In a time when negativity has begun to creep back into the everyday economic news, the team at Signature Building Systems is thrilled to announce that we’ve begun construction on a dorm project for SUNY-ESF (State University of New York-Environmental Sciences and Forestry school) in Syracuse, NY. This project is a very large undertaking and wonderful opportunity for all of us at SBS. We feel the project will showcase the extraordinary capabilities of our employees. Everyone, including sales, engineering, purchasing and production has worked tirelessly to bring this project to fruition. This 4 story student housing project is in excess of 112,000 square feet and is made up of 180 individual modular units. It is designed to attain a LEED Silver certification.

Due to this project and solid single family sales we have increased our production and added 25 people to our production team. We are truly optimistic about the future, but more importantly, we are proud of the hard work and dedication of the entire team here at Signature Building Systems.

Throughout the course of the next few weeks, as this project rolls down the line, we promise to post some photos of progress work both in the plant, and eventually from the field so please feel free to check back for updates and more information!

In the meantime, if you’d like more information on this project and/or others we’ve completed, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

In a last minute move, the U.S. House of Representative and Senate were both able to pass legislation that extends the homebuyer tax credit expiration date to September 30^th, 2010. This extension gives customers who are in contract and waiting to close their mortgages the chance to qualify for up to $8,000 in tax credit.

While we would have liked to see the program as a whole extended for the same period of time, we do applaud the members of Congress who pushed this scaled down version through. The homebuyer tax credit incentive, combined with other incentives our company ran in the past year have helped our company increase Single-Family Sales 30% year over year!!!

We definitely encourage our builders that have customers under contract to inform those customers that there is still time to qualify for the $8,000 tax credit!

If you need more information, please don’t hesitate to contact any of the Account Executives here. Hurry though, time is running out!

If you’d like more information on the industry as a whole from mortgages to housing starts information, please visit www.housingwire.com.

Source: Jacob Gaffney, www.housingwire.com    July 1, 2010

It is inevitable that as the housing market improves and demand increases, material prices will be on the rise.  But wait….the market has only shown a very small level of improvement however materials are skyrocketing! Anyone following the lumber or panel markets has seen some incredible numbers as of late.   For example; The Framing Lumber Composite price, as reported by Random Lengths, one year ago was at $210, on January 8 of this year $241 and this week a whopping $367!  Similar numbers are being reported for Structural Panel Composite prices; one year ago $244, on January 8 of this year $272 and this week $474!

Yes, these numbers are staggering, but why? Neither the housing market nor the economy as a whole is showing any real signs of rapid expansion. So where’s the demand? Turns out the industry is creating its own demand by closing down plants and slowing production thus reducing the availability of materials. It is frustrating for all of us, especially given the fact that even the smallest increase in price knocks many people out of the market.

Here at Signature Building Systems we have been able to work through much of these price spikes by prudent planning and buying.  Unfortunately, if this trend continues through the summer we will need to initiate an adjustment. I would like to think this trend will reverse itself, but at this time, it looks doubtful.   We will continue to monitor and report.

Information on composite pricing can be found at: www.randomlengths.com

For most Americans, the home buyer tax credit expired on April 30. But Congress, recognizing that many members of the military, foreign service and intelligence communities may have missed out on the opportunity to take advantage of the credit due to being posted overseas, has given service members more time to take advantage of it.

The law provides qualified service members who served on official extended duty outside of the United States for 90 days or more at any time between Jan. 1, 2009, to April 30, 2010, another year to buy a home and claim the credit. “Qualified service members” are defined as a member of the uniformed services of the United States military, a member of the Foreign Service of the United States, or an employee of the intelligence community.

Qualified service members who are eligible for the home buyer tax credit now have until April 30, 2011, to sign a sales contract, and until June 30, 2011, to settle and close on the home. Both the $8,000 first-time and $6,500 repeat home buyer tax credits are included in this rule.

For married couples, only one spouse, not both, needs to be a qualified service member who served the required amount of extended duty outside the United States.

In many cases, the rule that requires buyers to repay the credit if they move out of their home within three years has also been waived for service members. If the home owner or their spouse receives government orders for qualified official extended duty service and have to sell their home, they do not have to pay back the credit. This applies even if they have to sell in the same year they purchased the home. The new place of duty must be at least 50 miles from the principal residence being sold.

The IRS also made sure that soldiers and other service members who are wounded overseas, or have to return to the United States for other medical reasons, are not denied the credit if their time spent overseas ends up less than 90 days.

For more information on the home buyer tax credit, go to: www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com

Water hammer is a pressure shock wave that occurs when there is a change in the steady flow of water. Washers, ice makers, dishwashers are among the items that can cause water hammer.  Water hammer can result in noisy, banging sounds as pipes rattle and expand to absorb the pressure wave. Shock waves in typical water pipes travel at up to 4500 feet/second and can exert incredible pressures on joints and valves if left unchecked.

When water is flowing into a washing machine then is suddenly shut off, the energy of the flowing water reverses direction and must be dissipated. This energy is initially reflected back through the plumbing system in a direction opposite to the original flow, creating an oscillating shock wave. Depending on the extent of the shock wave, a loud banging or rattling sound can be heard as pipes expand and move as the shock wave dissipates.

An effective way of dealing with this problem is to install water hammer arresters at key areas in the system. We found the ideal answer in equipment by teaming up with Sioux Chief. At Signature Building Systems, we install Sioux Chief water hammer arresters at clothes washers, dishwashers and ice makers as a standard practice.

In addition we have made some other improvements in our water distribution systems using two additional products from Sioux Chief. At the tub/shower area, we changed the pipe coming off the top of the mixing valve leading to the showerhead and the lower section of pipe leading to the tub spout. They are both now mechanically fastened. This significantly reduces the chance of future leaks and improves the lifetime maintenance costs in this area.

We understand that it’s the small stuff that makes the biggest difference.