Builder Turns 'Trash' Into Custom Homes

A Texas homebuilder is turning trash to treasure by converting landfill items into houses for single mothers, artists and low-income families. License plate roofs, picture frame ceilings and wine cork floors are just some of the features in these custom-built homes.


"I always suspected that one could build a house out of whatever went into a landfill," said builder Dan Pillips.

He has turned his hunch into a business. Phillips and his retired art teacher wife Marsha pour their creative energy into their construction company, Phoenix Commotion.

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UPDATE: Home Builders Rise As Investors Bet Worst May Be Over

Shares of home builders rose Tuesday, shaking off data showing existing-home sales fell to their lowest level in 15 years, as investors bet the worse-than-expected number may be a bottom.

The National Association Of Realtors reported earlier Tuesday that home resales dropped a record 27.2%--nearly twice as much as analysts had expected--to an annual rate of 3.83 million in July. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected existing-home sales to fall by 14.3% to an annual rate of 4.6 million.

The data spurred losses in the broader markets, giving investors another reason to worry about the health of the economy. Though home-builder shares immediately fell following the data, they quickly turned higher. Analysts said investors in the sector were likely expressing optimism the number will rebound in August.

Among the largest gainers, Meritage Homes Corp. (MTH) recently traded 2.8% higher to $16.83, while KB Home (KBH) rose 2.7% to $10.06. Lennar Corp. (LEN) was recently up 2.4% to $13.03, while Ryland Group Inc. (RYL) increased 2.6% to $16.17. The sector has seen widespread losses in the past year, with Meritage down 25% and KB Home off 43%.

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Still Rising: Spec Houses Worth $20 Million

Enzo Morabito, a luxury real estate broker in New York's Hamptons, saw a line of people at his open house on Aug. 29. The property was a new, $25.95 million spec home by Michael Davis Design & Construction at 232 Parsonage Lane in Sagaponack, N.Y.—the country's most expensive small town, according to Businessweek.com. By the end of the day, more than 75 people had passed through the mansion. "That is an extraordinary turnout," says Morabito, executive vice-president of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Bridgehampton, N.Y. Equally surprising, given the tough environment for builders: This is Michael Davis' biggest and most expensive house ever.

Amid concerns about unemployment, an uneven housing rebound, and difficulty getting financing, some elite developers continue to build ultra-luxury homes on spec—for sale on the open market, not for an owner. Some cost even more than the residences they built during the housing boom. In high-end markets such as the Hamptons, Beverly Hills, Calif., Palm Beach, Fla., and Aspen, Colo., a number of new spec houses have entered the market this year in the $20 million range. A few are asking for far more.

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Beverly Hills Partially Closes Sunset Boulevard To Welcome A Million-Dollar Prefabricated Home From Utah Company

Beverly Hills is joining a list of high-profile cities that are welcoming a new generation of building. Irontown Housing Company, Inc., a 25-year-old Utah housing company, has changed the face of construction by providing customers custom, quality built, energy efficient homes while saving time, money and the earth.

Irontown Homes is scheduled to deliver a custom home to Beverly Hills on July 14th. The home features exquisite hand hewn cabinetry and built-in woodwork throughout, exposed ceiling beams, hardwood doors and case moldings, custom painting, majestic fireplace, exotic granite countertops, custom granite showers, and upgraded insulation. Also included are Pella windows, tile roof, GE Monogram appliances, Moen fixtures, imported tile flooring, home automation, and double-layered security system.

Eight individual modules will be craned onto the foundation in one day and the finishing will be done within a few weeks on site. Every Irontown Home is 95% finished when it leaves the factory.

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Utah Home-Building Industry Begins Recovery, Says University of Utah Eccles School of Business Report

Economists and researchers at the Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) at the University of Utah’s Eccles School of Business report that the number of permits issued for new single-family homes in Utah turned positive in July 2009—following 39 consecutive months of decline—and has recorded steady increases for the past 10 months. These findings indicate that Utah’s home-building industry is in the early stages of recovering from the worst contraction in more than 70 years.

The data, released in the quarterly BEBR publication Utah Economic and Business Review, showed a 110 percent increase in first-quarter 2010 single-family new home permits compared with Q1 2009 numbers.

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Single-family Home Permits Up in Utah

Home building is up in Utah to the tune of nearly $400 million.

Permits for single-family homes in the first quarter of 2010 are up 110 percent over the first quarter of 2009, according to a report released by the Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.

About 1,500 new home-building permits were issued by the state from January through March this year.

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Wasatch Front Home Building Activity Up Dramatically in 1Q

After one of the most dismal home building years on record, residential construction activity along the Wasatch Front is up dramatically so far in 2010.

Builders in Utah's most populous area took out permits for 1,356 single-family homes in the first quarter, more than double the 569 homes in same period of 2009, according to Construction Montor, which tracks building activity throughout the West. Although residential building activity from roughly Ogden to Provo is up, it's still well below levels of the record year of 2006, when builders took out 3,786 permits in the first three months.

A great deal of the increase this year can be attributed to the federal income tax credit of as much as $8,000, which required buyers to go under contract by April 30, said Jason Eldredge, vice president of land acquisition for Fort Worth-based DR Horton in Utah and Idaho.

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Are Builders' Incentives For Home Buyers Legal?

Question: Builders in my area are offering incentives to buyers who use their respective in-house mortgage companies. But they aren't offering the incentives to all buyers, just those who secure financing through the company-owned lender. I recently read that if the incentives aren't offered to all buyers, regardless of whether they use the builder for a loan, it is a violation of federal law. Is that correct?

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Utah housing market challenges builders, favors buyers

If hearing is believing, Utah's housing market is in the midst of recovery. Check out all those rebound sounds — nail guns popping, chop saws whirling and hammers banging — emanating from a new subdivision near you.

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