Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Demolition began Monday of the former Benhams Restaurant & Catering building, the first of seven former commercial buildings that will be torn down over the next two to three months as the initial phase of an $11 million project to build a Goodwill Easter Seals Community Service Center just south of downtown Dayton.

The 80,000-square-foot facility will house the 125 employees who currently work at Goodwills Kuntz Road headquarters off Stanley Avenue. Agency officials anticipate creating 50 more jobs during the next five years at the new center. When it opens in late 2014 or early 2015, the human-services center will allow Goodwill Easter Seals of the Miami Valley to expand its services to the developmentally disabled, elderly and unemployed.

The former Benhams at 209 Warren St. was the first building to fall to the wrecking claw. The other six structures, all in the 600 and 700 blocks of South Main Street, will follow after asbestos removal and other environmental remediation is complete, according to Goodwill Easter Seals spokeswoman Kim Bramlage.

The demolition phase is expected to take about 75 days. Wed like to be finished before the weather gets bad, Bramlage said. The next step of the project will be the hiring of an architectural firm, which will occur sometime after the bidding deadline of Nov. 1.

Among the spectators as demolition began Monday morning was Bill Howser, who along with his wife Becky owned and operated Benhams for decades prior to its closing in March 2012.

No remorse, no sadness, but its definitely the end of an era, Howser said.

Originally posted here:
Demolition begins for Goodwill project

One of the most far-reaching actions of the first years of the Restoration was a series of Navigation Acts, by which England imposed mercantilist restrictions on its empire. Attempting to eliminate the more efficient Dutch shipping from the American trade for the benefit of the London merchants, the Puritan Parliament in 165051 had prohibited foreign vessels from trading with America; goods to and from the colonies could only be carried on English or colonial ships, or on ships of the home country of growth or manufacture.

Fish imports and exports from England were limited to English ships alone. As part of the Restoration compromise, Charles II continued to gratify the London merchants and passed a series of Navigation Acts in 166063. Part of the commissioners' instructions, indeed, was to see to the enforcement of these acts.

The new Navigation Acts drastically restricted and monopolized American colonial trade, to the detriment of the colonies.

The Navigation Act of 166061

We have already seen the havoc caused in the Southern colonies by tobacco being made one of the enumerated goods. Among the others were sugar, cotton wool, and various dyes. The second important Navigation Act was the Staple Act of 1663, which provided that all goods exported from Europe to America must first land in England. Only a few colonial imports were exempt from this prohibition: salt, servants, various provisions from Scotland, and wine from Madeira and the Azores.

The Staple Act meant that English ships and merchants would monopolize exports to America, while English manufacturers selling to America would be privileged by extra taxes being levied at English ports on foreign exports to the colonies. The enumerated-articles provision ensured that these staples would be exported only by English merchants and in English ships. The English seizure of New Netherland was partly designed to complement the Navigation Act by crushing the Dutch freight trade with the New World.

The immediate impact of these acts on New England merchants and the New England economy was not great. New England imports were largely manufactured goods from England anyway, and thus were not greatly affected. And the restrictions such as the enumerated articles and the prohibition of direct imports of wines from the Canary Islands were simply ignored. The Massachusetts merchants blithely continued to ship enumerated articles direct to European ports for example, tobacco to Holland and to import goods direct from Europe. The New England merchants were happily able to save the South from immediate devastation at the hands of the Navigation Acts by first importing Southern tobacco to Boston and then exporting it direct to foreign countries.

In this way, the South, for a time, was enabled to avoid the drastic burden of the Navigation Acts. The distracted English government did not attempt to enforce any of these restrictions until the Anglo-Dutch wars were over in the mid-1670s. The position of the merchants was backed fully by the Massachusetts General Court, which declared that it simply was not subject to "the laws of England any more than we live in England." On this issue the Boston merchants and the Puritan theocracy were allied: the former to prevent British restrictions on their trade, the latter to keep England from interfering with the Puritan regime in Massachusetts.

Indeed, the Massachusetts merchants, able to avoid the restrictions of the Navigation Acts, were also able to take advantage of the provisions driving out their efficient Dutch competitors. The London merchants, having used governmental power to crush Dutch competitors, suddenly found to their dismay the Massachusetts merchants outcompeting them in marketing colonial products in Europe, in shipping, and in supplying the colonies with imported manufactures including European products competing with English goods. The king's revenue was of course diminished by direct trade with Europe, because the taxes levied at English ports were avoided.

