November 2015

Supported By

75th Anniversary Gala

Sponsored By

Earn 6 CE Credits in 1 Day

Day of Education

Thursday, November 12

9am - 4pm

CORT Furniture, 5035 Bloomfield Street, Jefferson

9-11am: More Money for You, Less for Uncle Sam

11am-1pm: Construction & Real Estate Business Lending Environments

2-4pm: Longevity Insight & Planning

Sponsored By:

REGISTRATION

Louisiana Remodeling Excellence Awards

2015 Kitchen & Bath Remodeling Competition

Presented by LHBA's Remodelers Council

Registration Deadline: Friday, November 6

Entry Packet Deadline: Friday, December 11

Entry Fees

Remodelers Council Members

First Entry : $75

Additional Entries : $25

LHBA Members

First Entry : $100

Additional Entries : $50

Non-LHBA Members

First Entry : $250

Additional Entries : $150

CLICK HERE for 2015 LREA Entry Packet and Official Rules

New Orleans Named 1 of Top 10 Cities for Contractors

Home improvement contractors have it tough. From understanding the art and science of their profession to navigating the morass of rules that govern modern construction projects, they need to have a keen eye for detail to succeed in their industry. Americans paid pros nearly $130 billion dollars to work on 30 million home improvement projects in 2013, according to the Census Bureau. And for many of those projects a huge stack of rules govern what work can be done when and by whom.

From electrical codes to plumbing inspections to lead removal standards, the many rules that govern home improvement projects explain why contractors in 75 out of 95 cities we looked at have a more negative view of their local government than the overall average in the Thumbtack Small Business Friendliness Survey.

So which cities are doing relatively well by their contractors? See who else made the list..

HBI Student Chapter at Delgado

Representatives from NAHB, HBAGNO, the New Orleans Home and Garden Show, and NOEL visited the incoming class of HBI Student Chapter members at Delgado's new Sidney Collier Campus.

Update from Jefferson Parish Department of Inspection and Code Enforcement

At the Jefferson Parish Department of Inspection and Code Enforcement, we strive to inspect your project within one day of your request - and, at times, we're able to accommodate you the same day! When making inspection requests to our office, please remember the below helpful hints that could "help us help you."

Be prepared to provide the correct permit number, as well as exactly what is to be inspected (i.e. house, pool, fence or accessory structure). If more than one building is on the site, please be certain to provide the building and/or unit number;
Insure that all necessary documents (i.e. survey, form or elevation) have been submitted prior to requesting your inspection;
Be certain that your sub-contractors know your project's permit number; and,
Follow the status of your project by visiting MyGovernmentOnline.org - here you can check on your inspection results and print reports 24 hours a day/7 days a week.

Employment Opportunity: New Orleans Building Inspector

New Orleans Civil Service: Chief Building Inspector
Entrance Salary: $49,889 per year
See full job description here.

Operation Finally Home

HBAGNO board member Zachary Tyson, Tyson Construction, and his family have been asked to participate in a build for Army war veteran, Sergeant Nathan Young. Tyson Construction will be the GC on the Young family's new home in Ashton Plantation.

Operation Finally Home is a national, non profit organization, created in 2005, that helps build mortgage free homes for wounded veterans, surviving spouses and their families. They bring builders, the military and local communities together to provide a foundation for the veterans and their families to move forward in their lives. To date, Operation Finally Home has built homes in 26 states.

To date (10/29), the Tysons have secured over 40, full or partial donations for materials and/or labor from concrete to roofing shingles, to appliances. They still have areas of need, and are accepting any and all donations to help with the build, along with basic living needs once the Youngs move into their new home.

Contact Zach Tyson at Tyson Construction for more details on the project and how you can help.
Email: Zach@Tyson-Construction.com
Phone: 504-905-1042

"Notes of Love" Home Signing

Monday, November 2nd, 1 - 4pm

Ashton Plantation, 319 Calcasieu Drive, Luling

LET'S SHARE A FEW WORDS OF RESPECT AND GRATITUDE WITH AN AMERICAN HERO.

Improving GDP Growth

Elliot Eisenberg, Ph.D. is President of GraphsandLaughs, LLC and can be reached at Elliot@graphsandlaughs.net. His daily 70 word economics and policy blog can be seen at www.econ70.com.

With our economy growing slowly for nearly a decade, it's time to promote policies that will spur growth. While there are always the obvious ones such as reducing government regulation, improving K-12 education and offering investment tax credits to firms, the first two are at best long-term reclamation projects while the latter costs money, which is in short supply. Below are five suggestions, each of which costs little to no money, and collectively they can boost annual GDP growth by 20% to 25%/year or $80 billion annually.

Begin by lowering the US corporate tax rate of 35% closer to the average developed world rate of 20%. Our high rate pushes firms to exploit loopholes, encourages firms to keep foreign earnings abroad and promotes corporate inversions and foreign takeovers of US firms. Worse, it brings in little revenue. A lower rate would attract investment from abroad, boosting productivity. At the same time simplify the personal income tax system. It is complicated, unfair and inefficient. At a minimum reduce marginal rates, widen the tax base and rid the code of some deductions. Plenty of studies show how this can be done while remaining revenue neutral.

Next, pass trade reform. At present, US exporters face an average tariff rate of close to 7% and more importantly, a host of non-tariff barriers. As the world's leader in services exports such as banking, insurance, music, movies and agricultural exports, increased trade is critical to growth. Moreover, the US generally has lower trade barriers than most other nations, so elimination of trade barriers is additionally beneficial. And due to the size and wealth of our market, other nations will be willing to make trade deals to get better access to it.

