A publication of Northland Area Builders Association
The
Construction Times February 2012
Mission
NABA Board of Directors
The NABA, chartered in 1989, is a non-profit trade organization comprised of building and construction industry professionals in Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Sawyer and Washburn Counties in Northwestern Wisconsin. Promoting professional growth to its members, the Association provides the resources to stay abreast of our ever changing industry. Every member of the NABA is also a member of the Wisconsin Builders Association (WBA) and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Past President: Russ Smith, Russ Smith Construction 715-462-4170
To maintain the highest professional standards, our membership adheres to a Code of Ethics, monitors legislative issues, and promotes affordable quality housing.
29148 Mail Road • Danbury, WI 54830 Phone: 715-259-3486 • Fax: 888-825-8073 Email: naba@centurytel.net www.northlandareabuilders.com
President: Ed Peterson, Peterson Construction 715-866-7127 President Elect: Joe Gendrich, Culligan of Ashland 715-682-6585 Secretary: Rick Harder, Northern Paradise Homes 715-635-2299
Code of Ethics Members of the Builders Association subscribe to the following Code of Ethics: n
Treasurer: Jim Perlick, Jim Perlick Construction 715-635-7575
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Directors: Jason Olsen, Peoples Bank 715-634-2674
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Kevin Miller, Northland Recreational Homes 715-634-6366
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Todd Knutson, Johnson Bank 715-634-2611 Jeremy Lindgren, Arrow Building Center-Spooner 715-635-2199
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Subscribe to the By-laws of the State and National Associations. Meet or exceed all State required insurance regulations. Maintain a good credit rating in high standards. Respond to consumer complaints, and act on these complaints in a timely manner. Continue to improve their skills and knowledge through educational resources made available at a local, state and national level. Employ other association members to assure the high standards set by its members are maintained. Conduct themselves in a professional manner to maintain the standards of the association. Comply, both in spirit and letter, with rules and regulations prescribed by law and government agencies for health safety, and progress of the community Have a commitment to excellence.
Open seat
WBA State Directors Jack Sjostrom, Sjostrom Construction 715-634-4427 Charlie Johansen, Johansen Electric 715-634-3761 Open seat
NAHB National Directors Jack Sjostrom, Sjostrom Construction 715-634-4427
Need Help? Northland Area Builders Association 715-259-3486 www.northlandareabuilders.com National Association of Home Builders 800-368-5242 www.nahb.org Wisconsin Builders Association 608-242-5151 www.wisbuild.org Wisconsin Department of Commerce 608-266-3151 www.commerce.state.wi.us/SB/
Open Alternate Seat
NABA Staff Jennifer Johnson, Executive Officer
Become a fan of Northland Area Builders Association to receive industry news, updates and network with others in the industry.
Association News Jennifer Johnson, Executive Officer
This time of year is usually just a blur for me. After the Family Ice Fishing Event comes the various Contractor Appreciation Days followed by a round of radio and newspaper interviews and then the big Home Expo. My days are long but can I share a secret? I love every minute of it! I enjoy each and every opportunity I get to share with the entire northwoods the talents and skills that NABA members possess. That is why I feel so passionately about the Home Expo and the opportunity it provides to showcase our members and really the entire home building industry to home and cabin owners. For the 2012 Home Expo, we’ve doubled the amount of advertising and have enlisted the experts at WJMC-FM and its sister stations. If you were listening to WJMC last week, you might have heard me. WJMC on-air talent will be onsite at the Home Expo on Saturday doing a live remote. We’ve also expanded the Home Expo poster to include logos of our major sponsors and vendors. Over 100 posters will hit the area in March. We’ve added a kid area that I’ve dubbed Monster Machines that will give families attending the Home Expo an opportunity to see up close the heavy duty machines that helped build their homes. And if that wasn’t enough, our new partnership with the Wild Rivers Habitat for Humanity has allowed us to have a Free Electronic and Appliance Recycling Day on Saturday, March 24th. Arrow Building Center in Spooner has donated the use of their forklifts and I promised Jeremy and Mike I won’t be driving one of them! Everyone who brings in an item to be recycled will receive an entry into a drawing for a $100 gift card. We’ll also be drawing one lucky winner for our 2011 John Deere Riding Lawn Tractor on Sunday, March 25th. Whew...I hope you consider participating in the Home Expo this year - I’d love to show you off. Speaking of people that I adore, I have to say a great big THANK YOU for Joe and Julie Gendrich of Culligan of Ashland. Because of their leadership and the countless volunteers’ hard work, a n! dedication and boundless energy, the 2nd Annual NABA Family Ice H ey lig a n M Fishing Event was a big success. Despite the frigid temperatures Cul (minus 20 degrees that morning), we had 100 fishermen & women along with quite a few kids who all went home with some great prizes. Marie Brown was the lucky ticket holder for the Toyota Truck courtesy Ashland Honda Toyota but she didn’t pick the correct envelope to take home the truck. Marie did go home with a great grand prize from the Lumberjack Steakhouse and Gus’s Resort. Joe’s already picked the date for next year (January 19th) and everyone cross your fingers for a little bit warmer weather! Date
