. Copyright © 2010 by CAHB. No material may be reproduced without the express permission of CAHB. Acceptances of advertisement in Colorado Builder Forum do not imply endorsement or approval of the product or service advertised.

6160 S. Syracuse Way, Ste 300 Greenwood Village, CO 80111 T: 303.662.5200 F: 303.397.7619 www.custompublishingco.com vice president – group publisher

Maureen Regan-Cannon 303.662.5215 mregan@wiesnermedia.com project manager – account executive

Martha Dickenson 303.662.5280 mdickenson@wiesnermedia.com editor

Kim Jackson kim@writingwerks.com art director/advertising production

Lindsay Hayes

chief executive officer

Dan Wiesner

chief financial officer

Jon Rich

John Wiesner

vice president – IT

vice president – production/operations vice president – group publisher

Best to all, Emil Wanatka CAHB President

E. Patrick Wiesner credit manager

Patty Barbosa

accounting specialist

Winter 2010

www.hbacolorado.com

Amber Stroud

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Steve Oliveri

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from the hallway

Republicans take state House

Meet the six new GOP members who are key to the new majority During the most recent election, the Republican wave swept through the entire nation. While the results were somewhat mixed here in Colorado, the Republicans did take control of the House. As we do during most election cycles, the CAHB actively worked to elect pro-business candidates. We do this in three ways: 1. We urge our members to get out and vote. 2. We make contributions to candidates running for office. 3. We do electioneering communications, such as mail pieces and radio and television ads, advocating for certain candidates. This cycle, we were extremely successful in that 86 percent of the candidates we supported won their election battles. Similarly, roughly 85 percent of the dollars we spent went directly to and on behalf of candidates who were successful. Without the contributions we receive from CAHB members, Rob Nanfelt this would not have been possible. CAHB Executive Since we do have a number of new legislators we will Vice President work with in the upcoming session, I want to give you a brief introduction of the six new House members who are key to the new Republican majority in the House. In HD-17 (Colorado Springs), Mark Barker unseated one-term incumbent Dennis Apuan. Barker served in the National Guard, the U.S. Navy and then as a member of the Colorado Springs police force for 15 years. During that time, he obtained his law degree and spent a briefly worked in the District Attorney’s office before moving on to private practice. Mark and his wife Teresa have two grown daughters. Libby Szabo defeated incumbent Sara Gagliardi in HD-27 (Arvada). Szabo and her husband Denes are long-time residents of Jefferson County and have children. She has worked in the lending and financial services field for a number of years; in her spare time, she coaches children’s soccer and volunteers at her church. In HD-29 (Arvada/Westminster), Robert Ramirez knocked off three-term incumbent Debbie Benefield. Ramirez, a native of New Jersey, served for a time in the U.S. Navy before moving to Colorado. He currently works in a management position for a locally owned small rental uniform business. He, his wife Suzanne, and their daughter are all competitive martial artists. In HD-33 (Broomfield), Don Beezley defeated incumbent Dianne Primavera. Beezley and his wife Pat are both native Coloradans and they have two sons. Growing up he learned a lot about the construction industry, as his parents owned and operated their own construction company. He now works as a business consultant and serves on numerous charitable boards. Kathleen Conti unseated incumbent Joe Rice in HD-38 (Littleton). Conti is a small business owner and she and her husband have two sons. She is active as a volunteer in her community and church. Keith Swerdfeger is truly one of our own. He’s a member of the Pueblo HBA and has been active in the Pueblo community for more than 40 years. He won the open seat in HD-47, which was vacated by the term-limited and long-time legislator, Buffie McFadyen. Keith made a run at the seat several years ago, but came up a bit short during the Democratic wave. This stick-to-it attitude has served him well over the years. He started his own construction company more than 40 years ago and has built it into a multimillion dollar business. He and his wife, high school sweetheart Sharon, have four grown children.

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Republicans take reins of Colorado’s House

More business-friendly legislature means bigger opportunities for builders by Kim Jackson

A

t last, the political attacks have given way to Thanksgiving and holiday ads. As the candidates for various offices finished celebrating — or licking their wounds — and moved on, the dust cleared and progress was made for business and builders throughout the state. Colorado’s Democrat-led House ceded its 37-27 majority to a now-33-32 Republican majority. The Senate kept its Democrat majority by only losing one seat to the GOP, for a 20-15 split.

GOP sets record in winning state seats Nationwide, Republicans picked up a record 680 state legislative seats, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. To put that in perspective, during the GOP wave of 1994, Republicans picked up 472 seats. Twenty years earlier, on the heels of the Watergate scandal, Democrats picked up 628 seats. The GOP now holds 53 percent of the total state legislative seats, the most since 1928.

Colorado Builder Forum

Winter 2010

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The GOP will now control at least 54 of the 99 state legislative chambers, its highest number since 1952. As a result, state legislatures will likely reflect a more conservative political agenda when they convene next year. “2010 will go down as a defining election that will shape the national political landscape for at least the next ten years,” said Tim Storey, elections specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures. “The GOP, in dramatic fashion, finds itself now in the best position for both congressional and state legislative line drawing than it has enjoyed in the modern era of redistricting.”

sign of times to come?

Nationally, Republicans regained more than 60 seats — and the reins of the U.S. House (239-187), while the Senate maintains a thin Democrat majority (51-46). Democrats consider this their biggest setback since 1948. The turning of the tide from blue to red is a real message to legislators on both sides of the aisle — and in state and national politics — one where legislators will need to listen and respond to constituents’ concerns, more than favoring party lines. “Most of the U.S. is a center-right country,” observed Rob Nanfelt, CAHB’s executive vice president. “A lot of folks were pretty apathetic prior to the health care debate, prior to cap and trade, prior to some of the other initiatives that were run from Pennsylvania Avenue down to the Capitol. The result is what you saw on November 2nd. The change that was voted in and embraced two years ago is not the change that was expected, and as a result, you’ve seen the reaction.” And with the Dems handing over the reins for the U.S. House to the GOP, CAHB Lobbyist Steve Durham said, “Hopefully, it means we’ll restore some fiscal sanity and get the country back on a firm financial footing.” NAHB remains steadfast in its approach to Congress. “While the 2010 Congressional elections have indeed changed the balance of power in Washington, it is important to remember that NAHB’s overall legislative priorities will remain intact,” said Joe Stanton, senior staff vice

“ 2010 will go down as a defining election that will shape the national political landscape for at least the next ten years.” -Tim Storey, NCSL With their gains in state legislatures, Storey said Republicans now have a decided advantage in shaping congressional and state legislative districts when legislatures start the redistricting process next year. He added that this is the best position for the GOP in redistricting since the landmark Supreme Court decision, Baker vs. Carr, in 1962, which established the “one-person, one-vote” rule that requires districts to be redrawn every 10 years. The NCSL reported that the GOP gained majority in at least 14 state house chambers — and it controls both chambers of 26 state legislatures. What’s more, Republicans now hold both houses and governorship in 15 states.

