Devoted to the construction industry and the builders in it

Licensed Orange County Carpet Cleaning company, using top equipment and tools to clean after your build.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that catchy advertising jingle from the Empire Today, and apparently it works very well because it stays in my head! In fact, I can say it now from memory: “800-588-2300 Empire!” And who can forget the unique Empire Today Man? Empire Today is a home improvement and home furnishing company specializing in carpeting, flooring, windows, and bath renovation products.

For some reason, I used to think Empire primarily dealt with carpeting, due to their strong presence with their Empire Carpet side of the business. However, Empire offers so much more. In particular, the Empire hardwood flooring offers beautiful hardwood floor selections, in both traditional and specialty hardwoods. Similarly, Empire provides excellent laminate flooring and ceramic flooring. Add to this their strength in window treatments and a full complement of bath and shower products, and you can see that Empire has carved out great success in these niches of the home improvement industry.

What do you do if you need to move and you can’t find enough help to do it? If you don’t have enough friends and family nearby, and you certainly can’t move that refrigerator and entertainment center by yourself. HireAHelper.com is a website that helps you find and hire someone who can do the job – it connects day laborers with the people who need day laborers.

Let’s say you live in Los Angeles and you’re moving to New York. Instead of trying to find people to assist on your own, or instead of using expensive moving companies, you can use HireAHelper.com to find day laborers to be Los Angeles movers and help you pack up in LA. Then, when you get to New York, HireAHelper.com will help you find laborers to be New York movers and help you unpack.

1. HireAHelper.com has created the online system whereby you can find workers through just a few easy steps:
2. Search for and request a helper in the desired place
3. The helper contacts you in response

You pay via credit card – the funds are released to the helper once the job is complete to satisfaction

It’s a very simple system that makes it easy to find help for many moving and household needs. HireAHelper.com has over 1,000 registered helpers located in all 50 US states, covering all the major metropolitan areas, whether you want Houston, Phoenix, or Chicago movers or helpers. The HireAHelper service also has categories for landscaping help, cleaning help, and day/general labor help.

So the next time you wish you could find some helping hands to make the work easier, check out HireAHelper.com.

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One of the aspects of building I like most are the rustic, yet technologically-advanced outdoor structures like the elements of Kapalua Resort’s new Mountain Outpost. Perhaps this stems back to when I was a Boy Scout and spent many scout camp hours building towers and bridges out of ropes, logs, and such. Those experiences help me appreciate the simple complexity of these types of projects.

Kapalua has created a number of impressive structures for its Mountain Outpost and Adventure Center:

3,000 square foot viewing deck – the core central structure of the Mountain Outpost

8 dual-track ziplines – nearly two miles of zipline, with one stretch 2,200 feet long, dropping 243 feet in elevation

High ropes challenge course – includes two 35-foot ‘leap of faith’ poles, a giant 2-person swing using 60-foot poles, and a suspension bridge that is 360 feet long and up to 130 feet high, Hawaii’s longest suspension bridge

Climbing tower – a 40-foot 4-station tower climbable by all skill levels

Kapalua recently opened this newest Mountain Outpost and Adventure Center attraction, and I sure wish I could go. These structures would be fascinating to examine, and try out firsthand!

Anyone want to contribute to the cause?

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If you live in the greater Seattle, WA area, and are in the market for replacement windows or doors for your house, condo, or apartment, I’ve found a great establishment that specializes in Seattle windows replacements: Keystone Windows and Doors. The company can replace many different types of windows and doors you need; in particular, they are vinyl windows specialists. They have a giant selection of all sorts of windows. They offered customized door installation and window replacement.

Keystone Windows is a family-owned and operated company that has been in business for twenty years, is based in Seattle, and serves the outlying area. They take pride in the quality of their workmanship and materials, promising that one of the owners of the company will personally oversee every job. Their replacement vinyl windows come with lifetime warranties. Take a look at the excellent photo gallery of their work on their website.

So, if you’re looking for new windows, consider dealing with a specialist in Seattle, WA: Keystone Windows. In fact, right now they are running a great promotion offering free financing with no payments and no interest until 2009.

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In the housing and construction industry, it’s not always easy to find a quality, reputable, honest company to complete significant home improvement upgrades and projects such as roofing, siding, gutters, decks, and additions. I recently learned about an excellent general construction company that I recommend to anyone in Cambridge, Massachusetts – David Ness Jr. Construction.

For all matters of roofing Cambridge Mass is certainly one of the more active areas of the country, due to the proximity to the ocean elements and the extremes in climate. David Ness has served the Cambridge community for over 25 years, providing recognized quality construction for homes and commercial buildings alike. His list of successful projects and satisfied clients is lengthy. On the company’s website you can see many supportive and demonstrative customer testimonials and before-and-after photos of the projects, as well as informational articles on roofing, siding, gutters, and home additions which are very helpful.

From commercial roofing and rubber roofing to flat roofing Cambrige company David Ness Jr Construction will be able to provide the product, dependability, and quality you need. David Ness prides himself on his dedication to customer satisfaction. He works closely with his clients to get their home improvements exactly as they want them. When it comes to siding, roofing, and gutters Cambridge is particularly unkind to houses over the years, but David Ness Jr Construction has many years of experience to put those problems to rights.

If you’re in the Cambridge, MA area and are considering such construction on your home or commercial building, look up David Ness Jr Construction.

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If you’re in the market for using any type of gate on your property, whether for your driveway, yard, pool, field, animal pen, etc, a very cool new product is on the market—the armless gate opener. Built by Turnstyle Enterprises (found at TurnstyleGates.com), the armless gate opener is different from most all other gate openers available in that this gate opener has no arms on them, the opening power and functionality being contained within the actual gate post. As the company says, “The Power is in the Post.”

