John Carrier of J.F.C. Endeavors, Inc. discusses new housing developments and the Connecticut housing market.

PLAINVILLE Home builder Johnny Carrier savors the nail gun's staccato tap-tap as two workers finish piecing together two-by-fours at Samuel's Crossing near the Plainville-Farmington line.

Carpenters hoist up the wall frame for the colonial, one of four houses that Carrier's company is building in the development, all in various stages of construction.

Carrier, watching from behind a stack of framing studs, sees promise this spring in the pace of building. But he wonders if it will last, considering what happened last year.

"It was good out of the gate until April, when it died," Carrier says. "Is it going to continue this year, or are we going to have the same cycle?"

Carrier and other developers in the Hartford area are hopeful but wary, even with the state as a whole coming off its best year in new home construction in five years. The number of housing permits single-family houses, apartment units and condominiums jumped by 16 percent last year, compared with 2012.

But most of the increase last year was in Fairfield County, and an analysis of data by The Courant shows that only Fairfield County has returned to the robust residential building levels that the state enjoyed prior to start of the housing downturn in 2007.

The strong showing on the state's Gold Coast last year was dominated by apartments, not single-family houses.

Statewide, overall home construction started out strong this year, but has lost some momentum this spring.

Carrier whose family-owned home building company, By Carrier Inc., focuses on houses and condominiums said he expects that his part of the residential construction market will keep making gains, albeit slowly.

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Hopeful But Wary: Will Promising Signs For Home Construction Fizzle Once Again?

Kumagai Gumi Co. (1861), a Japanese construction company, fell the most in four months after saying an apartment complex it had built has defects.

The shares dropped 5.7 percent to 264 yen at the close of trading in Tokyo, the biggest decline since Feb. 4. Construction flaws in supporting pillars were found in the building completed in March 2003 in Yokohama City, south of Tokyo, the company said in a statement through the stock exchange today. The residents have been asked to relocate to temporary shelters and further investigation is required, it said.

This is a big negative for Kumagais reputation and it may hurt the companys future earnings, said Yoji Otani, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG in Tokyo.

The latest defect comes after Mitsubishi Estate Co. (8802) said in March it will rebuild a residential complex, constructed by Kajima Corp. (1812), in central Tokyo, after defects were found. Mitsui Fudosan Co. (8801) said it would repair some parts of an apartment building in Kawasaki City after the builder Shimizu Corp. (1803) found cracks in the concrete of some columns in April.

Kumagai reported net income of 4.3 billion yen ($42 million) for the year ended March 31, from a loss of 1.1 billion yen a year earlier, the company said on May 13.

The building was sold by Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. (8830), the developer said in a separate statement. While Sumitomo Realty has never faced such flaws and the construction company is responsible for the defect, it will do its best to serve the customers by taking responsibility, it said in the statement.

Shares of Sumitomo Realty rose 2.1 percent to 4,521 yen.

The ratio of people seeking consultation on building defects has risen to a record in the year ended March 31, according to a report published last week by the Center for Housing Renovation and Dispute Settlement Support.

The percentage of individuals who sought help has risen to 69 percent, the highest since the Tokyo-based center started compiling the data in 2010, it said. That compares with 65 percent last fiscal year and 62 percent in both fiscal 2011 and 2012, according to the group, whose goal is to raise the quality of housing.

A record number of complaints about defects is marring Japans biggest residential building boom in five years, amid a shortage of skilled workers.

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Kumagai Drops Most in 3 Months on Building Defect: Tokyo Mover

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The concrete countertops in Eleanor Zuckermans San Francisco kitchen are handcrafted works of art.

Custom-designed by Fu-Tun Cheng of Berkeley, Calif.-based Cheng Concrete, they feature colors like brick, flowing lines and pictures of nautilus shells.

With concrete there is a lot of room for creativity, to say nothing of color, says Zuckerman, a retired psychologist. It gives you flexibility.

Homeowners looking to spice up their kitchens can install a variety of countertops that go beyond the traditional laminate and tile. Todays options include concrete and butcher-block-style wood, and a range of custom-designed colors and shapes. IceStone countertops use recycled glass from broken bottles.

So many different materials are used in countertops these days, says Tony Izzo, Curtis Lumbers corporate kitchen and bath manager in Albany, N.Y. Until about 25 years ago, he says, roughly 90 percent of countertops in U.S. homes were laminate, and the rest tile.

Then DuPonts Corian hit the market, followed by granite and quartz, which are current favorites, he says. Today, just half of countertops are laminate, Izzo says.

The burgeoning interest in alternative countertops is the natural extension of that trend. And they are becoming more affordable.

Slowly, over the years, the market has really grown, says Mike Heidebrink, president of Cheng Concrete. When the company opened in 2002, it catered mostly to well-heeled dot-commers willing to spend more to bring an artisans touch to their kitchens.

Today, Heidebrink says, Cheng also serves a growing number of skilled do-it-yourselfers who want to shape, mold and install countertops themselves. They can choose the color and lines of their countertops, he says. Once installed and sealed, he says, concrete countertops are as durable as limestone and marble.

They can have that for $10 a square foot, he says.

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Creative countertops: Wood, concrete and recycled glass

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