U.S. Southern Pine Lumber Futures Trading Starts This Month

Exchange operator CME Group said it is launching trading in Southern yellow pine futures on March 31. Trading in lumber futures has been a staple of the marketplace for years but it will now include Southern pine as the situation with Canadian lumber continues to get more complicated. Up until now trading has been in […]

3D Printed Buildings Have Their Limits, Walmart Discovered

A new Walmart expansion project shows that 3D printing is not as efficient or cost-saving as traditional construction techniques.   While the building trade has watched the emergence of structures made with 3D printing machines with some trepidation, the recent example of its use for a new Walmart structure seems to indicate it is not going […]

Smaller Homes with Fewer Doors and Cabinets: How Builders Are Adapting

The American home has always been a moving target but that is more so as builders look for new ways to make them more affordable. It may be smaller, perhaps a little narrower and certainly it has fewer doors, windows and cabinets: Home builders are continuing to find ways to make new homes less expensive for […]

Let’s Get Small, Home Builders Saying

Maybe the tiny home phenomenon has peaked or at least slowed down the past few years but the size of the average American home continues to be a case of the incredible shrinking house. Maybe all those McMansions will eventually end up as historical preservation candidates as the typical American new home continues to get […]

Lumber Producers Seeing Wall Street Gains Thanks to Housing Rebound

As home builders’ stock prices climb due to the rebound in the overall housing market this spring and are projected to continue into the summer, another group is benefiting too: the companies producing all that lumber to build those houses. A housing market that has seen few existing homes going up for sale due to […]