EleBlog

28 Sep, 2007

Parks Associates has come up with a neat idea. It has annual conferences on home technology, called Connections. Now, it's added a blog. There are other "Connections" conferences (abroad). As a result, there's plenty for the Parks folks to post without giving away the store. According to my cursory review:


Worth reading: "Using Technology to Liberate Not Enslave Our Children." Catchy title, eh? It's an intelligently written post about current paranoia about security (from the broadest level to your front yard) and how "things" have changed.

28 Sep, 2007

Active Power paid for a study and issued a release. Some of the facts cited are worth thinking about:


Read the release on power outages and data centers.

28 Sep, 2007

The Fayetteville Observer is the oldest continually published newspaper in NC, having started back in 1816. There's a feature in the thing, "CHeers and Jeers," which includes (in the 9/27 edition) numerous items of praise (and boos) contributed by members of the public. I stumbled across it because of this one, from Deborah King:

They were working a roadside job in Jacksonville when the funeral procession of my 102-year-old grandmother passed by. They stopped their work, took off their hats, and stood quietly while everyone drove past.

Even my 19-year-old son took notice of their act of respect and commented about how impressed he was.

In this day and time, it is very seldom that cars even slow down for funeral processions, so my family would like to acknowledge these workers for bringing a bright moment to a sad time. In turn, our hats are off to you!

It's easy to forget this: People appreciate the little things.

28 Sep, 2007

Some things become totally screwed up. What I've noticed is that, when something gets that way, it tends to stay in such a state for a long time.

From an article in The Gazette (of Colorado Springs) -- 8/26:


AND: The department has just one employee who handles the roughly 1,600 electrical license applicatiosn a year, as well as the roughly 1,900 plumbing license applications." That's from Susan Taylor, director of the office of licensing.

28 Sep, 2007

Is the credit crunch hurting things? Some people will tell you NO. Retail Traffic magazine seems to be thinking "maybe." Here's a slice of a 9/19 article:

She says many of her institutional clients are purposefully staying away from acquisitions right now, not because they don't have the cash, but because they figure that prices will soon begin to drop on even the best quality assets. Across the board, they expect to see a discount of 15 percent before year's end.

Troubles in the debt markets are crippling leveraged buyers. Conduit lenders especially have stumbled, unable to sell loans they originated at terms they used six months ago into a secondary market suddenly squeamish about risk. From 2006 to August 2007, spreads to 10-year Treasuries on AA-rated fixed-rate CMBS loans, for example, more than doubled, jumping 122 basis points in all to 211 basis points from 89 basis points in 2006, according to RBS Greenwich Capital. Meanwhile, spreads on A-rated loans rose 162 basis points, to 261 basis points, and spreads on BBB-rated loans rose 262 basis points, to 396 basis points.

28 Sep, 2007

August's construction spending report was emitted today by the Census Bureau. It's virtually the same as the one for July -- total private construction DOWN 7.2%, residential DOWN 17.7%, nonresidential UP 17.1%, public construction up 11.6%. These numbers are NOT seasonally adjusted. Overall, total construction (Jan-Aug 07 vs. Jan-Aug 06) was down 3.2%.

25 Sep, 2007

This is the topic of a 10/18 audio conference sponsored by Direct Energy and hosted by FaiclityCare magazine.

25 Sep, 2007

"Majority of Companies Plan to Green Their Data Centers," according to a headline. Now, apparently, "green" is also a verb.

25 Sep, 2007

This is the title of an Oct. 18 webinar sponsored by Chain Store Age (a magazine) and SunPower. I thought you might find it interesting. Click on the link to register.

25 Sep, 2007

One of the economic issues on which I waver is whether or not the Federal Reserve Board matters. I think it does matter – at least when it comes to the value of the U.S. dollar. On the other hand, the global economy is so huge (and the U.S. just a small part of it, really) . . . that it could lead on to believe that the Fed Doesn’t Matter.

Weighing in on the “doesn’t matter” side of the scale a few weeks ago was a respected commentator, John Hussman. Here’s a small piece of his weekly market comment of 9/10/07:

Moreover, it's unclear exactly how changes in the Federal Funds rate presumably cause changes in market interest rates – statistically, market rates lead and Fed Funds typically follow. We can of course argue that, well, the markets are anticipating the Fed. But why do we really need so badly to believe that a government entity that influences an overnight interest rate on a $41 billion pool of money (this is the entire amount of U.S bank reserves) is actually in tight control of a $13.8 trillion economy?

Think about it. The full range of variation in the U.S. monetary base (including both bank reserves and currency in circulation) typically amounts to only about $50 billion annually. Over the past year, foreign holdings of U.S. government debt have increased by $300 billion – more than six times the fluctuation in the monetary base, and over a hundred times the amount by which U.S. bank reserves have changed.

It might seem that Fed must have an effect because periods of easing are typically followed by subsequent economic recovery, and periods of tightening are typically followed by economic softness, albeit with a “long and variable lag.” But that's a lot like saying the sun comes up because the rooster crows. The Fed generally only raises the Fed Funds rate when the economy is near full capacity and continues until the economy softens. It lowers the Fed Funds rate when the economy is already weakening and continues until the economy recovers. The Fed is “effective” as surely as economic softness follows strength and strength follows softness.

25 Sep, 2007

My wife and I soured on water out of the tap in 1985. At the time, we lived in Maryland, and I worked for Waste Age magazine. As the magazine's editor, I was doing a lot of traveling -- visiting one heck of a lot of waste facilities (including landfills) -- and I didn't like what I saw. Jill was noticing color in the water coming out of the tap (as in, it wasn't always clear).

As a result, we've not had water from the tap since mid-1985. Yes, it's damn expensive to buy water in bottles (even if you buy gallon bottles in cases of six, as I do). But we drink a lot of water. When I tell someone this, they usually ask "how do you know the bottled water is any good?" Answer: I test it.

I probably would, most of the time, get good results in testing what comes out of the tap. But maybe not.

In the process of writing an article recently on water and wastewater markets for engineering firms, I stumbled across something that didn't end up in the article: A study on contamination in tap water, done nearly two years ago. It's scary as hell.

This isn't here to say "I was right." It's here to warn EleBlog visitors about what they put in their bodies.

