December 2008 President's Message

It seems incredible to me that a year has come and gone so quickly (this is the call of the old fart club), but never the less, 2008 is coming to a close…fast. And in this my last note from this seat I would like to turn from the doom and gloom and instead point out a few things (but not all) that I am thankful for:

* I am thankful for my best friend and “favorite” wife Nancy. I hope that I can keep her fooled into staying with me for another 25 years!
* I am thankful for a wonderful, caring and healthy family on both sides of the isle.
* I am thankful for a great group of talented, passionate, artistic and committed trade partners that together help to create the Mark Anthony Homes products and services.
* I am thankful for this great country and for the dedicated men and women of our military and their families.
* I am grateful to the dedicated and wonderful leadership of the SCVHBA. I have greatly enjoyed working with all of you this past year! Your passionate dedication is invigorating and infectious. We are all in good hands with these people at the helm!
* I am grateful to the wonderful members of this association for their sacrifice and dedication to their craft and industry through a very difficult downturn. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and noted!

And now I am out of time and room; but, one last wish for all of you this Christmas season. I wish for all of you that you would take time to reflect on what truly matters and take a few minutes to tell those you love how much they mean to you. I have with you; so one down, a few thousand more to go…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Always!

November 2008 President's Message

Change is coming! Only it is not the change that you have been hearing over the last year and half…thank goodness! This change is in the form of fall turning to winter and with that we all start to hunker down for the onslaught of holidays: Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas and eventually New Years (if I left your favorite out it is not intentional).

With all that business closing in, I want to take a moment to thank a team of people that have worked extremely hard to help make our association one of the most successful in the state. In short, I would like to get a jump on Thanksgiving this year and focus in on the following “Champions Chairs” of our association who work tirelessly to help serve you, our trade partners. They deserve a great big “Thank You” from all of us for giving of their time and talents to help all of us succeed in a great industry:

* Build Wisconsin: Ron Derrick, Derrick Homes, LLC
* Golf: Grant Dockendorf, Cameron Homes, Inc. and Eric Pederson, AnchorBank
* Home Show: Cheryl Ross, Amazing Space, Inc.
* Member Services: Josh Keeney, Lindus Construction, Inc. & Tera Snyder, Pahl’s Premier Lighting
* Public Policy: Scott Counter, Home Tec Designers & Builders and Bill Berndt, Consultant
* Sales/Marketing/PR: Angie Bendt, Wize Dezigns
* Tour of Homes: Mike Dockendorf, Cameron Homes
* And last, but certainly not least, is our EO, Jill Larson. Jill is at the heart of our association and works tirelessly to support the success of our industry our builders and associates. But if you notice, for all that responsibility her name is not mentioned once in our newsletter. So Jill, a great big thank you too!

You read this list of names every month in this newsletter, but that list does not call these individuals out for the great work and sacrificial service they provide to our association and its members. This year more than others, we owe these individuals great debts of gratitude and “Thanks” for helping our association thrive in tough economic times. I am truly thankful for having the great privilege of working along side them all this past year.

One of the things we hope to provide on this blog is links to books that are available to you through our national affiliation. Please consider purchasing these books if they interest you as we do benefit from your purchase.

2008 IBS Best-Seller!
Home Builder Contracts & Construction Management Forms contains 95 of the most useful business forms and contracts for builders including:
Sales and marketing forms Contracts and agreements, Trade contractor specifications and checklists, Orientation and quality control documents and much more.

Click here to purchase:

http://store.builderbooks.com/cgi-bin/builderbooks/736?;;STCROIXV

Remember to Vote!

This month you will be seeing more commercials about the upcoming election than in the past months and they will all be trying to help you make an informed decision when voting on November 4, 2008.

The information that I want to give you can be found in my report on Page 4 of this issue of the Valley Voice. It will give certain issues that each candidate either supports or opposes and should provide you with the necessary details to make an informed decision for the next President of the United States.

The resources that I used to receive this information is a long list, but if you want that provided to you, please call Jill at the office and she will be gladly to send it to you. Remember to VOTE!!!

Tony Nasvik - SCVHBA President

Welcome

Welcome to the first posting of Valley Views. SCVHBA will be using this blog to keep you informed and hopefully entertained throughout the year. We will be posting all sorts of information such as updates from the Board, EO & Committees, Industry Information, Literature Reviews and more. Blogs are also meant to connect with people on a personal basis so don't be surprised if we throw in a few fun things too.

That said...
Two blonde builders were working on a house. One blonde was on a ladder nailing. She'd reach into her nail pouch, pull out a nail, look at it, and either toss it over her shoulder or proceed to nail it into the wood. The other blonde couldn't stand it any longer and yelled up, "Why are you throwing some of the nails away?" The first blonde explained, "When I pull it out of my nail pouch, if it's pointed toward me I throw it away. If it's pointed toward the house, then I can use it!" The second blonde got real excited and called her all kinds of names, explaining, "Don't throw away those nails that are pointed toward you! They're for the other side of the house!!"

Always Enjoy Your day!
Angie B. - webmaster http://www.scvhba.com/