NAHB Urges White House Action on Lumber Prices
WASHINGTON, DC — With builders continuing to grapple with lumber price swings and supply chain disruptions, the National Association of Home Builders has once again appealed to the White House to redouble its efforts to address lumber price volatility and address supply chain bottlenecks for lumber and other building materials.
The Washington, DC-based NAHB this week sent a letter to President Biden, requesting that government officials address three key issues that, if unaddressed, “will severely hamper the ability to provide affordable housing and provide jobs to strengthen the economy,” said the association, which has already conducted several meetings on the subject with top administration officials.
“While lumber prices have fallen precipitously since peaking in mid-May, prices have been moving upward over the past month,” said the 140,000-member NAHB, urging the Biden administration “to make it an important priority to address lumber and building material supply chain issues that are contributing to price volatility and harming housing affordability.”
The NAHB urged U.S. officials address the current congestion at the ports and to “return to the negotiating table with Canada and develop a new softwood lumber agreement that will end tariffs on lumber shipments into the U.S.”
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Wetstyle Opens New Showroom
Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Canada – WETSTYLE, a Canadian manufacturer of premium-quality bath fixtures and furnishings for the North American market, has opened its newly constructed showroom to architects, designers and the general public for the first time.
Beginning May 1, 2021, customers are welcome to view WETSTYLE’s product line at its new corporate showroom, with social distancing practices in place. The 11,600-sq.-ft. showroom, located in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, on Montreal’s South Shore, will be open by appointment only during showroom hours, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday.
“We are very proud to welcome customers to this facility, which was designed to showcase our values as a brand,” says Mark Wolinsky, president of WETSTYLE. “We look forward to showing local specifiers and customers what we do.”
The showroom exhibits 19 bathtub models, nine furniture collections and more than 30 sink models to choose from, many featuring WETSTYLE’s proprietary WETMAR BiO material, recognized by GOOD DESIGN for Green Innovation as the industry’s first recipe for soy and mineral stone used in the fabrication of composite bath fixtures. Among the WETSTYLE products on display are the Stelle Vanity collection, Mood bathtub and Feel shower bases, all recipients of GOOD DESIGN awards.
Designed by Atelier Moderno, and recipient of the Grands Prix du Design 2020 award, the showroom is filled with distinct and intimate spaces, each highlighting an individual product. The contemporary space features non-obtrusive walls that isolate each product zone in vignette-like fashion, invoking sentiments of environments reflective of the products in use. Atmospheric lighting sets the mood of each product zone via strips and spotlights, reflecting off of a porcelain floor with marble-esque qualities that embrace the sophistication of the company’s high-end, handcrafted, made-to-order products.
“The showroom is the face of our beautiful finished products, and we have succeeded in creating a space that captures the essence of that beauty,” adds Wolinsky. “It’s also a vehicle for exhibiting the tremendous level of detail, craftmanship and passion invested in the making of our award-winning products.”
Ensuring a safe environment
With the health and safety of its clients and employees as a top priority, the WETSTYLE showroom strictly adheres to all government guidelines in respect to COVID-19 protocols. As of May 1, the facility will welcome customers up to a maximum of five people per designated appointment time.
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Fantini Calls for Awards Entries
New York – The Fantini Design Awards, an annual competition presented by Fantini USA, has opened its competition with a call for entries through October 29, 2021. The competition, celebrating its fourth year, celebrates the best of North American design inspired by water. Fantini invites all architects, designers and developers to submit their eligible projects for consideration.
Seven projects will be selected as winners by a panel of judges, and one representative per winning project will receive a four-day, all-expenses paid trip this fall to Casa Fantini/Lake Time resort, designed by Piero Lissoni at Fantini’s headquarters in Pella, Italy.
Qualifying Projects should:
Be either a Completed or a Future project
Be completed after January 1, 2019 and no later than October 29, 2021Be located in the U.S. or CanadaBe documented with high-resolution, professional photography (Completed Projects) OR a sketch, rendering and/or floor plan (Future Projects)
Completed Project Requirements
Fit in one of the categories: Residential or CommercialIf Residential, the Project must have at least:
One master bathroom with five or more Fantini fixtures (including faucets), OR
two or more bathrooms with at least three Fantini fixtures (including one or more faucets) in eachIf Commercial, Fantini branded products must have been used in the Project.
Future Project Requirements
Project must be under construction, meaning that the construction works have begun on-site in the U.S. or Canada but are not yet completed.Must fall into one of the following two categories:
Residential, provided it will install Fantini fixtures in two or more bathrooms; OR Commercial, provided that Fantini branded products will be used in the Project.
Project entries will be judged by Kendra Jackson, deputy editor, AZURE magazine; Olivia Hosken, Style and Interiors writer for Town & Country, and Alessandro Munge, founder and design director for Studio Munge.
All submissions must be received by October 29th, 2021 at 11:59 pm EST.
For additional information, visit https://fantinidesignawards.squarespace.com/
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NAHB Urges Action on Supply Chain Bottlenecks, Tariffs
WASHINGTON, DC The National Association of Home Builders has renewed its calls on Congress and the Biden administration to help ease building material supply chain bottlenecks that are stunting housing affordability by eliminating trade barriers and seeking solutions to port congestion and major delays in truck and rail transportation.
Testifying before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations, NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke this week told government lawmakers that disruptions in the building materials supply chain that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic are having “a disproportionate” impact on smaller homebuilding firms.
“Without large economies of scale, small businesses generally cannot negotiate bulk discounts on lumber and other key building materials,” said Fowke. “The effects of this uncertainty trickle all the way to the (prospective) homebuyer, many of whom have balked at projects due to unexpected price increases.”
According to the Washington, DC-based NAHB, historically high lumber and building materials prices continue to serve as “headwinds” for the U.S. housing sector, significantly impeding housing affordability.
“From steel mill products and plastic piping to cooper pipe and wood windows and doors, prices are up dramatically year-to-date and are exacerbating the growing housing affordability crisis,” Fowke said, suggesting that the Biden administration address two fundamental problems.
“On the trade front, until a long-term solution can be reached, Congress and the administration should temporarily suspend duties on a wide array of imported building materials and goods, from Canadian softwood lumber to Chinese steel and aluminum,” said Fowke. “In addition, policymakers must continue to aggressively explore solutions to ease building material supply chain disruptions that are causing project delays and putting upward pressure on home prices.”
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