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All Blog Posts (123)

Flat Fee Construction: An Opportunity for Innovation

When you hear construction and The Great Recession in the same sentence, you wouldn’t expect it to be good news. But I read an article today in the Wall Street Journal that has me brimming with excitement over what the future holds for our industry. Read more...
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Added by Rob Mathewson on March 3, 2010 at 2:14pm — No Comments

Now is the time for all good Architects to come to aid of their profession!

Our hope is to have all architects sign our contract, and begin to make the necessary changes to improve the current state of Architects and Architecture. Please go to the following link http://www.coragroups.org/manifesto/ and forward an email to duo.dickinson@snet.net with your support!
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Added by David Andreozzi on February 16, 2010 at 6:34am — No Comments

ForceBuilder Safety, Social and Environmental

Unsure about what Courses you need with the everchanging Green economy? Let ForceBuilders free community and number one online Safety and Environmental University help. Through our online university and unique co-oping abilities we are changing the way contractors purchase their needed safety and environmental training. When you join our free community… Continue

Added by Troy Roeder on December 5, 2009 at 6:55pm — No Comments

Filtering Jobsite Information

In telecommunications the “Last Mile” problem refers to the difficulty service providers have in connecting thousands of houses in a neighborhood to a main high-speed data line. Put another way, the Last Mile problem is a distribution problem, distributing a pipe full of data through many many smaller pipes. Jobsites have a “First Mile” problem, continued... Continue

Added by Rob Mathewson on December 1, 2009 at 11:08am — No Comments

The Time Right for SaaS in Construction

Terrific discussion about the benefits for the construction industry in switching to Software as a Service. Continue

Added by Rob Mathewson on November 27, 2009 at 4:12pm — No Comments

Efficient Framing for House Plans

Fine Homebuilding has a new article on the future of framing house plans. For many years we have been framing houses basically the same way. And this way is not necessarily the most energy efficient or material efficient. The article makes the following recommendations to increase energy efficiency and to reduce material and labor costs at the same time: - use 2x6 wall framing at 24" o.c. (in lieu of 16" o.c.) - use 1" rigid foam insulation in lieu of traditional sheathing - eliminate headers w… Continue

Added by Ron Brenner on November 16, 2009 at 3:52am — No Comments

WATG + IDEO collaboration aims to redefine the guest experience

This is a v. cool article. Architecture firm WATG and design consultancy firm IDEO (that's where Twitter was born!) have teamed up. Two awesome companies! The only result can be success. Great work! Link: http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx?ArticleId=2150&Arti… Continue

Added by Vik Duggal on November 5, 2009 at 5:28am — 1 Comment

What Does a Construction Job Cost in Stimulus Dollars?

The folks over at SoftwareAdvice.com just released an interesting analysis of the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) on the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) on construction employment on a state by state basis. Though the da… Continue

Added by Rob Mathewson on November 2, 2009 at 5:05pm — 3 Comments

Housing Industry Needs to Reinvent!

The housing industry (builders and designers) is in dire need of a new system / approach to building. I'll list a few reasons here: - Construction costs and land / development costs have gotten out of control in recent years. - The housing bubble has dramatically dropped the value of our homes. - The fact right now is that you cannot build a new home inexpensive enough to compete with the glut of existing homes on the market. - If we are seeing an economic recovery it's a small one - and the job… Continue

Added by Ron Brenner on November 1, 2009 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

How to Become a Licensed Architect?

When discussing licensed professionals here in the USA, architects are still a bit of a mystery. Surely you've seen enough doctor shows to get a feel for the intern/resident/attending path for doctors.

This group has been educating us on what it takes to be become a licensed doctor in dramatic, scandalous fashion. You probably also know a law school graduate who'… Continue

Added by Derek Leavitt on October 27, 2009 at 5:08pm — 3 Comments

Rio 2016 Olympic Images

I just posted some images of the upcoming Rio Olympics. Pretty Cool Stuff!

read more by clicking here Simple,Unique, Small House Plan… Continue

Added by Ron Brenner on October 11, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Vinyl siding not so ugly?

I just posted an article on making vinyl siding not so ugly! See http://simplyeleganthomedesigns.blogspot.com/2009/10/vinyl-siding-done-not-so-ugly.html Do you builders out there have any other tips?

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Added by Ron Brenner on October 5, 2009 at 5:46am — No Comments

How to choose the best replacement window company for your home

Better Window Supply is a Dallas based replacement window company which provides superior energy efficient replacement windows . They offer a wide range of energy efficient replacement windows like vinyl windows, wood windows, alum… Continue

Added by Betterwindowsupply on September 11, 2009 at 9:56pm — No Comments

AEC Cafe Blog

I have been invited to post blogs at the AEC Cafe website which claims to be "The Leading AEC Portal". If you are interested go here: http://www10.aeccafe.com/blogs/miltongrew/ Continue

Added by Milton Gregory Grew on September 1, 2009 at 9:59am — No Comments

OLED Breakthrough - 75% More Efficient!

Organic LED technology is something that I personally feel will break through the market as soon as its issues are normalized and minimized - output, form factor, illuminance, and efficacy are all issues on the table right now. Some researchers at KAIST - the Korean Advanced Instit… Continue

Added by Jim Hutchison on August 13, 2009 at 10:14pm — No Comments

Lighting Designers: Is Everything Going On Completely Okay with You?

First, I want to apologize to Vik and James for my disappearing act as of the last month - getting ready for a year in Sweden away from the wife and pets has become harder than originally thought. A note to anyone going out of country for more than six months: underwear in someone else's country is not the same as the undies back home! If you've been reading Konstructr lately, you've noticed that James Bedell has been writing some great stuff on lighting specific news and views, especially the… Continue

Added by Jim Hutchison on August 3, 2009 at 6:39am — No Comments

Finding That Critical Jobsite Photo

Imagine what it’s like to dig a hole in the sand at the beach. Hand over hand, you dig away and watch as the hole changes constantly with each shift in the sand. Whenever you see anything interesting in the hole (a sea shell, piece of sea glass, etc.) it’s covered over almost as quickly it’s uncovered.

Essentially, this experience provides a summert… Continue

Added by Rob Mathewson on July 13, 2009 at 4:40pm — 1 Comment

Social media discussed in Zweig White's Marketing Now Magazine

I was mentioned in ZweigWhite's Marketing Now Magazine. Here's the link: http://vikdug.posterous.com/i-got-quoted-in-zweigwhites-marketing-now-mag Continue

Added by Vik Duggal on July 10, 2009 at 7:07pm — No Comments

The Architecture Process - A Deeper Look at a Modern Car Wash Remodel

The Fashion Square Car Wash remodel is a project that we've had in our office since early 2007. And just as the real estate market has transformed so much in these last… Continue

Added by Derek Leavitt on July 10, 2009 at 11:28am — No Comments