The year in review

I got to admit, this part of the year is always bitter sweet. It can be fun to look back at what has happened, reminisce about the good, shake ones head at the bad, and simply wonder – what if I had… The other part says, don’t take to long, the future is still ahead & starts now.

A quick look back – personal:

The end of last year I knew that some big changes where coming & I alluded to them then. If anyone would have told me what was really in store, I would have laughed as it seemed so preposterous. With that, as many know, I closed up shop in Alabama & have since relocated to Illinois partially due to my getting divorced. While I would have loved to have found & worked with another company… it did not appear like that was going to happen (at least anytime soon), so I reformed my company & have stayed pretty busy ever since.

I have since started getting back on my bike – amazing what happens when you don’t run into loose dogs everywhere you go – and even started jogging some. This year I am looking at doing a few charity 5k runs & hopefully even a few centuries on my bike. While I might not make it to Tucson to get my Platinum medal this upcoming year (Tour de Tucson), I plan on achieving that within the next two which is something that has alluded me since I was 16.

I also got to say it was great seeing my youngest graduate not only from High School but also boot camp this year. Of course while his career in the Army starts, my daughters has come to an end as she now transitions from a full time military life to a part-time one while pursuing a culinary career. Yeah I am proud of them & wish not only them but everyone serving the best.

SLS Construction & Building Solutions LLC:

As mentioned above, I closed up shop in Alabama at the end of August & have since restarted in Illinois, this time as an LLC. Unlike my time in Alabama where I started it off as a remodeling company that also worked with other builders & homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient, comfortable & safe – my focus now is solely on the classroom training, consultation & verification side of the arena.

As part of the move & partially due to time constraints – new pages were simply created here on the blog site with the other sites pointing to them. This will hopefully be rectified in a few more months when the SLS-Construction site is rechristened. In the mean time our services can be found here: Services

The HTRC:

Overall the stats for this year are up with a 43% jump in page views this year. While I was hoping to easily pass the 200 glossary terms, there are only 116 as of this moment, followed by 23 static pages, and 116 new posts bringing the grand total up to 632 posts. I know one my biggest items last year was to make things more easily found, that ended up taking a back seat to all the other changes happening.

This year I hope to get some pruning done to the site with a new layout as we move everything over to the “TheHTRC.com.” In the meantime, look forward to more Common Sense Building & BS4D pieces coming out within the next week.

Top 3 of 3 of 2013:

• Top 3 series
  • Air Sealing & Insulating (2012 #2)
  • Common Sense Building/ BS4D
  • Tips & Tricks
  • 2012 – #1 Monthly Home & Garden Maintenance #3 Going Off-Grid
• Top 3 articles (all years)
  • 2011 – Air Sealing – Attic Baffles (2012 #2)
  • 2010 – Building Green Homes: Step 6 – Drying In the Roof
  • 2012 – Stairs & the Dreaded Stair Stringer: Codes & Tips
  • 2012 – #1 What is a hot roof? #3 Air Sealing – Attic Hatch now #4 & #5 (both written in 2011)
• Top 3 article of 2013
  • Common Sense Building: Exterior Wall Sheathing 101 #6 overall
  • Getting the details right: 4 biggest roof flashing errors to avoid #7
  • Common Sense Building: To Tyvek or not to Tyvek, that is the question #10

Looking forward:

If this year taught many anything, it was to expect change – it can come at you fast. I wrote about many of the things I see as I look forward with a few others being held a little closer to the chest for the moment. Travel wise this looks like a busy year, with Houston, Atlanta, Colorado, Baltimore & maybe even Hawaii being on the docket.

This looks like a very promising year for many of us in the home building & remodeling industries. While much of the growth seen has been in sporadic pockets, it appears to be spreading to more & more areas which lifts others industries up creating even more growth. While we may see a few shakeups in “above-code” programs this year, I think the big shakeups are at least another year away. By & large the biggest change for most will simply revolve around local & state municipalities bumping up there codes as required.

New Years Resolutions:

I got to say I am not big on them as I live by a simple philosophy – improve one item (whether personal, business or family) & learn something new everyday. With that, hopefully I am on my last pack of smokes as I am getting tired of that monkey.

With that, I would like to thank you all for a great year, many of you for your friendship & all the support you have given. Here’s to a Safe and Prosperous New Year to all.

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