The most flourishing trade in New England during the Dutch wars of the 1660s and 1670s was the essentially uneconomic supplying of war contracts to provision the English attempts at conquest. Massachusetts' major provisions were naval stores, especially masts, channeled through Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This became the biggest business seen in New England up to that time. Once again, London merchants were the key entrepreneurs in this trade, using their influence to obtain government war contracts.

Continued here:
The Restoration and the Navigation Acts

AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwire - Oct 23, 2012) - GreenWorld Restoration is pleased to announce the addition of Rick Tappan as Director of Construction Services.

Rick's background includes residential and commercial construction, manufacturing for store fixture case goods and POP displays, educational and childhood furniture, custom high-end kitchen cabinetry and architectural millwork.Previous accounts included The Bombay Co, San Francisco Music Box, Barnes and Noble, The Men's Wearhouse, J.C. Penney, Shaw Carpets, Bruce Floors, and American Airlines.

Prior to working with GreenWorld Restoration, Rick worked with local builders such as Sierra Classic Homes, Anderson Jenkins, Idlewood Homes, New Coast Homes and Millis Development. Over 300 residential and commercial projects were completed over a six-year period.

According to Michael Torres, President and CEO of GreenWorld Restoration, "We are grateful to have Mr. Tappan join our team.He has a very strong manufacturing background in the industry we serve."

About GreenWorld Restoration

GreenWorld Restoration, LLC is a leading provider of sustainable housing and community solutions.We offer affordable on- or off-the-grid permanent as well as temporary-to-permanent housing solutions. Beyond the home, we help design and develop sustainable communities utilizing our Integrated Solution Architecture for Sustainable Communities. Through this approach, we are able to help create a community that is in balance with the land ecologically and the people economically.

We are a socially conscious company allocating up to 30% of our profits to "Pay-it-Back" to the communities we serve and "Pay-it-Forward" to communities we have yet to serve.We do this in partnership with the Worldwide Maniac Foundation to provide workforce training, educational facilities, shelter, clean water and other elements necessary to fulfill the needs of a sustainable community.

http://www.greenworldrestoration.com

http://www.worldwidemaniacfoundation.org

Original post:
Rick Tappan Joins GreenWorld Restoration(TM) as Director of Manufacturing

AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwire - Oct 22, 2012) - Over the last seven years, GreenWorld Restoration has been designing and testing low-cost housing materials, construction processes and systems in environments with little to no water, wastewater and energy resources. Earlier versions of the housing platform were geared more toward international markets. As a result, GreenWorld housing solutions have been designed to be more environmentally friendly operating "on- or off-the-grid."

Version 10.0 of the GreenWorld Sustainable Housing Platform utilizes a traditional U.S. stick frame structure with recycled metal instead of wood, supported by exterior and interior structural walls incorporating special materials in order to make the homes more resistant to hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, fire, heat, mold and termites. As a result, the homes are safer and more energy efficient, saving up to 40% off of utility bills.

Additionally, Version 10.0 of the GreenWorld Sustainable Housing Platform offers both permanent and temporary-to-permanent housing solutions. Permanent homes are constructed at the job site on top of a concrete or pier and beam foundation. As seen in the October issue of Tribeza magazine, temporary homes are constructed on-site or in the factory and are later capable of being converted into a permanent home meeting local building code requirements (http://www.tribeza.com/magazine_content/greener-side).

According to Michael Torres, President and CEO of GreenWorld Restoration, "At GreenWorld, it is our belief that You Don't Have to Lose Your Green to Go Green. Sustainable communities start with affordable sustainable homes. The times we live in call for all of us to think out of the box and take action. Version 10.0 of our Sustainable Housing Platform does just that."

About GreenWorld Restoration

GreenWorld Restoration, LLC is a leading provider of sustainable housing and community solutions.We offer affordable on- or off-the-grid permanent as well as temporary-to-permanent housing solutions. Beyond the home, we help design and develop sustainable communities utilizing our Integrated Solution Architecture for Sustainable Communities. Through this approach, we are able to help create a community that is in balance with the land ecologically and the people economically.

