Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

REAL-ESTATE Home and Garden More Home & Garden On The House By Jim Weiker The Columbus Dispatch Sunday January 12, 2014 10:13 AM

A new survey offers more evidence that fewer homeowners care about a tub.

The survey, by the home-improvement and design website houzz.com, found that 43 percent of homeowners plan to install a shower and skip the tub on their next bathroom remodeling.

More than half of the 7,645 users of houzz.com who responded to the online survey said they would install a frameless glass shower surround when they remodel. Fifty-eight percent said they would add two sinks.

White is the first choice of bathroom cabinet color, preferred by 32 percent of respondents, followed by dark and medium wood, each of which attracted 21 percent of the votes.

Brushed nickel, chosen by 26 percent of voters, is the first choice of bathroom hardware, followed closely by polished chrome, with 24 percent.

Jim Weiker

jweiker@dispatch.com

Read the original post:
More owners snub tub

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church broke ground to their new church, Saturday.

According to the catholic community, the church is the first be built around the city in 45 years.

"All of these days and all of these years and months are really coming to fruition so it's really been something to get the feeling of what is happening to this part of Bakersfield," saidBishop Armando Ochoa from the Catholic Diocese of Fresno.

Parishioners at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton currently meet at Frontier High School every Sunday. They first established the church in 2008 with 200 people, but are now at over 1,000 attendants.

The new church will house 1,500 seats with a multiple purpose room and is estimated to cost about $6.2 million.

"It's been a long time coming so we are overjoyed," said church attendant Carolyn Woff.

The church will join the existing26 parishes in the Fresno Diocese that includes Kern County.

Construction of the church will be a three phase process starting next month.

Read the original here:
First catholic church built in 4 decades

The long-hoped-for recovery in Australia's residential construction sector may finally be underway, with low interest rates driving the fastest expansion in new home building since 2005.

Strong growth in house building has helped drive the broader construction sector to its third consecutive month of expansion in in December, after several years of decline.

According to Australian Industry Group (Ai) figures, there were also solid gains from the commercial construction and apartment building sub-sectors during the month.

Growth across the entire sector was a little slower than in the previous two months but Ai Group public policy director Dr Peter Burn said the figures were good news after a long period of weakness.

He said low interest rates were finally having a positive impact on residential and commercial construction.

'Low interest rates are clearly having their long-awaited impact,' he said.

Dr Burn said the figures suggested 2014 would be a better year for the construction industry.

'The continued growth of new orders means that builders and the manufacturing and service industries that are linked to the commercial and residential construction sectors - can look forward to 2014 with a greater degree of confidence than prevailed only a few months ago,' he said.

The Ai Group's Performance of Construction Index fell 4.2 points to 50.8 in December, putting it in mildly positive territory, while the house building sub-sector rose 1.5 points to 63.5.

A reading of above 50 indicates the sector is expanding and the greater the reading above that level the faster the rate of expansion.

Go here to read the rest:
Home building spurs

Granite Countertops Tucson (520) 867-9005
Granite Countertops Tucson (520) 867 9005 Have you been dreaming of installing Granite Countertops in your beautiful Tucson home? Or perhaps you #39;re building ...

By: John Gallagher

The rest is here:
Granite Countertops Tucson (520) 867-9005 - Video

Puyallup WA Room Additions - Home Additions Puyallup WA
Puyallup WA Room Addition experts are here to help you with your room addition or second story addition to your home. A great way to add space without a full...

By: Local Leads 911

Link:
Puyallup WA Room Additions - Home Additions Puyallup WA - Video

Exalt Flooring Installation 2
Exalt Luxury Vinyl Tile combines the best of functionality and design into the perfect flooring solution for all your flooring needs. With its no glue, no su...

By: David Paul

More here:
Exalt Flooring Installation 2 - Video

Veggie Wagon owners April Sussman, left, and Max Sussman unload produce for their new walk-in cooler at the store in Carolina Beach, North Carolina Thursday, January 9, 2014.

Loyal customers of The Veggie Wagon likely won't notice anything different at the Carolina Beach store, but many changes have been made behind the walls of the store's retail space.

In December, owners Max and April Sussman started work to replace their shingles.

Three weeks and thousands of dollars later, the business's roof has been replaced and its kitchen space has doubled.

"This was not planned," said Max Sussman.

The business which sells fresh produce, bread, milk and wine among other things had seemingly outgrown its space when the owners decided to commit to expanding their operations space in the back. The South Lake Park Boulevard store's renovations included converting the existing freezer to more processing space and building a new walk-in freezer.

While the three weeks of construction were chaotic, according to Max and April, the end product is worth it for them and employees.

"This gives us a dedicated gluten-free space," said Max, adding that space also will be used for wrapping and packaging the foods they make in-house.

For Axton Sparks, who leads production for the business, it means he'll have a dedicated space for lots of cooking, including pulling fresh mozzarella cheese like he was doing Thursday.

"This is going to be great," Sparks said as he dumped hot water over crushed mozzarella curds. "We're going to be able to move."

Read this article:
Carolina Beach's Veggie Wagon expands to meet demand

After a tough few years, business space has become a prized commodity in and around Bakersfield, with demand for some property exceeding pre-recession levels.

