May_June 2016 BUILD Maryland by Maryland Building Industry Association

May/June 2016 The exclusive magazine of MBIA

THE MAX AWARDS

Honoring People and Products

BUILDER MART IN PICTURES

THE MYSTERY OF SURVEYING PART II

MAKING YOUR WEBSITE WORK FOR YOU

New fangled stuff. Old-fashioned service. Vintage provides innovative technologies to make homes safe and enhance lifestyles. Call us for security systems, home theatre, whole house music systems, home automation, and structured wiring.

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IN THIS ISSUE

14 FEATURES COVER FEATURE

TAKE IT TO THE MAX And the Award Goes to…

SAFETY INCENTIVE PROGRAM Recognition & Rewards

BUILDER MART WRAP-UP Mart Madness Scores Big

THE MYSTERY OF SURVEYING PART II The Link Between Sausage and Surveying

YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE Expensive Brochure or Lead Generating Machine?

IN EVERY ISSUE 2

EVENTS CALENDAR

30 ENGINEER’S TOOLBOX

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

32 STATS & FACTS

CEO’S MESSAGE

34 NEW PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

LEGAL BRIEF

36 NEW MEMBER SHOWCASE

38 NEW MEMBERS / ADVERTISER INDEX 39 DID YOU KNOW? 40 STARS CLUB BUILDER’S BOOKSHELF

marylandbuilders.org

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EVENTS CALENDAR

How will you m 2012 Energy JUNE Code req

MAY Prince George’s Kristin Josephson Hogle, Chapter Communications Director communications@homebuilders.org Happy Hour EDITOR

Copper Canyon ADVERTISING

Chris Baughan, MD Glenarden, Advertising Sales Manager May 4 ext. 121 410-265-7400, chris@homebuilders.org

DESIGN Heather Winkel, Art Director Corinne Thompson, Graphic Designer Network Design Group ndg@networkmediapartners.com

Bring Housing Home

Capitol HBAM LEGALHill COUNSEL Linowes and BlocherDC Washington,

May 10 BUILDER MID-ATLANTIC is a publication of HBAM Member Services, Inc., a subsidiary of the Home Builders Association of Maryland, Inc., 6030 Daybreak Circle #A150 PMB 362 Clarksville, MD 21029 410-265-7400, www.homebuilders.org.

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Pleasant Prospect Farm to Postmaster: Send address changes Home Builders Association of Maryland, Brookville, MD Inc., 6030 Daybreak Circle #A150 PMBMay 362 12 Clarksville, MD 21029 ECO BOX Mid-Atlantic Builder text and cover pages are printed on SFI certified Anthem Plus Gloss using soy ink.

sage

Builder/Banker Breakfast

Custom Builder Awards Dinner

MBIA Fulton, MD MayHelps 19

Pooks Hill Marriott Bethesda, MD June 2 The

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You Reach 2012 IECC Energy Code FILRequirements Case Study At Lower The PROS Construction Costs! and Happy Awards

Federal Place Baltimore, MD ® MayThe 19 Enviro-Dri Weather-Resistant Barrier reduces the per hour (ACH), giving you the greatest flexibility in r energy code targets, at a construction cost that’s equa MBIA’s Annual current costs.

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La Cave at the Wynn Las Vegas, NV May 22

Turf Valley Resort By reducing air changes, Ellicott City, MD construction options and s June 13 • Retain your current 2x4

• R-38 blown ceiling insu path code requirements

• You can meet the 2012 sheathing or 2x6 walls.

• The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® program promotes sustainable forest management.

Contact Eddy Esplund, Tremco Barrier Solutions, to sche “Energy Trade-Off Analysis” on your most popul Enviro-Dri WRB can reduce air changes, reduce your co BUILD Maryland is published bimonthly by MBIA—the Maryland Building Industry Association, meet the 2012 IECC code. 11825 West Market Place, Fulton, MD 20759. The statements andyou opinions expressed herein are BUILD Maryland text and cover pages are printed on SFI certified Anthem Plus Gloss using soy ink. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® program promotes sustainable forest management.

ger

ke a positive s through

those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of MBIA. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any editorial or advertising matter at its discretion. The publisher is not responsible for claims made by advertisers. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to MBIA, 11825 West Market Place, Fulton, MD 20759, USA. © 2016 MBIA. All rights reserved.

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May/June 16

*Changes in dates and locations of events listed on our calendar do occur. Please EDDY ESPLUND, CSI-CDT AT 609 visit www.marylandbuilders.org for the EESPLUND@TREMCOINC.C latest information.

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BUILD MARYLAND

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The exclusive magazine of MBIA

MYSTERIES OF OUR INDUSTRY

t is hard to believe that we have worked halfway through the spring market. Where does the time go? There are many mysteries and wonders in our industry. Trying to understand them sometimes requires professional help. Fortunately, we have a whole host of professionals available to help. I have read with great interest about the Mystery of Surveying in the pages of this magazine. All of our projects need to start somewhere and our surveyors and engineers tackle the first step in the process. Mystery is an apropos term as many consider the whole land approval process a mystery. We have many excellent surveyors, planners and engineer members who can help eliminate the mysteries in the process. Similarly, our attorney members help us untangle the puzzle that is the entitlement process. The various codes, statutes, regulations and policies are enough to lead a strong person to drink. Just when you think you are starting to understand the process, they change the rules. Fear not, our attorney friends can help us through the legal process. While it may seem like you need a crystal ball, excellent representation is available. Another mystery we face is trying to determine where our sales will come from. Help is available here as well. The Sales and Marketing Council has a host of people working to help make sales less perplexing. We have marketing professionals, sales professionals, and others who can help sort out how to best increase sales. Check out the sales and marketing article in this issue about turning your website into a lead generating machine. Speaking of mysterious matters, the legislature wrapped up their work for the year. There were a number of challenges our industry faced, but MBIA’s State Legislative team of lobbyists and volunteer members rose to the challenge. The continued use of the advocacy alert process was very beneficial in informing our legislators about our position on a number of bills. Thanks to everyone who responded to these alerts and sent their position on legislation to our elected officials. Keep up the great work! One area that is not a mystery is the success of Builder Mart. The countless hours our Builder Mart team put into planning and executing this event continues to amaze. The only mystery here is how they do it year after year so seamlessly. The continued success of this event highlights the strength of our association and the reach we have. I cannot express enough appreciation to all the volunteers, exhibitors, attendees and our MBIA team for pulling off such a great event. It truly was Mart Madness. We filled the fairgrounds with happy and eager builders and associates for a day of fun, learning and networking. This truly is the premiere event of the year in our industry. Another unmysterious fact is where to turn when you need an excellent trade partner – our members. We are fortunate to have strong trades in each area of construction. Doing business with members is the best way to support the Association. If you don’t know where to turn, look to MBIA’s Membership Directory. It is online and there are hard copies available. Or, you can come to any of our events and meet them face to face. Networking is the best way to connect! Working in our industry is indeed filled with mystery and wonder. As you can see, however, the MBIA and its DAVID LUNDEN members are here to help you address the uncertainties and challenges in our President, MBIA world. We are here to help each other.

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May/June 16

2016 MBIA LEADERSHIP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE President, David Lunden 1st Vice President, Steve Breeden Vice President Advocacy/ State, Mike McCann Vice President Advocacy/ Washington Market, Hillary Colt Vice President Advocacy/ Baltimore Market, Steve Smith Vice President Advocacy/ Eastern Shore, Jeff Caruso Vice President, Associates, Peggy White Treasurer, Kimberley Palmisano Secretary, Mike Schueler Life Director, Mark Bennett Immediate Past President, Tom Baum Legal Counsel, Jack Orrick

CHAPTER PRESIDENTS Advocacy/Anne Arundel County, Jim Krapf Advocacy/Baltimore City, Sean Davis Advocacy/Baltimore County, David Murphy Advocacy/Carroll County, Jim Mathias Advocacy/Charles County, Doug Meeker Advocacy/Eastern Shore, Bob Purcell Advocacy/Howard County, Jamie Fraser Advocacy/Montgomery County, Raquel Montenegro Advocacy/Prince George’s County, Ken Dunn Advocacy/Southern Maryland, Tom Thomas Advocacy/Upper Chesapeake, Michael Charlton Advocacy/Washington DC, Stephen Alfandre

