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Insurance 101

Good work ain’t cheap and cheap work ain’t good.

This month features Universal Design, home building designed for usability, functionality and social inclusion.

This month’s feature is about the cost of a new home, from simple to extravagant.

Windows can be one of your home's most attractive features. Windows provide views, day lighting, ventilation and heat from the sun in the winter. Unfortunately, they can also account for 10% to 25% of your heating bill by letting heat out.

Older homes, drafts, insufficient insulation… all affect heating costs, yet the infiltration of fresh air is needed for a home to be habitable, especially health-wise.

This is a monthly feature geared to help homeowners address building and maintenance issues, and it’s something I’ve envisioned publishing for a long time. In my world, as a contractor and President of the Tri-County Home Builders Association, I see the need for an educational model on what excellence in building entails – namely to ensure a fair and quality product that is hassle and liability free. This month features your local Home Builders Association and how they are serving you and the building industry. __________________________ The development of conditions under which every American family can obtain good housing is a major objective of national policy. … A high level of housing construction and vigorous community development are essential to the economic and social well being of our country. It is, therefore, properly a concern of this government to insure that opportunities are provided every American family to acquire a good home. – President Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 1954 Those ideal words of the importance of the home in American family life have been part of national policy for nearly a century, but today homeownership under attack. Legislative and regulatory proposals now under consideration would greatly harm homeowners, home buyers, the housing market and the nation’s economy. That is why it’s important to have a thriving Home Builders Association. I’ve mentioned the Spokane Home Builders Association, or SHBA, in a number of my previous articles. As President of the Tri-County Home Builders Association, a chapter of SHBA, I have come to know how important the Association is, for not only the building industry, but also for homeowners, since the housing industry affects us all. Our local Home Builders Association is a crucial working organization to urge making housing issues on all levels a priority in local, state and national politics. I get questions about what the SHBA represents, so I’m going to present a summary and attempt to answer those questions in light of our mission for prosperous communities.  * * *

This month features knowing your homeowners insurance policy to prevent disappointment, frustration, and devaluation of your property.