For the past 23 years Lou has been the backbone to a company in constant change. From the earliest days of being the only register made overseas to becoming the 2nd largest register company in the United States, Lou was the one true stabilizing feature. The only voice most people knew during those first years was Lou’s short, to the point, Spanish accent.

I met Lou Lopez in 1997. She sat behind a low wooden wall at an old wooden desk in an old run down office in Vernon, California. Lou was the only employee in the office.

For 23 years now, it has been Lou’s rock solid, consistent, and ever-dependable presence anchoring this company. The one thing you could count on, more than any other, was and is Lou. And the incredible thing about Lou is her level of consistently caring about whatever she is doing. Every order, every customer, every phone call, no matter how big, or how small, Lou is on it, and won’t let go until its resolved.

I remember so clearly all the times I would hang up the phone with Lou, knowing that no matter what situation she and I had just talked about, it was handled. I could forget about it and move on to the next thing. Every time. To this day, if I want something done, and I don’t want to have to think about it again later … I ask Lou to do it for me.

Truaire has the reputation for the finest, most reliable Customer Service in the industry. It is more than safe to say that this company’s reputation is the direct result of Lou Lopez caring about what she does, and teaching every employee spanning more than two decades to care about it too.

When you get a chance, the next time you call Truaire, please ask to speak with Lou, and tell her thank you for just being herself.

Sales of newly built, single-family homes edged up 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 315,000 units in November, according to newly released figures by the U.S. Commerce Department.  This marks the third consecutive monthly gain in new-home sales and the fastest pace of such activity since April.

Original Source – http://www.nahb.org/news_details.aspx?newsID=14444

Regionally, new-home sales were mixed in November. The South and Midwest posted gains of 12.9 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, while the Northeast and West posted respective declines of 26.3 percent and 16.9 percent. The inventory of new homes for sale fell 1.3 percent to 158,000 units in November. This is a new record low and represents a six-month supply at the current sales pace.

With that said, please join me in welcoming the newest member to the Truaire family, Kip Davies. I have known Kip for many years through his former position at JP Lamborn, as have many of you. Kip’s reputation, his knowledge, his experience, and his fresh perspective will prove to be invaluable assets for our organization.

Kip brings years of industry expertise to his new role as Marketing and Promotions Director. Kip and I share the same perspective and belief in a Customer Service oriented philosophy. As our success continues, Kip’s ability to coordinate a comprehensive approach to our marketing strategies makes this addition a great fit.

Kip will be working in the Santa Fe Springs office to help coalesce the efforts of Inside and Outside Sales. He will be working with Ken Grubbs’ sales team to coordinate Sales initiatives, Promotions, and Marketing Strategies.

In the weeks ahead we will be talking more about Kip’s role and how it blends with our sales team. We are thrlled to have him on board. Please extend Kip every courtesy and make him feel at home with this exciting new change.

-Yongki Yi

That was the question Fast Money Traders were preparing to ask Toll Brothers CEO Douglas Yearley Jr. ahead of his appearance on the Fast Money Halftime Report today.

Monday’s pending home sales data indicated a bottom is in.

The National Association of Realtors reported this morning that pending home sales rose in 2.1% in February. The news came as a surprise to many economists given the 16.9% drop in new home sales last month. Economists were expecting a drop of about 1% for pending home sales.

To read more click here – Registers and Grilles

Over the Worst?
So what gives us hope the intermediate term may yield a more stable picture than the past several years? Mainly that new supply injected into the market over the past several years has been so constricted there’s likely significantly fewer surplus homes in existence today. Sound absurd? Well, Figure 2 shows the degree to which actual new housing has been curtailed over the past several years.

To read more click here - Registers and Grilles

That was $1.07 million more than the $23.58 million worth of new home construction the city issued permits for in 2009. The number of permits for new single-family homes was up by 10 in 2010, rising from 151 in 2009 to 161 this past year.

“Based on inquires we are getting, I feel like things are starting to pick up,” Cummings said last week. “While there has been activity in the past year, a lot of it was for in-fill projects.”

To read more click here – Registers and Grilles

We are currently working on adding the product line of  Tru Aire decorative registers to our website.

Developed for Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, the ASHRAE Standard 62.1 app allows for convenient calculations while in the field, performing the outdoor air calculations found in the Ventilation Rate Procedure and the interactive 62MZCalc spreadsheets contained in the ASHRAE User’s Manual for Standard 62.1, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality.

“As a leader in the advancement of the latest HVAC&R technology, it’s only right that we utilize the latest smart phone technology,” Jim Fields, volunteer head of ASHRAE’s publishing activities, said. “This new application ensures that engineers in the field have instant access to the most accurate information without having to return to their office to perform calculations.”

To read more click here – Registers and Grilles

“This law is a significant advancement for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of our nation’s federal buildings,” Lynn G. Bellenger, ASHRAE president, said. “ASHRAE applauds the federal government for demonstrating what can be accomplished in building and maintaining energy efficient buildings with excellent indoor environmental quality.”

To read more click here.

Hoover, president of Harmony Homes of Windsor, knows he is taking a bit of a risk building them as spec homes — or empty homes without ready buyers. But he’s banking on a couple of lucky charms: Greeley’s housing market in the $200,000-plus range is sputtering back to life, and the thousands of new jobs headed to this area in the next year are bound to help drive demand.

Tim Swanson, Greeley’s chief building official, said when you take out the enormous number of new roofs on homes this year, plus the Leprino plant construction, Greeley building permits rose roughly 2 percent to 3 percent. That includes commercial construction, as well as home remodels, which builders have been relying on to stay afloat. “Even when I backed all that out, there was 2-3 percent across the board increase in permits,” Swanson said. “It’s just enough to where we’re not into the freefall. I’ll certainly take that over a 10 percent decrease.”
To read the full story click here.