24 Sep, 2007

TEDMAG has recently posted a three-part series on Inflation. Boy, my timing could NOT have been better -- with the Fed cutting rates by 50 basis points, the euro nearing $1.41, oil bouncing up over $80/barrel, and gold surging to $730 and more. Here's where to find what I wrote:

Inflation: What It Is

Part 2

Where It's Going

20 Sep, 2007

There's a "secret" Flight Simulator buried inside Google Earth, according to TechCrunch.

20 Sep, 2007

Fred Harding, who works for a company that distributes consumer electronics products to CE installers, writes regularly for CE Pro magazine. A recent contribution is on "Wiring Fundamentals: Connections, Fittings & Cabling."

I particularly like this sentence: "Regardless of what type of connection you are encountering, making the best termination will save you time and money in the long run."

20 Sep, 2007

Fred Harding, who works for a company that distributes consumer electronics products to CE installers, writes regularly for CE Pro magazine. A recent contribution is on "Wiring Fundamentals: Connections, Fittings & Cabling."

I particularly like this sentence: "Regardless of what type of connection you are encountering, making the best termination will save you time and money in the long run."

20 Sep, 2007

I'm at the ElectroIndustry E-Biz Forum. I was on a panel at this morning's general session. One question posed to me: What about contractors and computers.

Instead of dwelling on my answer, I want to point out three slides from a presentation that I read through recently:


...not the entirety of the problem, but a really neat summary of where the heart of the problem lies, I think.

20 Sep, 2007

The Mechanical Contractors Association of America has really embraced the green construction trend. Some stuff at which you should take a look:

1. The 6/07 issue of Reporter, MCAA's monthly newsletter. By my count, nine of the 28 pages deal with green construction issues (click to download a PDF).

2. MCAA is having a conference next week on "the green opportunities that lie ahead" (if you click you'll download a 13-page PDF).

20 Sep, 2007

I've heard rumblings from electrical folks that the coming skilled electrician shortage would get worse when the utilities got around to building more power plants. The 9/3 Chattanooga TImes & Free Press ran a story, "TVA Looking for Labor," that says the Tennessee Valley Authority "will need mroe than 500 contract electricians . . . to finish building the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor, starting in 2008.

Worse: "Once that reactor is built by 2013, TVA expects to need a comparable amount of workers to build each of two reactors tentatively planned . . . "

If you read that correctly, there are 500 professional electricians who are going to find employment (working for contractors, I think) from 2008 through some time in the late 2010s. That's a big drag. And it's just one state, one utility.

19 Sep, 2007

I'm of the opinion that the Fed's rate cut will hurt the U.S. -- and perhaps the world -- by further inflating The Credit Bubble. I can go on here.

But -- it's possible that I am wrong.

I ran across a piece, "Credit Pullback Changing Today's Retail Developer/Investor Pool." It's a short item; here's what one developer is quoted as saying:

This is the reason you don't want to allow a Credit Bubble to develop in the first place. There ARE spillover effects -- in this case, from residential to commercial, as shown above. This developer says, in essence: "If this keeps up, we're going to see less new construction (of commercial projects) and 'a big drop' in values of standing buildings."

So: Are we rushing headlong back to the 1930s? I don't know. If Roaring Inflation is going to be the result of what the Fed has (apparently) decided to do -- lowering interest rates and risking "moral hazard" -- we apparently have chosen "death by inflation" over "death by deflation." There's nothing anyone reading this can do to prevent either catastrophe . . . but we can all get ready.

19 Sep, 2007

From September's Architectural Record: "The New Age of High-Tech Hospitals." Note if you click over: The article is continued to SIX total web pages. It might be easier to read if you just print the thing out.

19 Sep, 2007

In going their individual ways, IBEWHourPower.com and ElectricTV.net have, in recent weeks, posted video coverage of union electrical construction training.


Disclaimer: In one of my freelance/independent contractor assignments, I work for the NECA-IBEW joint marketing operation that produces ElectricTV.

19 Sep, 2007

"Does 802.11n spell the 'end of Ethernet'?, asked a headline in Network World (9/11/07 issue). Here's the answer, from end-users, as supplied by the article's last few lines:

“I believe that once the WLAN is as reliable as wired access, you will begin to see enterprises move away from wired infrastructures, based on cost savings alone (in both wire and labor),” says Allred. “But that being said, I don’t think this change will come overnight.”

“11n is not the ‘hard wire killer’ yet,” says Ruman. “Some users still need wire speed and population density of cubicles is still too great in some areas to provide a comfortable wireless experience.”

“I don’t think the end is here,” says Mayo. “Ask me again in 10 years.” Coppin State’s Prevatte thinks the same. “I don’t see wired Ethernet going anywhere soon," he says.

19 Sep, 2007

I don't know what Goldman Sachs thinks of the housing market now that the interest rates are going down, but I found an entry on a respected economics blog (Calculated Risk) that provides a piece of a GS housing outlook from August. It's positively BLACK with gloom. I don't feel it's right to reproduce the thing here, but this is the CR summary:


SAAR = seasonally adjusted annual rate. Housing starts at 1.1 million for 2008 is a cataclysm in the housing market. Click through to see a bit of the Goldman Sachs' housing outlook, from August, as excerpted by CR.

19 Sep, 2007

Wheat has doubled in price in the past year. Last week, it hit an all-time record high in price -- $9 per bushel. According to a Washington Post (9/15) report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows food prices increased by 2.2% in 2006, but 4.2% in the 12 months ended 7/31/07.

Of course, the stock market bounced yesterday based on a Fed interest rate cut. But the price of gold soared to new 2007 highs -- and oil made an all-time high, too, above $82/barrel.

The gist: Inflation is here. It's everywhere. And it's likely to get worse, and eat away further at consumer pocketbooks and business operating expenses, before it gets better.

14 Sep, 2007

LNG = liquefied natural gas . GHG = greenhouse gas.

According to a UPI item posted to the Buildings.com website, researchers at CMU have tried to throw some common sense into the energy/green debate.

Good luck to them!

14 Sep, 2007

A 7/27 press release from the Home Lighting Control Alliance is (perhaps understandably) anti-CFL. Or sort-of reads that way. Here are three paragraphs of note:

Later on in the release, the HLCA notes that "dimmers can greatly extend bulb life. 50% power extends bulb life 20X." The last sentence notes: "A blend of incandescent, halogen, and fluorescent bulbs wil yield the best combination of energy savings, convenience, and enjoyment."

14 Sep, 2007

Underground Construction is a wonderful magazine. A real pro, Jeff Griffin -- a guy I've worked with and like very much -- is a writer there. He contributed "Contractors Adapt to Green Construction" (Part I), the cover story of the mag's August issue.

