How does homebuilding get better? How do builders raise the standards by which new homes are constructed, so that past problems are dealt with and necessary and productive change takes place? Do we rely on the roofing industry, the drywall industry, lathe and stucco manufacturers, or HVAC companies to improve themselves individually? Does mere competition breeds better and more reliable products? As with any other American industry, we can only hope producers of building products are on a quest to make improvements. They can accomplish this by using R & D (research and development), lending an attentive ear to the field and the consumer, and showing a caring attitude about giving the public a better and better mousetrap.

Nowhere is there a more intense effort to improve American homebuilding than at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Department, located in Upper Marlborough, MD, where teams of homebuilding experts and researchers are on a constant mission to test and display new products and report on the reliability of existing ones. One of its proudest efforts is the National Research Home Park in Bowie, MD. The Research Center, established in 1986, builds homes in the Park designed to evaluate innovative technologies that relate to home building. These homes are built with certain "themes" in mind, with each dwelling concentrating on some important aspect of the construction process, featuring the products that are used to build them. These research homes are at the heart of the NAHB Research Center's program targeted at continuous and timely improvements in homebuilding products and construction.

The houses displayed at the Research Home Park can be sponsored by a firm, a consortium, a trade association or a government agency. They all have one thing in common, however. Each house showcases new products, methods or ideas. And all are held up as examples of what is possible, expedient, or viable in homebuilding now and in the future. The MADE Homes are four homes representing single-family prototypes of entry-level construction with a focus on marketability, affordability, and durability. The 21st Century Townhouses feature alternatives to dimensional lumber and the latest in energy efficiency approaches.

The Resource Conservation Research House is sponsored by a group of twelve manufacturers to specifically demonstrate construction methods and materials that conserve the nation's resources. Other houses include the Lifestyle 2000 House, featuring the latest in concrete and masonry products, the Firesafe Adaptable House, demonstrating practical modifications for livability and accessibility, and last but not least, the Home Systems Research House, sponsored by a utility research institute to test and evaluate new gas systems and appliances.

The NAHB Research Department studies a gamut of curious and mind-bending innovations in home building, not only for the physical structure itself, but also intangibles geared to the needs of homebuilding in the 21st century. Affordability programs focus on tangible ways to reduce cost and provide benefits to builders and consumers. Leaders in the field of energy efficiency research, the NAHB is on a never-ending mission to identify and demonstrate home building methods that conserve natural resources. The Research Center also provides support to the many military bases throughout the country, as developers reach their goals of privatizing and upgrading base housing and infrastructure both here and abroad.

Speaking of horizons abroad, the NAHB also has programs geared to create a building technology information center in Russia and develop a home builders' association in Poland, where the wealth of American ingenuity can become beacons of light in countries kept stagnant in homebuilding methods for so many years.

Solving pervasive building issues that hit the national news can also be the focus of the NAHB Research Department. It now offers seminars for builders specifically for the repairs of synthetic stucco, or EIFS-clad houses, where inadequate and misleading information has many homebuilders believing that any water intrusion spells complete disaster. The seminars can show builders that these houses can be repaired, that damage can be limited, and that a variety of repair options come into play.

The behind-the-scenes efforts of the NAHB to "raise the bar" on the ways new homes are built will no doubt contribute to the changing face of American homebuilding, leading us into the beginnings of the new century, reshaping and improving the quality of American life, and the place we call "home."

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