PUT NATURAL GAS IN, GET A LOT OUT.

Xcel Energy’s FastApp tool helps speed up your natural gas hookup. It gives you access to dedicated professionals, costeffective designs and in-project timelines. Plus you’ll alwayshave a single-point contact with our construction team.

For more info, visit xcelenergy.com/Builders

They say mastering a craft takes 10,000 hours.

How does 97 years sound?

We’ve been innovating for a very long time at Pella.® It’s an obsession that’s led us to over 150 patents throughout our history. We offer a full line of beautifully crafted windows, patio doors, and entry doors in a wide variety of styles to fit every design taste and budget. With dedicated window experts, showrooms across the region, and service after the sale, your local Pella team is ready to help you master your next project.

Q: The Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) plays a key role in the housing industry. What are your top priorities as commissioner of DLI?

NB: DLI continues to seek ways to improve our efficiencies and services to stakeholders. This legislative session, our agency has several licensing proposals to reduce fees where possible and clarify when a contractor license is required for building a new or improving an existing house for resale.

This session, we are also looking to enhance safety and remove unnecessary regulatory burdens. One example of this is to remove a costly and ineffective requirement to install window-washing anchors on sloped roofs of multifamily housing structures, where it was never intended to be used. The goal is to expand the options available to building owners to have their windows cleaned in ways that are most appropriate to their particular building’s location, height and number of stories.

We continue to look for ways to mitigate the effects of climate change by improving the efficiency of our energy codes where possible and practical.