COUNCIL CHAIRS Builder Mart, Joe Fleury Custom Builders Council, Larry Cafritz Green Building Council, Tom Marsten Land Development Council, Sandy Marenberg Multifamily Housing Council, Tom Marshall Professional Women in Building Council, Maggie Witherup Remodelers Council, Joe Smith Sales & Marketing Council, Yvonne Deardorff

MEMBERS AT LARGE Brian Afnan Tim Ellis Miti Figueredo Howard Katz Mark MacFarland

Timothy Morris Cindy Plackmeyer Dusty Rood Robert Spalding Alex Villegas

SUBSIDIARIES Builders Development Guaranty Group/President, Scott Nicholson Home Builders Care Foundation/President, Chris Rachuba PUBLISHER Lori Graf, CEO lgraf@marylandbuilders.org EDITOR Kelly H. Grudziecki Director, Internal Communications kgrudziecki@ marylandbuilders.org

ADVERTISING Chris Baughan Sales Manager cbaughan@marylandbuilders.org DESIGN The YGS Group Creative Director, Serena L. Spiezio Graphic Designer, Zon Buckley Account Manager, Daniel Hornick

Maryland Building Industry Association 11825 W. Market Place Fulton, MD 20759 Ph: 301-776-MBIA www.marylandbuilders.org Info@marylandbuilders.org

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CEO MESSAGE

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hew, what a show! I hope you were one of the thousands of building industry professionals from around the region who attended Builder Mart in March. It was our 46th year! For those of you who didn’t make it, Builder Mart is the largest, one-day, industry trade show in Maryland and a must attend event for home builders, developers and remodeling industry professionals. Our exhibitors are national, regional and local vendors who come to network with the more than 3,000 industry professionals in attendance. Each year, we hold Builder Mart at the end of March at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, but that’s about the only thing that stays the same! We worked hard to make sure that the 2016 Builder Mart evolved, your experience was enhanced and everyone was fully engaged. We evolved in many ways this year and our biggest step was our registration process and onsite admission to the show. We used a new company to facilitate our registration in order to modernize the process and make the show more efficient. We learned some lessons. We didn’t mail badges this year but we will go back to mailing badges to those who register in advance again in 2017. We will keep the kiosks at the entrance of the show where badges will be printed on-demand for those registering on-site. This allows us to check for accuracy and eliminate fraud. Our marketing also evolved. We employed more social media and cut down on expensive mailings. Our materials were interactive and we targeted specific markets for efficient use of our marketing dollars. We enhanced the show with an updated floorplan to make the show floor simpler to navigate and made it easier to find every booth. We enlisted superstar basketball coach, Gary Williams for our SalesCamp presentation to motivate attendees and interact with the crowd. We also “beefed” up the food with our A-list caterer, dishing out pit sandwiches, soups, oysters, salads and cold beer. In order to better engage our attendees, we tied into our basketball theme and gave away tickets to the Elite 8 NCAA basketball tournament in Philadelphia. Also along that theme, we held a competitive game of pop-a-shot basketball at our membership booth not to mention the ever-popular cornhole tournament. Of course, we continued to offer top-notch education courses and real estate credits. The highly successful day was topped off with our After Party featuring live music from the Journey tribute band, Eclipse. Like I said, Whew! It was a great day for the Association, the exhibitors and all who attended. This show doesn’t happen without months of work by our staff and countless hours of service from our volunteers. I would like to thank them all. Builder Mart is our most important event of the year and one of the biggest revenue streams for our Association. I assure you we are not going to stop with this year’s success. We have already sat down, talked about each and every aspect of the show and now we’re working on evolving, enhancing and engaging Builder Mart next year. See you on March 22, 2017!

LORI GRAF CEO, MBIA

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May/June 16

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LEGAL BRIEF

BEST PRACTICES: RESOLVING DISPUTED WARRANTY CLAIMS Kevin P. Kennedy, Shulman Rogers

For many of our lawyer colleagues, the expediency of exchanging a check for a release, and the finality that provides, makes an all-cash settlement attractive. It avoids the potential completion disputes that can complicate an otherwise easy post-work release procedure, whether because the unhappy customer refuses to sign or demands additional work be finished before they will sign the release. That, in turn, can result in the original dispute surviving, and being further complicated by a disputed repair after the fact. Because homebuilder clients prefer to resolve disputed customer claims with an agreed/compromise scope of work (e.g., using the contractors who did the original work) rather than simply cutting a check, there needs to be a better way to accomplish this preferred result with a reliable in-kind remediation option that would still assure the all-important closure of a signed release. One way to accomplish this is by insisting on a “roll up” release for everything already addressed under the warranty and with respect to the protections that have already expired, including any claim devolving from the previous contract or closing on the home. From the scope of that release comes (i) the new undertaking in an in-kind remediation/release agreement and agreed/ compromise scope of work, and (ii) the unexpired portions of the warranty, but only as to covered items manifesting in the future. Be sure to select and include an arbiter (and mandatory arbiter procedures) in the release to decide any completion-related disputes on an expedited/ submission basis (both for and against). A quick and binding decision by the arbiter defines the value of any additional work and gives the homebuilder the option to pay that amount or perform the additional work found required, followed by the same notice of completion and, if necessary, another round of expedited

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May/June 16

arbiter procedures to achieve resolution. Finally, the resolved items are included in a written notice of completion and, if no timely notice of rejection explaining the supposed deficiency in the scope of work is received, the completed scope of work items are automatically subsumed within the release in the agreement. For the arbiter selection, look for construction competent consumer advocates like home inspectors and/or construction dispute settlers who work with local County licensing agency and consumer affairs offices to help resolve similar disputes. If the parties cannot otherwise agree, the selection process can default to a typical set of arbitration selection terms (e.g., you pick one, they pick one and those two decide on a third to serve as the lone arbiter). This method has been used successfully to reconcile dozens of homeowner warranty disputes, but has also been adapted to resolve many other, larger construction disputes involving multi-phase condo-

minium construction claims. On those larger matters, it helps to broach this type of resolution early in the process before the parties and their hourly rate lawyers become polarized and the contingency fee plaintiff’s bar gets involved. This is successful when the condominium’s counsel is amenable and shares in the desire to avoid the lose/lose, contingency fee legal case that too often seems like it is more about money than getting anything fixed for the benefit of the residents. By getting the past behind the clients (in the roll-up release) before undertaking a compromise scope of work, and by getting a compromise scope of work, arbiter selection and procedure for resolution of completion disputes reduced to writing, everyone wins. The customer also gains a new and enforceable in-kind remediation undertaking to rely upon and enforce, without concern for the statute of limitations, which may have expired for some of the disputed claims. Finally, the clients get closure, ideally using the contractors who

originally did the allegedly deficient work to perform the repairs, typically without additional charge to the homebuilder. This closure strategy facilitates the homebuilder clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; distinct preference for fixing construction issues using their own contractors and suppliers rather than cutting checks. In practice, it has delivered remediation type resolutions for far less than the cost of litigation over construction punchlists, where each issue might otherwise require what amounts to a mini-trial, involving potentially complex expert testimony on each issue. Kevin P. Kennedy is an attorney at Shulman Rogers, and chair of the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Commercial Litigation and Homebuilder Practice Groups. If you would like more information about the topic discussed in this article or other litigation defense and dispute resolution issues, please contact Kevin at 301-2305219 or kkennedy@shulmanrogers.com.

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SAFETY CULTURE

ENHANCE YOUR COMPANY’S SAFETY CULTURE WITH A SAFETY INCENTIVE PROGRAM TIMOTHY K. MICHELS, ESQ., CHESAPEAKE EMPLOYERS’ INSURANCE COMPANY

While a safety incentive program is not a substitute for poor safety management, an effective incentive program can help transform good safety management into great safety management for your company. One of the most effective—and least costly—safety incentives is management’s awareness, acknowledgement, and recognition of an employee’s good safety performance—especially when that recognition is witnessed by the employee’s peers. OBSERVATION AND RECOGNITION Recognition can be as simple as complimenting a worker for wearing a hard hat in a situation where overhead dangers are present, or recognizing an employee for using guards on dangerous equipment. A manager’s immediate observation and recognition of a job done safely goes a long way. What’s more, a sincere pat on the back costs nothing. Recognition of safe work practices is especially important following an accident. Once the injured worker has been treated, revisit the scene of the accident. Without getting injured, try to simulate the actions—or lack thereof—that led up to the accident. If the accident was witnessed by the employee’s co-workers, solicit their ideas on engineering controls that could reduce or eliminate a specific hazard. If operator error contributed to the accident, solicit ideas as to how prevention techniques can help prevent similar accidents in the future. The most effective safety incentives are timely and positive. Also consider incorporating safety into employees’ performance evaluations every year.