Event
Location
Time
Mar 6
NABA Networking Night
Spooner
5:00 pm
Mar 21
NABA Board Meeting
Hayward
5:00 pm
Mar 24 & 25
NABA Home Expo 2012
Antholz Gym, Spooner Middle School
Apr 2
NABA Networking Night
Hayward
5:00 pm
Apr 18
NABA Board Meeting
Hayward
5:00 pm
May 1
NABA Networking Night
Spooner
5:00 pm
May 16
NABA Board Meeting
Hayward
5:00 pm
Late May
NABA Golf FUNdraiser
tbd
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NORTHLAND AREA BUILDERS ASSOCIATION
HOME Expo MARCH 24 & 25 • ANTHOLZ GYM • SPOONER
Whether it is building a dream home or sprucing up a current one, the Northland Area Builders Association Home Expo 2012 has something for everyone. Intended to match quality vendors with interested home and cabin owners looking enhance their home environments, the 3rd Annual NABA Home Expo is scheduled to take place on March 24 and 25th at the Antholz Gym in the Spooner Middle School in Spooner. In 2011, a vendor reported selling a house from a contact he made at the Home Expo and many more reported having received solid leads as a result of having a booth at the 2011 NABA Home Expo! Of the nearly 600 people who stopped by the 2011 NABA Home Expo, 30% reported that they will remodel, make energy efficient changes or build a home in 2011. And that of those looking for a specific product at the 2011 NABA Home Expo blinds, gutters, windows, heating, roofing, appliances, concrete, painting, kitchen, patio, septic, and landscaping were the most sought after! Landscaping continues to be the most
requested item year after year whether it is small projects or entire backyards. New this year are added sponsor opportunities to further get your business noticed, a kid's Monster Machines area as well as discounts for early registrations, nonprofit organizations and multiple booth spaces. Booth space is limited to one vendor company per booth(s) only. The NABA Scholarship Raffle Giveaway will take place on Sunday, March 25th - a John Deere Riding x300 Riding Lawn Tractor will be awarded to one lucky raffle ticket holder. Northland Area Builders Association is pleased to announce a free recycling day at the 2012 Home Expo. Through its new partnership with Habitat for Humanity, on March 24th attendees of the 2012 NABA Home Expo will be able to recycle used electronics and appliances for free and receive an entry to win a $100 gift card. Some items may require a minimal fee to be recycled. Wild Rivers Habitat for Humanity, Washburn County Habitat for Humanity, Vintage Tech Recyclers
Inc and Arrow Building Center-Spooner are sponsoring the recycling day. Wild Rivers Habitat for Humanity, located in St. Croix Falls, is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. WRHFH serves Polk and Burnett counties. In 2011 it completed its 21st and 22nd homes since its inception in 1997. Habitat raises funds and donated building materials, organizes volunteers, selects a family, and builds a home. Habitat doesn’t give anything away. The familiy is required to help build the home, and they buy it from Habitat with a no-interest mortgage when it is complete. Habitat is also now repairing and renovating homes. For more information, call 715-483-2700 or visit www.wildrivershabitat.org. Based in Romeoville, IL, Vintage Tech Recyclers, Inc. is an R2/ISO 14001 and WBENC certified company. Their main focus is to keep electronics out of landfills and helping companies recover some of their electronic assets in large quantities. They responsibly recycle equipment that cannot be reused. For more information about
responsible electronic recycling, visit Vintage Tech’s web site at www.Vintagetechrecyclers.com. The Home Expo is approaching 50% of the estimated available booth space being filled if you have not reserved your booth space, please do so as soon as possible. As a special offer, we will honor the early bird rate if you reserve your space before 2/15/12 as well as include your business logo and name on Home Expo posters at no charge. If you know of others who may be interested in being a part of the 2012 NABA Home Expo in Spooner, please forward a copy of the Exhibitor Packet. They can also download a copy of the packet at www.northlandareabuilders.com by clicking on the Home Expo logo on the right-hand side. Dues payments to Northland Area Builders Association are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. However, dues payments may be deductible as ordinary and necessary business expense, subject to exclusion for lobbying activity. Because a portion of your dues is used for lobbying by NAHB ($30) and WBA ($46.90), 16.19% of the total dues, or $76.90 is not deductible for income tax purposes (2012).
