FALLS CHURCH, VA. — The Get The Lead Out Plumbing Consortium started off the new year with its first training webinar, sponsored by the PHCC Educational Foundation, which was attended by more than 300 industry professionals. The webinar, which was held on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, helped industry professionals further understand the federal Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act, which becomes effective on Jan....More

PHOENIX — The Arizona Republic Building in downtown Phoenix is named after its most famous tenant, the Arizona Republic newspaper, the largest daily in the state, and 16th largest in the nation....More

WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy (DOE) agreed to withdraw the pending minimum energy conservation standards that include regional standards for residential non-weatherized and mobile home gas furnaces in a settlement filed Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The settlement agreement is between the DOE and the American Public Gas Association (APGA)....More

Today’s mobile computing world is a bit like the open road, or the Wild West, akin to what we experienced in the early 80s with the personal computer. You may only remember Apple or IBM: I’m not counting Commodore. There were, however, several serious business computers that didn’t survive. And the software applications were plain vanilla: desktop publishing and spreadsheets. Why do I bring this up? To explain why it is so difficult for contractors to come up with a decent mobile device strategy....More

Journeymen and masters in the pipe trades are notoriously skeptical when it comes to leaving the tried-and-true and jumping on the “newest thing around” bandwagon. The old adage about “once burned” has significant documentation in our trade. I don’t know if there is a book somewhere which lists all the new and improved products marketed to the pipe trades, and construction trades in general, which have failed to live up to their advertising, but there should be. It would make for interesting reading....More