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As 2021 comes to a close, AWDI would like to wish its members, partners and other industry professionals a safe and happy holiday season. As we reflect on the past year for the industry, we would like to provide the readers of the Door and Window Business a look at some of the most accessed articles from the year. Our regular publication will resume Wednesday, Jan. 5.
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10. Why is the Biden administration increasing the cost of building houses?
NPR
From Dec. 8: The average American home is now more expensive than it's ever been. For homeowners, that's probably great news. For renters and would-be homebuyers, it's a calamity. A big part of the reason for surging prices is a lack of new housing supply. And to build new houses, you need lumber.
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9. Builders grapple with land shortage, soaring lumber costs
Mohave Valley Daily News
From March 24: U.S. homebuilders are poised to benefit this spring homebuying season amid strong demand, low mortgage rates and an all-time low inventory of previously occupied homes for sale. But soaring lumber prices and a shortage of construction-ready land could limit their ability to capitalize on the strong housing market trends, analysts say.
The price of lumber more than doubled over the past year to an all-time high, reflecting strong demand for new construction and home remodeling, and pandemic-related problems limiting production.
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8. You can't train contractors to replace all windows in the real world. You can only prepare them.
From May 19: With today’s labor shortages and the need to recruit new contractors, the idea you can fully train recruits to be effective is nearly impossible. There’s more likelihood of putting unprepared workers into your customers’ homes than putting qualified, efficient crews to work to deliver your promised performance.
Replacement is a destructive process where the old product, integrated with the weather barriers in the wall, is ripped out breaking those connections. AWDI’s approach is that consistent fenestration products, installed to provide consistent results more closely matching in-lab performance, must contend with inconsistent openings created by the removal of the old product. There are arguably more than 25 circumstances – each with nuances unknown until the old product is removed – requiring far more preparation that any static training can provide.
Instead of trying to recreate all circumstances in a training facility, send them to the job with the specific simple working recipe for that replacement. That recipe will cover accurate measuring; efficient removal of the old window; preparation of the opening; and final install and finishing of the new window. It will have a materials list, flashing and fastening details, all in a well-illustrated, step-by-step format leaving nothing to chance. And it’s available in English and Spanish.
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7. Good windows — bad installs
AWDI
From June 9: Designed, built, and lab tested to perform. It’s no wonder consumers are flocking to replace their old worn out windows with the best replacement window dealers have to offer. But, rarely, if ever, when a new window is not installed in a consistent manner to allow the in-service performance to equal the lab performance there are leaks, mold, cold air, and general non-performance
Why? Because once the weather barriers are broken when removing the old windows and they are not re-integrated with the new windows (proper flashing, sealing, fastening, among others) the old opening betrays all the performance offered by the new windows.
Ill prepared installers, kept in the dark for fear of dealer responsibility and anxious contractors whose pay encourages speed and little care, create an opening that undermines the quality of the new window.
AWDI has surpassed 30 years (and millions of replacements) of providing the guidance that prepares the installers and leads them to successful installation 99.4% of the time. AWDI provides all the right field tested procedures, standards and practices in a manual and on line - right at the fingertips of your contractors so the consumer gets in-home performance that meets or exceeds what’s attained in the lab.
How to cure bad installs? Simple: Provide the AWDI Manual to each crew so they have the reference and techniques they need. There’s a reason why over 75 manufacturers subscribe to the online instructions portal. They want the products they make with care to receive the same attention to care when placed in service.
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.AWDI DOOR & WINDOW DIRECTORY
6. Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies releases 2021 report
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
From April 7: Improving America’s Housing 2021 — While the US economy shrank by 3.5 percent in 2020, spending on home improvements and repairs grew more than 3 percent, to nearly $420 billion, as people modified living spaces for work, school, and leisure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. And while many professional remodeling projects came to a halt, DIY renovations surged. The sudden flexibility of remote work also increased demand for larger homes in lower-cost areas of the country.
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5. Are millennials so different from the generations before them?
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
From May 5: With all the buzz surrounding millennials and their choices, it is tough to separate myth from reality. Often, myths have been promoted without careful consideration of the difference between age and generation. Some have compared millennials to baby boomers, although they are in different stages of life. Others assume that the struggles of millennials during financial crisis would persist over time.
Knowing your customer is paramount to successfully selling to them and Hyojung Lee shared his perspective on Millennials in the most recent JCHS newsletter regularly sent with information on Research, trends, and perspective from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
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4. What's behind skyrocketing lumber prices?
The Street
From April 28: The lumber market in 2021 continues to reach new highs that were unthinkable just a few years ago. Historically, lumber traded in the $200 to $400 per thousand board feet (mbf). However, since 2018, supply and demand factors have caused unprecedented volatility and soaring prices.
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3. Housing industry calls for U.S. action on 'skyrocketing' lumber
Bloomberg
From March 17: Soaring lumber prices and chronic shortages are prompting key U.S. housing industry participants to call on the Biden administration to find remedies that’ll boost wood production.
Thirty-seven organizations are calling for the “immediate attention” of U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to address “skyrocketing” lumber prices and supply constraints they say endanger economic recovery and housing affordability.
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2. Brand does not matter at all when marketing windows for replacement
AWDI
From May 12: Studies have shown, time and time again, that consumers do not choose a window or door by brand. In fact branding the product is futile. That fact is a blessing and a curse to the majority of contractors and dealers that sell replacement windows.
The blessing is there is no behemoth to outspend and out leverage against a contractor. The curse is obviously, consumers will not buy from you because of your brand. You’ve got to build that message. And you can! Perhaps even better than the “big dogs”.
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1. Home construction may hit skids as new supply shortage looms
FOX Business
From March 10: A shortage of a critical part used to build basements in new homes threatens to bring construction to a standstill, delivering the latest blow to an industry that has been squeezed by rising mortgage rates and a lumber deficiency. Flat steel form ties, a small piece of metal that ties together aluminum panels that make the walls, allowing builders to pour concrete in between, are in short supply due to a number of factors including just-in-time inventory, tariffs on imports and the supply chain impacts of COVID-19.
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