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president and chief NAHB lobbyist. “NAHB has always treated housing issues as bipartisan and will continue to work with members from both sides of the aisle to address the key issues impacting the home building industry. As the 112th Congress gets under way, NAHB’s Gov-

business gains with new house leadership

Builders are, however, celebrating the change from blue to red in the state House. “Pro business gained a lot” Durham said. “There are a much larger number of pro business legislators in both the House and Senate. That gives the entire business community a breather from the assaults by organized labor, trial lawyers and environmental extremists.” Nanfelt explained that Republicans have generally been very supportive of the business community, and “we look to be very proactive legislatively in the upcoming session. If we can get pro business initiatives generated in the House, gain some momentum and cobble together a coalition in the Senate — that has the best interest of the economy and everyone’s individual pocketbooks in mind — then maybe we can get some things accomplished.” He added that a Republican-led House helps business in terms of bad business bills, “because the last several years, we have not had a back stop to kill bad ideas. We did the best we could, and have been pretty effective at limiting the attacks on business, however, we’ve not been successful in every case.”

“ NAHB has always treated housing issues as bipartisan and will continue to work with members from both sides of the aisle to address the key issues impacting the home building industry.” -Joe Stanton, NAHB lobbyist ernment Affairs Department will continue to work with Congress to address the housing production credit crisis, in addition to other legislative issues, ranging from tax policy to the future of the housing finance system itself.”

governor-elect has ideas on state’s growth

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, so to speak, Governorelect John Hickenlooper wasted no time in appointing a variety of department heads. And while builders are hopeful that Hickenlooper’s business background will bode well for them and business in general, “time will tell,” Nanfelt said. “My hope is that because of his background, he understands our issues and will be better than the prior administration.” Chris Elliott, Government Committee chair, explained that in his early days as governor-elect, Hickenlooper seems to be regarded similarly to the way Bill Ritter was when he was elected. And like any politician, he has a base whose interests he will favor. “The Democratic base includes environmentalists, trial lawyers and unions and those guys’ interests for the most part are going to come first.” He’s also concerned about the new governor’s views on managing growth in the state. In an interview with The Denver Post on October 29, candidate Hickenlooper said that Colorado could handle a limited amount of additional population. While not at that limit, Hickenlooper said that as a statewide community, limit needs to be discussed and defined. That “top-down” approach to land use is worrisome to builders. “It would appear he wants to revive the debate of the early 2000s over things like growth boundaries and transportation corridors, and essentially pursue a state-controlled, antigrowth agenda,” Durham said. Nanfelt observed that Colorado’s history has shown that local communities are the best to determine and decide the visions for their futures. “But this incoming governor seems to have a very different idea on that. I am concerned about how that’s going to look and manifest itself.”

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cahb’s ’11 legislative agenda may gain

While the GOP holds the keys to the House, Dems still have a hold on the Senate. Even so, Durham said, “Gridlock would be an improvement over the anti business juggernaut that we faced in the last four years.” It’s also a good time for CAHB to promote its legislative agenda. Elliott believes there will be many stalemates. For those “bad” issues that originate in the Senate, they’ll have a tougher time making their way out of the House. On the issues builders want to have passed, they’ll look for creative ways to make those issues appeal to the Senate. “Our legislative agenda has some interesting things in it we can draw from that are outside some of the normal Republican-type issues. If we can then find a bipartisan majority that can support us in the Senate, we’ve got a shot on getting that stuff passed. The bigger wild card is what the governor chooses to do by fiat, if you will.” With the change in House leadership, Durham has reason to believe that builders’ top issue, construction defects, will likely be taken off the table for the next two years. “We have to focus on a generally healthy tax and regulatory environment,” he said, “and an environment that will hopefully attract jobs, because we’re not going to sell houses until the employment picture improves.” Elliott added, “We’re going to have a better opportunity to get something we want to see get done, done and we’ll have to play defense a little less. So there’s going to be a change in approach, that’s for sure.”


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Boulder County adjusts code to speed rebuilding process in

With 169 structures destroyed and estimated insured losses at $217 million, the Four Mile Canyon fire in Boulder County is the costliest in Colorado’s history. As county officials watched the fire quickly burn out of control on Labor Day — and throughout the week — they knew something would need to be done to help people rebuild their lives.

How Boulder County is addressing the mitigation and rebuilding process may be helpful to Colorado communities that face wildfire threats as the Pine Beetle continues to gorge its way through the state, as well as the thousands of lightning strikes we see each year or an unfortunate mishap, as in the case of the Four Mile Canyon fire. Home owners anxiously waited at the bottom of the canyon for word on their homes as fire fighters came off

their shift. Estimates on homes destroyed continued to climb, while the fire and week progressed. As word spread across the country about the wildfire that was voraciously consuming the dried timber and homes in its path, another group of people began to gather — a group that Scott Rodwin, president of Boulder’s Skycastle Homes and principal for Rodwin Architecture, refers to as carpet baggers, or “fire reconstruction ambulance chasers.”


Four Mile Canyon — and for future homes hit by wild fires

“I don’t think the fires had even stopped before folks from out of town started coming in,” he said. “And they literally parked their trucks at the bottom of the canyon and started handing out flyers to everyone. The local builders and architects thought that was brazenly obnoxious and really insensitive. We were caught in this uncertain position where we didn’t want to sit on the sidelines too long, but at the same time, we wanted to be sensitive to the people who lost homes.”