These days every business is looking for ways to trim budgets and save money. To help with this, NABA has partnered with the National Purchasing Partners - Home Builders Purchasing Program. This partnership will allow even our smallest NABA member companies to take advantage of special discounts just for the construction industry from Verizon Wireless, Staples, and more. To find out more about the program and how to start taking advantage of the savings, please contact the NABA office for your registration information. There is no cost to join for NABA members. Visit www.northlandareabuilders.com and click on the HBPP logo to download a flyer & instruction sheet with registration details.
Let your membership earn you money back
Membership Notes Share your accomplishments, awards, and announcements with fellow members. Send your news to jennifer@northlandareabuilders.com and we will be glad to include it in the newsletter. John Deere Tractor Raffle Please continue to sell the NABA Lawn Tractor Raffle Tickets that were sent to you the drawing will take place on March 25, 2012 (final day of the NABA Home Expo in Spooner). The NABA Board plans to sell tickets during the NABA Home Expo. If you still have unsold tickets, please let us know whether you plan to sell them, purchase them or return to the NABA office before March 1st. Members will receive an invoice for any unreturned tickets issued to them at the end of February. Members were all sent 1 book (6 tickets) to sell or purchase. Tickets are $10 each or $50 for a book of 6.
Dwelling Contractor Qualifier continuing education approved by the state and a single 12 credit Initial Training Dwelling Contractor DVD approved by the state. DVD’s will be available for distribution in March and were created in response to the requests of so many contractors in our area. Organized, created and produced by the four local Associations, the DVD’s are the result of a successful collaboration. Proceeds from the sale of the DVD’s will remain local benefiting the four local associations. DVD’s will be available to both members and non-members. If you wish to purchase a DVD, please contact the NABA office for an order form.
Annual Building & Remodeling Directory The business categories for the website and printed Membership Directory are being updated in order to give home and cabin owners a better idea of the types of services you provide. Currently, most members are in only one category. Please select up to four categories to list your business - if you prefer to have more than four, there is an additional $50/year per category. Please return the form emailed to you this week with your selections marked no later than 2/15.
Monkeys in the Office Some of you may have noticed multiple emails this past week from the NABA office. We apologize and ask that members bear with us as we make the switch from using Centurylink for our member communications to Mail Chimp to improve the quality and delivery of our emails. Mail Chimp is an excellent tool and is already providing the NABA office with data to evaluate the success of our emails as well as provide tools to track open rates and click throughs. We’ve also added an additional email address to reach the NABA office. We’ve tied it to the Mail Chimp service, so don’t be surprised to see emails from either account. We’re keeping the naba@centurytel.net address for now.
DVD Contractor Education Series The NABA in collaboration with the CVHBA, HNBA, and the SCVHBA (all four neighboring local associations covering Northwestern WI) have created a series of 4 DVD’s to provide
Kelly Licht (above) & Ed Peterson (below)
Established in 2009, the Spirit of the Association award honors a general member who has made a great commitment and impact by having a positive influence on the Association through membership recruitment, promoting the Association’s activities and mission, or often working behind the scenes to ensure that everything runs smoothly. This year, we were fortunate to honor two very special members. Both have gone out of their way to put the needs of the Association first even during adverse times. The NABA 2012 Spirit of the Association was awarded to Culligan Water Conditioning of Rice Lake’s Kelly Licht and Peterson Construction’s Ed Peterson.
Presented yearly to an Associate Member, the Association of the Year award honors that group of members who are vitally important to the homebuilding industry since they are the ones who supply the builders with products and services to build the homes. This award was given to an individual who consistently contributes to the Association and their community by going above and beyond. It was an honor to present the 2011 Associate of the Year award to Joe Gendrich, Culligan Water Conditioning of Ashland.
The final award of 2011 was a prestigious award Joe Gendrich (above) & Jerry Okonek (below) recognizing a builder member. Builder members are the heart of the home building industry. This award was given to an individual who consistently contributes to the Association and his community in many ways. He has been very involved in NABA and its mission. He gives back to our youth as they enter the building trades and supports quality industry education, answers the call when community members are faced with danger and makes a pretty fun addition to a golf team. Congratulations Jerry Okonek, OK Construction on being this year’s NABA Builder of the Year.
The Weekly Job Report is distributed to NABA members every Monday. Each report contains a summary of bidding opportunities throughout the NABA region with links to detailed reports containing information on receiving plan documents on the Members Only side of the Association’s website. Members were emailed their user names and passwords for logging into the NABA website. Contact the NABA office for assistance or to retrieve your information. If your membership lapses, your log in information is deactivated.
