Valrico Builder Chuck Fowke to Become Florida Home Builders Association President

TALLAHASSEE – Valrico home builder John “Chuck” Fowke is slated to become the President of the Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA) this Friday, October 30 during a ceremony at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg. Fowke, who will assume the role from Punta Gorda builder Jay Carlson, will serve as President of FHBA’s 10,000-plus members for a one-year term.

Joining Fowke in leading FHBA members will be Tampa-area land use attorney Judy James. James will serve as FHBA’s Second Vice President – the highest ranking leadership position for an associate member.

FHBA is a Tallahassee-based trade association involved in Florida’s home building, commercial construction and remodeling industry. Known as the voice of Florida’s housing industry, FHBA has 27 local home builders associations throughout Florida, including the Tampa Bay Builders Association where both Fowke and James are members.

Fowke, the founder of Homes by John C. Fowke, is a leading Suncoast luxury home builder. He launched his career in the Tampa area in 1974 – more than 30 years ago – after a stint as a professional baseball player with the Texas Rangers.

James, a graduate of the University of Florida Law School, began her law firm in 1983. She is a longtime advocate for sensible growth, and is widely respected for her land use and permitting expertise.

Fowke and James will be installed as President and Second Vice President on Friday during a banquet being held in conjunction with FHBA’s Fall Leadership Conference.

About FHBA: The Florida Home Builders Association is a Tallahassee, Florida-based trade association representing more than 10,000 corporate members involved in Florida’s home building, remodeling and commercial construction industry. Known as “the voice of Florida’s housing industry,” FHBA is affiliated with 27 local home builders associations throughout Florida. Its subsidiaries include Florida Home Builders Insurance, Inc., which provides risk management and insurance services to members. FHBA was founded in 1949 as the state affiliate of the National Association of Home Builders. Visit us on the web at www.fhba.com.

Dream home's design based on floor plans and imagination -- baltimoresun.com

By Marie Gullard

These are big houses on tiny lots," Eileen Jacobs says of her two-story, all-brick traditional home in Owings Mills.

Her decorating challenge, therefore, was not the exterior but rather the interior space of 3,400 square feet, not counting the basement. She was more than up to the task, and while the house was being constructed, she designed rooms and bought furnishings working only from floor plans.

"The [design] was all in my mind's eye before we moved," she said. "One to two months afterward, I had everything in place."

Eileen Jacobs, a dental hygienist, and her husband, Howard Jacobs, a pulmonologist, settled in their $750,000 home in May 2008. An additional $58,000 was spent on interior upgrades (such as a floor-to-ceiling, double-sided stone fireplace in the family room), furniture and accessories, and a screen-enclosed outdoor deck.

Eileen Jacobs worked from a self-designated color palette of warm shades embracing beige, brown and orange throughout the open layout of the home's first floor, complete with master suite. Here, she says, she and her husband can live comfortably without ever having to use the second level.

Included on the first level are a large living room and dining room on either side of an entrance hall, an open kitchen, study, powder room, a grand family room that's open to the second level, a cheerful sunroom, master bedroom with bath and a screened porch.

The open kitchen at the rear of the home boasts 42-inch walnut cabinets with warm granite counters complementing a rustic backsplash of travertine tile.

An inlaid mahogany pedestal table is graced with place mats woven in autumn shades of yellow, red and brown. Oak flooring (found throughout the first level) and walls painted in a rich shade of burnt sienna, complete the cozy and welcoming design.

"My favorite room is the family room," Eileen Jacobs said.

Once again, warmth owns the space here in walls painted medium beige with an accent wall displaying a stenciled, bold flower design in brown and white. Supple brown leather furniture is softened by the presence of accent chairs in white duck cloth, and personalized with a framed painting of the Jacobs' two grown sons, Danny and Mitchell.

The screened-in porch is Howard Jacobs' favorite place to be. Here, wrought-iron furniture with plump cushioned chairs cozy up to a wide-screen TV.

Eileen Jacobs' designs for her four-bedroom second level are still in the planning stage. There is no rush for this self-proclaimed budget-conscious, maintenance-free designer who admits she doesn't like fuss.

"We're not going anywhere," she said. "I'm tired of moving."

Have you found your dream home? Tell us about it at homes@baltsun.com.

Making a dream home

Dream element: The Jacobs' two-story home sits opposite a large estate in Owings Mills. When the estate's owner sold off a hefty parcel of the land, developers Richmond American planned the construction of 21 homes on the property. The Jacobs' all brick, traditional-style home was the first one completed and has the enviable position across from the original manor house.