Something else to do; provide the Highway Trust Fund with a permanent source of sufficient revenue so that it is not perpetually in need of emergency monies from the general fund to remain solvent. Ideally raising the fuel tax, last increased to 18.4 cents/gallon in 1993, to eliminate this problem would be best, but nearly any source of dedicated revenue will do. As it is, we systematically underinvest in roads, bridges, tunnels and airports, yet these are precisely what establish conditions for long-run growth. Skimping on infrastructure is penny wise and pound foolish.

Reduce the number of professions where licensing is required. Over the past 40 years the number of professions that require licensing has risen from 10% to almost 30%. Licensing hits the poor hardest and erects barriers to entry for the less educated. For health and safety reasons sure, but 163 days of training for a manicurist in Alabama - that's clearly overkill.

Last but not least, get on with immigration reform! At a minimum, pass limited legislation where both parties are in agreement. Increase the number of H-1B visas that admit skilled foreigners. This will not depress wages of union workers and will increase the flow of human capital here. The more talent we attract, the faster we grow. We are engaged in competition with other nations such as Canada, Britain, Germany and Australia for the most talented. There is no reason for us to be turning away highly educated individuals who wish to live here.

From last month...

Golf Tournament Next Friday, October 9

REGISTRATION

October 27th GMM :
Moving Housing from Recovery to Revival

Guest Speaker:

Michelle Thomas,

Interim Executive Director,

Louisiana Housing Corporation

Moving Housing from Recovery to Revival

A key goal of HBAGNO is to provide members with access to information & opportunity to succeed in a changing economic environment. The discussion at this meeting will cover available programs that provide gap financing to developers, loan products to homebuyers, weatherization assistance, and homeowner repair. Attendees will leave the session with ideas on how to spur new business opportunities in the acquisition, finance, construction, and rehabilitation of housing.

Tuesday, October 27

11am-11:30 : New Member Orientation

11:30-12pm : Networking & Lunch

12-1pm : Program

$25 Members ($30 @ Door)

$30 Guests

Jefferson Parish President Housing Forum

As election season kicks off into full swing, the HBAGNO's executive board and staff have been busy monitoring the progress of all of the local and state races that affect our districts. On Wednesday, September 23, 2015, the HBA along with the Apartment Association and NOMAR (Realtors) hosted the Jefferson Parish President's housing forum. There are currently five candidates in this race: Mike Yenni, Elton Lagasse, Vincent De Salvo, Al Morella, and Robin Christiana. All five of the candidates attended and answered a variety of questions surrounding all aspects of the housing industry. Topics included: code and permitting, education, crime, housing development and construction. Although all of the candidates had great ideas about the future of Jefferson Parish, Mike Yenni stood out the most with his youthful and progressive ideas for the parish. As a result of the housing forum and information obtained from all candidates, the HBAGNO has decided to endorse Mike Yenni for Jefferson Parish President.

On behalf of the HBA of Greater New Orleans, we would like to encourage you to participate in our upcoming local, state elections. Remember to VOTE on Saturday, October 24th

Member Resources : Quick Links

Did you know that the HBAGNO monthly e-newsletter, sticks & bricks, contains a Quick Links section with information like statewide or parish-by-parish Building Permit Data? Check out the right-hand column, scroll to the bottom.

Safety Plus NOW FREE

Safety Plus has provided HBA members in Louisiana access to online training and safety documents for some time now. As of last Tuesday, September 22, the online training feature is now FREE to members.

Additionally, for those companies who have not had the time to develop their own jobsite safety manuals, Safety Plus will now create a personalized safety plan, complete will all OSHA required documents, for $489. This service would cost a non-member $1,200. Utilizing this service alone pays for your membership!

Start utilizing your membership today! Check out Safety Plus

Advertise in the 2016 Membership Directory

Ad reservations are now open for the 2016 HBAGNO Membership Directory! Enhanced listings start as as low at $39, and ads start at just $229.

Reserve your ad or enhanced listing online!

Jefferson Edge 2020

JEDCO has released Jefferson EDGE 2020, which outlines the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Strategy. View it HERE.

Jefferson Parish Online

MyGovernmentOnline.org's Customer Portal provides a customer with

access to most any information they would need about their project. The Portal makes inspection reports, original and revised plans, and ancillary documents available online. A user simply needs an internet browser (Internet Explorer 8+, Mozilla Firefox 3.6+, Safari, Goggle Chrome, etc...) to access all of the content on the portal. To create an account, the customer must have a valid email address and phone number. To view documents the user must have a PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Jefferson Parish offers a completely online application process through the Customer Portal. The system guides you through your application from start to finish. Each step gathers all of the necessary contact information, application questions, and files. Jefferson Parish permit technicians review your application, provide comments when necessary, and finally process your application and automatically add the newly created permit to your account.
Online applications may be submitted to the jurisdiction via the Customer Portal. The customer will provide an address, contact information for the application, and an appropriate permit type. This will determine the questions the customer must answer or the information they must provide. Customers will also have the option to upload copies of documents along with their application. Once all information is completed, the customer will send their application to the jurisdiction for review. A user or group of users will review the applications for completeness and accuracy.

Member Rebate Program

The Member Rebate Program is a free member benefit of your State & Local Home Builders Association.

There are over 40 of the country's leading manufacturer brands participating in the Member Rebate Program.

Visit Member Benefits for more information, or CLICK HERE to view an online brochure with helpful information about the program.