Arms on gate openers tend to be less attractive, as well as inefficient in operation. The armless gate opener provides many benefits over traditional gate openers:

• Cost-effectiveness
• Simple Do-It-Yourself (DIY) installation
• Versatility
  Attractiveness
• Energy Efficiency
• Safety & Reliability
• Performance

Much of the revolutionary quality and performance of the armless gate opener hinges on the “Turnstyle Gate Remote Power Actuation System”—this is the opening mechanism that utilizes an integrated mounting post and power actuator that rotates the actual mounting post itself. This requires much less force to open and rotate the gate, providing better power and energy efficiency. It is also easier for the gate operator to control, easy to mount, and safer for all involved.

To see the armless gate opener in action, go the Videos section of the TurnstyleGates.com site, where the company offers over a dozen great videos of the many different uses and styles of their new gates, ranging from iron to wood to vinyl to aluminum to agricultural/farm tube gates; you name it, it will probably be available to you. Take a look at this great new gate opener product!

Licensed Orange County Carpet Cleaning company, using top equipment and tools to clean after your build.

Every once in a while, I come across a great online site for buying items, materials, and appliances for home construction and home remodeling. For the customer in the United Kingdom, Dunelm-Mill.com is such a website. Dunelm-Mill offers quality products for home needs including home accessories and appliances, furniture, bed linen, curtains, electricals, lighting, rugs, tracks and poles, and more. Dunelm’s main focus is on home textiles, such as bath mats, fabrics, and cushions, but they offer a very wide variety of products for the home in their online store and their 80 stores across the U.K.

The company has been in business for over 25 years. As stated on Dunelm’s website, “Dunelm is one of the most successful home furnishings retailers in the UK and is enjoying rapid growth… Dunelm's success has been achieved by offering customers a wide range of soft furnishings and other homeware products, always at great value prices. The company’s motto is ‘Simply Value for Money.’”

Looking for specialty curtains or voile panels? Dunelm is definitely a specialist when it comes to home textiles like curtains (I always prefer specialists). They even offer customers a made-to-measure curtain service, run from their curtain making facility in Leicester.

If you live in the UK and you’re looking to do anything with your home, check out and register with their online store, or go to one of their superstores – there’s probably one near you.

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It’s not often that you’re forced to take a cold shower due to a broken water heater or a water heater without enough storage capacity, but when you do, I can think of much more enjoyable ways to spend 5-10 minutes of your day. Everyone is susceptible to water heater problems at one time or another, and for those people living in California, Oregon, and Washington, the Fast Water Heater Company is an excellent solution for water heater repair and water heater installation.

The Fast Water Heater Company installs and repairs both the traditional storage hot water heater and the very useful tankless water heater. They have a toll-free number you can call – 1-800-844-6532 (1-800-THINK FAST) – and they will typically send over a hot water heater technician the same day (if you call before Noon), or the next day. They pride themselves in fast, quality water heater service, as their motto says: “If your hot has turned to cold, you’d better think FAST!”

On their website you can check out their service areas; for instance if you need a Seattle water heater, just give them a call, and they’ll work with you quickly to get your water heater functional again. They are very forthright about what to expect from their company, and have great sections on their website that teach water heater basics and answer many water heater questions.

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Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW), the very popular national home improvement retailer, is now doing more than just improving your home--they are helping you to sell your home by offering LowesMoving.com, an online guide and resource to sell a home, buy a home, get moving tips, and make home improvements. A person's home is usually their most treasured asset, and the asset with the most equity, so it is helpful and natural for Lowes to be offering this type of assistance.

When selling a home, you'll want to make sure it looks its best. Some remodeling and improvements will most likely be necessary. LowesMoving.com helps by highlighting the Top 10 home improvement projects that will help you sell your home, complete with the cost of the project and the expected return on investment (ROI) on your cost, projects such as vinyl siding replacement, minor kitchen remodel, and window replacement. A very useful resource.

Another way LowesMoving helps is the list of Tips for Selling Your Home that they offer. These are 9 home staging tips that will help sell your home fast, including first impressions count, sell the space--not the stuff, see the light, and more. Lowes has really put time and resources into helping their customers be more successful when buying and selling homes.

LowesMoving.com also has a great offer right now--if do a free sign up & registration online, you then get a coupon that will save you 10% off any Lowe's purchase under $5,000. That is an awesome deal!  

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Licensed Orange County Carpet Cleaning company, using top equipment and tools to clean after your build.

I’ll be the first to admit that the accounting, paperwork, and records aspect of managing a construction business is not many people’s strong point—it can be time-consuming, confusing, annoying, and a potential sinkhole of costly mistakes. This is where the construction accounting software JobView® by A-Systems Corporation (A-Systems.net) can be a major help to the smooth operations of any construction business.

A-Systems’ accounting software for the construction industry has been helping construction companies since its initial creation in 1978. The JobView software has since undergone countless enhancements, upgrades, and changes to become the robust construction business software that it is today, being rated 5 stars out of 5 by The CPA Technology Advisor.

Much of what makes the JobView software so valuable is its ability to accurately perform true job costing for the company. The software makes it easy to set up a job using your estimate as a budget, then track all actual expenses for the job, comparing it to the project goal, calculating variances, and helping your construction project stay on track.

A-Systems JobView software also provides many other accounting software solutions for the construction business, including cash management, payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, management overview, subcontracts management, inventory, tax tables, and scheduling, to name a few.

JobView is created with ease-of-use in mind so that anyone with a personal computer can use it without difficulty. But never fear, toll free phone technical support is also provided, as well as email technical support. A-Systems also offers a very handy risk-free free trial of the JobView software, complete with training sessions. You really can’t go wrong trying the software for free—it may very well become one of the best investments you’ve made into your construction business, helping you save valuable time and money.

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