/// by Kim Jackson

Be that as it may, people need to decide what they’ll do now that their homes have been destroyed. Three months after the blaze, some are still dazed. Others have sifted through their personal belongings and are deciding whether to rebuild or to buy a home elsewhere. Others still began the rebuilding process right away.

Colorado Builder Forum

Winter 2010

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Photography by Paul Mourraille

The Ellsworth residence in Allenspark is a 2,000 sq ft contemporary mountain home with a detached garage/studio. Rodwin Architecture designed and Pendelton Homes built the green home to include passive and active solar, high-efficiency windows, an ultra-efficient boiler with radiant heating and timber and stone that are harvested on site. The great room and large deck are sited to capture the sweeping mountain views beyond (see page 26, too). The owner is a noted wood-turner and asked for a design that expressed his appreciation for the beauty of wood.

How much will insurance pay out? Yet rebuilding is not as easy as it may seem. The biggest question in everyone’s mind is how much the insurance company will pay to rebuild their homes. And that, of course, depends on the kind of coverage owners had. If they had an actual cash value policy, that’s what they’ll get, end of story. If they had replacement coverage, there’s a 20 percent buffer above and beyond the replacement cost. They’ll get even more if their policy had an endorsement for building codes and ordinances changes. According to Carole Walker, executive director for the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, home owners often want to get the assessed value, while insurance companies are concerned with today’s costs to repair or rebuild the home. “In the rebuilding process, the first checks owners often receive is for the actual cash value of the house. When they’ve finished the rebuilding process or buy somewhere else— and they have replacement coverage — the final check will be cut when they’re actually in that home.”

Will insurance cover Boulder County’s strict building code? While the insurance discussion seems relatively straightforward, we’re talking about people rebuilding their homes in Boulder County, which has one of the strictest building programs in the country, BuildSmart. On October 21, Boulder County Commissioners decided that the rebuilt homes need to comply with its BuildSmart program.

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Kim Sanchez, planning division manager for the Boulder County Land Use Department, said, “Where we want people to rebuild an energy efficient home, we do plan to have a lot of technical assistance to help them with that. For example, we’re going to be working with them to take advantage of passive solar; we have people who can help them figure out what components will really help them with insulation and such to build a better structure up there. But BuildSmart did not get waived.” In particular, BuildSmart regulates a home’s energy consumption; a new home that complies with Boulder County’s BuildSmart regulations would have a HERS 50 rating or better. And building a HERS 50 house isn’t easy, observed architect and builder Rodwin, who said, “It takes some real solid green building know how.” That could complicate the amount of money a home owner gets from the insurance company. For example, let’s say a 4,000 sq ft home was destroyed in the fire and the insurance company’s replacement value for that home is $150/sq ft., or $600,000. “You can’t build a HERS 50 house for $150/ sq ft.,” Rodwin said. “There’s a premium for that level of sustainable building, such as superior insulation, a premium mechanical system, very good windows and possibly some renewable energy, like solar panels. And that costs a little more, about $20-$30/sq ft.” That’s where owners’ policies with an endorsement pays off; their payment is upgraded to comply with Boulder County’s current building codes. Without the endorsement, owners will need to pay those costs out of their own pockets.



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Commissioners approve three rebuilding scenarios At the October 21 meeting, the Boulder County Commissioners approved several changes to its Land Use code to help facilitate and expedite rebuilding and recovery from the Four Mile Canyon fire. The first extended the timeline to rebuild a home. If someone loses a home to a wildfire, the code has been extended from six months to two years to rebuild the exact home — without any review processes. Owners can request a one-year extension if they don’t apply for a permit within that two-year timeline. The commissioners also approved three rebuilding processes. According to Sanchez, if an owner wants to rebuild what was on the property before the fires — same size structure in the same location — only a building permit is required. “We’re expediting the timeline to issuing those permits, as well,” she said. “If you only need a building permit, we’re hoping that can be issued within two to three weeks.”

Building permit plus lets owners boost house size If owners want to change the size of their footprint, they can add 530 sq ft to what the destroyed house’s size through the expedited Building Permit Plus (BPP). That number was calculated based on the average two-car garage 22’ x 24’ (528 sq ft)— something that many owners want, but didn’t have in the canyon. “They can add up to 530 sq ft, so long as they don’t exceed 6,000 sq ft (the house size limit in Boulder County) on the parcel,” she said. “The intent of that number is to accommodate a standard two-car garage, but people can reconfigure it for whatever they want.” Sanchez said that the BPP is designed to help people build better than what they had before. “We’d like to work with them to take advantage of passive solar design, to see if there are opportunities to locate their home in a safer place on the site out of the hazard area. We want to see if there are ways to improve the access, maybe make it shorter or add some pullouts for emergency vehicle access. The BPP process really just looks at a limited number of things.”

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Usual site plan review process for bigger homes If someone wants to add more than the 530 sq ft allowed in the BPP, the third option is the usual site plan review process — the most rigorous in the country, according to Rodwin. The standard process looks at 16 different environmental, aesthetic, visibility and safety criteria, “really,” Rodwin said, “everything having to do with the overall picture of what you’re planning to build there. In particular, it limits size and placement on the site. It is so strict here that if you don’t understand it, you’re going to get into trouble. There is a cost premium to building at this level of sustainability — and people could get into contractual disputes if a builder doesn’t realize the difference between energy efficiency and green.” Another new regulation allows temporary emergency housing for those who want to live on the property. “Where the county prefers to see property owners living in permanent housing, we recognize that some people will want or need to live on their property as they rebuild,” Sanchez said. “Many people have temporary emergency housing provisions in town, but that will depend on how long their insurance is going to allow them to live elsewhere. So the chief building official will now have the authority to allow some sort of emergency temporary housing to occur on the property.” Building permit fees are going to be required, although, Sanchez said, “the board acknowledged that they would consider waivers and true hardship situations. It was a pretty hefty set of regulations to deal specifically with this fire. But our hope is if something else happens, we’ll have a good base on how to deal with these kinds of natural disasters. Also, they could be a template for other jurisdictions if they were to have something like this occur.”

