Back in 2006 I started a remodeling company called SLS Construction. In 2008 I started a blog focused on homeowner education (HRC) which was located on the SLS Construction site. This quickly evolved into helping those in trades with the advent of the RRP, changing energy codes, and other ever-changing regulations so I rebranded it […]

Words matter – it is true. What of course isn’t as simple, is how much does a word or a phrase really matter? In some cases you might just look silly, smart, pompous, or maybe even insensitive. Going to the extremes with just one wrong word, you could lose a fortune or even cost someone […]

Since October 2008 the HTRC has posted over 750 articles (this actually makes #758) or on average a little over a 100 pieces a year. Per Google it was quite a great year with a 73% jump in page views, an increased amount of time spent on site, a lower bounce rate, and an additional 300,000 people who visited this site […]

I was able to take a rare Monday off with the family and go see the newest exhibit at the Morton Arboretum, “Nature Connects” which if you happen to love(d) playing with LEGO’s this is something to see. Over 494,000 LEGO’s, 27 sculptors led by the 1st “LEGO® Certified Professional” – Sean Kenney spending  4,170 […]

This July 25th & 26th, marks the third year that the USGBC of Illinois has hosted the Green Built Home Tour & my second year participating. Just like last year there are 16 houses on the tour ranging from simple remodels, to custom houses integrating different “green” features. Looking for more cutting edge, some are achieving “net-zero” usage to one that is still […]

It is official, The HTRC has moved completely over to TheHTRC.com and hopefully in short order we will have everything worked out and can start really working more on the appearance and layout. In order to keep receiving email notifications of new articles please click: https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheHTRC&loc=en_US Our RSS feed is now: https://thehtrc.com/feed No worries if […]

You can tell when summer is about over, because across the country many home tours get under way. I have been fortunate enough to volunteer and work with some great people on two of them this year and they both kick off this weekend. With that, and as one runs for only this weekend (July 26th & […]

A little over a week ago, Mike Rowe was the keynote speaker (if your pressed for time – scroll to 14:35) at the Skills USA Opening Ceremonies. It is a pretty good talk about the Skills gap, 3 million unfilled jobs, why this is the greatest country, and his new project to help solve this […]

Did you know that there are national parks in 49 of 50 states & most of us live within 100 miles of one?  Did you know that national parks include everything from seashores, battlefields, to historic homes?  Did you know that the country’s highest peak, lowest point, tallest tree, deepest lake, and longest cave are […]