Thursday, March 30, 2017

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENT

RSL Introduces New Website 
RSL is happy to introduce a new and improved website. The new site features a clean, modern design that has been optimized for viewing on desktop and mobile platforms. Please take a moment to see the new RSL website at www.RSLinc.com

U.S. LUMBER Announces Strategic Growth Investment from Madison Dearborn Partners 
U.S. LUMBER GROUP, LLC  (“U.S. LUMBER” or “the Company”), a leading two step distributor of specialty building products in the Eastern United States, announced today that it has signed an agreement for a strategic growth investment from Madison Dearborn Partners (“MDP”), a leading private equity firm based in Chicago. Upon completion of the transaction, U.S. LUMBER’s existing management team will remain in place and work with MDP to execute a strategy of pursuing geographic and product offering expansion. Read More

Ascension Stair Parts® Announces National Expansion 
With the opening of the Concord, North Carolina location, Ascension Stair Parts® (a brand of Source Building Products USA, Inc.) now has three primary distribution centers in the U.S. to provide quality stair components to the residential building industry. Read More

Masonite Announces Tony Hair Promoted to President of Masonite’s Global Residential Business
Masonite International Corporation announced that Tony Hair, currently SVP and Business Leader – Residential, has been promoted to President of Masonite’s Global Residential Business. In addition to leading the residential business in North America and the United Kingdom, Tony will assume responsibility for Masonite’s customer experience team effective with the retirement of Larry Repar, which is planned for August of this year. Read More

CODES & STANDARDS

EPA Formaldehyde Rule Effective Date Extended
The effective date of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) formaldehyde rule has been delayed until May 22, 2017The original date of implementation was to be March 21st.  The rule, along with four other “Obama-era” regulations, has been delayed pursuant to the January 20th regulatory freeze memorandum that was issued by the Trump administration to temporarily postpone the effective dates of these regulations.  According to the Federal Register, “The further temporary delay in effective date until May 22, 2017, is necessary to give Agency officials the opportunity to decide whether they would like to conduct a substantive review of the five regulations….” Read More

NGBS Celebrates 100,000th Green Certified Home
Home Innovation Research Labs recently celebrated the 100,000th National Green Building Standard (NGBS) Green Certified home.  This milestone is significant not only because of the number of homes that have been certified, but also for what it signifies for the state of the home building industry overall. Read More

Proposed Changes to the Florida Building Code Development Process To Be Considered
The Florida legislature will be considering legislation next week that could change the way the Florida Building Code is updated.  The proposals (HB 901 and SB 860) removes the provision requiring the International Code be used as a baseline, and instead requires the “6th edition, and subsequent editions, of the Florida Building Code,” be used as the foundation for the development and updates to the state code. Read More

Low-e Windows, Efficient HVAC Systems Among Most Preferred Green Building Options
Energy-efficient and environmentally friendly features are in high demand for new home construction, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders.  The 337 single-family home builders who responded to the survey used an average of 10.2 different products or practices, and 95% said they used low-e windows in their projects. Read More

GOVERNMENT

What Trump’s Tax Cuts Mean for Affordable Housing
Tax reform is one of President Donald Trump’s priorities, after repealing Obamacare, however experts explain the possibility of this overhaul is disrupting the affordable housing industry, according to an article by Laura Kusisto for The Wall Street Journal. The article explains many investors in the industry are enticed by tax credits earned by setting aside a certain number of units for low-income residents, which can even determine if a project gets off the ground.  Read more

TECHNOLOGY

Google Discusses Website Hackers’ Common Tactics
Prevention is best to reduce website hacking, and part of that is knowing how hackers gain access according to Google. The company has outlined in a blog post hackers’ top tactics, which involve social engineering, data leaks, missed security updates and compromised passwords.
Google recently noted that it had seen a 32% rise in hacked website. Here are the most common tactics it found. Read more

REAL ESTATE

Surprising Way Rising Interest Rates Could Affect the Housing Market
After the Federal Reserve raised the Fed Funds rate by a quarter of a point last week, the real estate industry fretted over the potential effects of higher mortgage rates on home affordability, and how that could curtail the still-wobbly recovery of the U.S. housing market according to CNBC. So far, there’s been no sign that the market is retreating. In fact, it seems more likely that the Fed’s actions could actually be good for the housing market. Read more

Do We Need a New Way to Look at FHA Loans?
After Since the financial crisis, qualifying for a mortgage has become difficult for people with anything short of perfect credit, notes Urban Institute researcher Laurie Goodman. She estimates that because of exceptionally high credit standards, as many as 1.1 million fewer loans were made in 2015 than would have been made if the more reasonable 2001 credit standards had been in effect. Since 2009, 6.3 million fewer loans have been made. What does this mean for home buyers? Read More

HEALTH & SAFETY

Senate Votes to Revoke OSHA Recordkeeping Rule
The Senate voted 50-48 Wednesday to overturn the Volks rule, which authorized the agency to extend its enforcement authority of recordkeeping violations from six months to five years, according to The Hill. The House passed the measure earlier this month. The legislation now heads to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it. Read More

Trump repeals ‘blacklisting rule’
President Trump repealed the so-called “blacklisting rule” Monday that required federal contractors to disclose labor violations.  The Obama-era rule was intended to prevent the government from contracting with businesses responsible for wage theft or workplace safety violations at any point within the last three years.  But business groups feared it gave unions the upper hand at the bargaining table. Read More

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Attention:   Door pre-hangers and distributors, who use components from multiple suppliers, with a means of substituting components in a rated system when engineering analysis is not acceptable to validate a component.

Reference

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