Site cleanup is treated as hazardous material Before anyone can build, though, debris from the sites needs to be removed. “And that’s huge,” said Dennis Hudson, president and manager of Hudson Homes and owner of Hudson Construction. “Mitigation companies are up there washing the sides of the homes [that weren’t completely


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destroyed], hauling off personal items from the house, getting them cleaned and somehow getting the inside of the home so it doesn’t smell like smoke.” Yet many homes were completely destroyed — and the sites need to be cleaned before anything can be built again. Hudson said the county is assuming that asbestos is in the ash, so it needs to be treated as hazardous waste. “You can’t just load it in containers and haul it off,” he explained. “It has to be a lined container, so it doesn’t blow out all over the place when they’re hauling it. So the trash companies are trying to get up to speed on that.” He added that some home owners would like to let the elements take care of it, however, if asbestos is in the debris, the county doesn’t want the ash washing into the creek. “That’s a huge issue and I think once that gets solved, the rest of it will flow a little better. The cleanup needs to be done quickly and soon. I don’t think the county is just going to let them sit around on their thumbs and do that in the spring.”

Affordable high-risk insurance will require item mitigation Encourage your buyers to find out whether their home owners’ insurance policies are insured for actual cash value or to replacement coverage. Meanwhile, Walker said that insurance companies have become more strict about all high-risk properties — wildfires being one of the highest risks. “Insurance companies expect owners to take scientifically proven mitigation steps to protect owners’ property,” Walker said. “They’ll actually get a notice that the insurance company has performed an on-site inspection and items they’ll need to mitigate, such as thinning trees or a road where emergency vehicles can get up and turn around.” She added that Boulder County has been very proactive by requiring Class A fire resistant roofing products. “There’s already a pretty strong code in Boulder County,” Walker said, “probably the strongest in the state. And insurance companies very much support that. As this area is rebuilding, and they make it more fire resistant and safer, obviously, that’s what insurance companies’ number one goal is: How do we save and protect these homes?” The RMIIA has partnered with the Colorado State Forest Service to produce an educational brochure, Wildfire and Insurance. You can download it from RMIIA.org, under the “Catastrophes” tab.

Building community influenced new code Boulder County reached out to its local architectural and building community for recommendations for a new code in wildfire-prone areas. “Luckily, we


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have a really great construction and design community,” Sanchez said. “We’ve been meeting with them and plan on continuing to hold workshops.” And while the county can’t promote or recommend local builders, it has added a database on its web site that shows the people who have licenses and the number of projects they’ve done in Boulder County. An owner could then determine if somebody was new or had a lot of experience in the county. It shows the date they got licensed and how many projects they’ve done, according to county records. It’s factual and provides that information to folks, without the county saying, ‘local only.’” Boulder County also has put together packets for each property owner in the burn area with a damaged or destroyed structure. The packet includes parcel history, size of structure on record, aerial photos and available site plans. “We’re going to with each property owner,” Sanchez said, “so they’ll have one point of contact.”

People begin rebuilding their dreams Meanwhile, people are moving on and rebuilding their lives — and their dreams. “I feel for them,” Hudson said.

“It’s a tough deal to be homeless and not have had anything to do with that.” Sanchez added, “We understand it’s just a devastating event, and the community has really been grateful. That’s somewhat unusual for a county government office to get that kind of sentiment. We cranked out these [new codes] very quickly, because we wanted to be responsive and have something adopted in place, so people could start rebuilding and getting their lives back together as soon as possible. It’s a very intense process: Dealing with the home owners, listening to their stories and trying to figure out the best ways to help them. It’s really been nice to have that kind of community reception to our efforts.” Within days of the fire, an owner contracted Rodwin to design and rebuild his home. A month later, another owner contacted him. “A lot of builders come in and they’re get-it-done kind of guys. And for some clients, that will be a good approach,” he said. “For others, there’s an element of compassion that is not normally as prominent in the building process. These people are not necessarily mentally ready for that. A lot of them are going to be dealing with a grieving process for a while and that’s not necessarily something we deal with in the construction trade on a regular basis. I think we need to be sensitive to that.”

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giving back

by Kim Jackson

Word quickly spread about Alpine Cabinet’s “housing boom.” CBS Evening News (left) aired the story, which flooded the Timnath company’s server with emails from around the country.

Playing House: How Alpine Cabinet Company keeps its force working during holiday slow times — and gives kids toys of their dreams A couple years ago, Bill Chin plucked a child’s wish for a new bike off a local giving tree in Timnath. While looking at new bikes, the vice president of production for Alpine Cabinet Company realized they weren’t very good, so he picked up an old bike. It needed tires, chains, pedals, grips, new paint — the works. One night after work, he began fixing it up, and one by one, a half dozen employees punched out and asked if they could help. He thought, “How can I bottle that? What can I do to keep people that motivated, at that time of the year — and something with wood?”

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Fast forward to last year, just after Thanksgiving. The family-owned cabinet company faced its own slow down. Even though they had to cut back employees’ hours, Chin, his brother Scott and father Dick committed to keeping people employed through the holidays. Rather than just paying employees to sweep the floor, he wanted a way “to get everybody involved, give them not only something they could do, but feel better about themselves — and help some kids out, too,” he said. And that’s when it hit him: Dollhouses. They’d build dollhouses and donate them to charities.


From left, Scott, Dick and Bill Chinn take a quick pose with a doll house, before heading out to make a little girl’s dream come true.

That was easy: Suppliers donated materials Chin thought the tough part would be getting plywood, lumber and paint donations. Three of his suppliers stepped right up and gave him enough material to build the first 35 dollhouses. When he told his staff what he wanted to do, “people here just started dreaming things up and pretty soon, they were cranking out dollhouses,” he said. “We built our own furniture; each house had two beds, a couch, a chair, dresser, fridge and [of course] cabinets. Everybody’s imagination was going crazy and we’d take waste and turn it into a refrigerator or a dresser.” Not everyone there is a wood worker. The company’s receptionist and bookkeeper crocheted quilts for all the beds. Chin’s wife and mother-in-law made pillows and curtains. “One of our employees’ wives went out and bought 20 or 30 sets of dolls to supply the houses. It just became a creature of its own. Everybody just pulled together and it was a pretty positive thing for a pretty poor time of our lives. For a week or so, we could get away from everything and it made everybody feel good.”

