You are invited to our Block Party April 30th from 10am to 2pm. We are hosting it with our neighboring businesses, Lane 4 Swim Shop, Inspire Fitness and Hill Country Climatized Storage. There will be food and entertainment, plus some great prizes!

While you are here, you are invited to visit our office to see what our UBuildIt program is all about. We can also discuss using our Lantana Homes side, and the differences between the two. Whether it is a remodel or new construction we would like to show you how we can help.

We will have various displays for viewing that will pertain to green building and increasing energy efficiency. So feel free to drop by, grab something to eat, and check us out.

At the bottom?

Bad news for people waiting for the bottom to build. Costs are going up. We are a member of a buyer’s coop that provides purchasing power to help lower our construction costs. I reviewed the lumber comparisons, and lumber costs have risen locally around 7.3% over the past 12 months. This was a comparison from January 2010 to January 2011. One of our foundation subs said that steel went up 10% at the beginning of this month, and is expected to go up another 10% at the beginning of February. Copper has been climbing, which affects everything from plumbing to AC equipment. Gas/diesel price increases impacts transportation and delivery costs. Some of the subcontractors were not passing through all of the cost increases because it was slow. However, things are picking up, and the cost increases for materials is getting too high to cover them with out passing them through. I would expect costs to continue to rise. The amount of the increase will depend on the local and world economy, so I am not about to guess on that one.