Now, if you are like me, and know virtually NOTHING about UC, your reaction might be . . . "ok, how is digging up direct going to be 'green' in any way, shape, or form?" It might sound like total baloney -- if you don't read the article.

If you do click through, you might get to learn by encountering stuff like this:

14 Sep, 2007

NECA's convention + trade show takes place Oct. 6-7-8 in San Francisco (yes, it's on a Sat-Sun-Mon). The org has embraced Green stuff, to the point where it includes a "Green Day" (I thought that was St. Patrick's Day, when there pour the green dye into the Chicago River?).

Here's where you'll find NECA's propaganda on this matter.

14 Sep, 2007

I stumbled across this graphic in the 6/29 issue of New Power Executive Biweekly, a newsletter I receive via e-mail. It's from Dr. Robert Michaels, an economics professor at Cal State Fullerton. The data being presented are about the U.S.

I don't think I need to add anything, do you?

14 Sep, 2007

Here's the latest on housing:

8/23, from Bob Murray of McGraw-Hill Construction: "The two-year (2006-2007) decline for single family starts will now be 38% to 40%, with starts down another 3% to 5% in 2008." Special update here.

9/11 from SeekingAlpha.com, relaying comments of the boss at bank Washington Mutual:


9/12 from SeekingAlpha.com, reporting on the National Association of Realtors updated forecast:

12 Sep, 2007

I ran across a 5/21/07 New York Times article, "Electricity Crisis Hobbles an India Eager to Ascend." I can't link to it. But there's some amazing information in it, which I'll regurgiate here:


There's more in the story -- about generator use by private businesses, etc. But the most appalling thing: "Gurgaon does not have a sewage treatment plant of its own." This is "the best address south of Delhi"???

According to Wikipedia, Gurgaon in 2001 had a population of almost 175,000.


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12 Sep, 2007

The spot market price of a barrel of crude oil briefly topped $80 today for the first time, ever; oil's now trading below $80, according to www.kitco.com (a website to which I resort daily).

Have you wondered why? We've had a relatively calm hurricane season. The "driving season" ended with Labor Day. What's going on?

I read a 5/2/07 Knowledge@Wharton article, a shortie (printed out at 2.5 pages). Here's a piece of it:

12 Sep, 2007

According to a 9/4 Washington Post feature:

• "widening alarm about greenhouse gas emissions has slowed the efforts of electric companies to build coal-fired power plants [from MT to FL]."

• Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the Senate, sent a letter to CEOs at four power companies saying he would "use every means at my disposal" to stop them from building three coal-fired power plants in NV.

• "In June, all 4 members of FL's PSC -- including two appointed by the new Republican gov -- rejected an FPL Group proposal for a coal plan near Lake Okeechobee. The following month, another [ute] withdrew its application for a new coal-fired plant."

• "Some rural electric cooperatives have shelved coal plant plans." . . . cooperatives in KS + CO scaled back a project recently (reason: "Colorado adopted a law requiring rural electric co-ops to get 10% of their power from renewable resources").

- - - - -

I'm more for clean air than anyone you've met; heck, in September 2000, I almost died of a lung disease! My dad smoked and died as a result of lung cancer; my mom got a really bad case of late-onset asthma (which my dad's cigarette smoking did not help). PLUS: I grew up in a place (Brooklyn, N.Y.) where there was "black snow" when I was a kid -- in the summer . . . burned ashes from the incinerators in the apartment buildings on the other side of Kings Highway. I am not kidding. The Clean Air Act, to me, is not "government regulation." I saw what it did, just by looking up in the sky, in Brooklyn, when I was in my early 20s.

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OK. Let's not mince words. We're using more and more electric power. It's got to come from some place, doesn't it? BUT . . . (and it's a BIG but) . . .

We're NOT building nuclear power plants; it's going to take forever to build them. Yes, there are rumors that we're about to get a whole bunch of new ones announced; but it will take FOREVER to build these things. And that's if we can muster the manpower to build them! Further: All of that follows from the assumption that folks in the area where power companies want to build these things will allow them to be built!

We CAN'T build a lot of new natural-gas-powered electrical generation plants. Reason: We don't have the natural gas supply; and we don't have a super gas transport infrastructure in this country just yet (and THAT will take a lot of time to build). The energy industry folks are exploring imports of liquified natural gas (LNG), which -- from my brief exploration -- is an answer, but a not-so-damn-wonderful solution.

Renewables are great. I am 100% behind renewables. I've been "pro" solar photovoltaics before most people I know knew how to spell the P word. But we can't muster the willpower to devote the subsidies needed to grow the renewable industry to such a size -- overnight -- that it would help. And it gets worse: Even if we could fund the retrofit of solar PV roofs on every house in the U.S., say, in the next 10 years, we could NOT get the PV cells manufactured and the installation people to do the work.

Energy efficiency and conservation are my personal favorites -- for one thing, if we embraced this as people, as a society, and as business owners (i.e., as a nation), this would make a lot of work for my favorite group of people, Electrical Contractors! But wait: We talk the talk, but we don't walk the walk. There's not enough time here for me to tackle why we're not doing this. But look around: We're not.

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SO when I do the math, I see a lot of coal-burning plants going up in the next 6 months to 15 years. I don't like it. I know that the folks who say GHG emissions (GHG = greenhouse gas) will get worse if we burn more coal are CORRECT. I'm not saying they are wrong.

And I'm aware that coal's impact (assuming it IS having one) isn't going to be lessened any time soon. I've written here prevously about the FARCE that is the very idea of carbon capture and sequestration; it took me in, and I became an advocate -- until I actually looked into it [see this post].

I do think we should ramp up R&D into all kind of technology that makes coal less of a danger to the planet. To me, this seems fairly obvious. But even if we do NOT do this (and we ain't, I don't think, to any serious extent) . . . for the time being, a reasonable alternative to burning more and more coal has not presented itself.

WHAT THAT MEANS: We may well be en route to making -- consciously or not -- the UNreasonable choice. We seem to be choosing future electricity shortages. In a way, we are choosing . . . conservation. It's hard to waste electricity (or even use it) when there's nothing being transmitted on down the line!