The tough sell? Charities initially didn’t want hand-made dollhouses Chin thought the easy part would be giving the dollhouses away. Turns out that was a tough sell to the charities he called. “People thought I was out of my mind,” he recalled. “It was like, ‘You want to do what?’ It was the We-like-our-stuff-out-of-a-box-from-Walmart mentality. So it was kind of stalling out on me.” Then the local newspaper caught wind of what they were up to, wrote an article, and those charities that laughed at him called the next morning, asking for dollhouses. (Do you see the parallel between Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and Bill Chin here?)

Dollhouse project gained state, national coverage That’s when the Dollhouse project took on a life of its own. After reading the article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan,

Each doll house has furniture, curtains, even blankets — all made by staff at Alpine Cabinets. “It doesn’t hurt to give,” Bill Chinn said.

a man walked in and gave Chin a check for $1,000 to build more houses. “So we did,” Chin said. All told, Alpine Cabinet Company built and outfitted 65 houses for last year’s Dollhouse project. “He was just a neat guy,” Chin said. “He didn’t want any recognition, no thank-you letter. He said, ‘My wife will get mad if she knows how I’m spending my money, but you’re doing a cool thing.’ That’s just the kind of response we had. It started off in one way; we were flying under the radar and doing a nice thing, and it really blew up and became a creature of its own deal. It was cool.” What they were doing gained more notoriety. Denver’s 9News ran a story about the Dollhouse project and a CBS Evening News with Katie Couric crew was on hand to film as they gave the houses to excited little girls — who immediately set up house. Before the piece had aired in Colorado, Chin was getting calls from around the country, congratulating him on what they were doing, and offering to donate money. “We had so many e-mails, it cooked the server,” he quipped. “We probably had 300 e-mails before it aired in Colorado, then the server melted down and we lost all the e-mails, which was a real drag. Everybody here felt good about what they had done. All the little kids were deserving and happy with their Christmas gift. And for some of them, that was the only gift they were going to get all year.”

“It doesn’t hurt to give.” All told, it was a great experience for everyone involved. “If anything can be taken away from it, it doesn’t hurt to give,” Chin said. “It does feel better to give than to receive. Little kids’ faces would light up when they’d see these dollhouses. The last place we delivered, a community center in north Fort Collins, this little girl was down on the floor playing with the dollhouse with my brother — a 50-year-old grown man playing with a dollhouse. It was pretty cool.”

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giving back

(continued from page 31)

Company will add barns this year By October, he already had requests from charities for dollhouses this season. And he’s adding barns this year. “We’ll build a little tractor, a wagon, some hay bales,” he said. They’ll scout around for plastic barnyard animals, and he’s leaving it open for employees’ imagination to transform the project. “I don’t know where we’ll end up with the barn. It’s a neat deal, where a little kid has everything ready to go when he opens it, to start having fun. We’ll get creative here and figure out exactly what we’re going to put in the barn.” His current plans are to give away 50 each of dollhouses and barns. “It doesn’t really hurt that bad to give,” Chin said. “It’s tough times out there for everybody. If everybody had the same thought, I think a lot of kids — or grownups; It can be hard cash — would benefit. If you’ve got it, it doesn’t hurt to give a little bit of it away.”

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building by the law

by David McLain

One court interprets newly enacted construction defects legislation as matter of law. Will others do the same? In that there is no appellate law at this point interpreting or applying the recently enacted HB 10-1394, I find even district court orders on the topic to be very interesting. In Colorado Pool Systems, Inc., et al. v. Scottsdale Insurance Company, et al., The Honorable Christopher C. Cross set forth the pertinent facts as follows in an October 4, 2010 order: Plaintiff Colorado Pool Systems (“Colorado Pool”) claims for breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation arise out of a general commercial liability insurance policy, No. CLS1112693, purchased from Scottsdale (“Policy”). The Policy’s effective date was from April 25, 2005, to April 26, 2006. Colorado Pool made a claim under the insurance policy for the costs to repair a defectively constructed swimming pool. As of September, 2006, Colorado Pool had a contractual agreement with White Construction Group, LTD, to construct a swimming pool that was ultimately defective because metal bars were protruding through the concrete. Because the contractual agreement with White Construction required remedy for the defective pool, Colorado Pool requested preapproval from Scottsdale to be reimbursed for losses resulting from demolishing and reconstructing the pool. The relevant parts of the Policy provide: This insurance applies to “bodily injury” and “property damage” only if: (1) The “bodily injury” or “property damage” is caused by an “occurrence” that takes place in the “coverage territory”; Policy at Page 1 of 15. The Policy defines the word “occurrence” as follows: “Occurrence” means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions. Policy at Page 14 of 15. The Policy does not define the word “accident.” However, Black’s Law Dictionary defines accident as follows: 1. An unintended and unforeseen injurious occurrence; something that does not occur in the usual course of events or that could not be reasonably anticipated. 2. Equity practice. An unforeseen and injurious occurrence not attributable to mistake, neglect, or misconduct. Black’s Law Dictionary 15 (7th ed. 1999).

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New legislation: Liability coverage law or fact? Colorado recently adopted new legislation relating to insurance coverage for construction defects. C.R.S. § 13-20-808 (promulgated in H.B. 10-1394). The new law essentially states that faulty workmanship constitutes an “occurrence” and, thus, construction defect claims generally fall within a general liability policy’s David McLain insuring agreement. In light of the enactment of this new legislation, the Court requested briefs on how the new legislation affects these proceedings, and invited comment on whether liability coverage under the insurance policy is a question of law or fact. The parties have briefed these issues in full and the court will now address these issues. The briefs referred to were Scottsdale’s Combined Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment and Brief Regarding Colorado H.B. 10-1394 and Colorado Pool’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. By this order, Judge Cross granted Scottsdale’s Motion and denied that of Colorado Pool. In doing so, Judge Cross provided the following background regarding C.R.S. § 13-20-808 and the issues, as framed by the parties: The legislature, in passing H.B. 10-1394 determined that construction defect claims present the most significant liability risk for construction professionals and found that such claims are the primary reason why construction professionals purchase general liability insurance. Therefore, the passage of HB 10-1394 is of importance to the construction industry as it directly addresses the question of coverage for the industry’s principal risk. Section 13-20-808 (IV) provides that one of the intents of the new legislation is “[f]or the purposes of guiding pending and future actions interpreting liability insurance policies issued to construction professionals…” Moreover, Subsection 1 of the Editor’s note in C.R.S. § 13-20-808 provides that “Section 3 of chapter 253, Session Laws of Colorado 2010, provides that the act adding this section applies to all insurance policies in existence as of, or issued on or after May 21, 2010.”


