|
|
 |
| |
Winter 2009 Newsletter
Happy Holidays!
We hope the holiday season brings you many opportunities to spend quality time with your family and friends. We also hope that you can pause from your busy schedule to reflect on the last year. 2009 has been a challenging year for all of us. But with every challenge, there is opportunity. As builders, we have experienced the downturn in the economy first hand. We have been fortunate though - keeping our team intact through reducing employee’s hours by 25% rather than laying anyone off. In addition, many people in our community have been struggling to rebuild their lives following the Tea and Jesusita Fires - including Dennis Allen’s neighbors and friends in Mission Canyon. While this has been devastating, we feel fortunate to be in a position to help with these rebuilding efforts – including preparing insurance estimates, installing erosion control measures, repairing damaged homes, and rebuilding new ones. We have great hope for 2010. May it bring joy and renewed prosperity to all.
UPDATE: TEA FIRE FAMILY GETS CLOSER TO MOVING IN TO EARTH DAY GREEN DEMONSTRATION HOUSE
Over 2,000 people visited the Green Demonstration House at Santa Barbara’s Earth Day last April. Following Earth Day, the house, built by Allen Associates with a number of local businesses who donated time and materials to the project, was given to a family that lost their home during the 2008 Tea Fire. So, what has happened to the Camarillo’s new home since Earth Day 2009?
First the home was divided into two pieces, craned onto flat bed trucks and driven to its final location on Coyote Road. Other than temporarily getting stuck on a narrow section of Sycamore Canyon Road, that monumental effort was exciting but relatively uneventful. Since last April, work has been on-going to make the home ready for the Camarillo’s including:
Wrapping up finish work on the original 800 sq. ft. structure built at Alameda Park for Earth Day
Building a 550 sq. ft. addition to create a second bedroom and bath for Lisa’s 12 year old daughter Brianna
Building a carport on the property (as required by County planning regulations)
Installing a 1.5 kW solar system to provide fossil free power for the home
And, the biggest hurdle, connecting the property to the public sewer – requiring a 400 foot extension to the existing line on Coyote Road
While the original goal was to have the family in their new home by Christmas, these projects have taken longer to permit and build. As a result, moving in will be a late New Year’s present for the Camarillo’s.
BUILDING CARE & REPAIR - Our Small Projects Division
Join Us at an Open House on February 3
Did you know that Allen Associates has a team of people who can help you with small building and repair projects? This is our Building Care & Repair (BCR) Division. Originally designed to provide on-going maintenance for previous customers of our Custom Home Division, BCR is now available to others. The types of projects BCR can handle include:
Bath and kitchen remodels
Window replacements
Refinish, repair, and replace wood, tile, and linoleum floors
Clean or replace filters, repair or replace controls and pumps on your heating system
install or replace insulation, weather-strip, other energy conservation work
On February 3, 2010, we will hold an open house at the home of one of BCR’s many satisfied customers. Since 2006, BCR has completed six small remodeling projects on three different properties for this client.
This workshop will highlight the quality services BCR can provide. It will also promote a new service the division offers – Home Performance Auditing. Using building science techniques and specialized equipment, our certified audit staff can conduct a thorough inspection of your home to identify air leaks, gaps in insulation and other performance problems. Fixing these problems is often simple and inexpensive, can improve your home’s energy efficiency, and save you money.
Please call Karen Feeney, 884-8777 ext. 121, to attend this event. Click here to learn more about BCR.
HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR NEXT BUILDING PROJECT
Thinking about remodeling your kitchen or bathroom? Did you lose your home in one of the recent Santa Barbara fires and are in the process of rebuilding? How do you begin to hire a contractor to help you with either of these building projects?
There are many things to consider when selecting a contractor. Is the contractor you are looking to hire financially sound? Will they be around at the completion of the project when things might need a little tweaking to work correctly? How can you easily explore your potential contractor’s track record to see how they performed for their past clients and determine whether they are the right fit for your project?
In late February 2010, Allen Associates will be holding an informational workshop to share our insight about these issues – based on over 27 years of building experience. This workshop will also outline how to form a collaborative team (architect, builder, engineers, landscape designer, interior designer, etc) – the most effective way to help you realize your hopes and dreams for your building project.
Please call Karen, 884-8777 ext 121 if you are interested in signing up for this workshop.
ALLEN ASSOCIATES’ WINS DESIGNING & BUILDING WITH FSC AWARD HONORABLE MENTION
For Our Victoria Garden Mews Project
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) recently announced the winners of the 5th annual Designing & Building with FSC Awards at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Phoenix, Ariz. The awards celebrate the best in U.S. and Canadian green building architecture and construction using FSC-certified materials – those sourced from forests managed to high environmental and social standards.
Designing & Building with FSC Awards recognize and honor designers and builders who are committed to using FSC-certified wood and creating a marketplace that promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable forest management – the mission of FSC.
In addition to the first place winners announced at the event, one honorable mention was awarded in each category. In the residential category, the honorable mention was given to Allen Associates for our Victoria Garden Mews project in Santa Barbara, which used FSC-certified wood as framing lumber, sheathing, kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, window benches, and in its re-creation of Victorian moulding, dentils and trim profiles. FSC lumber makes up 73% of the total wood used on the project.
Click here for more information about Victoria Garden Mews
THE BENEFITS OF AN EMPLOYEE OWNED COMPANY
Bucking a national trend
All of us are aware at some level of the increasing income and wealth gap between the wealthiest 1% in this country and the rest of us. Just one aspect of this is that compensation of CEOs in the top corporations in this country has grown 50 fold since 1981. This super growth has occurred in less than 30 years. In most of the larger corporations in the U.S., the income spread between the typical worker and top management is more that 500 to 1. This violates the principles of fairness and justice that are bedrocks of our society. Moreover, it is unhealthy for the future of our country. It certainly distorts the principle of rewarding initiative that is the underlying tenet of capitalism.
Creating an employee owned company – something that Allen Associates is in the process of doing - is one way to counteract this trend. Additional facts about employee owned companies include:
Today more Americans work in firms that are partially or wholly owned by employees than there are union members in the private sector, over 10 million workers.
Employees of Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) firms earn higher levels of pay than workers in other companies in the same industries, approximately 15% higher.
ESOP employees receive significantly higher benefits, especially retirement benefits - about three times as much as non-ESOP employee retirees.
ESOP companies are rooted in their community and are less likely to pull up stakes or move their operations off shore – which has been the trend for larger corporations who are looking for cheaper labor costs.
Click here to learn more about ESOPs.
|
| |
|
|