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12 Sep, 2007

EEB = Energy Efficiency in Buildings. It's also nice to say! I wandered over to the EEB Blog, where I found these didjaknows -- which I call "factolitos" ('cause I don't like the word "factoids") --

Did you know that:

• The annual global energy consumption in buildings will more than double by 2050 unless action is taken. This is like adding 2.3 billion cars to the global car stock – about 10 times the current number of cars in the US.
• The property market in China is breathtaking, producing 2 billion square meters per year. It means China is building the equivalent of Japan’s building area every three years.

On the other hand…

• The global EEB survey detected that the building industry overestimates the cost of green buildings. Likewise it underestimates the emissions contribution of buildings.
• Only 13% of people in the building industry have been involved in green building, while 82 % claim awareness of green building practices.

Here's a link to the global EEB survey info; you can download the thing (a 38p, 2.9MB PDF) from there, free.

12 Sep, 2007

Recently, I saw a CNBC televised argument between two ill-equipped individuals. One was contending things were starting to get really bad, the other that everything was just fine. As "evidence" of the "fine" point, we were told that the airports were full, airplanes were full, blahblahblah. The things-are-bad guy was asked, "how can things be so bad when the airplanes are full?"

He lamely mumbled something about fewer planes being flown.

Neither person cited any data; the "airplanes are full" contender based this on what was seen in a recent trip. This is, of course, ridiculous -- and all too typical of what passes for intelligent debate in the United States, and especially on CNBC.

I determined to find out what the truth might be.

Here's what I found:


I'm afraid that a 0.2% increase is underwhelming.

11 Sep, 2007

You need to read the 9,200-word transcript of an interview with Matthew Simmons on the website of Financial Sense (you can also listen in to the actual audio). Simmons is the oil patch investment banker who wrote Twilight In The Desert, a book that kicked the crap out of me. It was not easy to understand, and it was thick. Simmons read 250 reports and papers on the oil exploration and harvesting business in Saudi Arabia -- all the stuff that's public -- and came to the conclusion that Saudi oil production is not limitless.

Interestingly, Simmons was one of 300+ people who put together the recent National Petroleum Council report to the Secretary of Energy. He comments on that in the interview, as well as one heck of a lot else. See the Q-and-A here. Here's a slice that might be of some interest:

- - - - -

MATT: From an opportunity standpoint, which is a little bit different from an immediate investment opportunity, I think that the energy in the ocean is going to end up potentially being an unbelievable home run. But right now, that area is so tiny, there are so few people working on so few projects that it’s where offshore oil and gas was 60 years ago. But if I had to pick one area – and it an area that I have picked and I’m doing a lot of work here in Maine to help organize Ocean Energy Institute and ideally have it be the biggest, best think tank that’s ever been created on the litany of the ways you can create energy out of the ocean water and also using the oceans as a super highway of the 21^st Century to have massive energy conservation.

When you get into stuff that you can get into today, there are some limited areas of real potential. For a lot of the money going into biofuels I think is going to end up being wasted money. So I think you’ve got to be pretty cautious when you go…I think what’s happening in wind and solar is very exciting but it will basically have very little to do – it will have nothing to do with addressing our oil problems, because wind and solar are electricity. I think nuclear is going to have a big comeback but we’ve got to get real serious about our limitations of, as we know them today, about high quality uranium. So much of our nuclear fuel now is reprocessed spent weapons grades, so I think that the areas of alternative energy are going to have to be exciting but so far it’s fairly discouraging in my opinion. [37:37]

JIM: Is it going to take much, much higher prices to make all of this technology viable?

MATT: I don’t know that it takes a lot higher prices today, but I think the higher the prices go and the more stability you create that these prices aren’t a one shot thing the more efforts you’re going to get of people saying, “okay, now at least I can afford to do something, versus the fear, that as soon as I get something going – and I know what’s going to happen – prices will collapse. And I’ll go bankrupt.” So that the quicker that we have a realization that it’s highly unlikely that we’ll ever go back to 40 or $50 a barrel oil and we’re headed to triple digit oil prices, and that’s good news not bad news, then the better off we’re going to be. [38:14]

11 Sep, 2007

One of the places I look to monitor prices and inflation -- especially of industrial goods -- is Purchasing.com. They've got a fella there, Tom Stundza. I don't know him, but he does an excellent job of putting the pieces in place . . . prices and trends in various markets.

My most recent visit was last night. Some of what I found shook me up. There is, apparently, inflation coming into consumer goods on the wholesale level. See these two reports:


If I read the 2nd story correctly, Heinz expects food price inflation in the year ending 4/08 to run at 5.5%. Will this stuff show up in U.S. government inflation figures? NO. Remember, the "core" inflation rate -- which is widely reported -- OMITS "food & energy." You have to read through the report, or deep into the news item -- or download each monthly BLS inflation release -- to see what's called "headline" inflation . . . what I would call Real Inflation.

11 Sep, 2007

There are roughly four camps in the world right now as to what's going to happen next:

HOWEVER . . .
Evidence to bolster camps #2 and #3 comes from a Bloomberg.com story filed 9/5 -- Commercial Real Estate . . . Poised for Drop. Here is a piece of it:

- - - -

U.S. commercial real estate prices may fall as much as 15 percent over the next year in the broadest decline since the 2001 recession as rising borrowing costs force property owners to accept less or postpone sales.

"People aren't willing to do deals right now,'' said Howard Michaels, the New York-based chairman of Carlton Advisory Services Inc., which has arranged financing for real estate purchases including the Lipstick Building in midtown Manhattan. "The expectation is that prices will come down.''

Investors in July bought the fewest commercial properties since August 2006 and apartment building acquisitions were down 50 percent from June, data compiled by industry consultants at New York-based Real Capital Analytics Inc. show. Archstone-Smith Trust in August postponed its $13.5 billion sale to a group led by Tishman Speyer Properties LP until October. Mission West Properties Inc., the owner of commercial buildings in Silicon Valley, said on Aug. 13 that the company's $1.8 billion sale may fail after a bank withdrew funding.

"There are so many deals falling apart,'' said David Lichtenstein, chief executive officer of Lakewood, New Jersey- based Lightstone Group, an owner of more than 20,000 apartments and 30 million square feet of office and retail space. "People who can get out are getting out.''

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Bolding and italicizing added by The EleBlog. Do you feel more like panicking now?

11 Sep, 2007

Back when I was Publisher of Electrical Contractor -- which makes this memory from 1997 or 1998 -- I was invited to Leviton's HQ to make a presentation to the company's Distributor Advisory Committee. I considered it an honor then, and I do now. The DAC consisted (if memory serves) of 15 electrical distributors. I honestly can't remember what my presentation was about (other than, of course, that it contained a lot of data about electrical contractors based on E.C. magazine's research).

