Columnists: Editorial
The decline of housing as a factor
As I write this, I’m getting ready to attend the International Builders Show in Orlando with clear memories of last year....
Forecast is cautious but at least it’s up
Associated Builders & Contractors reported that total nonresidential construction spending increased 0.9% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $555.7 billion, according to the Jan. 3 report by the U.S. Commerce Department. However, total nonresidential spending is down 0.1% from one year ago....
John Smith prospers on the green road
John Smith is our Contractor of the Year for becoming the Arizona Green Plumber and becoming such a leader in the field that GreenPlumbersUSA named him its national Green Plumber of the Year for two years in a row....
When nothing is left but the business
One Tuesday morning, he gets in to the office around 6:30, turns on the coffee and gets ready for the day. By 9:00, he notices that the bookkeeper, Hillary, hasn’t shown up for work. ...
Financial ancient history vs. right now
Contractors, even if they know their numbers, do a bad or non-existent job with budgets and cash flow projections. The vast majority of them make a profit of 1% or less a year. That was the message that the Quality Service Contractors heard from consultant Gary Elekes, a former contractor himself with a business degree from Ohio State and an accounting degree from Roosevelt University. ...
D.C. energy efficiency world gets murkier
As reported on page 1 of this issue, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have picked a certifying body to test and certify workers for the federal Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and home energy upgrade industry. ...
It's not just rainwater in California
And you thought Obama and Boehner couldn't get along? The code battles continue in California over a rainwater catchment bill....
The murky world of energy efficiency politics
On June 24, a coalition of 22 trade associations sent a letter to the Department of Energy, wondering why it seems like they are getting frozen out of residential energy auditing and retrofit work. The issue at hand is the voluminous Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades. The guidelines are filled with all sorts of stuff about HVAC and plumbing. The problem, according to the 22 organizations signatory to the June 24 letter, is that nobody asked the plumbing and HVACR industries about this stuff....
Keeping drains flowing free and clear
Have you heard that low-flush toilets cause drainline and sewer system clogs? Sure. A lot of people have. ...
Keeping drains flowing free and clear
Have you heard that low-flush toilets cause drainline and sewer system clogs? Sure. A lot of people have. Except they’re never sure where they heard it or where it happened or why or what was the outcome. ...
Much ado about nothing?
We won’t argue with Johns Hopkins researchers when they say they found more Legionella bacteria in electronic hands-free faucets in their hospital than they did in the innards of manual faucets. Whether that means anything, however, remains to be seen....
Residential sprinklers remain under attack
Back in the '80s I talked with a fire sprinkler contractor who told me he had a buddy who was a homebuilder. Supposedly the builder had told the sprinkler contractor that homebuilders would make do without indoor plumbing if they could get away with it. It's just another source of leaks and another trade to deal with. ...
What impressed me most from the shows
There were plenty of good things to see at the International Builders Show and the AHR Expo, some of them high-tech and a lot of them just plain practical. ...
Selling energy- and water-efficient products
Michael Gray's letter to the editor that was published in our November 2010 issue garnered a big reaction, both pro and con. Mr. Gray wrote that he wouldn't be renewing his subscription to CONTRACTOR because he couldn’t relate to green products and projects, most of which he considered to be a monumental waste of effort and money....
2011 still scares contractors
As is our custom each January, we ask prominent players in the industry what kind of business conditions they expect to see in the coming year. Manufacturers are cautiously optimistic. They can be. Many of them are in multiple lines of work across the country and internationally, so they benefit from that diversity. Contractors, however, are not so sure....
Nelson Mechanical Design: infectious enthusiasm
We knew that we wanted Nelson Mechanical Design to be our 2010 Contractor of the Year because we’ve admired their work for a quite a while. The contractor won a 1st Place Green Mechanical Award last year in the Most Innovative category for a geothermal project on Martha's Vineyard. ...
It’s not a fad. Your customers are online.
I cringed when a contractor suggested at a recent convention that joining the Rotary is social networking. It may be networking, but that’s not what we're talking about when it comes to social networking....
RPA hookup with ACCA is good idea
The Radiant Panel Association has announced that it's joining Air Conditioning Contractors of America and the Indoor Air Quality Association in San Antonio in February where all three associations will hold their annual conventions and share the Indoor Air Expo. ...
Saving hot water in commercial buildings
My friend Gary Klein, Affiliated International Management, has been crusading about saving hot water for a long time, starting with home use. There are a lot of dumb home plumbing systems out there, the kind where the homeowner turns on the shower and then leaves to make a pot of coffee in the hopes that there will be hot water in the shower by the time he returns. ...
Residential fire sprinklers are also green
On our front page this month Associate Editor Candace Roulo reports on the slow yet inexorable march toward universal adoption of residential fire sprinklers. Beginning Jan. 1, 2011, the International Code Council’s International Residential Code requires fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses. ...
When did saving energy get so convoluted?
Saving energy is good. Convince homeowners to install energy-saving home improvements by throwing some rebates their way. Contractors get the work. The homeowners and the country save energy. Everybody wins, right? Leave it up to Congress to do this and the result gets Kafkaesque. ...
Will we heat houses with water heaters?
Last month I had the privilege of hearing two really smart guys (who don't know each other) arrive at exactly the same conclusion. John Siegenthaler, P.E., speaking at the Radiant Panel Association's Building Radiant conference and show in Reno, Nev., and Gary Klein, speaking at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy's Hot Water Forum in Ontario, Calif., said the future of space heating is an efficient water heater....
Giants fight through another tough year
Last year may have been one to forget for many contractors and this year isn’t going to be much better. The commercial, industrial and institutional markets that large mechanicals depend on will be down drastically this year. ...
Policing the showerhead outlaws
After just 18 years, the Department of Energy is cracking down on showerhead manufacturers that sell products that flow more than 2.5 GPM. DOE announced enforcement actions against four manufacturers for failing to certify that 116 products complied with EPACT92, the federal law that mandates that showerheads flow no more than 2.5 GPM....
Cool products
Both of the major January trade shows, the International Builders Show in Las Vegas and the AHR Expo in Orlando were smaller than a few years ago, although the AHR Expo, with 28,582 registered visitors, a nearly 8% increase from the 2005 AHR Expo in Orlando, set a new record for Southeast HVACR shows....
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