On The Level - January 2010
Contents:
Become of Sponsor
Sponsorships Still Available at a Great Price for a Great Investment
Sponsorship information was mailed to all TABA members just prior to Thanksgiving and we have a few spots left for the Home & Garden partnership at $2000. Banner sponsors are unlimited and will be sold up to show time however the partnerships are only available until January 20th due to TV commercial production time.
For $2000 you will receive over $12,000 in marketing exposure for two weeks in February. If you do not plan to have a booth in the show this is a great way to keep your name out there and in the public's mind and who couldn't use that in these economic times? Below are the benefits of sponsorship. If you are interested in taking advantage of this tremendous marketing opportunity please contact Cheryl at the TABA office at 254-773-0445.
Official Show Partner Benefit Package - $2000
(Only 6 available, sold on a first come first served basis)
Television Advertising for Your Company:
§ NBC-KCEN Channel 6
§ Cable TV – channels to be announced
§ Your Company’s Name will appear and be read in the script in over 150 commercials seen by over 100,000 Bell County Residents at least once.
§ Approximate Total Air Time Value - $8000
Newspaper Advertising for Your Company:
§ Temple Daily Telegram – Your Company’s Name will appear in 4 different 6”x8” weekend ads and 5 different 4”x6” weekday ads. Your Company’s name will also be prominently displayed on the cover of the Annual Home and Garden Newspaper Insert Magazine.
§ Killeen Daily Herald – Your Company’s Name will appear in 2 different 6”x8” weekend ads and 3 different 4”x6” weekday ads.§ Approximate Total Advertising Value - $4,000
Additional Benefits for Your Company:
§ A banner hung in the EXPO HALL throughout the event (banner provided by company not to exceed 4 ft. high x 6 ft. long)
§ Company name will be announced during the show Saturday and Sunday and during the Preview Party
§ Company logo will appear on the TABA website from January – February
§ Company name will be listed as an Official Show Partner in the Home & Garden Show tabloid
§ Four tickets to the Preview Party
§ Total Value - $1000
Total Sponsor Advertising Value for Your Company: Approximately $13,000
Expo Hall Banner Sponsor - $250 (unlimited)
Benefits for Your Company:
§ A banner hung in the EXPO HALL throughout the event (banner provided by the company not to exceed 4 ft. high x 6 ft. long)
§ Company name will be announced throughout the show Saturday and Sunday and during the Preview Party
§ Company name will be listed as a Show Sponsor in the Home & Garden Show tabloid
A banner hung in the EXPO HALL throughout the event (banner provided by the company not to exceed 4 ft. high x 6 ft. long) Company name will be announced throughout the show Saturday and Sunday and during the Preview Party Company name will be listed as a Show Sponsor in the Home & Garden Show tabloid Total Sponsor Advertising Value for Your Company: Approximately $800
On The Level - Table Of Contents
Let me begin by congratulating 2009 President Chris Alexander on a great year. Thank you for your leadership and tremendous commitment to the TABA organization Chris! Also a big thanks to Cheryl Hunka and Troy Glasson for another year of great professionalism. Finally, let me join our staff and past president in thanking you the membership for your continued support and commitment. Effort from all of these folks has made the Temple Area Builders Association a recognized professional organization in our communities and throughout the state.
In a time of year that goals are made, I would like to challenge and encourage all members to look to a TABA member when choosing who to do business with. TABA members know the value of supporting their industry and have a proud tradition of building and serving our community.
In a slowing economy, your association can be looked to for strength and support. Doing business with a member is a giant part of keeping our communities insulated from the economic difficulties seen throughout the country--I urge you to buy local whenever you can. Recovery and healing must start from within and we, the local business leaders, are the ones that must take proactive steps to keep our local economy stable. With consideration of your fellow members, the commitment to support local builders, suppliers and sub contractors will continue the be a strength of our association and the communities we build and develop.