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May/June 16

LEADING INDICATORS Successful safety programs focus on and reward employees more on the front end rather than on the back end of safety results. Front-end results, also known as “leading indicators,” include specific safety activities to prevent accidents. Activities can include: participating in a safety committee, achieving good results on safety inspections, and adhering to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) policies.

Other important examples include reporting unsafe working conditions and near-miss accidents to management. Back-end results, also known as “lagging” or “post-loss indicators,” include tracking the number of accidents per quarter, number of lost work day accidents, and/or number of accidents involving particular individuals or departments. GOALS, AWARENESS AND MOTIVATION Before beginning a safety incentive program, define goals, and consider long-term, meaningful incentives. A successful safety incentive program will

raise employees’ awareness of safety issues without creating an environment in which employees feel the need to hide accidents for fear of losing out on an award or incentive prize. An incentive can be any item that employees perceive as valuable. However, if the stakes are too high and involve big-ticket items, the fear of losing out on such valuable items could cause some employees to hide accidents, falsify pre-loss safety prevention activities, or fail to report them in the first place; undermining all efforts to create a safer work environment. Don’t over-reward individual performance while under-rewarding or ignoring the combined efforts of a department or team. Safety performance is a collaborative effort involving all departments. For any incentive program to work, incentives must be distributed fairly across all departments. Raising and promoting the level of safety awareness in your organization, generating safety suggestions, and recognizing your employees for safe behaviors are some key aspects of an effective safety incentive program. Place the emphasis on motivating people rather than giving awards. Good incentive programs often result in employees establishing or strengthening good work habits, which ultimately prevent accidents and help save money on the bottom line.

Timothy K. Michels, Esq., is the Chief Operations Officer of Chesapeake Employers’ Insurance Company the largest writer of workers’ compensation insurance in Maryland. For more information visit www.ceiwc.com. This information and any noted recommendations are advisory only.

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BUILDER MART

2016

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March/April 16

endees • Nearly 3,000 att from Mar yla nd, • Attendees ca me WashingVirginia, Delaware, a, New ni lva ton, DC, Pennsy Carolina h ut So Jersey and even people listened • More than 300 ker Coach Gar y ea sp to key note Williams NEW ex hibit • A whopping 68 than 300 for booths out of more attendees to visit

siness • Thousa nds of bu d ge an ch ex s card s competed • A fierce 32 tea m na ment in the cornhole tour rped and • 11,000 oysters slu led yc their shells rec er consumed • 465 ga llons of be covered by • Roughly 3 miles the show g rin attendees du live music • Over 2 hours of e Af ter Party th at se with Eclip til Builder • Just 10 months un ch 22! Mart 2017 on Mar

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MAX

TAKING IT TO THE

Sales people, floor plans, model homes and more were recognized for their outstanding achievements at the Maryland Awards of Excellence (MAX) Awards dinner last month. Sponsored by MBIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sales & Marketing Council, this prestigious program celebrates some of the best and brightest our industry has to offer.

OUTSTANDING

PRODUCT LARGE VOLUME 55+ DETACHED $600,000 - $699,999

Company: Williamsburg Homes Model: Emerson City: Laurel, MD

LARGE VOLUME SINGLE FAMILY $400,000 - $499,999

Company: Williamsburg Homes Model: Tidewater City: Glen Burnie, MD

LARGE VOLUME SINGLE FAMILY $500,000 - $599,999

Company: Lennar

Model: Norwood/Craftsman City: Columbia, MD

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March/April 16

LARGE VOLUME SINGLE FAMILY $600,000 - $699,999

Company: Caruso Homes Model: Wake Forest City: Fort Washington, MD

LARGE VOLUME SINGLE FAMILY $850,000 - $999,999

Company: Williamsburg Homes Model: Hawthorne City: Fulton, MD

LARGE VOLUME SINGLE FAMILY $850,000 - $999,999

Company: Caruso Homes

SILVER MERIT

Model: Kingsport City: Upper Marlboro, MD

LARGE VOLUME SINGLE FAMILY $1 MILLION AND OVER

Company: Wormald Model: Georgetown City: Frederick, MD

LARGE VOLUME TOWN HOME $400,000 - $499,999

Company: Wormald

Model: Grand Ashcroft City: Frederick, MD

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LARGE VOLUME TOWN HOME $500,000 - $599,999

Company: Lennar Model: Ellicott City: Hanover, MD

LARGE VOLUME TOWN HOME $500,000 - $599,999

Company: Richmond American Model: Kaleb City: Fulton, MD

LARGE VOLUME TOWN HOME $850,000 - $999,999

Company: Bozzuto

Model: Bartlett Elevation 2 City: Fulton, MD

LARGE VOLUME CUSTOMIZED HOME $700,000 - $799,999

Company: Caruso Homes Model: Kingsport City: Lotian, MD

LARGE VOLUME CUSTOMIZED HOME $1 MILLION AND OVER

Company: Williamsburg Homes Model: Wellington City: Clarksville, MD

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March/April 16

SMALL VOLUME CUSTOMIZED HOME $400,000 - $499,000

Company: Capitol Homes

Model: Rock Creek City: Hyattsville, MD

Designs for every room.

SMALL VOLUME CUSTOMIZED HOME $1 MILLION AND OVER

Company: Zander Homes

Model: The Riley City: Sparks, MD

SMALL VOLUME MULTIFAMILY/CONDO $300,000 - $399,999

Company: Capitol Homes

Model: Davis City: Washington, DC

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OUTSTANDING

MERCHANDISING CLUBHOUSE

Company: P Four

Model: Clubhouse at Balmoral City: Upper Marlboro, MD

55+ ATTACHED $400,000 - $499,999

Company: P Four

Model: Melville City: Laurel, MD

SINGLE FAMILY DETACHED $500,000 - $599,999

Company: P Four

Model: Calahan City: New Market, MD

SINGLE FAMILY DETACHED $850,000 - $999,999

Company: Interior Concepts

Model: Venezia City: Chantilly, VA

SINGLE FAMILY DETACHED $1 MILLION AND OVER

Company: CalAtlantic/Ryland Model: Southill City Timonium, MD

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March/April 16

SINGLE FAMILY DETACHED $1 MILLION AND OVER

Company: P Four Model: Sage 300 City Fulton, MD

SINGLE FAMILY TRANSFER $900,000 - $1 MILLION

Company: Caruso Homes/Model Home Interiors

Model: Seahawk City: Grasonville, MD

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TOWN HOME $300,000 - $399,999

Company: Interior Concepts Model: Chelsea City: Dundalk, MD

TOWN HOME $500,000 - $599,999

Company: Richmond American Model: Kaleb City: Glen Burnie, MD

TOWN HOME $1 MILLION AND OVER

Company: P Four

Model: Upper Unit City: Washington, DC

MULTIFAMILY/CONDO $300,000 - $399,999

Company: P Four

Model: Unit 450 City: Baltimore, MD

MULTIFAMILY/CONDO $700,000 - $799,999

Company: P Four Model: Unit 450 City: Baltimore, MD

MULTIFAMILY/CONDO $1 MILLION AND OVER

Company: Turner Development Model: Bin 2312 City: Baltimore, MD

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OUTSTANDING

SALES & MARKETING ASSOCIATE MARKETING

Outstanding Multi-Media Campaign Cal Ripken Jr.