Early during my presentation, Harold Leviton wandered into the room. He sat down at a small table in the back (a table at which I had left my computer bag -- this was a PowerPoint presentation, and I lugged the thing). He smoked a cigar, which interested me; I was a regular (1-2 per day) cigar smoker at the time.

I finished the presentation and answered questions. When done, I went to the bag to pack up and leave. Mr. Leviton was still sitting there. In a friendly way -- and with what sounded like a Brooklyn accent to me (and I should know!) -- he peppered me with a few questions. I remember thinking:


I also remember talking briefly about cigars. Needless to say, he smoked a somewhat nicer brand than I did.

In short, I came away with the impression that Harold Leviton was not only the oldest guy in the place, he also was the sharpest tool in the shed. I came away humbled. I've long since quit the daily practice of smoking cigars (my dad died of cancer as the result of cigarette smoking) . . . but when you consider that Mr. L lived to be 90, perhaps that was a hasty decision.

11 Sep, 2007

Here's the text of a paid death notice appearing in the New York Times:

LEVITON--Harold . The officers, Board of Directors, and staff of UJA-Federation of New York mourn with profound sadness the passing of Harold Leviton, a cherished leader of the Long Island Jewish community and an esteemed philanthropist. Harold and his beloved wife, Shirley, shared a historic commitment to the Jewish community that was symbolized by their generous support of UJA-Federation and our network of agencies, as well as their commitment to the United Jewish Y's of Long Island. His dedication and concern for child welfare and other humanitarian causes was an expression of his passion and boundless generosity. Harold's devotion was fueled by an overwhelming dedication to tikkun olam, enriching the lives of millions in New York, in Israel, and around the world.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to Shirley; to his children, Patricia and Stephen Sokolow, Adrienne and Donald Hendler, and Elizabeth and James Pearse; and to the entire family. John M. Shapiro, President Jerry W. Levin, Chair of the Board John S. Ruskay, Exec. V.P. & C.E.O.

LEVITON--Harold, an Electrical industry icon, whose products are in nearly all of American homes, died peacefully September 8th, at age ninety. Despite the prominence of his company, Harold maintained a low profile, cherishing his family and long-term relationships with employees, customers and vendors. As CEO and Chairman of the Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc. of Little Neck, New York, he transformed the company founded by his father in 1906 as a manufacturer of tip mantles for gas lights into a global electrical and electronic industry leader. The company is a rarity in today's environment -a large successful family - owned business.

Born in Brooklyn, Harold Leviton was the son of immigrants. From the time he could walk, Harold spent weekends accompanying his father at the company's original factory in Greenpoint. There he built a strong foundation for a career spanning more than seven decades. After graduating from the University of Miami, Harold began his career in the company's purchasing department. Next he was charged with running the personnel department. This position imbued a deep respect for the value of all employees. Upon the death of his father in 1965, Harold became President and CEO of the company. He became Chairman in 1998 after the death of his brotherin-law, Jack Amsterdam.

For Harold, his company's mission went beyond selling products. Quality and safety were paramount. He was an advocate in support of electrical industry standards and played a leadership role within the industry serving on the board of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) since 1976. He was Chairman of National Electrical Manufacturers Association Wiring Device Section and an honorary member of its Board of Governors as well as Chairman of the Electrical Manufacturing Council. He was a charter board member of the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFi) and served as a Vice Chairman Emeritus of the National Electrical Safety Foundation (NESF).

The human side of the business always came first. Many employee and industry associates could count on a personally signed birthday note or the even more thoughtful gift of a handmade latch hook pillow or cork tray, two of his signature hobbies. There was always more than business to be done. Active with the United Jewish Y's of Long Island, he was a benefactor and onetime president and chairman of its Board. He was a founder of Israel's Technion, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (now Montefiore Medical Center) and the Leviton Industrial Arts Award, a prestigious accolade for New York City High School students in the electrical trades. He served as a Trustee and Deputy Mayor of the Village of Hewlett Harbor where he lived since 1947, Vice President of the Board of the Woodmere Academy, and Chairman of the Appeals Board and Vice Chairman of the Recreational Committee of the Five Towns.

Leviton was the recipient of numerous distinguished service awards. These included the Anti-Defamation Torch of Liberty Award, the Wire and Cable Club of America's Charles D. Scott Distinguished Career Award, the Medal of Merit of the Portuguese Communities, which he received from the Government of Portugal, and the NEMA Falk Award for his many years of service to the electroindustry. Harold Leviton will be remembered as an icon in the electrical industry, and entrepreneur and visionary, generous benefactor, but most of all, as a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

He is survived by his wife Shirley, daughters, Patricia, Adrienne, and Elizabeth, sons-in-law Stephen, Donald and Andrew, 11 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren. Family requests no flowers. Donations may be made to UJA Federation or the North Shore University Hospital. Services Monday 1:30pm, Temple Israel of Lawrence, 140 Central Avenue, Lawrence, NY. Donald Hendler, President Stephen Sokolow, Vice-Chairman and the Executive Committee of Leviton Manufacturing Co.,Inc.

LEVITON--Harold. The Woodmere Club deeply regrets the passing of our good friend and longtime member, Harold Leviton. Our heartfelt sympathies are extended to his family and friends. The Board of Governors The Woodmere Club LEVITON--Harold. We mourn the loss of our beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather/Opa. He will be greatly missed by all of us. The Sokolow family The Hendler family The Kriegman family

07 Sep, 2007

From the BLS website, I obtained the info that -- subject to revision -- employment of production workers in electrical contracting was 753,600 in July. Yes, this is "behind" the overall construction total (which, in the previous item, was for August); the subcontractor numbers are always one month behind.

July's number was up 1.57% from the 741,900 in June. It was up 4.4% from the July 2006 figure.

In the history of electrical construction, there have been only 17 months in which employment in electrical contracting exceeded 753.6K. All of them came in 2000-2001.

How good is 753,600? Damn good. In 2005, the July production-worker employment figure in the EC biz was 683,700, and the high for the year came in November at 693,700.

07 Sep, 2007

If you know how to navigate at www.bls.gov, you can find the data for employment in various niches. The revised construction industry figures for July and August are as follows:

JULY -- one revision down, one to go -- Construction employment at 6,198,000 in 7/07, on average . . . up 7,000 (in other words, virtually flat) from July 2006. The figure is up 50,000 from 7/06.

