Signature Streetscapes creates the details that give neighborhoods and homes a distinctive look.
By Tim O’Connor
How a community looks speaks to its quality. Wrought iron fences, cobblestone streets, even the shape of its lampposts and the flourishes on its street signs give it character. “It’s a way for a community to set themselves apartment from the average,” says Tim Mills, owner and president of Michigan-based Signature Streetscapes. “It creates a higher perceived value for the homes in the neighborhood.”
Those elements combine to create a brand for a neighborhood, which is why homeowners need a manufacturer that can deliver their vision for a community. For the past decade, Signature Streetscapes has proven it can be that company with its high-quality and highly-detailed products. “We’re reproducing nostalgia and bringing it back to the cities and neighborhoods,” Sales Manager Steve Snuffer says.
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Trane® provides homebuilders with the ventilation tools to meet indoor air quality standards.
By Janice Hoppe-Spiers
“Indoor air quality (IAQ) can be a crucial health factor,” says Jay Ayers, product manager for indoor air quality for Trane®, a leading global provider of indoor comfort solutions and services and a brand of Ingersoll Rand. “Ventilation is one of the hot buttons for builders today in terms of IAQ. Homeowners ask builders to make sure their homes are well ventilated. With new construction, the best solution is through dedicated systems that circulate fresh air ventilation from the outside.”
The proliferation of energy-efficient home construction allows less air exchange between the indoors and outdoors, and puts greater focus on ensuring IAQ. The ASHRAE standards for ventilation and indoor air quality were updated in 2013 to include major changes to the scope of the standard, including new requirements for determining minimum ventilation rates.
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Flex Trim is ready to ‘bend over backwards’ to meet clients’ needs.
By Alan Dorich
For more than 20 years, Flex Trim has set itself apart with service, co-owner and President Greg Carter says. When he joined the company in 2006, “We were probably the smallest of the four major flexible molding companies [in the market],” he recalls.
When the Great Recession hit in 2007, some of Flex Trim’s competitors closed their doors. But the company continued to thrive, thanks to its strong service. “We were able to grow 50 percent and have no layoffs,” Carter says. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard [customers say], ’You’re my best supplier.’”
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Nearmap’s imagery helps accelerate work for homebuilders and developers.
By Alan Dorich
There are many people involved with the process of building a home, including the land developer, general contractor and subcontractors. Each has different needs that Nearmap US, Inc. can help meet, Senior Director of Marketing Tim Frank says.
The firm, which has its U.S. headquarters in South Jordan, Utah, offers high-resolution imagery to various sectors, including construction, government, insurance, utilities and real estate. Nearmap started operations 10 years ago in Australia, where it flew planes equipped with patented camera systems.
It now offers photography through a subscription service to clients and covers the United States, Australia and New Zealand. This imagery, Frank notes, can be useful to developers who visit project sites to evaluate them.
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Larson Manufacturing’s Scenix porch windows bring the outdoors in.
By Alan Dorich
For more than 60 years, Larson Manufacturing has focused on making your home better. Its products make your home brighter, more comfortable and functional, and add much desired curb appeal. LARSON’s newest innovation, Scenix™ porch windows, continues that legacy.
Scenix porch windows allow you to bring more of your favorite outdoor qualities inside – warm sunshine, fresh air and breathtaking views. In addition, a Scenix porch offers you more usable square footage throughout the year and is truly the best room in your home to soak in the surroundings through panoramic views. “It’s a great way to bring the outdoors in,” Director of Business Development Bruce Thomas says.
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Lighting Design by Illuminate Lighting Design
Optic Arts wants to eliminate the complexity involved in installing flexible LED products and fixtures.
By Jim Harris
Optic Arts knows that flexible LED lighting, by nature, can be challenging for contractors to work with. It can require extra effort to install, including the need to sometimes be cut in the field to fit an application.
The Monterey Park, Calif.-based manufacturer’s customizable LED products can help contractors overcome this challenge. “We want to build products that are easy to design with and easy to install,” CEO Jason Mullen says. “Removing complexity and making a custom product that is easy to use is what we live for.”
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Mendota Hearth Products wants to be the go-to fireplace provider to custom builders and designers.
By Jim Harris
Mendota Hearth Products wants its products to be to the custom homebuilding market what Kleenex is to facial tissue consumers. “We want builders to ask their clients not what kind of fireplace they want, but which Mendota they want,” says Ron Schinnerer, sales manager of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based company.
Mendota – a division of Johnson Gas Appliance Co., a family-owned company established in 1901 – is a manufacturer of luxury gas fireplaces and gas fireplace inserts. The company’s products are available in North America through specialty retailers. Through an established dealer network, Mendota is reaching out to builders and designers of high-end custom homes to have its products included in home designs. “We want to turn the heads of custom builders and designers. Options make money,” Schinnerer says.
The company’s products are typically the focal point of the home and offer a benchmark of quality for the designer. “We are the most efficient and aesthetically pleasing brand in the category, as well we offer the broadest décor option to accent any design,” he adds.
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Schenkar Construction is a one-stop shop for new home construction as well as renovation and stabilization projects.
By Jim Harris
Schenkar Construction’s wide range of capabilities and hands-on approach to client service keep it busy in one of the country’s most active new home construction markets.
“We are fortunate to have a phenomenal marketplace and economy in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest,” owner and President Alex Schenkar says, noting the city’s status as a hub for technology giants such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. “We’re experiencing one of the best markets in the entire country based on population and median income growth.”
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