Bob Lucido Team of Keller Williams Select Realtors

Outstanding Social Media Campaign Oneil Interactive Campaign

BUILDER MARKETING Outstanding Website

SALES PEOPLE Overall Salesperson of the Year Dar Mohamed, Bozzuto

NDG Communications

Salesperson of the Year Townhome

winchesterhomes.com

craftmarkhomes.com

Salesperson of the Year Multifamily

GKA Advertising

Oneil Interactive

Outstanding Use of Direct Mail Just Listed, Just Sold

Bob Lucido Team of Keller Williams Select Realtors

Outstanding Use of the Internet

International Builders Show Campaign Oneil Interactive

Silver Merit-Outstanding Use of the Internet Constentino TV (YouTube) Contentino

Outstanding Website

Melynda Tomko Corteal, CalAtlantic Homes/Ryland

Outstanding Use of the Internet Station East Digital Campaign

Salesperson of the Year Single Family

Oneil Interactive

Angela Hawkins, Caruso Homes

Outstanding Community Brochure

Sales Manager of the Year

Sage at Maple Lawn

Chris Birth, Lennar

Bozzuto

Exceptional Sales Effort

Silver Merit-Outstanding Community Brochure

Joshua Brandt, Humphrey Companies

Elm Street Development

Exceptional Assistant or Associate

GKA Advertising

Shana Whitman, CalAtlantic Homes

Outstanding Use of New Technology

Sales & Construction Team of the Year

iBeacon Technology

Latasha Sears, Mirinda Wilson, Katherine Desh and Dion Anthony, Bozzuto Homes

Outstanding Direct Mail Piece Summer of Sun Tri-Fold

Exceptional Sales from Undecorated Model

St. Charles Companies

Stephanie Boyle, Caruso Homes

Outstanding Color Print Ad

Selection Center Consultant

Caruso Homes

Rookie Salesperson of the Year

Bozzuto

NDGcommunications.com NDG Communications

Outstanding TV Campaign Bob and Cal

Bob Lucido Team of Keller Williams Select Realtors

Outstanding Print Color Ad

Debbie Sappington, CalAtlantic

“Why Caruso?”

Greta Bill, Lennar

Outstanding Multi-Media Campaign

People are Voting

Bob Lucido Team of Keller Williams Select Realtors

Symphony Village Grand Finale

Outstanding Print B&W Ad

Outstanding Social Media Campaign

Bob Lucido Team of Keller Williams Select Realtors

Oneil Interactive

Outstanding Promotional Item

Gallery Towns

Bob Lucido Team of Keller Williams Select Realtors

Builder Sales Center

Caruso Homes

Insight Homes

Turkey Giveaway

Coach’s Chairs

Dar Mohamed, Bozzuto Homes

Silver Merit-Outstanding Website

Outstanding Logo Bozzuto

Old Dobbin Lane Sales Center CalAtlantic

Builders and Developers Rely on Us • Acquisition & Development Contracts • Homeowners Associations • Condominium Associations • Commercial Associations & Condominiums • Title – Analysis, Problem Solving & Counsel; Authorized Agent • Joint Venture Agreements

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BUILD MARYLAND

The Mystery of

Surveying [ PART 2 [

BY DAVID S. THALER, P.E., L.S., F., ASCE, F., NSPE, D.S. THALER & ASSOCIATES, INC.

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March/April 16

t has been said that lovers of sausage and those who respect the law, should watch neither being made.1 Much the same could be said of surveying. Because surveyors use precise instruments, mathematics, and generate answers to many decimal places, it is widely believed that a survey is accurate. While the act of measurement itself can be relatively accurate, what to measure is a different story altogether and can require the very subjective weighting of often conflicting evidence. But even the science of measurement is uncertain, for no quantity can be measured to its absolute true value and each measurement has some doubt associated with it. Excluding blunders, there are two types of errors associated with surveying measurements: systematic and random. Systematic errors are those associated with the measuring devices themselves. In the case of a tape, they include temperature, amount of tension and inherent defects in the length of the tape. Each of these affects the tape and the length of a measured distance, but systematic errors can be minimized by calibration and adjustment. There are also random errors. Any group of measurements will vary from the true value particularly when obtained by different individuals using different equipment. Systematic errors can be reduced statistically but every measurement is subject to some uncertainty and there is no perfect measurement. While surveying is widely thought to be accurate, actually, it’s precise. Accuracy in surveying is the nearness to the true value, but precision is the nearness of the readings to one another, which may or may not be accurate. Figure 1 illustrates the difference between precision and accuracy.

THE IRON LAW OF TITLE Some years ago, Donald Trump became engaged to Marla Maples and he purchased a beautiful diamond ring for her from the jeweler, Harry Winston. The engagement was broken, Donald hadn’t paid for the ring and so the question was: who owns the ring: Donald, Marla or Harry? (When I pose this question in a live class, the women inevitably say that Marla owns the ring.) In fact, Harry owns it, and this illustrates the iron law of title; you cannot pass better title than you have. Because Donald never paid for the ring, he never acquired title to it and therefore could not pass title to Marla.2 In the case of property, the iron law is best illustrated this way. (see Figure 2 next page) Suppose a deed to a property indicated it was 200 feet wide and suppose the owner sold the easternmost 100 feet to A and then sometime later conveyed the westernmost 100 feet to B. If, after a survey, the property actually measured to be only 198 feet wide, how much does each party own? The answer is A owns the easternmost 100 feet (this is called a senior right) but B owns only 98 feet because at the time of the conveyance the grantor only had 98 feet left and could not covey any more than he owned. This is despite the fact that B’s deed says he owns 100 feet! It is also widely assumed that a deed is conclusive proof of ownership. But a deed is only evidence of ownership. A deed could include a description purporting to convey more than the grantor owned, or the grantor’s signature could be invalid, he could be insane, or incompetent, or the ex-spouse could have acquired the property in a divorce among many other issues. The system of recording deeds in Maryland as well as in most states is simply a means for publically documenting land

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titles and interests and does not, in fact, determine who owns a property. PRIORITY OF DEEDS Suppose I sold you a piece of property in the morning and then sold the exact same property to somebody else in the afternoon. Can I do that and who then owns the property? Well, anyone who sold the same property twice would probably go to jail, but no one actually stands guard at the courthouse recording desk to prevent recordation of fraudulent deeds or bad descriptions. Maryland follows the so called Race-Notice principle. A subsequent purchaser for value owns the property if (1) at the time of conveyance the subsequent purchaser had no actual or constructive notice of the prior conveyance and (2) the subsequent purchaser records first. This is why it’s important to record deeds. If someone buys the same property for value without actual or constructive notice (and recording a deed is constructive notice) of your prior purchase and records the deed before you do−that person owns the property. HIERARCHY OF EVIDENCE In determining boundaries, there are inevitably many conflicts that must be resolved by the surveyor. There is a hierarchy of rules that have been established by the courts for weighing conflicting evidence. These are: 1.Unwritten rights 2.Senior rights 3.Written rights a) monuments 1) natural 2) artificial b) adjoiners c) direction and distance d) area e) coordinates

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1.Unwritten rights As odd as it may seem, unwritten rights that grow into a fee, extinguish all written rights and therefore are of the highest priority. This is despite the Statue of Frauds3, which requires that all property conveyances be in writing. The unwritten rights include: a) Adverse possession. Adverse possession is where one person acquires title to another’s property, which can be without compensation or permission by holding the property under certain conditions for a statutory period. For there to be adverse possession, the possession must be actual, open, notorious, hostile (this does not mean waving a shotgun around rather it means treating the property as your own and not allowing others to use it except by permission) and for the statutory period, which is 20 years in Maryland. Adverse possession is often asserted and not infrequently encountered in homebuilding. A typical situation is where A puts up a fence several feet inside his own property line, B cuts the grass outside of his property up to the fence and then after many years, asserts adverse possession. Such a claim would likely fail as it does not meet all the required elements. Adverse possession claims are strictly construed and are usually very difficult to prove. b) Acts of nature such as accretions or erosions. Sometimes, deeds call to the centerline of streams. Stream channels, of course, can move. If the stream channel moves gradually (known as accretion or reliction) the property line moves with it but if the stream channel moves suddenly (known as avulsion), say after a big storm, then the property line does not move. Such are the mysteries of surveying. c) Public or private uses that have ripened into Z rights-of-way or easements. A common practice up until the early 20th century was for deeds to call to the centerline of roads. In fact, the famous Act of 1892, now Section 2-114 of the Maryland Real Property Article, creates the presumption that, unless otherwise specified, a deed containing a call binding on a private or public road carries title to the centerline of the road. Many property owners commonly believe that if their deed encompasses a road, then the road belongs to them. But when the public uses a road for a long period of time, more than 20 years, the use generally ripens into a fee and the road becomes public (similar in a way to adverse possession) notwithstanding the fact that someone else has the deed to the road bed. d) Those which involve agreement either expressed or implied including practical location and acquiescence. Two parties may agree as to the location of a boundary line between their lands, which if followed by possession can become binding. The line isn’t established by transfer of title from one to the other, which can only be done in writing, but this serves to determine the true location of the boundary line already established between their lands.