We are a socially conscious company allocating up to 30% of our profits to "Pay-it-Back" to the communities we serve and "Pay-it-Forward" to communities we have yet to serve.We do this in partnership with the Worldwide Maniac Foundation to provide workforce training, educational facilities, shelter, clean water and other elements necessary to fulfill the needs of a sustainable community.

http://www.greenworldrestoration.com http://www.worldwidemaniacfoundation.org

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GreenWorld Restoration(TM) Releases Version 10.0 of Its Sustainable Housing Platform(TM) for U.S. Market

A contractor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans to restrict southbound traffic to one lane on the U.S. 41 Twin Bridges on Wednesday and Thursday.

The lane closure is to allow the replacement of two rocker bearings on a southbound pier on the Henderson side of the river. The work will require a lane restriction on the entire length of the southbound bridge.

The contractor will use four 100-ton jacks to raise bridge support beams about 1/4th of an inch to allow the old rocker bearings to be removed and new bearings to be placed on top of the pier. Preliminary work on this project started several weeks ago, but completion of the project had to be delayed to allow some additional fabrication of required materials.

The work will require one lane on the southbound bridge to be closed from approximately 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday and possibly Thursday. The contractor can also place lane restrictions on the bridge between 7 p.m. Wednesday and 5 a.m. Thursday, if necessary.

In case of rain, the lane restriction will automatically move to the next working day until complete.

The contractor is restricted to working during specific off-peak travel periods, with substantial penalties for keeping the work zone up outside of allowable working hours.

All southbound traffic in this work zone will move to the left-hand or passing lane. Southbound motorists should be prepared to encounter slowing and merging traffic near the entrance to the Trocadero Convenience Store. The work zone will have a 45-mile-per-hour speed limit along the entire length of the southbound bridge.

No northbound lane restrictions will be required for this project.

Original post:
Lane to close on southbound bridge

Even empowered groups bank on Cabinet power as ministers play safe Jyoti Mukul & Surajeet Dasgupta / New Delhi Oct 21, 2012, 00:47 IST

Until a year back, if the Manmohan Singh Cabinet could not resolve an issue, it would create a group of ministers. But, now, if the ministers do not want to take a final call, they go back to the Cabinet even if they are empowered.

The aftermath of A Raja serving a jail sentence is that no single minister wants to decide on an issue that could bring investigators to his door. So, on Thursday, an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on telecom headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram sent all its decisions to the Cabinet for final clearance though it did not have to do so.

Chidambarams name, too, was dragged into the controversy by Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy, who filed a court case seeking a probe into the finance ministers alleged role in the 2G scam. The Supreme Court in August dismissed the case on grounds of lack of evidence.

Union minister Jaipal Reddy, who himself got the tricky issue of fuel price changes cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs in September, said it depended on the sensitivity of a matter. There are a lot of experienced people in the Cabinet and their advice is important. In case of telecom, the matter has monumental monetary implications, with a lot of corporate interests involved, Reddy told Business Standard. He said it was the Prime Ministers decision to discontinue with the EGoM on fuel. Asked if there was need for a larger political consensus, he said, Perhaps.

R S Pandey, a retired bureaucrat, who had seen one of the most controversial times as secretary in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, said whether a decision should be referred to Cabinet or not depended on the terms of reference of the EGoM. The terms of reference of the telecom EGoM empowered it to look into various issues related to the grant of licences and allocation of spectrum in the 2G band in 22 services areas. This included the setting of a reserve price for the auction and spectrum usage charges. After deliberations, the EGoM gave two alternatives: a base price of Rs 14,000 crore and another of Rs 16,000 crore for five MHz of spectrum to the Cabinet. The Cabinet decided to go for Rs 14,000 crore.

Sometimes, even when decisions can be resolved within a ministry or by an inter-ministerial group of officials, they are still referred to the Cabinet or its committees. Perturbed by controversies, Murli Deora became one of the first ministers to do so when in 2007 he pushed for the formation of an EGoM for fixing a price for natural gas produced from the KG-D6 block of Reliance Industries. The decision could have been taken by the minister himself but for the fight between Ambani brothers. Similarly, for granting clearance to the $6-billion Cairn-Vedanta deal, Deora went to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) though the norms did not require it. Safeguarding the interests of the government-controlled Oil and Natural Gas Corporation was said to be the reason why Deora went to the CCEA. The deal was later cleared with preconditions by a group of ministers that had Reddy as Deoras replacement.

