Features
- Star Power
- Nothing wows a homebuyer more than the prospect of owning a killer home theater. From first impression on the buyer, to lasting impressions on their neighbors, a theater room is usually the most talked-about room in a new home. But there are many ways a builder can bomb on the silver screen, and the key to success is constant communication with your theater installer. Jeff Smith of First Impressions shares the secrets to making it big as a builder in the movies.
- Becoming Tops In Home Tech
- To make it as a top builder in your local market today you have to be able to provide the latest and greatest options in your homes, especially in consumer electronics. Equally important, builders need technology help to make their businesses run cheaper, more profitable and more efficiently. The TecHome Builder Conference & expo will focus on the issues facing builders in designing, installing and selling home technology, and in choosing the right technology products to run their operations.
- Software to Watch Over Me
- Builders are no longer forced to purchase serparate software application that don't communicate well, and do an inadequate job of managing all their data. A number of software manufacturers are producing software programs that fully intergrate with your existing systems and applications, and truly help you manage data, projects, and costs.
Departments
- Wiring for a Wireless World
- Mention wireless, and many builders may think they've been spared the task of pulling wire through their new housing starts. Thank again! The best way to prepare a house for wireless applications is to wire the heck out of it.
- Online Options Smorgasbord
- The new Envision options management program ambitiously ties manufacturers’ product catalogs into a single database, for the benefit of builder, their sales staff, and homebuyers.
- Bridging the Gap Between Builders and IT
- Builders and their technologists often speak a different language when it comes to understanding how IT can help solve real problems. To help you in the process of getting the best technology for your business, the IT Buyer's Guide offers profile and contact information on hundreds of leading companies in the IT space.
- Sounds Right to Me
- Builders often wire for in-wall, in-ceiling or mounted speakers based on where they've always put them. But the ideal placement for speakers is determined by the homeowner's listening experience
- Out of the Eye of the Beholder
- Constructing a room with a nice home theater system that is completely concealed when not in use poses some unique challenges to this installer and his team.