2. Senior rights Senior rights take precedence over junior ones because you cannot convey more than you own. But if a deficiency occurs in a subdivision plat, the deficiency is apportioned equally among all the lots whose line is deficient. It is presumed that all the lots were created simultaneously and therefore none is senior to the other. 3. Written rights a. Monuments Monuments take precedence over metes and bound calls in written descriptions. For instance, if a line calls 100 feet to a stone, but actually measures only 97 feet in the field, then the survey will hold the line at 97 feet. As natural monuments were believed to have more permanence than artificial ones, they take precedence. b. Adjoiners A call to an adjoiner frequently is a call to a senior right but not always. The call to the adjoiner does not take precedence over one to a monument but does over a call for distance and direction. c. Direction and Distance In Maryland and Texas unlike most of the country, direction takes precedence over distance (Wood v. Hildebrand, 185 MD 56, 42 A2d 919, 1945). d. Area Area is a very uncertain element and is given very low precedence. Generally, area does not control unless it is obvious that to ignore it would violate the manifest intention of the parties. e. Coordinates Coordinates have traditionally been accorded little or no credibility by surveyors and are seldom mentioned in court opinions. With the advent of GPS, coordinates have become much more reliable and reproducible. Technology changes faster than the law, however, and so coordinates are still given very low weight in reconciling boundaries. ALTA/ACSM SURVEYS Most commercial surveys now require the Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/ACSM Land Title Surveys (ALTA standards), jointly published by the American Land Title Association and American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. These standards have been frequently revised through the years and the current edition became effective

February 23, 2011. The minimum standard detail requirements are the standards that surveyors must follow when performing ALTA surveys. Several significant changes were made in the 2011 edition. Perhaps the most significant was that the term “relative positional accuracy,” which had been used in prior editions was changed to the more correct term “relative positional precision” and the ALTA standards provide the required degree of precision for the survey. In prior years, attorneys would sometimes require the surveyor to certify to all sorts of things that were often expressed guarantees or warranties far beyond the realm of surveying. For instance, the surveyor might have been asked to certify that a structure met all ADA laws and regulations. The 2011 edition now requires that the surveyor only certify that the survey was done in accordance with the ALTA standards and it now mandates that the required certification language cannot be altered. WHY HAVE A SURVEY? There have been numerous cases where structures were built over a property line or in violation of a zoning setback. In one famous case in Florida, a million dollar home was built entirely on the wrong lot. It is also not uncommon for the area indicated in a deed to differ substantially from the actual area of the property and so needless to say, it is highly recommended that prior to the purchase of any property, a survey be performed and title run. David S. Thaler, PE, LS, F., ASCE, F., NSPE is the President of D.S. Thaler & Associates, Inc., a civil and environmental engineering and surveying firm in Baltimore, Maryland, which has designed hundreds of communities. Repeatedly honored, he is a Fellow of both the American Society of Civil Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers, and is Guest Scholar at the University of Baltimore School of Law, where he lectures on land use. He has published more than 200 articles and five books, and has won numerous life time achievement awards including Icon of the Industry. He also holds both the highest professional engineering award in Maryland, now known as the Thaler Prize, and the Maryland Distinguished Service Cross, Maryland’s highest military honor.

This venerable quote along with several variations have been variously attributed to Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin and Otto von Bismarck, among others.

Actually, most states have laws related to broken engagements. The general rule is that an engagement ring is a conditional gift, conditioned on the marriage and must be returned to the grantor if the marriage doesn’t take place. This is not the case in all states and there are exceptions. However, after the marriage, the engagement ring belongs to the recipient. 2

The Statute of Frauds which was originally adopted by the English Parliament in 1677, requires certain contracts to be in writing including those for the transfer of real property. It is codified in Maryland Law in the Real Property Article Section 5-103. 3

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YOUR WEBSITE:

BROCHURE OR LEAD GENERATING MACHINE? DENNIS O’NEIL, ONEIL INTERACTIVE

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March/April 16

t’s really hard to imagine any business without a website today, let alone a business with such a visual product like a home builder. For many years now consumers have expected all businesses to be Google-able. And with almost 100% participation, the home building industry has responded. It’s fairly rare I meet a builder who doesn’t have a website. They may be ashamed of the one they have, but they have one. How many home builders make money from their website? This is a valuable question, and the topic of what follows. When consumers said they wanted information from builder websites, home builders responded. Most builder websites are loaded with data - floor plans, photos, prices, features, maps and more. These websites function much like a brochure. They provide lots of information, hopefully a promotional statement or two, and are available to consumers with a single click. When you think of your website as a brochure, you realize that it’s an awfully expensive brochure. The builder website is often compared to an online model home. I’ve never met a builder that unlocks the model home door at 11:00am and lets consumers wander through unat-

tended until they return at 6:00pm to lock up. The idea is as ridiculous as it sounds, but brochure websites do exactly this. They allow consumers to browse freely, missing many opportunities to ask visitors a question, collect information, or otherwise nudge the sale forward. How do we move the website out of the expense column and start to see a return on investment? One word -- Leads. Leads are how your website makes you money. When prospective home buyers visit your website, when they are comfortable with the information and experience, and they share their contact information with you, they become a lead -through their own ignition or by your website’s request. Leads are people. Leads are people your salespeople can speak with and follow-up with. Leads are people who buy homes. Let’s discuss how to refocus your website from “expensive brochure” to “lead generating machine.” DEFINE YOUR GOALS Take the time and consider what you want your website to do for you. While it is possible to develop a website for just a single purpose, this discussion will consider all types of leads. Most home builders need a website to provide the opportunity to convert and follow-up with the coldest and the hottest of prospects. RETARGET YOUR COLDEST OF VISITORS The coldest of all visitors to your website are those unwilling to give you any information; visitors who may not be far enough along in the consideration phase. To increase your opportunity with these visitors, you should be placing a tracking “cookie” on their device. You’ve probably been shopping at Amazon for a product and noticed an ad for that same product show up on another website minutes or days later. That tracking cookie allows you to do the same thing with your website visitors. If you can’t collect their contact information, you can still follow them around the internet for a while so they remember who you are. OFFER OPT-IN CONVERSIONS Many home shoppers are willing to share their email address for the right offer. Sometimes this means subscribing to a builder’s blog they find particularly helpful or fun. If a community or floor plan they’ve found on your website looks promising to them, they may be willing to subscribe in order to be kept up to date with community news, announcements, or specials. More advanced builder websites allow visitors to create a special “account” in order to save favorite homes, compare communities, among other sophisticated features. These accounts require email addresses, automatically opting account holders into communication.

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Another method of opt-in conversions are often referred to as “lead magnets.” These tools offer a reward of some sort in exchange for a visitor’s email address. Common lead magnets include coupons, white papers, digital brochures, or other downloadable documents. Event registration can also be a powerful lead magnet. It’s important to consider that the reward for sharing an email address should be something the user considers special and not something readily available to them elsewhere. INFORMATION REQUEST FORMS This is the most commonly measured lead conversion. Home shoppers who complete these forms are actively asking you to speak with them. The most successful home builder websites include contact forms that are accessible from any and every page. Don’t make it hard for a user to find one. It should be no more than a quick scroll or click away. LIVE CHAT Completing a contact form is a commitment. That seems like a strong statement, but the typical web user thinks long and hard before filling out a website form. Some thoughts that go through their mind include, “Am I really ready to talk to someone? Are they going to spam me? How long will they take to respond? Will they respond?” Live chat is a great option to offer your website visitors. It’s a real-time “texting-style” conversation where the consumer feels more in control, and maybe more likely to participate. Live chat is very easy to add to your website, and most service providers offer iPhone and Android apps so your sales team can answer chat requests from anywhere. Most live chat services cost only $50-100/month. DRIVING DIRECTIONS Over the last five years, home builder website traffic from mobile devices has increased dramatically. The typical home builder website saw more than half of its traffic originate from mobile devices in 2015. This shift means consumers use the driving directions feature of websites differently. From a desktop com-