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Even empowered groups bank on Cabinet power as ministers play safe

Beyond Construction & Remodeling, Highlights a Description of Services, for Light Industrial, Residential and Commercial as well as Company Philosophy

Wenatchee, WA (PRWEB) October 23, 2012

Establishing a set of motivating values, keeps the company focused on providing high quality service to our customers, said Ruben Ornelas, owner of Beyond Construction & Remodeling. Additional values the company adheres to include; respect, thoughtfulness, responsibility and fairness.

Some of the services featured include:

Light industrial work, which includes construction management and general contractor services. They can accommodate a structured working environment, with well laid out circulation space for safety and increased productivity. We provide quick, accurate preliminary proposals and competitive costing, resulting in substantial savings of time and expense. Our core principles are putting the financial interest of the client above all else. We understand the production continues uninterrupted, explains Ruben.

Residential services are treated uniquely, with the clients desires and needs in mind. New construction, kitchen and bathroom remodeling, home improvement, renovation, room additions, basement finishing, painting, concrete work are among the services offered to homeowners. We like to educate the customer on the process as well as work with them on the smartest and most efficient ways to build, remodel or renovate their home, said Ruben.

Beyond Construction and Remodelings commercial services offer design build out, office remodeling, additions and commercial renovation services. They work closely with architects, engineers and design firms to make sure the client's project will be completed to their desired specification while achieving a cost effective and efficient product.

We offer complete design build services, where we retain the designer or architect and assume responsibility for both the design and construction, this results in the ability to control project cost, quality and scheduling and allows for a single point of contact, said Ruben

We are a family business, my uncle trained me and between the two of us we have over 40 years of combined industry knowledge and experience, said Ruben. We do not price gouge but offer, fair and competitive prices and can usually beat out our competitors by 10%.

For more information about this company, call (509) 393-3210, or check out their website at http://www.wenatcheeremodelingcontractor.com/.

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Wenatchee General Contractor, Beyond Construction & Remodeling, Announces Launch of New Website

NEW YORK Glenn Bridges can tell that the market for home remodeling is picking up when hes hanging cabinets or laying a floor in a customers house, a next-door neighbor is bound to knock on the door and ask if hes available for another project.

Theyll look at his handiwork and then say, We have something were interested in doing, Bridges says. Its quite uplifting.

The collapse of the housing market decimated business for contractors like Bridges, most of whom are small businesses with just a handful of employees. But many are seeing business improve as home sales slowly recover and homeowners who had put off projects during the recession are feeling better about the economy. Still, the improvement is gradual and projects arent typically as lucrative as they were back when homeowners were able to borrow against a large amount of equity in their houses.

Bridges was so optimistic about the remodeling market that, in February, he restarted the contracting business he was forced to shut down in 2007. When he closed, he had to lay off his three full-time workers. But at the start of 2012, things began to change.

I had people that needed work done and all in one weekend they said to me, Why dont you help me ... why dont you get active again? says Bridges, owner of Eagle Ridge Contractor Services in Naples, Fla. He had spent the intervening years working on projects with other business owners.

Hes worked steadily since February, installing new kitchens and bathrooms that range from $10,000 to $25,000, depending on the size of the room and the quality of the cabinets and appliances.

Where I was pricing one or two (projects) a month, I might now price five or six a month. And I think Im not unusual for our market, theres more optimism.

Bridges isnt alone. Sales of previously occupied homes are up more than 9 percent this year, and spending on residential construction has risen 16 percent. People who track housing trends see signs that remodeling is on the rise and that the improvement will continue. Harvard Universitys Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity suggests that annual homeowner improvement spending could rise 12.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, up from levels reached in the first three months of 2012.

Some of the uptick is coming from new homeowners fixing up and some is coming from people who put off work during the recession.

Even though its a down market, homeowners are always having to do certain projects roofing, siding, heating systems, says Abbe Will a research analyst with Harvards Joint Center for Housing Studies. When were moving into a recovery phase, were going to be looking to the discretionary projects, like kitchen and bath remodeling. Were expecting to see lots more of that as the housing market stabilizes.