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building by the law

(continued from page 34)

Plaintiff argues that the statute applies in this matter because its claims are “pending” before the Court and are therefore controlled by C.R.S. § 13-20-808. Defendant maintains that because the statute does not apply retroactively to expired policies, the new legislation does not apply to Plaintiff’s policy. The Court agrees with Defendant. The Policy was in effect for a one-year period beginning April 25, 2005. The Policy expired by its own terms on April 26, 2006. The statute refers to policies currently in existence or policies issued before the effective date of the statute but not yet expired. Plaintiff’s policy expired on August 26, 2006. Although Plaintiff has pending claims stemming from the period when the Policy was in effect, it would be an impermissible retrospective application of the statute to apply its provisions to this action.

Court concludes liability coverage is a matter of law After setting forth the general rules regarding contract interpretation in Colorado, Judge Cross continued by stating: The Policy covers claims for bodily injury or property damage caused by an occurrence. An occurrence is defined in the Policy. Colorado Pools seek coverage under the policy for faulty workmanship causing a defective product (pool). In its previous Motion, Scottsdale relied on the case of General Security Indem. Co. of Arizona v. Mountain States Mut. Cas. Co., 205 P.3d 529 (Colo. App. 2009) as determinative of whether Colorado Pool had coverage under the Policy. In that case, the court found that commercial general liability policies are intended to exclude coverage for poor workmanship because poor workmanship is a business risk to be borne by the insured, not a fortuitous event. Id. at 535-36. Colorado Pool’s claim under the Policy was for faulty workmanship by Colorado Pool’s subcontractors in constructing the pool, which required Colorado Pool to incur costs to demolish and rebuild the pool. The Court concludes that the General Security case is directly analogous to the case at bar, and also finds that substandard workmanship, standing alone, is not a “fortuitous event” that results in an “occurrence” triggering coverage under the Policy as a matter of law. Furthermore, the Court finds that no “property damage” occurred, because the cost for which Colorado Pool was seeking reimbursement from Scottsdale was for repairing the defective workmanship on the pool. In other words, there was no damage to any property beyond Colorado Pool’s own work product itself,

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which cannot alone trigger coverage. The Court reconsiders its previous ruling that this issue is a question of fact (where there are disputed interpretations of the facts) and now concludes that the coverage issue is a matter of law. The Court concludes, as a matter of law, that there was no “occurrence” or “property damage” which would trigger coverage in this matter. Until there is any appellate case law on the subject, I expect that there will be continued interest in any and all trial court orders interpreting or applying HB 10-1394. If you would like a copy of the order discussed in this entry, please send me an e-mail at mclain@hhmrlaw.com. Also, if you have any additional orders on point, I would very much like to see them. Please send me any orders you may have.


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new products at rmbc

by Kim Jackson

new products at rmbc help you build smarter, more efficient homes If you went to the Rocky Mountain Builder Conference, you saw a lot of new products that can help you build homes smarter, faster, greener — and save money at the same time. If you didn’t make it to Beaver Creek, you’re in luck: Here’s a brief synopsis of some of the products seen at the show.

Reid and Wright, Inc. Fiberon Company’s Horizon is a composite decking, wrapped on all four sides. It’s made using durable Permatech technology, the same stuff that wraps a golf ball. Horizon has a 20-year no fade, no stain warranty, so if grease is spilled on it, it cleans right up, without staining. And because it’s wrapped on all four sides — and actually breathes — Horizon composite decking resists mold and fungus growth. Stonedeck West’s Stonedeck is natural stone with a fiberglas back, to strengthen it. With two floors and nine types of stone — quartz to slate — Stonedeck can replace traditional decking. It’s low maintenance and fire resistant. What’s also unique about Stonedeck is it has a slight micro-use convex shape on all four sides, so water slides right off the stone.

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Denver-based United Construction Products’ Bison Block Support Level It is often used with Stonedeck. Level It lets you build a deck on a slope — without resurfacing it — and maintaining the drainage. You can adjust the level system anywhere from a half an inch to two feet, which means you can have a difference in grade and still have a flat deck. The system also allows for movement, so if you put it on natural dirt and it freezes, then thaws and shifts, you can simply remove the tile, adjust the Level, and replace the tile. More info on these products: reidwright.com


G.J. Gardner Homes Builders who build one or two homes a year often feel the pinch, more like a punch, of the higher costs associated with being a custom builder — from materials and labor, to marketing, sales and lost land acquisition opportunities. G.J. Gardner Homes offers small custom builders purchasing power and systems to grow from building one to two homes a year, to a dozen or more. On hard costs alone, a G.J. Gardner Homes franchise owner saves about 12 percent, both in labor and materials.