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March/April 16

puter, a user may print a map with turn by turn directions to your community. And while that’s still a desired behavior, when users click a driving directions button on their phones, they’re expecting turn by turn navigation courtesy of Apple or Google. A mobile user that chooses to navigate to your community is something you want happening as often as possible. PHONE CALLS Next to a fresh prospect walking through your model home door, a phone call from an interested buyer is the best kind of lead. Any salesperson knows that the ability to communicate and read emotion is radically better on the phone than over any text-based communication like email or chat. Any prospect that calls your model is more likely to be further along in the buying process and a much more serious lead. MEASURING SUCCESS Knowing each of the possible lead conversion points above, we now need a consistent way to measure these things. Not just how often these conversions happen, but which conversion points happen more and which ones are trending up or down in frequency. Google Analytics is a free and powerful tool to help you measure your website traffic. Most builders will have Google Analytics tracking their website activity, but if you don’t, get it added soon. Once installed, be sure you’re leveraging the Goals and Events features. The combination of these tools will allow you to count every point of conversion above -- how many contact forms were completed, how many mobile users clicked on your phone number, how many people clicked on your live chat button. TRAFFIC SOURCE QUALITY When you begin layering your traffic sources data on top of your conversion data, you begin to see new levels of decision making power. Not only will Google Analytics help you count how many conversions occur on your website each month and day, it will also tell you where that traffic came from. Do visitors who come from Google AdWords (pay per click) ads

How do we move the website out of the expense column and start to see a return on investment? One word -- Leads.

ever fill out your contact form? Does traffic from Zillow ever click to call you? Does traffic from Bing organic searches ever convert via live chat? These questions can be answered with the data described above; moving you from considering traffic quantity, to knowing traffic quality. We don’t want a brochure website that’s been viewed 10,000 times. We want a lead generating website that is viewed just enough times to bring us the leads we need. CONVERSION RATE What’s a good conversion rate? There’s no concrete generalization, but a common benchmark thrown about is 0.5%; meaning if your website received 1,000 visitors last month, you should have received at least five leads. I encourage you to compete against yourself; looking at last month’s and last year’s data to make sure you’re getting better results. In time, you’ll be calculating your cost-per-lead, and will know exactly where you’re getting the most value for your website marketing dollar. LEAD RESPONSE Of course, all of these leads require action. Someone needs to answer the phone, answer the chat, or send an email. Some will require immediate action, while others will need more nurturing before becoming an “A” prospect. In the next BUILD magazine issue, look for Blue Gypsy’s Leah Fellow’s advice for getting the most out of the leads you’ve worked so hard to generate. Dennis O’Neil leads the team at ONeil Interactive, a digital-first creative agency that implements ground-breaking, lead generating marketing for home builders across the United States. You can contact Dennis, or learn more, by visiting ONeilInteractive.com.

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ENGINEER’S TOOLBOX

PAVING THE WAY by Andrew Der

Sometimes environmental compliance can seem impervious to scientific principles. More water is running off from more surfaces around us – but does that mean it all reaches a stream? This question bears answering now more than ever as principles of planning-level impervious caps continue to permeate into various regulatory criteria. The relationship of impervious surfaces to nonpoint source runoff has been in the forefront of water resource regulation for many years, most commonly manifesting itself in local planning-level overlays and environmental guidelines via natural resource inventory/forest stand delineation (NRI/FSD) review processes. As example, Montgomery County is no stranger to impervious caps with controversial Patuxent Management Area and Special Protection Area limits as the end-all path to stream protection. Did someone say Clarksburg? Wait – I don’t want to get you started. Going globally, planning level impervious criteria are also a basis for some of Clean Water Act (CWA) Section

303(d) Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Watershed Imple-

mentation Plan (WIP) assumptions, and even CWA Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) MS4 permit conditions.

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But should it be without consideration of effective impervious cover (EIC)? The traditional research referenced by regulatory agencies shows a correlation between increasing levels of impervious cover and decreasing water quality conditions in receiving streams, but this is based on older pre-existing watersheds with little or no stormwater management (SWM) of any kind. Water regulation in concept is driven at a fundamental level by the need to protect the receiving stream, therefore what matters is what the stream “sees.” And from that perspective, any proposed impervious surface needs to be described in terms of EIC - or the runoff that actually will reach a stream after setback buffering and environmental site design (ESD) to the maximum extent practicable (MEP) per Maryland’s SWM law. The presence of new impervious surface in and of itself does not necessarily impact a receiving stream. Today’s rigorously regulated new development has never been more subject to layers of federal, state, and local water quality management criteria effectively

disconnecting, buffering, and managing critical flows. Means of compliance can also vary significantly depending on numerous site-specific characteristics such as subsurface soils, topography, vegetative cover, type of project, and location of any impervious cover. If impervious surface modeling alone is to be considered by some to be conclusive enough to establish policy and regulatory decisions, one then could logically and conversely argue if impervious cover is under any established threshold, then no SWM of any kind is necessary – but we know better. Another fallacy of a desktop approach is, if a given development plan exceeds an established impervious cover limit determined by a property area percentage, an additional contiguous property or parcel can be acquired to combine with the property. This increases the total project limit acreage and raises the corresponding percentage limit so the same proposed imperviousness is now less than the percent threshold. The impervious area is exactly the same as before but now is considered “safe” – yet the stream does not know the difference. The effective modeling of impervious surface effects in a watershed cannot be static and must account for numerous other factors such as pre-existing land use and property character, actual applicable watershed boundaries, offsite influences, and master plan goals and

zoning. Such factors need to be considered in decision making rather than default to the single desktop indicator of existing impervious surface as the primary planning tool. What should be a science-based process needs constant reminders by the industry and the regulated public to stay on task regarding new regulations and procedures by retaining basic technical principles in deliberative processes. And especially when agencies continuously propose new or different stream buffer setbacks or SWM criteria in the context of Maryland’s stormwater management regulations, Maryland Department of the Environment Tier II water policies, TMDL WIPs, and NPDES compliance. Another shortcoming of the desktop approach is, although required for NRI/ FSD compliance and encouraged in the first of three SWM plan submissions under current Maryland regulations, stream buffer disconnect is still not fully credited against a SWM burden in the planning stages as an effective component of a SWM or E/S plan. The combination of stream buffer setbacks along with buffer forest retention and planting effectively filters and disconnects new impervious surfaces before even considering any ESD to the MEP practices of the nature required today. Any proposed development is required to provide ecologically-oriented best management practices emphasizing first flush vegetative and filtration practices to mimic “woods in good condition” in addition to buffer filtering and disconnection. Since, from the perspective of the stream, vegetated buffers already treat stormwater pollutants, a contemporary SWM plan can even achieve a level of redundancy since this further renders surfaces potentially ineffective. Since today’s practices are effective if maintained properly, the generic use of an impervious limit overlay without the above considerations is fundamentally inconsistent - especially if not

accounting for the pre-development land condition. Frequently, existing pre-SWM land use, both industrial and agricultural, already contributes to existing degrading water quality. Therefore, the ultimate outcome is the act of redevelopment under MDE re-development regulations, subject to the additional cumulative stacked benefits above, can even yield a net gain – and is also a significant short coming in projecting Bay TMDL compliance assumptions. Planning tools such as generic buffer setbacks, impervious surface criteria, and hierarchy of SWM practices are good to have in our toolbox, but should incorporate mechanisms for field refinement and quality control based on actual pre-existing conditions to be effective and practicable.

We have all the new water resource regulations we need. Enough already. Even the Chesapeake Bay Program’s own data shows new construction is not the problem. Older “pre-regulation” urban land and agricultural use is - and is what the NPDES MS4 permitting and TMDL WIP goals can address. WIP goals can address. Let’s help the agencies focus on that to give the Bay what it needs. Andrew Der is Principal of Andrew T. Der & Associates, LLC practicing in the consulting industry since 2001, previously completing 18 years of service at the Maryland Department of the Environment. He can be reached at 410 491 2808 or AndrewTDer@comcast.net

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STATS & FACTS

STATS & FACTS HOMEOWNERSHIP PAST, HOMEOWNERSHIP FUTURE BEN SAGE, METROSTUDY’S MID-ATLANTIC REGION

t my previous office, we had several fake plants around, but also one live plant. This one live plant was generally well cared for and healthy, thanks to my staff, but I would occasionally come in find it sitting in the sink with the leaves all droopy. Someone (never me) had noticed the sickly nature of the little shrub, realize it hadn’t been watered, and set it in the sink for good hydration treatment. That little guy would invariably bounce back to full foliage after appearing to suffer a slow death. I came to call the kitchen sink the “magic basin” for its ability to restore the plant to new life. Those droopy leaves dying a slow death remind me of watching homeownership wilt over the last nine years. Homeownership peaked in 2006 at 69 percent and has since fallen to below 64 percent in 2015. This doesn’t sound like much of a change, but these trends resulted in the number of renting households in this country growing by 45 million (+28 percent), easily the fastest pace of renter growth since the Census began tracking housing tenure in 1965. The current rate of homeownership is very near the all-time low of 63 percent in 1965, the first year this information was published.