Industry News
Appraisal Process Needs Better Monitoring, GAO Study Finds Steve Linville, National Association of Home Builders
Zeroing in on yet another deficiency of a faulty appraisal process that is hurting home values, hampering a housing recovery and often killing sales of homes coming in below the contract sales price, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) earlier this month reported that the Appraisal Subcommittee, which oversees the appraiser regulatory programs established by the states, needs to improve its monitoring procedures. "These findings underscore the need to establish an effective oversight system to ensure that appraisals accurately reflect true market values and don't harm aspiring home buyers or builders," said NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen. A recent NAHB survey shows that one out of three builders has lost signed sales contracts because of flawed appraisals, and a fall survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors found 18% of Realtors reporting a recent contract cancellation or delay as a result of a low appraisal. Numerous flaws in the appraisal system have been causing inaccurate home valuations, during both times of housing market weakness and strength. NAHB has been actively seeking improvements in appraiser education and training, particularly for appraisals of new homes, as well as more rigorous oversight so appraisal guidelines are enforced and errors can be corrected as they occur. The GAO report found that the Appraisal Subcommittee's "enforcement tools and procedures for reporting compliance levels have been limited." The GAO cited "several weaknesses" that have potentially limited the subcommittee's ability to monitor state appraiser regulatory agencies, the federal financial institution regulators and the Appraisal Foundation, which
is a private, non-profit corporation that sets criteria for appraisals and appraisers. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the Appraisal Subcommittee was granted the authority to establish a national hotline to receive complaints over noncompliance with appraisal independence standards and grievances from appraisers, individuals or other entities over attempts to improperly influence appraisers or the appraisal process. The hotline currently does not exist, and the GAO report says that its creation could strain the Appraisal Subcommittee's resources. Observing that "the critical role of real estate appraisals in mortgage underwriting underscores the importance of effective regulation of the appraisal industry," the GAO study calls on the Appraisal Subcommittee to strengthen its oversight by developing specific policies and procedures for monitoring the appraisal requirements of the federal financial institutions regulators. How homes are valued can have a dramatic effect on home owners' mortgages, foreclosure rates, the health of banks and, ultimately, the condition of the U.S. financial system, said Nielsen. "The current system is not working," he said. "We must resolve a flawed appraisal process that produces inaccurate assessment of home values, because this fosters price instability, puts more families in danger of default or foreclosure, and undermines the housing and economic recovery. “It's time that regulators, appraisers, lenders and all of the stakeholders in this debate come together and agree on major reforms in appraisal practices and oversight to ensure that homes are appraised at their fair market rate."
WI Safety and Professional Services Updates Product Recalls, Code Council Appointment, and Code Changes
¨ Coleman, Coleman Evcon, and Red T gas furnaces for manufactured homes are again recalled by York International, February 3, 2011, (CPSC) ¨ Philip Borchardt, Wausau, has been appointed by Governor Walker to membership on the Uniform Dwelling Code Council, representing inspectors in northeast Wisconsin ¨Proposed changes to SPS 341, Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, have been sent to the state legislature for committee review. See draft code language, PDF file. See transmittal documents, PDF file, including hearing comments. See all the SPS 341 code development project documents. ¨ Information concerning changes to plan review requirements for fire protection systems ¨There will be a public hearing on repealing credentialing rules related to thermal insulators on Monday, February 13, 2012, at 10 a.m. at 1400 East Washington Ave. in Madison, Wisconsin. See code development project documents. Fines for using Unlicensed and/or Unregistered Subs A rule change effective December 1, 2010 will authorize the Wisconsin Department of Commerce (DOC) to impose forfeitures on those who do not comply with certain licensing, certification and registration requirements, or those who hire persons or entities who have not registered or do not have required credentials. In 2009, DOC started to require various trades involved in building or modifying structures to register as a building contractor. However, those that hold certain credentials, such as contractors who have a dwelling
contractor certification, are exempt from this registration requirement. This new rule will allow DOC to impose forfeitures on those who do not have their registration, or certain other credentials, such as a dwelling contractor certification. In addition, forfeitures may be imposed on an entity or individual who contracts with another entity or individual who fails to comply with licensing, certification or registration requirements. Thus, a general contractor who has its dwelling contractor certification may be subject to a penalty if the general contractor contracts with a subcontractor who does not have its certification or registration. WBA objected to this rule, arguing among other things that the forfeiture amounts were excessive. In final version of the rule sent to the legislature, the forfeiture amounts were significantly reduced. Under the revised rule, the forfeitures for failing to comply with the licensing/ certification/ registration requirements, or for contracting with an entity that does not meet these requirements, are as follows: first offense, $250; second offense, $500; and third offense, $1000. In addition to authorizing the imposition of forfeitures, as a result of a statutory change, this rule also expands the trades subject to registration to include those that construct, install or alter mechanical equipment and devices such as boilers, gas systems, piping and mechanical systems serving a building or structure. The requirement was also expanded to include those involved in the construction, installation or alteration of permanent devices or structures regulated under the amusement or sanitation code.