Bring your family to SUHBA Night at the RoadRunners Baseball Game on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 7:00 pm, at Bruce Hurst Field at Dixie State College.  Enjoy a relaxing night of baseball, network with members, and watch our SUHBA president throw the first pitch! SUHBA member discount: Tickets are buy one get one free, and cost only $7.00 (maximum purchase of 4 tickets, get 4 free). Click here for a registration form.

Exhibition space reservations are now being accepted for the 6th Annual Ultimate Home Expo to be held September 11 & 12 at the Dixie Center.  Our industry is showing signs of recovery and exhibiting is a great opportunity for SUHBA members to make the connections that will prepare them to capitalize when the economy turns around.  Reach more customers in two days of exhibiting than 6-12 months at your place of business.  Both business professionals and the general public will be in attendance.  

SUHBA is committed to helping our members succeed and we have lowered exhibition fees for the 2009 event. SUHBA members save over non members. Send in your reservation form with a 50% deposit and reserve your booth today.  Click here for more information or call 674-1400.  Click here to view the exhibit hall layout.

Become an event sponsor and benefit even more! Sponsor the Ultimate Home Expo and receive unique benefits.  Prime choice of best exhibition area, logo included in marketing materials, large signs at event, announcements, newsletter recognition, and many other benefits. Your company will definitely be front and center with this unique opportunity. Contact Mari Smith at 674-1400 or mari@suhba.com for more sponsor benefits and availability.  Sponsors are limited. 

The Ultimate Home Expo is presented by SUHBA and The Spectrum.  Thank you to MetLife Home Loans, Weather Master Products, Rainbow Sign & Banner, KCSG Television, and Canyon Media for sponsoring this event.

SUHBA is excited to announce the 26 builders participating in the 2010 St. George Area Parade of Homes. Congratulations to the following builders:

A J Construction, Inc.	Bangerter Homes of Southern Utah
Banner Homes	Bracken Custom Homes Corp.
Brian Geer Development, Inc.	Castle Ridge Homes
Doug Hunt Construction, Inc.	Ence Homes
Freedom Construction, Inc.	Hoopes Construction, Inc.
Ivory Homes	J2 Construction, LLC
K Welch Construction	Keystone Construction & Design, Inc.
Pride Homes, Inc.	Research Homes, Inc.
Richardson Homes, Inc.	S & S Homes
Salisbury Development, LLC	Senston Homes
Signature Homes of Utah	Spilker & Company, Inc.
Split Rock Development	Sun Hill Homes, LC
SunRiver Construction, LLC	Sunwest Development, LLC

Don’t miss your opportunity to attend the Southern Utah Building Industry Conference held on Friday, September 11th, at the Dixie Center.
 

What’s in it for you? "Sharpen Your Skills" Survival Training for Professionals

• Continuing Education: Contractors complete all your continuing education requirements in one day! Requirements must be met by November 30, 2009.
• Networking Opportunity: Get acquainted with your peers in the industry at breakfast, lunch, during classes, and at the popular Ultimate Home Expo. All of this is included with the conference fee!

• SUHBA Scholarships Available! The first 50 SUHBA member companies to register and pay for the conference will receive a $50 reimbursement check after attending the conference! This will be done on a first-come, first-serve basis. One scholarship per company. Don’t wait to register or you may miss out on this discount!  

To register or for more information, visit www.buildingconference.com.

The Park City Area Home Builders Association is offering a course on Building Radon Out to instruct builders how to build radon-resistant homes. This class will be offered on Thursday, July 16, 2009, from 8:30 - 11:00 am, at the Board of Realtors at 1912 Sidewinder Dr, Park City, UT 84060. For more information, please contact Mykal Muegge at (435) 645-9363.

Currently Santa Clara City collects $3,057.50 per lot when a subdivision plat records and an additional $3,057.50 at the time a building permit is issued as the water impact fee.  The City Council is currently considering changing the amount to $1,698.00 payable at the time a building permit is issued.  In addition, all new subdivisions, not previously approved by the City Council will have to pay the Washington County Water Conservancy District Impact Fee of $4781 prior to recording as currently applied under the RWSA which the City will be entering into at approximately the same time. 

The public hearing was held on June 22, 2009.  It is anticipated that a vote will be taken sometime in August.

The sewer, water and transportation master plans are being updated in Washington City.  Sunrise Engineering has been hired to draw up the master plans.  The recommended areas for system changes are Virgin River north, Washington Dam area, Washington Fields south and Washington Fort Pierce area.

This zero interest loan provides up to $10,000 toward down payment and closing cost assistance and is available for homes located in St. George City limits. For more information contact Darren Janes at (435) 673-3548 or simply refer to City of St. George DPA Program.

Initial results from a research study in East Tennessee shows that energy-efficient upgrades can pay off for homeowners by reducing heating costs by 35 to 65 percent. Click here to read the full article.

You are invited to experience the variety of homes that will be on display August 7-23, 2009 from 11:00AM-9:00PM daily. This year, the Parade features three categories of homes that will be showcased throughout the Salt Lake Valley. Please come and see the latest in home design, interior design and affordability!

To purchase advanced tickets online or learn more about this years unique Salt Lake Parade of Homes, please visit www.saltlakeparade.com.

Stop by Rainbow Sign & Banner and pick-up a small free flag in celebration of the 20^th Anniversary of Rainbow Sign & Banner, the original flag company. Enter to win a 30’ flag pole and receive 20% discount on all flags.  Offer good through the month of July.

Hamilton Park Interiors has just installed a fully working Habersham kitchen in their showroom at 174 East Winchester, Murray, Utah.  This is a very high end cabinet company out of Georgia and they are the exclusive dealer.  If you would like more information please visit their website at www.hamiltonparkinteriors.com or call Linda Briggs-Ashton at (801) 892-6551.

Legislation would establish a "cap and trade" market for buying and selling pollution allowances and create mandatory national energy code requirements for all homes and buildings. Click here to read the full article.

Housing demand will come from the echo-boom generation, whose impact will be much larger than that of the baby boomers.  According to the 2009 State of the Nation's Housing Report from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, echo-boomers (those born between 1981 and 2000) will drastically raise the demand for rentals and starter homes in the next decade. ...More

As part of concerted NAHB efforts led by Immediate Past Chairman Sandy Dunn to resolve issues with inappropriately low appraisals stemming from the use of distressed properties as comps, NAHB had communicated its concerns directly to Freddie Mac officials and they listened. Click here to read the full article.

NAHB
While layoffs are painful for all involved, they are a necessary reality of the recession and housing downturn. After the layoffs, however, it’s more important than ever for owners and managers to do what they can to keep the remaining staff members at peak performance and maintain a positive mood in the workplace. Two relatively simple ways to boost mood and performance are recognition and acknowledgement. ...More

Builder Helper is a web-based construction management program that facilitates bidding, estimating and scheduling, as well as the flow of information between contractors, trades, and other parties. As a SUHBA member, you can utilize Builder Helper at no cost (call 801-227-7811 for details).  It is a more efficient and cost effective way for Builders and Trade Contractors to do business--saving everyone time and money, while also reducing material waste.  Take the Builder Helper Tour at Builderhelper.com today.

SUHBA members are encouraged to submit company event announcements, open house announcements, job announcements, education announcements and press releases for inclusion in the next News You Can Use by Monday, July 27, 2009. Please email the information to news@suhba.com.