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The Census Bureau also tracks homeownership trends by age. The three youngest age brackets below age 55 suffered the most from the Great Recession, losing over seven million homeowners in the last ten years, many of them via foreclosure. Conversely, the number of homeowners in the age 55+ brackets grew by over 8.5 million during the same period. These two older age groups have also been the most supportive of for-sale home building, as first-time buyers have largely sat out the post-recession period. The good news is some economists believe that the falling homeownership rate has finally bottomed out, and Metrostudy is inclined to agree. We drew up a homeownership recovery scenario by age over the next ten years, and we assumed that homeownership would post a modest recovery in all but the oldest age range. For the 65+ age bracket, we actually forecasted a modest decline in homeownership, while keeping it close to that 80 percent threshold it has generally maintained since 1995. For each of the four younger age brackets, we indicate an increase in homeownership over the next 10 years, but we kept the 2025 forecast rate well below that of 1995 as this was before the home-purchase boom. We then combined this scenario with the 10-year projection of house-

holds by age published by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The results were quite revealing. Even with a slight decline in the homeownership rate over the next ten years in the 65+ age bracket, overall household growth in this cohort is so great that it produces easily the largest number of new home-owning households. It already has the most home-owning households, nearly 24 million in 2015, and this could grow to 32 million by 2025 (+35 percent). This reflects the well-documented effect of the aging baby boomers on the housing market. The conclusions are clear: builders will have to understand the changing needs of the aging homeowner. This buyer group could be the “magic basin” to a more sustained recovery for home builders. Ben Sage, Director of Metrostudy’s Mid-Atlantic Region, has been researching and analyzing housing markets since 1994. He regularly meets and consults with many of the top homebuilders in the country as well as with lenders, developers, investors, and utilities concerning trends in the local economy and their effect on the real estate market. Ben can be reached at bsage@ metrostudy.com. For more information, visit www.metrostudy.com.

2015

Historical Homeownership Rate

2013 2011 2009 2007 2005 2003 2001 1999 1997 1995 1993 Sourc:e U.S. Census Bureau

1991 1989 1987 1985 1983 1981 1979 1977

60 65 years plus 55 to 64 years

45 to 54 years 35 to 44 years Under 35 years

30 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

THOUSANDS

30,000 25,000

65 years plus 55 to 64 years 45 to 54 years 35 to 44 years Under 35 years

20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000

FORECAST

1995

2005

2015

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Source: Census, Harvard JCHS, Metrostudy

35,000

2025

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NEW PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

KOHLER’S NEW SHOWER HAS TOUCHSCREEN-CONTROLLED SPEAKERS AND MOOD LIGHTS I used to think there was no better way to kickstart my day than blasting “So Fresh, So Clean” in the shower while loofaing my shoulders. But I was wrong—turns out I could be having a multi-temperature water and steam shower experience while blasting Outkast in four-speaker surround sound with a full-on light show. Kohler calls its new DTV+ shower system a “Digital Showering Experience.” It refuses to simply call it “a shower,” because it’s so much more than just a stall for cleaning yourself. Sure, it is a shower, or at least it has the compo-

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May/June 16

nents of one. But depending on how much money you want to spend pimping it out, it’s also a touchscreen-controlled surround-sound booth, a disco light show, a two-temperature standing spa, and a steam bath/shirt dewrinkler.

The base package includes three components for $1,940: A touchscreen interface that’s installed in the shower itself, a mounting bracket for that interface and system controller that’s installed outside of the shower.

The controller acts as a power supply for the touchscreen and a connection hub for all the system components. It also provides a way to control valves and water temperature independently for each shower head in the system— important for those multi-temperature standing spas. From there, you can customize the system with different audio hardware, steam modules, showerheads, and “chromatherapy” components. For example, the system supports up to four SoundTile

speakers, and a separate amplifier module allows you to stream tunes from a Bluetooth-connected device. The amplifier component also has two 3.5mm inputs for hardwired audio sources. Kohler says a fully kitted-out system runs around $9,000. That’s with four speakers, the amplifier unit, a steam adapter, some steam heads—and of course the WaterTile Ambient Rain showerhead unit, which features 88 nozzles and includes a multicolor light show. Once everything is hooked up,

you can use the six-inch touchscreen to access personal presets, switch up the lighting and water temperature, control your music, or take a schvitz. A Well-Being mode that targets your pulse points, a Relaxation mode that cranks on your stressed-out muscles, and an Energy mode that wakes you up by alternating between hot and cold water. If you want to save a few thousand dollars, rest assured you can simulate Energy mode by having someone flush the toilet while you’re in a normal shower.

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new MEMBER NEW MEMBER SHOWCASE

SHOWCASE

Bennett Goldberg, Owner, MDV Custom Homes

homes per year; and a more suburban development oriented semi-custom production builder, building between 70 and 100 truly customized homes per year in subdivisions spanning from Woodbridge, VA to Easton, MD. In the wake of the last recession I conf lated these operations into my current company, MDV Remodeling Custom Homes. Why did you join MBIA and what do you hope to gain from your membership? I had been fairly active in several HBAs with my prior operations and I felt that we were at a point in MDV’s lifecycle where it made sense to get involved again. Are you involved with any MBIA committees? I am hoping to start with the Remodeler’s and Custom Home Builders, and take it from there.

How long have you been with your company and what is your role? I started working in the field for my father’s company “The Artery Organization” in September, 1988. At the time, his company was the largest private developer and builder of first time homes and apartments in the Washington, DC metropolitan region. His was a vertically integrated company that included a mortgage company, a manufacturing plant, a commercial construction division and a home building and apartment company delivering roughly350 homes per year across 27 subdivisions and managing nearly14,000 apartments in 44 communities. I worked in every area until the mid-1990s when I decided to go out on my own. In 1995, I started two companies: an infill custom home building company where we did up to six high end

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May/June 16

What’s a favorite moment in your career so far? Growing the semi-custom production company to the point where it was sizable enough to support having a General Manager and efficient enough in its operations that it basically ran on auto-pilot. This enabled me to move my family to Ireland to live for several years, just for the experience of it. What was your childhood dream job? Playing in a rock and roll Band or being a cardiothoracic surgeon. Any business tips can you share with others? Once you see your business as a vehicle for opportunities,

you will transcend being a “builder” to become an “entrepreneur.” Because I have always viewed “production” as a philosophy and a way of life, I have had the time to develop a very entrepreneurial approach to business. The more efficient you are, the less you are needed and the more time you have for other ventures and investments. I have always thought that production home building was a way to subsidize my own laziness which gave me the time to expand my entrepreneurial spirit. What is your favorite app or social media outlet? I am an app junkie, but I think I would say that Facebook is my default social media outlet. It has been a great way to reconnect and stay connected with friends and family from all walks of my life. What is your dream vacation spot? Not Washington, DC. If you had a chance to meet any celebrity, who would it be? I have had the good fortune to have met a number of high profile people including Presidents and Vice Presidents. I would have liked to have met Joe Strummer, the lead singer for The Clash. His passion, conviction and humanitarian message taught me “it all matters” and changed the direction of my life. Guilty Pleasure: What can you not live without? Going fast (especially on the water) and blasting rock and roll. “If it’s too loud, you’re too old” ~ KISS c. 1982

Once you see your business as a vehicle for opportunities, you will transcend being a “builder” to become an “entrepreneur.”

Love what you do. It makes the hard work easier and that makes you stand out. Walter J. Ploskon, AIA, LEED AP, Principal & Managing Director, Niles Bolton Associates enced you to join? I joined because I reached a point in my career after 20+ years of design and management positions for national and international projects ranging in size and complexity from small single family to large multi-structure mixed-use and government projects that I felt I could expand my network while contributing to the industry through my varied experiences. Are you involved with any MBIA committees? I’m active with the Mixed Use/Multifamily and Land Development Councils and the Codes and Standards committee.

