iNest Newsletter

The Latest in New Home Products

Dena Kouremetis
A veteran of the homebuilding industry, Dena Kouremetis is the foremost real estate columnist specializing in new home issues, trends, products and designs. Her columns appear in the New York Post as well as other newspapers throughout the U.S.

Carmakers have auto shows, RV makers display the latest in mobile vacation fare, but how do building materials distributors, product manufacturers, and the hundreds of businesses related to homebuilding strut their stuff? They do it in a very big way, as evidenced by this year's Pacific Coast Builder's Conference (PCBC), held in San Francisco's Moscone Center in late July.

More than 21,000 attendees from every niche of the industry, from marketing types to nuts-and bolts supply representatives were on hand to fill up both the north and south sides of Moscone. Shopping bag-laden visitors were able to see a dazzling array of faucets, tools, windows, doors, granite countertops, appliances and gadgets while wandering through dozens of aisles of booths, attend trend breakfasts and forecast seminars, and enjoy company-sponsored cruises, as well as get detailed information on the latest in new home products and speak face-to-face with their representatives. And San Francisco was ready for them. Even the downtown Nordstrom treated weary PCBC visitors to a free concierge shuttle to the close-by Galleria and a glass of wine at their restaurant, hoping attendees would not only walk, but also shop 'till they dropped.

Forecasts by industry experts indicated that although the housing market has declined in recent months, it's still pretty darned good. PCBC Jeffrey Slaven described homebuilders as "problem-solvers" and admitted that one of the biggest problems is now energy use, while praising California homebuilders for being 15% more energy-efficient than other states.

Nearly 332,000 Californians are directly employed in residential construction, according to the Construction Industry Research Board. In the year 2000, permits for new homes and apartments reached $24.6 billion in total value, with residential alterations adding $3.5 billion more. At closer examination, 1.2 million people's livelihoods depend either directly or indirectly on the building industry, so grand displays like the PCBC can create a considerable impact on the future of both homebuilding and the regional economy.

Energy concerns by the industry and the home buying public justifiably resulted in booths displaying products that go easy on the environment and consumers' energy bills, while touting efficiency beyond what conventional products ever achieved. And products that help both production and spec-custom homebuilders' buyers customize their homes through their respective design center affiliates also continued to be popular. E-business and computer-based systems, perhaps slower to be embraced by the homebuilding industry than others, also accounted for a number of booths at the show, from streamlining the ordering of building materials to online job-bidding to software permitting homebuyers to pre-select their upgrades and options online.

Some of the more fascinating and exotic products noted at this year's show include some of the following. It should be noted that only one manufacturer for each product is listed here, although several different manufacturers may have displayed their wares at PCBC and offer similar products:

• Solar-powered attic fans use a free energy source to keep your home cooler. (Natural Light Energy Systems).
• Southeast Asian railroad ties (asiarainhardwoods.com) made into gorgeous exotic hardwood flooring, recycling with what would have been thrown away in another continent.
• Low-e interior latex paint for homes possesses chemical properties that help with energy efficiency (www.radiancecomfort.com).
• Home elevators (www.accessind.com) that cost less than a swimming pool.
• Radiant-heat under-flooring (www.wirsbo.com) which can line your carpet, vinyl or tile to heat up that cold concrete slab or raised foundation underfoot.
• Water-saving electronic touchless faucets (www.deltafaucet.com) for home bathrooms. No longer do your kids have to go to a department store or to the airport to see the "magic" faucets.
• Radiant barrier roofing materials (www.polar-ply.com) that can eliminate a huge percentage of heat normally retained in your roof and attic area.
• Quartz solid surface countertops that look like granite but cost less and are not porous (www.silestone.com).
• Vertical (stand-up) jetted shower massage systems (www.deltafaucet.com) for those who love a water massage but hate to soak.
• Roman columns and decorative moldings (www.focalpointap.com) that look like plaster or wood but are made of foam.
• Tankless hot water heaters (www.takagi-usa.com) so no matter how many teenagers took showers before you did, you won't feel as if you got hit by the garden hose.
• Radio-controlled lighting for homes (www.lutron.com/radiora) so you can dial romance, security, or drama everywhere inside and outside your home.
• Eye-level elevated front-loading washers and dryers (www.whirlpool.com) that use 68% less water and 67% less electricity than their top-loading ancestors.

The list, of course, goes on and on. Many of these products are test-marketed to the homebuilding industry first, before being sold retail to the buying public, so the average consumer may have little or no awareness of the existence of them, except through contractors and homebuilders.

It would be great to think that if you had a friend in the biz who was able to walk the floor of an event like this, he or she would be happy to bring back brochures on all the latest and greatest building products. Don't bother asking, however, unless you want to pay their chiropractor bills, because there is too much to collect unless they walk around with a suitcase on wheels for the occasion.

But take heart. If regional building shows in the new millennium are any indication of things to come, the new American home promises to be more energy efficient, better built, and cost-effective than ever before.