Continued here:
A remodeling resurgence

GLEN ALLEN, Va., Oct. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Industry analyst firm NanoMarkets today published its latest BIPV projections in a report titled, "Building-Integrated Photovoltaics Markets -2012." NanoMarkets estimates that the entire BIPV market already generates around $2.1 billion ($US) today and that this figure will grow to $7.5 billion by 2015. Much of this growth will come at the expense of conventional solar panels as the better economics and aesthetics of BIPV make their impact on end users. NanoMarkets also expects new builds to contribute 63 percent of all BIPV revenues in 2015.

About the Report:

This report provides highly granular eight-year forecast of the worldwide BIPV market with breakouts for PV roofing overlays, BIPV tiles and shingles, wall-attached BIPV, BIPV siding, BIPV curtain walls, BIPV/window hybrids and futuristic monolithically integrated BIPV products. The projections are presented in both value ($ millions) and volume (MW and area covered).

Additional breakouts are provided for types of building in which BIPV is installed (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), whether the BIPV installation is a retrofit or a new build, and the type of absorber material it uses. In addition, we project the nations and regions that will generate the most BIPV revenues; NanoMarkets expects Europe to be the largest market for BIPV throughout the period covered in these forecasts.

Additional details about the report are available at: http://nanomarkets.net/market_reports/report/building_integrated_photovoltaics_markets_2012

More from the report:

According to NanoMarkets' report, the market for BIPV roofing products will reach $2.5 billion by 2015; a four-fold increase in revenues compared to 2012. But, NanoMarkets says there will be a profound change in how the BIPV revenues are generated over this relatively short period. Today almost 80 percent of the dollars from BIPV roofing comes from simple BIPV overlay products. By 2015, NanoMarkets foresees that specialized BIPV tiles and shingles will have become widely available offering much better value propositions than any current BIPV products; As a result, these BIPV tiles and shingles will account for 60 percent of BIPV roofing product revenues.

The report also provides projections for BIPV walling, a sector that has barely been touched by BIPV today. Despite this, NanoMarkets foresees this sector taking off in the next few years as zero-energy buildings and multistory office buildings find that roof-based PV is not capable of generating sufficient power for their needs. According to NanoMarkets' projections, this could lead to an $830 million market for wall-based BIPV by 2015. However, NanoMarkets thinks that specialized wall-based BIPV products will be slow to take off and 62 percent of the revenues in the wall sector will come from existing products that have been "versioned" for a walling market.

Although BIPV glass sales are expected to reach $4.2 billion by 2015, NanoMarkets believes that much of this relatively large figure will be generated by the high-cost of the architectural glass that underpins BIPV glass. However, NanoMarkets believes that there are good opportunities in the glass sector for monolithically integrating PV and building fabric functionalities and projects that by 2015, $375 million will be generated by fully integrated BIPV glass products.

About NanoMarkets:

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NanoMarkets Projects Building Integrated Photovoltaics Markets (BIPV) Reaching $7.5 billion ($US) in 2015

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3zzjmc/roofing_products) has announced the addition of the "Roofing Products in Australia to 2016: Market Databook" report to their offering.

Timetric's 'Roofing Products in Australia to 2016: Market Databook' contains detailed historic and forecast market value data for the roofing products market in Australia, including data for domestic production, supply balance, existing stock, imports and exports. Review and forecast data is included for categories of the roofing products market like Clay Roofing Products, Slate Tiles and Bitumen Roofing Felts.

This report is the result of Timetric's extensive market research covering the roofing products market in Australia. It contains detailed historic and forecast market value data for the roofing products market and its categories (Clay Roofing Products, Slate Tiles and Bitumen Roofing Felts), including data by domestic production, supply balance, existing stock, imports and exports. 'Roofing Products in Australia to 2016: Market Databook' provides an overview and insight into the operating environment of the roofing products industry in Australia. It is an essential tool for companies active across the Australian construction value chain and for new players who are considering entering the market.

Scope

- Overview of the roofing products market in Australia

- Historic and forecast market values for the roofing products market and its categories (Clay Roofing Products, Slate Tiles and Bitumen Roofing Felts) for the period 2007 through to 2016

Reasons To Buy

- This report provides you with valuable market data for the roofing products market in Australia

- This report provides you with a breakdown of market value by domestic production, supply balance, existing stock, imports and exports

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Research and Markets: Roofing Products in Australia to 2016: Market Databook Allows You to Plan Future Business ...