http://www.builderonline.com/products/finishes-and-surfaces/flooring/Default.aspx?view=rss&id=Query_tcm1029677http://www.builderonline.com/products/favorite-50.aspx?rssLink=FAVORITE+50Find out what products piqued readers curiosity over the course of 2008.http://www.builderonline.com/products/strand-bamboo-flooring.aspx?rssLink=strand+bamboo+flooringhttp://www.builderonline.com/business/manufacturer-programs-promise-to-save-builders-time-and-money.aspx?rssLink=Manufacturer+Programs+Promise+to+Save+Builders+Time+and+MoneyLumber Liquidators, Crane, LP, Whirlpool, and Therma-Tru offer new packages to their builder customers in difficult housing market.http://www.builderonline.com/products/10-things-you-must-put-in-your-new-house.aspx?rssLink=10+List%3a+10+Things+You+Must+Put+in+Your+Next+HouseAdd these features to boost the value of your homes with your buyers.http://www.builderonline.com/products/pcbc-new-products-day-1.aspx?rssLink=New+Products%3a+PCBC+Day+1Discover the latest new products featured at this week's Pacific Coast Builders Show in San Francisco.http://www.builderonline.com/business/fsc-certifies-bamboo-flooring.aspx?rssLink=FSC+Certifies+Bamboo+Flooring%2c+Bamboo+PlywoodOrganization has traditionally evaluated only wood forest products.http://www.builderonline.com/products/april-2008-top-shelf.aspx?rssLink=April+Top+ShelfThe latest and greatest building products.http://www.builderonline.com/business/ibs-product-picks-day-3.aspx?rssLink=IBS+Product+Picks%3a+Day+3Hanley Wood product editors are combing the Builders' Show exhibit floor in search of innovative and interesting introductions for you and your clients. Here are hot finds from Day 3.http://www.builderonline.com/show-homes/back-to-the-future.aspx?rssLink=Back+to+the+FutureOf course, post-industrial houses do have their benefits (indoor plumbing, beer fridges, hi-def surround sound), so the task becomes figuring out how to integrate antiquity’s greatest green lessons into designs that meet the lifestyle demands of today. That is what Tradewinds, our show home for the 2008 International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla., set out to do.http://www.builderonline.com/sales-and-marketing/spiff-up-your-standing-inventory.aspx?rssLink=Spiff+Up+Your+Standing+InventoryLike most real estate agents these days, Lori McGuire has had to step it up a bit to get buyers to sign a contract. A Realtor in Orange County, Calif., McGuire is working with three different builders in Covenant Hills, a gated community in the master planned development of Ladera Ranch. Prices start at about $3 million.http://www.builderonline.com/flooring/urbane-infill.aspx?rssLink=Urbane+InfillFollowing the great Chicago Fire of 1871, the city adopted stringent ordinances requiring that homes be built with stone or other non-combustible materials. Not being situated on municipal land, however, the community of Lakeview quickly became a boomtown for shoddy, non-regulated construction, populated mostly by small multifamily buildings and worker cottages. By the end of the 20th century, many of those structures, which had been patched up over the years with aluminum or asphalt siding, had reached the end of their lifespan and became prime targets for teardowns.http://www.builderonline.com/flooring/sea-through.aspx?rssLink=Sea+ThroughThe assignment wasn't exactly a piece of cake: a postage-stamp–sized lot (measuring 45 by 60 feet) in a flood plain with site requirements for a self-contained septic system and drain field. Some builders would have walked away, but Holbeck Construction teamed with the architects at Pelletier + Schaar to create this jewel-box of a home in a rural area of Washington state whose street grid predates the invention of the automobile.http://www.builderonline.com/projects/good-neighbors.aspx?rssLink=Good+NeighborsFive likeable projects prove that not all teardowns warrant a crackdown.http://www.builderonline.com/sales-and-marketing/downtown-attraction.aspx?rssLink=Downtown+AttractionIt happens all the time. People drive through downtown Escondido, Calif., on Centre City Parkway and stop for the traffic light at West Second Avenue. Across the street they see City Square, a cluster of four-story, contemporary townhomes painted in brick, mustard, charcoal, sand, and cornflower blue. It doesn't look anything like all the other, mostly Spanish-style, buildings in the area.http://www.builderonline.com/flooring/cable-flooring-heating-system.aspx?rssLink=Cable+Flooring-Heating+SystemCompatible with the maker's electric floor-warming mats, thehttp://www.builderonline.com/sales-and-marketing/in-town-advantage.aspx?rssLink=In-Town+AdvantageWhen Michael Ray and Jay MacDowell, partners in Atlanta-based The Housing Group, built their first neighborhood in East Atlanta in 1999, they were banking on a vision of what the in-town community could be. They envisioned a vibrant village with funky boutiques and a hopping nightlife in place of the rows of boarded-up storefronts with burglar bars. It took more than a little faith to picture East Atlanta that way, and a lot of guts to build houses there.http://www.builderonline.com/projects/reach-for-the-skies.aspx?rssLink=Reach+for+the+SkiesEmaar signs are everywhere in Dubai, the now legendary city/state of only 1,500-square-miles with roughly 1.4 million people (about the size of San Antonio). Huge plasma displays touting Emaar communities greet visitors at airport customs. Blue-and-yellow flags and billboards carry the company's name along the highway. Emaar's name hangs from cranes on its projects throughout town, where an incredible 350 buildings of 30 stories or more are under construction.http://www.builderonline.com/projects/bright-spots.aspx?rssLink=Bright+SpotsThe housing market is hurting everyone, and 2007 will surely go down as the year many builders crashed and burned. But there are a few Teflon ventures that have managed to defy the odds and rack up healthy sales in an otherwise weary landscape. And they aren't necessarily using incentives or gimmicks to move inventory. In many cases, savvy design is what's helping these beacons outshine the competition and snap buyers out of their inertia.http://www.builderonline.com/flooring/skin-deep.aspx?rssLink=Skin+DeepQ: Times are tight. How can we cut back on the number of floor plans we offer without losing curb appeal and creating streetscapes that look monotonous?http://www.builderonline.com/sales-and-marketing/heads-above-water.aspx?rssLink=Heads+Above+WaterWater is a central element in the site plan development of BridgeWater, which was built on reclaimed phosphate-mining land and includes five deep, crystal-clear lakes. As a result, 90 percent of the lots in the community have a lake view. In brainstorming names for the lakes, the sales and marketing team at Jacksonville, Fla.–based developer LandMar Group decided to find five outstanding women related to the history of Lakeland, Fla., and name the lakes after them.