AUGUST -- initial report, two revisions to go -- Construction employment at 6,177,000 in 8/07, on average -- down 53,000 from August 2006, and down 21,000 from July 2007.

That July 2007 construction empoyment figure made it the 2nd-highest figure of all time (August 2006, at 6,232,000, was higher). However, construction employment has been down from comparable months in 2006 in four of the eight months in 2007 thus far (with July and August as yet subject to revisions).

EleBlog take: BLS data for overall construction employment (omitting the residential mystery noted a few items ago) is weaker in 2007 than it was in 2006 . . . but not by much. Note that the high in 2001, when construction was still booming, was 5,625,000.

07 Sep, 2007

According to the August employment report, nonfarm payroll employment declined by 4,000 from July.

Yet according to the BLS "Birth/Death Model," economists at the Bureau of Labor Statistics "assumed" 120,000 jobs were created by small firms in August.

Simple math tells you payroll employment -- as actually can be ascertained -- declined by 124,000 from July to August.

This ain't tragic. But it might be worth thinking about, and keeping an eye on.

According to the August report, "over the last 3 months, total payroll employment changes have averages 44,000 per month." That's a 3-month increase of 132,000, which ain't much.

A quick check of the Birth/Death page shows that BLS economists have assumed 282,000 jobs into existence in June-July-August. That means the net loss in payroll jobs in the past three months is 150,000.

Again, this ain't horrible. Essentially, the economy has hit a slight job-creation bump in August, which accounts for most of the 150K REAL loss in payroll jobs this summer.

07 Sep, 2007

Today's national employment report (as of 8/31) seems to have convinced  the talking idiots on CNBC that the U.S. in trouble.

But there are mysteries inside that report that defy analysis. Here's one relevant to the EleBlog:

07 Sep, 2007

Here's a news "alert" from Engineering News-Record, dated today (9/7) --

Building Trades Select IBEW's Ayers as President

Construction union leaders have selected Mark Ayers, director of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' construction and maintenance department, to be the next president of the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Dept. Ayers, who was confirmed for the post by the BCTD board on Sept. 6, will succeed the retiring Edward C. Sullivan as president on Oct. 1.

Before heading the IBEW's construction and maintenance unit, Ayers was business manager and financial secretary for the union's Local 34 in Peoria, Ill. He said in a statement, "I look forward to addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities that present themselves to the union construction industry."

Sullivan, who has led the BCTD since 2000, announced his retirement in May.The building trades' governing board is composed of the general presidents of the BCTD's 12 affiliated unions.

There is a lot to say here.

1 -- one of Ayers' responsibilities at IBEW was to serve as a Trustee of the IBEW-NECA NLMCC -- the National Labor Management Cooperation Committee. The IBEW-NECA NLMCC markets union electrical construction to customers and talks to the industry about itself and its future.

2 -- I've been the "marketing coordinator" (an independent contractor) for the NLMCC since the fall of 1998. Ayers has been one of the four Trustees since, I think, 2000 or 2001.

3 -- while there are 4 Trustees of the NLMCC, Ayers and Geary Higgins (of NECA) are the people who serve as the "two-headed boss" (my phrase) of the NLMCC. This means I have been taking orders from Higgins-Ayers for more than 5 years.

4 -- I've formed an opinion of Mark Ayers in that time. He is honest. He has integrity. He is creative. It is hard, sometimes, in discussions about marketing issues (that's when I'm in the room!) to remember that Mark started his IBEW career as an apprentice electrician!

5 -- There are some very good things about the AFL-CIO BCTD naming Ayers to this job. In my opinion, the creative stuff is going to take BCTD to dramatic new heights. One other thing about Mark that will probably be good in his new position: He's impatient to succeed. That doesn't mean he screams and yells, and is tempermental. It means he tries to remove roadblocks to success.

6 -- Among other things, the IBEW -- under International President Edwin D. Hill and Mark Ayers -- has worked with NECA on something called "The Florida Initiative." Thanks to aggressive adoption in that state of new classifications for electrical workers ("construction electrician" and "construction wireman"), the union electrical construction side has increased its market share in Florida. According to what I heard at the IBEW Construction & Maintenance Dept. conference this past spring, the IBEW-employing electrical contractor market share in FL went from 6% to 20% in two years.

That's astounding.

7 -- You don't have to take The EleBlog's word for what Mark has wrought. There are two projects you can take a look at -- right now -- that are unique in the electrical industry, wildly interesting and informative, and successful:


Take a look.

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06 Sep, 2007

I recently re-read a Q-and-A to the Knowledge@Wharton website with Prof. Jeremy Siegel, who says stocks are a great investment. The EleBlog take on Prof. Siegel: He's been wrong, he's wrong now, and he's going to be wrong in the future. Here's a bit of the interview:

Siegel: Yeah, in fact we saw it dip below $50, into the 40s for a few seconds, last week. This is very good news for the consumer. In fact, my feeling is that the lower oil prices are sustaining the economy, in spite of the housing decline. We're going to speak about that later.

Basically lower oil prices are almost like a tax cut. It increases the disposable income of consumers; it is keeping consumer spending on target. It is very important. It doesn't have to be in the 40s. I'd like to see it stay in the 50s, and in the low 50s for the next six months or eight months. That could keep the economy on track. Oil is very, very important for the economy.

I note that the spot price of crude oil today is $75.67. If you take what Siegel says above and extend it, the net-net of prices running up from the $40s and $50 level when he was interviewed (the thing posted 1/24/07) on up to the mid-$70s today -- without a damaging hurricane hitting the oil belt -- is A Tax Increase.

Right?

06 Sep, 2007

Julie Jacobson, who writes for CE Pro magazine, is the best writer/reporter working in the wiring industries. I've said that before and, after reading some stuff from her recently, I have to reaffirm that declaration. I say that: (a) with the knowledge that the ranking relegates many friends of mine to 2nd place; and (b) in full recognition of the fact that I am in the running here, and don't match up with what Julie is able to do.

Recently, she posted a piece -- Why Home Automation Manufacturers Fail - Revisited. It's worth reading. To prove it, here's an entire segment of the thing. Read it and tell me you didn't -- right away, just in this small piece -- learn something you didn't know, or gain a perspective you didn't already have (if you already knew what's below).

Your honor, I rest my case.

