We are proud to announce our first place win in the parade of homes!!

Our newly completed home, located in the Shenandoa subdivision in Durango, CO won first place overall in the People’s Choice category. This same home also received second place overall in the judges selection.

We are so thankful for the diligent staff at Kogan Builders, skilled trade contractors and most of all, our fabulous clients who had a great vision and who graciously shared their home with thousands of people.

Thank you to all!!!

Here are some images of everyone’s favorite home in the parade!

Hello Friends of Kogan Builders!

Check out Kogan’s page at Buzztown.com where you can see a sneak peek of our parade entry.

From this site you can:

• Purchase tickets to the parade
• See videos of the parade homes
• Read descriptions of the homes and articles about the builder
• Write reviews
• Become a fan

Be sure to stay tuned, as all of the web pages are currently being developed. New additions, photos and articles are coming soon!

See you in Sept!!

-The Kogan Team

We found a great article from Builder Magazine. It talks about 10 cost-effective construction strategies that will increase energy efficiency of a home. Read the Article Here

Kogan Builders has a few favorites from this list, that prove to be very beneficial, especially in our climate. These design and construction techniques offer the most bang for your buck when investing in energy efficiency.

• Orient the house for energy efficiency.
• Place windows appropriately.
• Properly air-seal the structure.
• Insulate. Insulate. Insulate.
• Choose an efficient hot water system.
• Install Energy Star appliances.

As a certified Green Builder and Energy Star Partner, Kogan Builders has the education and resources to offer our clients the most energy efficient home to fit their budget! If you have any questions about cost-effective ways to save on energy bills, don’t hesitate to give us a call!

Get excited, the 2009 Parade of Homes is less than a month away…

Join us September 12-13th and 19-20th at our home at 86 Roble Way. The Parade runs from 9am to 4pm each Saturday and Sunday and tickets are good for both weekends!

We are very excited to present this beautiful home, and Parade guests will also have a chance to meet the owners! Below is a snapshot of our page as it will appear in the Parade’s publication.

Get your tickets at BuzzTown.com or at the Bank of Colorado located on Main Ave in Durango.

Hello to all Kogan Builders Blog Followers!

Here is some more  encouraging news as it relates to the National housing market and new construction for single-family homes.  I clipped this information from an article on builderonline.com titled “Single-Family Construction Spending Grows For First Time in 40 Months”, enjoy.

-Trevor

For the first time in more than three years, spending for single-family construction grew in June on a monthly basis, increasing 2.4% compared to May. This translates into a seasonally adjusted level of $93.5 billion, which is 51.1% below June 2008’s level, according to figures released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

It represents the first increase in this category in 40 months, according to Patrick Newport, U.S. economist of IHS Global Insight, who predicts single-family construction will continue to grow in the months to come.

Overall, construction spending increased slightly in June, rising 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted level of $965.7 billion compared to May. Those June figures stand 10.2% below the same month one year ago.

Some more positive information taken from an article on the wsj.com showing good economic signs and the markets ability to bounce back from the bottom quicker than expected.

-Trevor

The stock market managed to extend its winning streak to four sessions on Tuesday after spending most of the trading day moving between small gains and losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 33.63 points, or 0.4%, to 9320.19, its highest close since Nov. 4. The Dow has risen 2.8% over the last four trading days.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 3.02 points, or 0.3%, to 1005.65 and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 2.70 points, or 0.1%, to 2011.31.

Monday, the S&P 500 topped 1000 for the first time since November and the Nasdaq closed above 2000 for the first time since October after better-than-expected earnings and economic data powered the market higher through July.

Our design coordinator, Tess, worked on this project at the School of Architecture. This design-build project created a wheelchair accessible camp outside of Little Rock in Arkansas. Some of the amenities include an archery station where kids can shoot bows while seated, and an accessible tree house where they can have the feeling of being up high in the trees!

View the full article at: http://www.athomearkansas.com/At-Home-Arkansas/August-2009/Outdoor-Access/

 The July issue of Mountain Living Magazine features the Top 20 Designers, Architects and Builders in the West and Kogan Builders is one of them!

 Check us out on page 74 in the hard copy.

Or visit the Mountain Living Website for their online version of the article: http://www.mountainliving.com/Mountain-Living/July-2009/The-Top-20-Under-40-Share-Their-Favorite-Picks/

 Read the Full Article Here: Top 20 Under 40

We are really honored to be grouped among the 20 best designers and builders in the west, and excited to keep finding creative solutions for our homes!!

Here’s an interesting article on various ways to save money when building green. http://www.customhomeonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=204&articleID=966010

At Kogan Builders we are always working to find the right level of green design and building to suit our client’s preferences and budgets. People always assume that building green equates to expensive… here is our take on it:

Some green materials cost the same as their traditional counterparts, and Kogan Builders always uses them as a matter of course. We consider these substitutions to be “no brainers” and always suggest them. Because there are more companies producing green products, costs are coming down for consumers, making them a better choice not only for the budget, but also for healthier indoor air quality, energy efficiency, and environmental impact.