Design inspiration: Eileen Jacobs decorated her home in traditional fashion on what she proudly calls a budget. "I bought everything before the house was even built," she said. And while choosing many construction upgrades that include a two-sided fireplace in the great room, a first-level master bedroom, granite counters and Berber carpeting, she then proceeded to shop discount stores such as Home Goods, Marshall's and Target for each room's accessories. She purchased her furniture, of which 75 percent is new, from Gardiner's and Home Goods.

Surprise feature: In Eileen Jacob's living and dining rooms, she takes an artistic twist on the current trend of painting an accent wall in vertical strips of coordinating colors. Instead, her wide stripes of taupe and medium beige are horizontal, and in the dining room this technique is used only to the chair rail where the bottom half of the wall is paneled and inlaid with boxes of grass cloth.

Personal touch: Eileen Jacobs, who never once sought the help of an interior decorator, says, "You need to have a good eye and know where things go." She is keen on putting unlikely items together, such as formal curtain tassels draped over hanging bath towels and beads cascading down a window on her staircase landing for some coverage, but mostly light. She notes that several of her ideas have come from watching HGTV.

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun

How Computers Have Changed the Way of Designing Homes

Introduction
The Real Estate Industry is one of the industry where computers and computer aided design (CAD) is changing the way we design houses.

In the earlier days the use of CAD in the real estate industry was limited to only a handful of tech savvy people and those companies who had a technical person as their staff. This person was highly skilled and used to prepare construction documents using CAD programs such as AutoCAD. 3D modeling was used but only occasionally.

The home design industry is witnessing a see change. With the advancement of the CAD software which has now become very user friendly, it is gradually recieving wide acceptence.

Virtual Construction of the Home
With the help of the new improved version of CAD tool a virtual three-dimensional model is being created that contains very useful tool which can be used not only for visualization of the house but also for manufacturing purposes.

This technology enables one to visualize and walk through the home in 3D, giving minute details of how the home will appear even before the start of the construction process. The advantage here is that the homeowner gets a clear understanding of how the home is going to look like after completion leaving no scope of misunderstanding.Moreover, modern technology allows 3D building models to carry with it behavior, rather than just the appearance of the element. Software developers now give their objects relationships with each other. An example of this would be the moving of a window in a framed wall which causes the stud framing to update and re-apply itself, using a defined set of rules that associate spacing and sizing options.

Technology for the consumer retail market
Purchasing a high-end CAD system is not required. Instead one can utilize object-oriented technology in the building industry. Discuss the matter with your local business supply or stationary store and you may end up finding 10 different examples of "design your own home" or "landscaping" software.

A best-known example is 3D Home Design Suite by Broderbund and is one of the leading publishers of home and landscape design. This program enables the user to quickly and quite easily design his/her own home, virtually including the interior and create a photo-realistic rendering in minutes. This design can then be exported via DXF to AutoCAD or other CAD packages for the creation of professional working drawings.These user friendly packages enables even a novice person create a sellable designs that may almost be compared to those found in real-estate sales offices.

CAD Technology used in Residential Sales Offices.
The Real Estate Industry revolves around the sale of the home and in the earlier days model homes or expensive artist's renderings had to be created.Models and digital renderings are now quickly replaced by images created with the help of software packages like CAD.It also enables the businesses to clearly communicate the business messege to their client.

Technology for the Manufactured Home Industry
The manufactured home industry may be segregated under three catagories: Modular, Panelized and HUD. Computer technology can no doubt benefit this industry more than any other because of the large degree of automation available. These types of manufactures now have the ability to attach large amounts of data to their model homes ranging from the exact cut lists and wall panel diagram information, to a complete bill of materials that link to a purchase ordering system and estimating package.

KML Homes in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, is one of the best example of new age manufacturing plant that now a dayy are using design software to automate their panelized process. Focussing on a light-gauge steel framing system, they currently receive custom plans from Architects electronically (usually in AutoCAD format) and convert them to create a 3D AutoCAD model using a third party add-on product. Once the model is created, KML can now completely frame the walls, floors and roofs and divide them into an efficient panelizing system. This panel data is then electronically transferred to the production floor, where the panels are assembled and shipped to site where they are assembled onto a waiting foundation.

KML estimates that within the past eight months, they have increased productivity by 100% and future implementation will increase that by another 60%.

Conclusion
From the above discussion we get a clear understanding of how computers have changed, and are continuing to change the way we design houses, ranging from the consumer retail market, real-estate offices, to the manufactured home industry.