- - - - -

The Nature of Home Automation

Back in 2006, virtually all of the intelligent subsystems—security, audio (whole-house and theater), video (whole-house and theater), lighting controls, HVAC systems, motorized shades, you name it, were controlled either via RS-232 or relays.

With precious few exceptions, they still are today. Sure, most subsystems now have Ethernet ports on them, and they can be controlled via the Internet (which many people mistake for IP-controllable).

Let’s take the pre-2006 case, when they were virtually all RS-232 or relay controllable. For an integrated IP-based system, each of those devices needed an RS-232-to-IP adapter, such as the ones made by Lantronix--which back then were about $250 each, if I recall.

Easy enough. But IT-oriented mfrs and dealers mistakenly believed that the physical bridge would do the trick. Way wrong. For every single subsystem—Lutron Radio Ra, Lutron HomeWorks, Denon receiver, Marantz receiver, this security system, that security system, they needed to write the software drivers to enable IP communications.

If everyone agreed on a single brand and single model for their subsystems, it would be no problem. But there are a lot of drivers that must be painstakingly written and tested. Successful home-control companies today may have hundreds or tens of thousands in their databases

06 Sep, 2007

It's possible you've not thought about abandoned cable for a while. The topic was "hot" a while ago. Well, Frank Bisbee, a friend of mine, hasn't stopped thinking about it. He wrote a 1,542-word piece for the August issue of Cabling Business magazine -- Abandoned Cable Revisited, With Solutions. Here's a particularly frightening slice of the article:


It's good to see that Frank hasn't lost the ability to scare the living daylights out of me.

06 Sep, 2007

For the month of July, the Commerce Department said, the U.S. put $108.5 billion of construction in place -- down from $110.75B in July '06. How big a decline is that? If construction inflation is running at 5%, July '07 should have come in at $116.3B. That puts the 7/07 numbers DOWN 6.7%.

For the year's first seven months, total construction was down 3.4%. Add inflation, and it's down 8.4% or so.

Private residential construction was down 17.9% in those 7 months. It's at almost $310B through 7/31 . . . down from $377.5B at the same time in '06.

Private nonresidential construction was up 17.5% through 7/31.

Total private construction = DOWN 7.2% (that's better than 12% if you factor inflation IN).

Public construction was up 11.3%.

CONCLUSION -- these numbers seem about the same as the 6/30/07 figures. Residential isn't bouncing, and nonresidential remains strong. Bottom line = no surprises.

06 Sep, 2007

I have a bad habit of scanning things that I "might" want to read . . . they "might" be interesting. It's a bad thing, because I am -- literally -- always behind in my reading. And I fall further behind every single day.

However, sometimes it pays off. This is both good and bad. It's good, because I find interesting stuff (intersting to ME, anyway). It's bad, because it encourages me to continue to add stuff to the pile of reading . . .

Here's an example. The National Petroleum Council, which advises the Secretary of Energy, just came out with a "global oil and gas study" (mid-July). It's thick, hundreds of pages, and it's total BS. The 300-odd people who put it together didn't have the collective courage (or call it something else if you like) to speak plainly about the coming Peak Oil problem.

However, I found (in the Executive Summary) a really interesting little sidebar or fact sheet that someone managed to get in there. Here it is. It's amazing reading!

- - - - -

Energy Systems Scale and Timeline

The scale of the world energy system and the time required to make significant
changes, both on the demand and on the supply sides, are frequently
underestimated. A few examples:

• The world currently uses about 86 million barrels per day of oil—40,000
gallons every second.

• New, large oil discoveries can take 15-20 years from exploration until
production actually begins, and production can continue for 50 years or more.

• A major new oil platform can cost billions and take a decade or more to
complete. The Hibernia platform off the east coast of Canada cost $5 billion,
took 19 years from discovery to production, and produces only 0.2 percent of
world oil demand. The Thunder Horse platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico
cost $4 billion, is not yet operating eight years after discovery, and has a
capacity of 0.3 percent of world oil demand.

• A new average-sized U.S. refinery (120,000 barrels per day of crude oil
distillation capacity) would cost $3 billion or more and would increase U.S.
refining capacity less than 1 percent.

• The United States has about 200,000 miles of oil and about 280,000 miles
of natural gas pipeline, built up over the last century.

• It can take over two decades for a newly commercialized technology to be
broadly applied in the vehicle fleet actually on the road—examples include
fuel injection and front-wheel drive.

• Buildings typically last for decades. Many of the attributes that affect energy
consumption are costly and difficult to retrofit after initial installation, for
example wall thickness, insulation, structural tightness, and windows.

• Commercializing new technology in the oil and gas market takes an average
of 16 years to progress from concept to widespread commercial adoption.

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06 Sep, 2007

Thanks to a reading of an old issue of the weekly Credit Bubble Bulletin, I stumbled across a 7/10 article in The Wall Street Journal that demonstrates how inflation spreads from one market to another.

Soap and detergent makers say they are being hurt by a double whammy of federal subsidies and mandates that has reduced the supply and pushed up the costs of a key ingredient, beef tallow. The steeply rising price of corn, driven by a federal requirement to use more ethanol, has pushed up corn prices, making animal feed more expensive and prompting farmers to blend the less-expensive tallow and other fats into their feed.

The upshot: In the past year, beef-tallow prices have doubled.

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06 Sep, 2007

I'm a fan of Adam Fein, who blogs on DistributionTrends.com. If you go to his recent blog entry on Home Depot Supply and page down, you'll see my comment -- which includes this quote from somewhere on China and power plants:

05 Sep, 2007

That SeekingAlpha.com item referenced above included data on the actual stock performance of homebuilder stocks. It actually looks worse than the graphic!

05 Sep, 2007

An item at SeekingAlpha.com provided a look at what's happened to the stock of the homebuilders. Kinda makes you think the "buy and hold" road to investing riches might need a bit of modification, doncha think? See the next item, too.

05 Sep, 2007

According to Craig DiLouie at Lightsearch.com, on 8/13 the House of Representatives voted to OK an energy bill which would, among other things, "extend the energy-efficient commercial building tax deduction through 2013, and five-year accelerated depreciation for advanced electricity meters."

I believe it's up to the Senate now. They returned from vacation yesterday.

05 Sep, 2007

Electrical Contractor posted an article, "IP Systems Dominate the Premises," from its August issue. Here are a couple of slices:


and

IP is simple and a great upgrade for any facility. It’s perfect for retrofit, and this also is important for electrical contractors, especially those working in older buildings where they may be limited for locations to pull wires or can gain access.