How long have you been with your company and what is your role? As Managing Director of Niles Bolton’s DC office, I’m responsible for the success of all the projects in the office as well as office oversight. I was excited to become a part of this national firm just over a year ago and happy to bring along my many years of design and management experience to assist the company as it continues to grow and serve the Washington Metropolitan area. Why did you join MBIA and what do you hope to gain from your membership? Was there someone who influ-

What’s a favorite moment in your career so far? All the great designs I have been a part of that have had meaningful impact on their communities from affordable, market and luxury housing, urban mixed-use, international commercial office and even a U.S. Embassy, some which have won awards. What was your childhood dream job? To be an architect. As a child, the building type I was most familiar with was single-family homes. As I grew to understand the impact design can have on all building types and communities, I wanted to explore them all in my early career. Over the past 13 years, I’ve been able to merge my interests in housing

and commercial as an experienced architect in mixed-use projects. Any business tips can you share with others? Love what you do. It makes the hard work easier and that makes you stand out. What is your favorite app or social media outlet? Twitter for personal use and LinkedIn for business. What is your dream vacation spot? Anywhere that allows for exploration or new experiences – especially in different countries. My wife travels internationally for her work and often comes back with great descriptions of places that I’d now like to visit, such as rural and urban Japan. If you had a chance to meet any celebrity, who would it be? Eric Clapton if music celebrity counts. I’ve always liked the blues, but I am not a musician. I just have a deep appreciation for his natural talent. Guilty Pleasure: What can you not live without? Any kind of seafood!

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NEW MEMBERS & REINSTATEMENTS

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016 BUILDERS Builder Steen Associates, Inc. Marvin Steen 627B Ocean Pkwy. Berlin, MD 21811 410-641-7050 steen@beachin.net Ten Oaks Realty LLC Fred Sheckells P.O. Box 257 Fallston, MD 21047 410-459-8401 fred@tenoaksrealty.com Turner Development Group Eric Turner 1200 Steuart St. Baltimore, MD 21230 410-752-1241 eric@turnerdevelopment.com REMODELERS MDV Remodeling and Custom Homes Bennett Goldberg 5550 Friendship Blvd., Suite 590 Chevy Chase, MD 20815 301-343-7612 bennett@mdvremodeling.com Octagon Services Adrian Flores P.O. Box 8605 Elkridge, MD 21075 443-927-7117 tanksdirect.octagon@gmail.com ASSOCIATES Aprilaire Marc Cassel 3750 Ashley Way Owings Mills, MD 21117 410-499-6182 marc.cassel@aprilaire.com

Bank of America Home Loans Richard Koch 3 Bethesda Metro Ctr., Suite 950 Bethesda, MD 20814 301-634-4500 Richard.O.Koch@bankofamerica.com Environmental Quality Resources, LLC Jimmy Dick 1 Churchview Rd. Millersville, MD 21108 410-923-8680 info@eqri.com Jane Fairweather Team Jane Fairweather 4709 Maple Ave. Bethesda, MD 20814 240-223-4000 jane@janefairweather.com JG Wentworth Home Lending Samantha Bowie 3350 Commission Ct. Woodbridge, VA 22192 240-304-8218 sbowie@jgw.com John Burns Real Estate Consulting Dan Fulton 11710 Plaza America Dr., Suite 2000 Reston, VA 20190 703-447-7171 dfulton@realestateconsulting.com Mid-Atlantic Tuff Deck & Railing Tom Wright 1016 Smith Dr. Arnold, MD 21012 410-991-0589 midatlantictuffdeckandrailing@gmail.com Niles Bolton Associates Walter Ploskon 300 N. Lee St., Suite 502 Alexandria, VA 22314 202-262-4400 wploskon@nilesbolton.com

North American Pipe, Foundation Building Products Troy Campbell 993 Old Eagle School Rd. Wayne, PA 19087 484-253-4523 bmeisinger@northamericanpipe.com Pepco Jerry Pasternak 701 9th Street, NW Washington, DC 20068 202-872-2524 jpasternak@pepco.com Primary Residential Mortgage Tammy Andrews 1220A East Joppa Rd. Towson, MD 21286 410-663-2222 tandrews@primeres.com Summit Insulation Dan Biser 3309 Benson Ave. Baltimore, MD 21227 410-644-8000 wsm@summitinsul.com Touchstone Title, LLC Todd Clark 1460 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 205 Arnold, MD 21012 410-974-0023 tmc@touchstonetitle.com Quality Builders Warranty Corp. Kristen Spagnoletti 325 North Second St. Wormleysburg, PA 17043 800-334-9143 kspagnoletti@qbwc.com

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BUILD MARYLAND

May/June 16

McMillan Metro �� 21 NAHB �� 31 Premier Lifts �� 5 Residential Warranty �� 39 Severn Savings Bank �� 39 Shulman Rogers �� 29 Vintage Security �� Inside Front Cover Wetland Studies �� 9

As MBIA members in good standing, you are encouraged to use our logo on your advertising materials, website, business cards and promotional materials. Reasons YOU should use the MBIA Logo! • Increase awareness of your professional affiliation with MBIA. • Add to your company’s credibility within the industry as well as with the general public. • Contribute to greater impact in governmental and public affairs efforts through greater awareness. • Show the industry and consumers who you are, what you stand for and who you stand with. Email khogle@marylandbuilders.org or call 301-776-6242.

Expertise + Solutions = Happy Customers At Severn, we close mortgages quickly because we originate, underwrite and service our loans under one roof. Our knowledgeable lending team works with you to develop a draw schedule that meets the timely financial needs of all parties. A true community bank with a full line of products and programs. That’s why Severn is the best resource for builders. • Construction/Rehab Loans • Portfolio/Bridge Loans • Doctor/Professional Program • Fast, In-House Process through Funding

• Super Jumbo Loans - Over $1 Million • Low/No Down Payment Options • First Time Homebuyer Programs • Common Sense Community Bank

Call or visit us today severnbank.com • 410.260.2000

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STARS CLUB

DGG-MC, Inc. Dewberry Residential Title & Escrow SolarCity Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

Chesapeake Employers Insurance Company K Hovnanian Homes Lakeside Title Company Morris & Ritchie Associates, Inc. Pleasants Development Pulte Saratoga Insurance /CEI Shelter Systems

84 Lumber Andersen Windows Elm Street Development Linowes & Blocher McMillan Metro, P.C. Miles & Stockbridge Rodgers Consulting, Inc. Soltesz SunTrust Mortgage

Bonded Builders Warranty Group Bozzuto Homes Dico EYA Macris Hendricks & Glascock, PA Michael Harris Homes Miller & Smith Homes Mitchell & Best Group O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore Rutter Project Management Wetland Studies & Solutions

Builders Mutual Insurance Co. Caruso Homes Charles P. Johnson & Associates Geo-Technology Associates, Inc. Gutschick, Little & Weber, P.A. Insurance Associates, Inc. Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chtd. Sandy Spring Bank Shulman Rogers Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. Sterling Mirror & Glass Winchester Homes

BUILDER’S BOOKSHELF

Check out this Top Seller from NAHB BuilderBooks. As an MBIA member you are automatically an NAHB member and are entitled to great discounts on publications, software, brochures and more. THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS STUDY, 2016 EDITION Profits are increasing across the nation. Are yours? NAHB’s economics and business management experts collected and analyzed financial statements for fiscal year 2014 from builders across the country. They reported average revenue of $16.2 million, 19% higher than in 2012 and 130% higher than in 2010.The Cost of Doing Business Study, 2016 Edition provides statistics and analysis so you can see how you compare to other builders, whether you build two homes a year or 2,000. Member price, $79.95

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May/June 16

Back River Pre-Cast, LLC

Serving MD ∙ PA ∙ DE ∙ VA ∙ WASH, DC

Phone: 410-833-3394 ∙ Fax: 410-833-4116 www.backriverprecast.com ∙ backriver@gmx.com

 Cast Stone Products  Utility Structures  Norweco Septic Systems   

PO Box 329, Glyndon, MD 21071-0329

NPCA Certified Plant MD SHA Approved Plant MDE Approved BAT Septic System Manufacturer

Consider some of the facts:  Low purchase, installation and operating costs.  Factory trained personnel.  Only electrical component is our low RPM aerator.  Durable, reliable components are safely installed out-of-sight below grade.  Singulair Bio-Kinetic System meets or exceeds government standards.  Bio-Kinetic System includes 3 positive filtration zones with 8 independent settling zones.  48-hour retention in the Singulair System reduces pumping frequency as compared to smaller capacity systems.

*Compare the price of a Norweco installed to the other manufacturers…you may find out the Norweco will save you over $1,000.00! *Contact Matt Geckle for more information