Led by warehouse work and other industrial activity, the area's commercial real estate market is posting across-the-board improvement in vacancy rates. Some developers have responded by building, or proposing to build, new industrial space, offices and retail space.

The local market is almost superlative by one measure: Bakersfield's 4.1 percent warehouse vacancy rate at the end of September was the nation's third-lowest, behind only Honolulu and Los Angeles, according to Colliers International.

"Bakersfield is proving to be the gem of the Central Valley," Bakersfield industrial real estate broker Wayne Kress noted in an email highlighting local strength in energy, logistics and agriculture.

The tightening market speaks well of Bakersfield's economic prospects. While not all the property uses are part of high-paying industries, they nevertheless contribute jobs that support local services and bolster the housing market, which, in turn, generates additional employment.

"In the short term, very low (industrial) vacancy rates like we are now experiencing are a harbinger of large-scale construction projects that will bring jobs, wages and (economic spillover) effects," Cal State Bakersfield economics professor Mark Evans noted.

"In the long run, these new properties provide the infrastructure that is essential to attracting new companies that further build our economic base in areas such as logistics and energy-related support services."

Even retail, the weakest category of Bakersfield's commercial real estate market, is posting substantial gains from the depths of 2010 and 2011. Properties left vacant by the recession are beginning to fill up, and chains such as Walmart are poised to expand locally.

This sort of staggered progress is to be expected, said Bakersfield commercial broker Anthony Olivieri. Jobs generated by industrial and office activity tend to feed the home market, which he said is what outside retailers study when making decisions about where to grow.

"The big picture is that retail does trail, generally, the job creation out of the industrial sector and the office sector," Olivieri said.

Read more:
Businesses snap up commercial space

By EVE NEWMAN / even@laramieboomerang.com Sunday, January 12, 2014

Its called the trophy room, and it sits on the west side of the longtime West Laramie business, The Boardwalk.

Inside, more than 50 trophies of all shapes and sizes are mounted on the wall and displayed in cases, along with saddles, antique guns, Native American artifacts and family heirlooms. The room is open to visitors who pass through the store.

Owner William Rob Vogel, an Albany County native, has run the family business for more than 45 years. The trophy room is his museum of memories, and it shows off his passions for hunting and history.

Some of my most fond memories of my younger life were getting out. No telephone, no cars, no nothing, he said. I have a lot of good memories.

Vogel, 63, was born in Rock River, where his father, Bud, served as mayor and ran a lumberyard and motel. His grandfather homesteaded near Arlington, where his grandmother was the postmistress.

The Vogels moved to Laramie in the 1960s and opened The Boardwalk in 1967, remodeling the original building and constructing additions as they expanded. Inside, custom woodwork adorns the rafters and doors. A back room with one wall made of logs reflects the teenage Vogels desire to live in a log cabin, his wife, Crystal, said.

Today, the Vogels sell and repair saddles and tack, repair shoes and boots and run a Western-themed gift shop.

In the trophy room, a collection of rifles dating back to the 1800s hangs on one wall. One belonged to Vogel as a child living on a Rock River ranch. His mother gave him five bullets at a time, and he had to make them count.

I couldnt just shoot them all up. There were a lot of jackrabbits around the ranch, and theyd just eat you out of house and home. I had to shoot a couple of jackrabbits, he said.

View post:
Laramie resident's trophy display showcases passion for huntin

Australias dollar touched a one-month high on prospects a report this week will show jobs grew for a second month, enhancing local assets' allure relative to the U.S., where labor data last week fell short of estimates.

The Aussie completed back-to-back weekly gains on Jan. 10, the first since August, as traders evaluated whether the U.S. data will affect the Federal Reserves decisions on further reductions in stimulus that has tended to weaken the greenback. Australias bonds rose, sending the benchmark 10-year yield to the lowest level since Dec. 18. The premium over shorter-dated notes narrowed as bets on rate cuts in Australia declined.

The data coming out of Australia has been stable to good and that needs to continue with the unemployment number later this week for people to reassess their rates outlook, said Derek Mumford, a director at Rochford Capital, foreign-exchange risk-management company in Sydney. If the Aussie can consolidate above 89.50, theres potential for a move higher.

Australias dollar fetched 90.10 U.S. cents as of 11 a.m. in Sydney, after reaching 90.15 cents, from 89.95 in New York on Jan. 10, when it completed a 0.6 percent weekly advance. It gained 0.2 percent to NZ$1.0852 and was little changed at 93.68 yen.

New Zealands currency was at 83.04 U.S. cents from 83.03 and fell 0.2 percent to 86.32 yen.

U.S. employers added 74,000 jobs in December, the slowest pace since January 2011, compared with the median forecast for 197,000 additions in a Bloomberg News poll.

Jobs probably increased by 10,000 in Australia following Novembers 21,000 gain, a separate survey showed before the Jan. 16 report.

Australias 10-year bond yield fell five basis points to 4.22 percent after touching 4.21 percent. The premium over three-year bond yields reached 1.23 percentage points, the least since Dec. 4.

To contact the reporter on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Garfield Reynolds at greynolds1@bloomberg.net

See the article here:
Aussie Dollar Touches One-Month High After U.S. Jobs Surprise