If you're planning to build your custom dream home or add a new room or home addition, browse through our extensive collection of articles listed below for helpful information about screening and hiring the right contractor or builder for your project or tips on planning and executing your new home construction or addition. Looking for a contractor or builder? Use our Contractor Directory to find a local, top-rated builders and service professionals.

	What Style of Home is Right for You? As you drive through your neighborhood, you'll likely notice that no two homes look the same. Even in developments, homeowners choose different residential architecture styles to express their person takes and meet their family's needs. If you're building a new home, take a moment to read about the advantages and disadvantages of the many types of homes available.
	Common Home Building Mistakes to Avoid Building your dream home is a huge undertaken and every precaution should be made to ensure its success. From hiring a custom home builder or do-it-yourself projects, careful planning is the key to rewarding custom built home.
	Backyard Cottages for Urban Renewal Backyard cottages used to be popular in the late 19th Century as more people moved into urban areas. Skyscrapers and businesses replaced these dwellings but today, as cities get bigger, the fringe suburbs are now vying to have back-lot, accommodation add-ons. Backyard cottages can be converted garages or design-built mini-homes with a flair for architecture.
	New Home Construction Materials New home construction has come a long way in the past twenty years. New technologies structural insulated panels and insulated concrete forms have revolutionized house frames and increased energy-efficiency. Other improvements such as triple-pane, low-e and argon windows as well new roofing materials have added heat retention qualities as well as protection from the sun from fading the colours.

New Home Construction New home construction has come a long way in the past few years as energy-efficiency becomes a prime concern. The old stick frame way of building is moving aside for new products that are not only energy-saving but also stand up to extreme weather patterns like hurricanes. Structural insulated panels are built as an insulated wall at the factory whereas insulated concrete forms are made on site. For structural integrity lightweight steel framing is also popular for walls and trusses.

New Home Construction New home construction has slowed to a crawl within the last year. However, homebuilders are using this to their advantage as they take advantage of the low costs of labor and building supplies. As residential builders tray to keep cash flowing through their organizations the cost of building a new home has not been this low in years. In addition the government is offering rebates and tax incentives to help the building trades.

New Home Construction: A Good Time To Build? An economic slowdown does not mean that a home buyer should overlook building a new home. Because the industry works on a supply and demand cycle the cost of new building supplies and custom builders can mean that you can have your dream home constructed for less money than buying one already built. This is because the money has already been committed to the existing home and the seller needs to satisfy the bank.

	Home Remodeling - Adding On Many home remodeling projects require the addition of new rooms or other space. In many cases this means either a small or large demolition of the old to make way for the new, especially when adding a story to the building. Going out the front, back or side of a home will require foundation work and, like adding upward, a new roof.

Energy Planning New Home Construction New home construction should be more than just buying a lot and building a structure. The site should be considered when deciding on the new home plans because the positioning of the sun and weather conditions have a lot to do with the home’s energy requirements. In addition, using the natural trees on the site as shade can have a great effect on the air conditioning bill.

Sunroom Contractors Sunroom contractors are specialized at creating room additions with glassed fronts and sides. In addition to being a great place to get sun in the dead of winter sunrooms also can be a usable space like a living, room recreation room or greenhouse. New technologies in insulated and coated glass, as well as infloor heating, have allowed the sunroom to an energy-efficient part of the home.

	Foundation Contractors Foundations are specialized structures that support the whole house. Foundation walls sit on footings that allow the weight to be distributed evenly along a wide are much like snowshoes support a human body to walk on snow. The water table in an area has a lot to do with what type of house foundation can be built.

New Home Construction Technology has been a boon to new home construction providing prospective home buyers with a choice of styles, new materials and cutting-edge, energy-saving devices. Even old methods of home building such as logs, concrete and oriented strand board are getting a face lift as new building techniques transform these products into strong and lightweight homes capable of conserving energy.

Structural Insulated Panels Structural insulated panels make up a building system consisting of oriented strand board  (OSB) straddling an extended polystyrene center for insulation. SIPs, as they are called, have the strength of I-beams and I-columns, a total building product replacing the traditional studs and joists of framing, insulation and vapor seal. Besides strength, SIPs provide a great insulation factor that makes the homes very energy efficient.

	Garage Apartments Homeowners are remodeling their garages to gain extra living space without having to move up to larger home in a different neighborhood or altering their home structure. Depending on the regulations or covenants in the area this extra room can be converted into many options including an apartment, home office, in-law suite or private living area for hobbies.

Efficient Custom Homes-Energize Your Home Building Building an energy-efficient, custom home requires more than insulation but the cooperation of the sun and the environment to insure that the energy costs are minimized. This includes using thermal materials that absorb, store and then circulate the heat that radiates from the sun and then to release it from these surfaces when the outside temperature turns colder at night.

	Home Improvement Construction; a Homeowner’s Guide to Building a Home Addition – Part I Part one of this helpful two-part article guides homeowners through the process of developing, defining, and planning a home addition project. Included are cost estimate and budget tips, building code requirements, construction type selection, and ideas on which type features to include.

	Home Improvement Construction; a Homeowner’s Guide to Building a Home Addition – Part II Part 2 of this informative article helps homeowners sift through the complicated tangle of contractor related issues for a home addition project. Included are tips for locating and selecting just the right contractor, as well as guidelines for defining the contract.

	Save Time and Money- Choose a Design-Build Contractor for Your Next Home Construction Project This article briefly discusses the advantages of hiring a Design-Build Firm for the construction of your next dream home project.

Design build: Getting your facts right They say home is where the heart is and all of us put in our hearts and souls into building that dream house. Just like anything else, our homes need renovation and change at some point down the line. The two most important aspects of doing this are construction and design and what better way than to find a way that integrates the two. Design build takes care of both aspects leaving you the job of finding a good design build contractor. Look no further, here we are!

	Log Home Construction in America; Rich in History, Folklore, and Modern Appeal American log home construction; a rich history unlike anyplace else in the world. This informative 747-word article touches on the log home of yesteryear; as well as modern luxury log home design trends, and the DIY log cabin kit.

	Avoid a Nightmare; Hire a Qualified Building Contractor This article is chocked full of helpful information to aid in the selection of a qualified building contractor for your project. Gain insight on ways to get a quality job for less money