In other cases, certain materials, systems and construction techniques cost more initially, but quickly offset their cost due to drastic energy savings. In these scenarios, we often provide a cost analysis for our clients based specifically on their project and budget to help them make an informed decision about which products to use.

Lastly, we’ve heard that certain green products don’t make financial sense, they are simply more expensive than traditional products and it takes many years before they offset their cost, if ever. This is the case for certain products and materials, but often times clients will choose these simply for the principle of sustainable living. These products suit people who specifically are interested in environmental impact and their carbon footprint.

The good news is, each day there are more incentives, credits and rebates for green products and Kogan Builders can help you decide which ones are right for you.

If you are thinking of remodeling, or starting from scratch, call us for a free design consultation.

Below is another article from the NAHB suggesting that 2009 is going to be the year things start to rebound.  Of course we never know the market is at the bottom until the it starts coming back up… but this article brings up some interesting points.

In Durango right now, we are seeing favorable conditions for buyers. Interest rates are at record lows, land prices have decreased and there is plenty of inventory to choose from. Building costs have stabilized with lumber costs at a 7 year low and trade contractors competing for business.

In the past year, we’ve also seen a number of trade contractors and home builders go out of business and exit our local market. So… when consumer confidence bounces back, as we have already started to see this first quarter of 2009, and buyers start taking advantage of the favorable conditions by starting their plans for building, what do you think will happen to building costs?

I just got back from a Builder 20 meeting, where I met with 20 top end builders from all over the nation. Every one of us has seen an increase in interest for new construction during this first quarter, and every one of us anticipates that with a shortage of trade contractors and builders available to do the work, construction pricing will be on the upward move again. Because Durango is a dream destination for many people, we have not been hit as hard as the rest of the nation during these economic times, so our demand will bounce back quickly. In a smaller market with a limited workforce such as ours, we anticipate pricing to climb as the demand for new homes increases and trade contractors become overloaded with work.

At Kogan Builders, we’ve been telling our clients who want to build in the next two years to start thinking about putting their project into motion now. By evaluating the site, and beginning the design now, our clients can be ready to break ground as soon as the timing is right for them, taking advantage of the lowest possible construction pricing. Because the site evaluation, design and engineering can take anywhere from 3-18 months, we encourage people to take care of these preliminary steps so they are ready to go when the market turns around.

If you find yourself in this situation, take us up on our Free Site Evaluation where we walk your property and give you ideas about design and building placement and estimate rough costs for infrastructure and construction.  Kogan Builders is a full service design-build company, so we can ensure your design is ready when you are.

Ok… here’s the article I promised you! 

HOME BUILDER CONFIDENCE POSTS BIGGEST GAIN IN FIVE YEARS

 WASHINGTON, April 15 – Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose five points in April to the highest level since October 2008, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today. This gain was the largest one-month increase recorded since May of 2003, and brings the HMI out of single-digit territory for the first time in six months – to 14. Every component of the HMI reflected the boost, with the biggest gain recorded for sales expectations in the next six months.

 ”If you’re a potential buyer who’s been sitting on the fence waiting for a sign that now is the time to act, this is it,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “Some of the most favorable buying conditions in a lifetime are now in place, and they are drawing more consumers back to the market.”

 ”This is a very encouraging sign that we are at or near the bottom of the current housing depression,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.

“With the prime home buying season now underway, builders report that more buyers are responding to the pull of much-improved affordability measures, including low home prices, extremely favorable mortgage rates and the introduction of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit.”

 Crowe cautioned, however, that a key issue that still must be addressed is the ongoing lockdown on builder acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) financing. “Restoring health to our nation’s economy will require a substantial housing recovery, and that recovery is contingent on breaking the logjam in AD&C lending that presents an ever-increasing obstacle for home builders,” he said.

 Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for more than 20 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations in the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor. 

Each of the HMI’s component indexes recorded substantial gains in April. The largest of these gains was a 10-point surge in the component gauging builder sales expectations for the next six months, which brought that index to 25. The component gauging current sales conditions and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers each rose five points, to 13 and 14, respectively.

 The HMI also rose in every region in April, with an eight-point gain to 16 in the Northeast, a six-point gain to 14 in the Midwest, a five-point gain to 17 in the South and a 4-point gain to 9 in the West. 

Editor’s Note: The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index is strictly the product of NAHB Economics, and is not seen or influenced by any outside party prior to being released to the public. HMI tables can be accessed online at: www.nahb.org/hmi. More information on housing statistics is also available at: www.housingeconomics.com.