From business cards to television commercials, G.J. Gardner Homes has all the material that’s usually only available to national builders ready to go when a builder buys a franchise. The web site includes all its builders’ plans, so customers have access to thousands of plans from around the world.If a customer in Colorado finds a plan in New Zealand, it’s easy to download the CAD files, print out the plan and modify it for local requirements. G.J. Gardner Homes’ sales training program helps custom builders’ businesses grow fast, and helps them access land in larger neighborhoods that traditionally may not have been possible to a small custom builder before. The backbone of the company is its proprietary software system, which manages every aspect of each builder’s business, from client interaction, sales and sales management to quoting houses for customers. A customer can show a builder a sketch of a home, and within hours, the builder can offer a fixed price — all without drawing up plans and sending them out to subcontractors for bids. The software system has a scheduling module that, when picking up a permit, lets you know when the cleaner should be there to polish the front door knob. It also manages all the contractual documents, job specifications, color sheets and change orders, so a custom builder becomes organized and super efficient. More info: Brook Swientisky, 303-768-0101, www.gjgardnerhomes.com

Colorado Builder Forum

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new products at rmbc

(continued from page 39)

Grace Construction Products Vicor enV® is a breathable, acrylic weatherresistive barrier that provides superior protection against water and air intrusion. Vycor enV® is a fluid applied, breathable, acrylic barrier that’s formulated to provide weather protection for single family and wood-frame multifamily construction, where the typical substrate are OSB and plywood. Its UV inhibitors are built in, which allows a construction project to be exposed for up to four months without water getting into the building cavity. Vycor enV also is fully adhered to prevent air and water migration between the barrier and substrate into the structure. As a fully adhered air barrier, builders don’t have to use house wrap. And if moisture does get in, the barrier lets it escape. Because it is sprayed or rolled on, it seamlessly and fully bonds to the surface. For the home owner, Vycor enV can save on energy costs in the future. What’s more, it doesn’t contain any solvents, carcinogenic materials or isocyanides and is listed as one of NAHB’s green approved products. For builders who want to build homes that outperform the current standards, Grace is a Manufacturing Partner in the Department of Energy’s Building America Builder’s Challenge; it’s Vycor enV contributes to the energy efficiency of the home. More info: Bonnie Fry Searl, 970-513-9779, bonny.frysearl@grace.com, www.graceconstruction.com

Anchor Engineering Anchor Engineering is a full-service consulting structural engineering and inspection firm that focuses on designing single family custom and production homes, as well as multifamily housing projects, in addition to commercial facilities. Recently, the firm has been engineering modular single family and multifamily factory-built homes.

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These homes are greener out of the chute due to the factory processes that minimize waste. The components are assembled in the factory, including kitchen cabinets and appliances, and the house is delivered to the field on a flatbed truck. There, the crane puts the components together and voila, a house is built! The wood used to build the homes isn’t exposed to the elements as it is through traditional home building methods, thereby often saving builders time as they are forced to wait out a rain or snow storm — and wait for the wood to dry. On the commercial side, Anchor Engineering recently engineered a three story hotel in Trinidad, where the main structure was put together in two weeks. Anchor Engineering hangs its hat on service to builders and architects, during every phase of the home’s construction. Project Manager John Laur said, “We’ll bend over backwards to help everybody on the project, from the beginning to the end. We have a diverse skill set in the office and offer a lot of things other engineers don’t.” More info: General structural engineering: 303-783-4797. Modular-specific info: John Laur, 303-783-4797 x105, john@anchoreng.com


Blind Corners & Curves When it comes to window coverings, what goes up MUST come down. Honeycomb window coverings continue to be a popular product among home builders, mostly due to their higher energy values. And while nearly any company can offer window coverings for odd-shaped windows, such as arches and trapezoids, only Blind Corners & Curves has a patent that makes those window coverings operable. As a result, the company gets a lot of national work. Increasingly, builders are working with the company to install wiring for motorized window coverings during the construction phase of the project, because it’s much more costly to install that wiring later. What’s really new and cool this year, though, are the company’s sun sensitivity sensors that can be used with window coverings to make the shades open and close — depending on the time of day — to make the house look occupied. And if a home is built without the motorization wiring ready to go, Blind Corners & Curves has a solar collector that raises and lowers nearly any shadings it offers — without any wiring. Whenever there’s sun value, the solar collecting is storing and saving energy, so if it’s cloudy for a few days, there’s enough energy there to raise and lower the window coverings several times. Combined, the solar collector and sun sensors help to keep the solar gain in during the winter and keep it out in the summer. Talk about green! More info: Natalie Lucero, 303-755-5000 x219, nlucero@bccblinds.com, www.bccblinds.com

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Colorado Builder Forum

Winter 2010

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new products at rmbc

(continued from page 41)

Real Green Building Systems If you want to save money and build reduce your homes’ carbon footprints, Real Green Building Systems’ plumbing-based fire suppression system can save you $10,000 or more on each home you build. It’s the only fire suppression system that’s installed by a master plumber, which means your fire protection system can be installed at right around $2/ sq. ft. Because the system is based on the home’s cold water supply, when your buyers turn on the faucet, they know their fire suppression system works. That also saves on the annual hefty fee to check the fire protection system. The ceiling sprinklers are are covered with a three-inch diameter plate, which will fall off at 135 degrees. The system activates when it reaches 165 degrees, giving occupants ten minutes to get out of the house. President Doug Lenberg reported that the system can cut down on framing costs and create a positive carbon footprint, where each house in a community contributes to the reforestation of the neighborhood. The company’s insulation product is installed over the roof and walls, to prevent freezing pipes. Using it as a thermal wrap reduces the size of walls and cuts heating and cooling costs by nearly half.

The company’s plumbing-based fire suppression system has saved a Farmington, NM subdivision $10,000 a lot, through tradeoffs with the fire marshall. “One of the tradeoffs they’ll give you is a higher density on that particular land, because they don’t have to worry that they can get a fire truck or a 150-foot hose in there.” For more information visit: rbgsonline.com

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rmbc recap

the 2010 Rocky Mountain Builder Conference goes on the books as a success! Thanks to all who participated, the ’10 Rocky Mountain Builder Conference was a success! More than 200 Colorado members attended the conference and took advantage of the time to network and problem solve with one another and visit with our 30 exhibitors. And, as Emil said in his letter, it was a profitable event for CAHB. Whew! If you haven’t been to the RMBC, go next year. The people you meet, the relationships you enhance, the things you learn — all help you gain a competitive advantage in today’s home building environment!

Emil Wanatka, CAHB president, discusses the state and future of the home building industry during the RMBC opening session.

Chair of the RMBC committee and sponsor Ryan Warren shares with members what’s in store for them while at the conference.

