Arkansas Home Builders Association

Bill Ross, Associate Council Chairman We have already completed our first month of 2016 and it has certainly gone by very quickly!  As we enter into February, there are many new and exciting things heading our way in 2016 from all aspects of our AHBA's associates council.  We look forward to sharing with everyone each month all of these wonderful opportunities on our AHBA website.  There are many new opportunities to grow on the local, state and national levels and we must take advantage of these opportunities now.  What is most important though, is as associates, we need to be active and participate on all levels especially in our local and state HBA's.  Times are changing rapidly, from our economy, to the way we do business, and the health of the building industry amongst a number of other factors.  There is no better time for us to act than  now. I would like to thank our outgoing associates Chairperson, Dianna Nix for her two years of dedicatio...

Work in Attics, Crawl Spaces and Ducts Targeted At the request of NAHB, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) just announced a decision to further delay enforcement for residential construction of the new Confined Spaces in Construction Standard , this time for an additional 60 days. The agency would have resumed issuing citations for rule violations today. Why is this important to remodelers? Under the new Confined Spaces in Construction Standard, work in attics, crawl spaces and even HVAC ducts could be subject to a host of permit, hazard monitoring and training requirements. What work is covered by the delayed enforcement? The temporary stay applies to construction and remodeling projects in single-family homes, duplexes and townhouses in federal OSHA jurisdictions. What are a remodeler's responsibilities in the meantime? OSHA has said that any employer making good-faith efforts to comply ...

Good news for members whose development plans were in danger of being derailed by  new regulations regarding the Northern Long-Eared Bat: This FWS map shows the bat’s range. Last week, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) published a final rule that eases some of these restrictions. NAHB received several calls and emails from members after FWS listed the bat as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act, touching off a series of new protections that could drive regulators and builders, well, batty. The “interim rule” restricted the removal of certain trees between April and September — the bats’ migration season — in the Eastern and North Central United States. NAHB submitted comments, and in the final rule, the original quarter-mile buffer around known-roosting sites has been reduced to 150 feet. That gives builders more room for tree-clearing operations to construct homes. The quarter-mile buffer around hibernation habitat — such as caves and mi...

Millennials place a premium on casual, comfortable outdoor spaces for entertaining friends and family, Better Homes and Gardens research shows. The millennial generation is poised to make a significant impact on home design with its strong preferences for energy efficiency and smart-home technology; comfortable and workable kitchens; and more casual spaces, said speakers today from NAHB and  Better Homes and Gardens . But first, they have to move out of their parents’ homes and into a place of their own, said NAHB Assistant Vice President for Surveys and Research Rose Quint. About 15% of adults ages 25-34 live with a parent, about 3% more than the highest share of 12% between 1983 and 2007. That translates into 1.3 million people who normally “would be out there, forming their own households, demanding their own units,” either as buyers or renters, she said. Quint had anticipated the new mortgage programs and looser mortgage insurance requir...

On Tuesday, the Senate failed to secure the 60 votes needed to proceed to consideration of S. 1140, legislation that would have overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rulemaking. But it’s not all bad news. NAHB solidified the support of 58 Senators. Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.), along with all 54 Republican senators, voted in support of S. 1140. The Senate then took up the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution disapproving the WOTUS rule, which passed by a majority vote. Passage of the CRA would force the EPA to withdraw the rule. The Federation showed a strong, united front in responding to the call to action. Members ensured that NAHB’s voice was heard on Capitol Hill. Thousands of emails, letters, phone calls and personal appeals were made to Senate offices. “Our members’ efforts were critical to our outreach,” said NAHB...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee today approved NAHB-supported energy legislation that will reform the role of the Department of Energy (DOE) in the development of energy codes and encourage meaningful savings for residential construction that are achievable and cost-effective. Of note to the housing community, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015 included a provision that would promote energy efficiency in buildings while ensuring that home builders and home owners are not burdened by unreasonable regulations. Specifically, the provision would: Improve affordability by requiring any DOE-supported code proposal has a payback period of 10 years or less, meaning that these higher costs will be paid back through utility savings. Increase transparency in the development of model building energy codes by ensuring that all DOE code change proposals are made available to the public, including calculations on costs and savings. En...

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