President's Letter - September/October

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12/01/2011 02:30 PM

HBRA President & Chairman’s Update - September/October

By Mario Di Gioia, DonMar Development Corp.

Our Board of Directors of the HBA of New Haven County recently voted to change their name to include recognition of ‘Remodelers.’  We will now go by the name: The Home Builders & Remodelers Association of New Haven County (HBRA.)  An updated logo has also been designed.  We will be utilizing the new name and logo in our marketing efforts to consumers & remodelers for our website and home show. 

The HBRA of New Haven County held our Autumn Golf Outing at Clinton Country Club on September 19^th.  It was a beautiful day for golf and everyone enjoyed the day and the challenging course.  Sponsors of the outing were First Niagara Bank (Tom Giloran) and Davey Resource Group- Land Development Services (Allan Fenner) and I thank them for getting involved.

Special thanks go to Superior Hearth Spas & Leisure & Debra Wolfenson for donating a beautiful New England Patriots Team Grill; Art’s Television and Appliance for donating a S-Led flat screen TV; Vince Fini of Weinstein & Anastasio for donating two tickets to the Giants/Dolphins game on October 30^th.  I stepped up and donated a week-long stay at The Inn at Long Wharf in Newport, R.I. next June.

Congratulations to Rick Dalene of Dalene Flooring for winning the Patriots grill; Gino Comforte of National Lumber for winning the flat screen TV; Bill Austin of XL Group for winning the Giants tickets and Bob Hanbury of The House of Hanbury for winning the week at the Inn at Long Wharf.

Congratulations also to the top three teams in the tournament:  1^st Place- DonMar Development Corp:  Michael Di Gioia,  Joe Di Gioia, Nick Vallone & Mike Hay.  2^nd Place- Tom Giloran, Brian Giloran, Craig Augur & Bill Austin. 3^rd Place- Total Interiors: John Castlevetro, Charles Taft, Ed Fargorge & Bob Banning. (cont. on back…)

Our next dinner meeting will be held on WEDNESDAY, October 19^th and will feature a panel on affordable housing.  The registration flyer is attached to this email. We will also have our website designer on hand to demonstrate how our new website can benefit our members.  I hope to see you there that evening.

A ‘Solving the Mystery of Building Green Homes’ workshop will be held on Oct. 13, 2011.  It is being offered through the HBACT's Build Green CT program and their Green Homes Council. The workshop, for Builders & Remodelers, will cover a walk-through on the Nat'l Green Building Standard and how to get your homes certified, including an Exclusive HBA Member Opportunity. Click on the highlighted link or call the state HBA at 860.216.5858 for more information.

Don’t forget that the 2011 HOBI Awards Dinner will be held Nov. 15, 2011 at the Aqua Turf in Southington.  Visit the HBACT’s website at www.hbact.org for more information. 

You also won’t want to miss Housing 2011, Connecticut’s largest gathering of affordable housing practitioners and advocates. The annual conference of the Connecticut Housing Coalition, will be held on Wednesday, October 19th (also our HBRA dinner meeting on affordable housing at Anthony’s that night!) at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, including 16 wide-ranging workshops, inspiring presenters, practical training and valuable networking opportunities.  As a sponsoring organization, HBA members get the member rate.  Visit www.ct-housing.org for additional information. 

Also to note, as you may know, yesterday the Regulations Review Committee at the legislature approved the 2009 IECC (International Energy Conservation Code) with a CT amendment.  Our State HBA CEO & lobbyist Bill Ethier has spoken with Dan Tierney at the Dept of Construction Services and they are going to hold the new code and file it with the Secretary of State’s office on Friday, Oct. 7.  That will be the effective date, and it will be applicable to building permit applications filed on or after Oct. 7.  The CT Amendment to the 2009 IECC is posted on the state HBA’s web site or email Bill Ethier at  for more information.  

There are a lot of things happening that can affect your business and bottom line.  Please stay involved and active in our association and refer to our updates as often as you can.  As always, if you have any concerns, please contact myself or our CEO Alisa Batten in the office at 877.414.2537.  

Sincerely,

Mario Di Gioia, DonMar Development Corp.

President & Chairman, HBRA of New Haven County, Inc.