05 Sep, 2007

A three-part series on housing -- which actually mutated! -- was posted to TEDMAG.com recently. I wrote it.

Also posted recently was a column that gathered together recent conference-call comments from Baldor, Eaton, Rockwell Automation and Thomas & Betts.

04 Sep, 2007

The USGS monthly report (for February) on copper supply/demand came in recently. I thot I had posted it here; perhaps I am losing my mind, as I cannot find it on the EleBlog. So this might be a dupe. Actual date of emission of the "February" report: August 2007.


Average daily mine production of recoverable copper fell by
2% in February from January’s already low level, according to
data compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. Two major
producers reported lower output during the first quarter owing to
reduced ore grades. (See Copper in January 2007.)

Average daily production of refined copper in February also fell by 2%
from that in January. Average daily consumption of refined
copper in February rose by about 5% and was essentially equal
to that in February 2006.

Update
Copper prices, which had declined sharply during the fourth
quarter of 2006 and during January 2007, rose significantly in
March and April, when the Comex price averaged $2.92 per
pound and $3.51 per pound, respectively. After falling slightly
in June, the monthly average price rose to $3.62 per pound in
July.

Global commodity exchange inventories at the end of
January were up by 8% from those at yearend 2006, but then
declined by 18% through the end of June. The International
Copper Study Group production/consumption balance
calculation indicated a seasonally adjusted refined copper
production deficit of about 160,000 metric tons (t) for the first 4
months of the year, in large part owing to increased Chinese
apparent consumption for refined copper.

Imports of refined copper by China, the world’s leading consumer and importer of
refined copper, rose to 483,000 t during the first quarter of 2007,
a more than 100% increase from the 230,000 t imported in the
fourth quarter of 2006 and more than one-half total imports for
2006. Note, however, some of these imports may have been
distributed to unreported stocks (International Copper Study
Group, 2007, p. 9, 20, 29).

Domestic consumption of refined copper remained relatively
strong through the first 5 months of the year. According to the
American Bureau of Metal Statistics, Inc. (2007), the average
monthly domestic shipments of wire rod for January through
May 2007 were down by 1.2% from those during the same
period of 2006, but were significantly higher than average
monthly shipments during the second half of 2006.

References Cited
American Bureau of Metal Statistics, Inc., 2007, US copper wirerod market:
Chatham, NJ, American Bureau of Metal Statistics, Inc., Report 4, August 7,
4 p.
International Copper Study Group, 2007, Copper bulletin: Lisbon, Portugal,
International Copper Study Group, July, 56 p.

04 Sep, 2007

John Grau, the top staff person at NECA national in Bethesda, Md., has devoted his blog this week to Brooke Stauffer.

I have to admit -- I think NECA and the electrical construction industry as a whole have lot someone important. But that matters least to me. I know when I go to NECA's offices in the future, I am going to walk by Brooke's space and feel like someone lopped off one of my ventricles.

03 Sep, 2007

Are they a concern, asks an article in Retail Traffic magazine? The answer the article comes up with is NO . . . but there's a sense that this probably should be watched.

03 Sep, 2007

I've been reading a lot about the "credit crunch" and what's actually going on in markets -- and what might happen. I could provide dozens of links here. On SeekingAlpha.com, I found Mortgage Originated Credit Curnch May Just Be Beginning.

I read the thing, because -- after reading all of this stuff -- it's kind of how I feel. There's not "another shoe" yet to drop; there are hundreds of potential shoes. A lot could go wrong. Here is an important paragraph:


That sounds like it's designed to panic the reader (especially that last line). But the whole paragraph sums things up (as far as it goes) pretty well. There is a lot else to say, but the key is this: What the Federal Reserve Board has done so far ain't much. What it can do in the near future -- i.e., cut interest rates sharply -- might not "work" to solve the problems (and is certain to create new ones).

Along these lines, you might want to read the following:

03 Sep, 2007

Architectural Record magazine is doing some interesting stuff with its "green blogs" section online. Here's some stuff that might be of use:

03 Sep, 2007

Smalls Electrical Construction of New York City is ranked #168 by INC. magazine in its 2007 "500" ranking of small companies. Smalls has grown 1,213% over the past three years; the company now does NYC transit work. The magazine included comments from owner Jeffrey Smalls ("how I did it") -- including this:

We do station rehabs, and projects can take a couple of years. We wire the turnstiles. We wire the lighting. We wire the card machines. We do the CCTV and communications. Working for transit is like no other place in the world. Transit's standards go well beyond anywhere else because they've got trains moving in and out, with 600 volts. They've got to protect the circuits from that high voltage.

In 2003 we decided to go union. New York is a union city, especially Manhattan. That's where all the larger projects are. And the larger the projects, the higher the profit margin. The clients we had were all nonunion builders; I had to put those clients aside and go try to market to all new businesses. It's tough. You lose everything. I went from doubling my sales to nothing. We were lucky to survive it. But we just finished a five-station project--five stations in a row, on one line. That was an $8.5 million project for us, and we were the only contractor to walk off on time.

03 Sep, 2007

A Control Design article -- Throw away the clipboard, Networks rule -- provides a recent history of networks, control systems, and wireless . . . replete with links to stories from the past (including, apparently, one from 2/98 and another from 5/99). It's worth a quick scan (and click?).

03 Sep, 2007

From a story in the August issue of Intermountain Contractor:

"Recruiting new people into the industry is one of our main goals." -- from the IEC of Utah's executive director.

"Labor is the number one issue issue for almost everyone across the industry." -- from Klaas DeBoer, Jr., Intermountain Electrical Association.

"Material costs have been really high." -- DeBoer

"Six to eight years ago, design-build was more of a trend, but you're seeing a lot more value engineering in today's construction market." -- Bob Bergman of the Utah Mechanical Contractors Association.

There's a lot more of interest to read in this well-written, 1,175-word story.
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03 Sep, 2007

For some reason, I ended up at the site of the Joint Center for Housing Studies recently -- downloading "Improving America's Housing 2007." Wonderful discovery? Naw -- it was posted back in February. Take a look at this fact sheet (you can download the entire study for free at the site, too).

Here are a couple of facts that caught my eye:

a. The top 5% of households (as ranked by home improvement spending) accounted for 60.7% of all remodeling spending in 2004-05. Wow!

b. About one-third of owner-occupied homes are now at least 45 years old.