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Thanks to the Sponsors and Exhibitors of the 2010 Rocky Mountain Builder Conference! TiTlE SponSoRS:

food & BEvERagE BooTh SponSoRS:

gold SponSoR:

ExhiBiToRS: 1st Mortgages

SilvER SponSoR:

Alpine Lumber Anchor Engineering Barvista Building Systems Big Sky Insulations R-Control Blind Corners & Curves

afTER paRTy SponSoR:

Boise Cascade Building Materials Bowman Kemp Basement Window Systems Colorado Chapter of the International Building Code Fire on Demand

BRonzE SponSoR:

G J Gardner Homes HomeAid Colorado MetLife Home Loans Milgard Manufacturing NCFI Polyurethanes

EduCaTion SESSion SponSoR:

REgiSTRaTion Bag SponSoR:

Pavestone Company Pinnacol Assurance ProHome Colorado Real Green Building Systems

waTER BoTTlE SponSoR:

RooM kEy SponSoR:

Reid & Wright, Inc. SBSA, Inc. Universal Forest Products Iron Deck Willis


new member benefits

by Bill Armstrong

CAHB adds ProHome’s warranty program as member benefit Member benefit. What does that mean? It means that as a member, you have access to and receive timely, pertinent and expert information on topics relevant to you and the home building industry from your local HBA. Yes, this is one of those informative pieces that is relevant. Over the past few years, streamlining, cost cutting and layoffs have been buzz words in our industry. It has been a necessary part of any builder’s survival plan, but it doesn’t have to mean reduction in quality or customer service. ProHome Colorado provides a path for 30 to 60 percent cost savings on any builder’s in-house warranty department. For more than 25 years, ProHome has been reducing builders’ overhead by letting them outsource their entire warranty management process. In addition to the cost savings, ProHome Colorado — through its proven systems, national footprint, and continual education — helps provide additional layers of liability protection and increased customer service for its builder clients. Now I know you’re saying, “I don’t want to lose control,” or “I like that personal touch with my home owner.” Let’s analyze these concerns.

Control You don’t have control of your home owner. By managing the warranty process yourself, they see the guy who built it, the guy who took their money and this guy is trying to justify shoddy workmanship. In fact, what they want you to fix is not a warranty item, but homeowner maintenance one. If you enjoy spending your money and time being Mr. Fix-It, please call me directly; I have a honey-do list. If you enjoy being a builder, warranting your product (required by Colorado statute) and not maintaining it, also please call me; I can help ease your pain.

Personal touch Building a home is an effort in people skills. The end result is a finished home and some sort of relationship with the home owner. Outsourcing your warranty doesn’t mean you have to lose your “relationship.” It just means someone in a shirt and tie who is an expert in this area can say, “No,” to the home owner. And guess what? Home owners are okay with it. What typically happens is you decline a non-warranty item and the home owner begins to vibrate, get mad — or worse — and you end up fixing it, even if it costs you money. The cost of doing business? I don’t think so. When a ProHome representative meets with home owners, at their request, for one of their post-closing

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walkthroughs and we say, “I’m sorry. See here? The warranty manual shows that item is not covered”. The homeowner replies, “Yeah, I know. thought I’d try.” Now, you as the builder can still fix these items at your discretion. If you do, you will finally actually get credit for going above and beyond, instead of it being a home owner’s expectation.

Outsourcing your warranty eases emotional ties with your owners

Bill Armstrong

There is an interesting dynamic that takes place when the warranty process is outsourced. By introducing an outside third party, it places the consumer in an environment where we’re all used to dealing with third parties in everything we buy — except, typically, a home. For example, we go to lunch at a steakhouse. You ask the waitress what is good on the menu. Now unbeknownst to you she is a strict vegetarian and has trouble not vomiting when she brings a steak to the table. She replies, “Oh the 12-oz rib eye is fantastic!” Now knowing her background, in her opinion the tofu salad at the restaurant down the street is to die for. You order the rib eye because the waitress, an outside third party, just told you what she thinks is the best thing on the menu — and you placed your confidence in her expertise. When you outsource your warranty to ProHome Colorado, you remove the emotional dynamic between you and your new “friend” the home owner. ProHome Colorado, as an outside third party, can put controls on the home owner that they are comfortable with and, believe it or not, they will put controls on themselves when dealing with us that they won’t when dealing with you.

New member benefit: ProHome shares contract portion with CAHB This year ProHome Colorado has been endorsed by the CAHB. With that endorsement, ProHome Colorado gives money back to the CAHB to continue its work on the legislative front for our industry. Your industry advocate has placed its confidence in us, as have thousands of builders across the country. Explore your options and check out the benefits. Bill Armstrong is president of ProHome Colorado, www.ProHomeCO.com. Reach him at BArmstrong@ProHomeCO.com or 720-232-7189.


Pinnacol Assurance Thanks the Colorado Association of Home Builders for Your PinnacolAssurance Assurance Thanks the Continued Support and Partnership. Pinnacol Thanks the Colorado Colorado Association of of Home Home Builders Builders for Association forYour Your As the provider of the workers’ compensation insurance group dividend plan Continued Support and Partnership. Continued Support and Partnership. for the Colorado Association of Home Builders, Pinnacol Assurance offers group members service, loss prevention return-to-work As the provider customized of the workers’ compensation insuranceand group dividend plan As the provider of the workers’ compensation insurance group dividend plan assistance, comprehensive claims management, and access to a statewide for the Colorado Association of Home Builders, Pinnacol Assurance offers for the Colorado Association of Home Builders, Assurance group members customized service, loss prevention and return-to-work network of medical professionals experienced inPinnacol treating workplace offers injuries. group members customized service, loss prevention and return-to-work assistance, comprehensive claims management, and access to a statewide We look forward to meetingin your compensation assistance, claimsexperienced management, andworkers’ access to a statewide network ofcomprehensive medical professionals treating workplace injuries. network of medical insurance professionals experienced in come. treating workplace injuries. needs for years to We look forward to meeting your workers’ compensation

We look forward compensation insurance needs to formeeting years to your come. For more information, please call workers’ Jon Lindstrom at Willis, 303.765.3635 or Jon.Lindstrom@willis.com. insurance needs for years to come. For more information, please call Jon Lindstrom at

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