Please join me in 2010 to do all you can to help our membership prosper. As our member businesses prosper, TABA strengthens and can do that much more to make sure our industry has a strong voice in our community. Just take a quick look back at a few of the things TABA accomplished in 2009 and imagine what we can do in future years with further support. Our members are the backbone of this association--TABA is only as strong as they are. Good luck to all this year and look forward in seeing you all at our upcoming events.
Let’s do business with a member,
Jason Carothers
2010 TABA President
On The Level - Table Of Contents
We continue to ask our members to weigh the benefits of having a strong local voice for our industry--it is now more important than ever that you remain committed in your support of TABA to assure we are able to represent you in the halls of government and to provide opportunities for your business to grow. Here are just a few of the things that TABA has provided for our members lately:
Government Affairs. TABA works hard to maintain our voice at the negotiating table in representing our industry when local issues arise that can impact your business. We have a continuing commitment to developing and maintaining relationships and tracking government proposals for increased regulation. From codes to plans to ordinances, there has not been a new development related regulation proposed or approved in our area that TABA and our leadership has not weighed in on since we've had a full time government affairs person on staff. In fact, in 2009 the TABA organizational structure became an imitated model for local association management.
This year TABA has testified at government hearings or provided committee input regarding the Temple Fire Code; the Temple Electric Code; TCEQ irrigation standards; the City of Belton Design Standards (for which we made 25 recommendations for change); Temple's citywide trail and sidewalk system; storm water compliance; vested rights for existing developments; and multiple other issues that never reached the committee level. TABA continues to be the voice of the development community in East Bell County and with your support we will be for the foreseeable future.
Creating marketing opportunities. The TABA Home and Garden Show and TABA Parade of Homes are trade events that just about everyone in the area not only knows about, but looks forward to on an annual basis. These events provide our members with opportunities to market their businesses to the community in ways that can’t be compared. The 2009 Home & Garden Show allowed about 150 vendors to market their wares to more than 5,200 people in one weekend. The Parade provided our builders with an opportunity to showcase their homes to almost 1,200 visitors. These events require monumental levels of coordination and oversight to achieve the success that they do year and year out. Couple these events with ongoing opportunities to sponsor membership events that occur regularly and there is no doubt that TABA provides our members with powerful opportunities to market their businesses to their target market. At TABA, we are working for you!
The 2008/2009 TABA Buy Now Program was a five month effort designed to keep the benefits of new home ownership at the forefront of the minds of potential homebuyers in Central Texas during a period of traditionally slow sales in an already down economy. TABA leveraged our relationships with local print, radio, television and outdoor advertisers to provide a constant reminder of these benefits. TABA and our participants spent about $40,000 on the program--which in all honesty could have cost twice that if it wasn't for the relationships we have developed with the local marketing community over the years. The result was that your association worked to contribute to the reduction of the local inventory of new homes on the market in effort to keep builders building and supporting their associates, subcontractors and suppliers. Of the 53 homes originally marketed in the program prior to November 2008, about 40 percent had sold by the end of January 2009. The program also produced a national award winning website that complimented our marketing efforts.
At the 2009 Legislative Rally Day TABA took a contingency of members to Austin and joined more than 30 other home builder associations from around the state to emphasize to our legislators that we understood the significance of their work at the Capitol. We let them know that we appreciated their looking out for our industry as the 81st Legislature progressed. Senator Troy Fraser and Representative Ralph Sheffield could not have been more gracious in meeting with us and hearing us out on our issues. The message we left them can best be summarized in a presentation that was created leading up to the briefing. One of the key issues we presented was an opposition to a requirement for fire sprinklers. The Legislature ended their session by assuring that fire sprinklers would not be a requirement for new built homes in Texas. See the presentation page of our website for more on that issue.
Educational Seminars continue to be among the most important benefits of membership. With the demise of the Texas Residential Construction Commission, the mandate for continuing education for those in our industry has gone away for the time being. In our area, education was never really seen as a "have to" as much as it was embraced by our association and our members as an opportunity to remain current on industry trends and increase our knowledge on relevant industry issues. Local seminars in 2009 were held on a quarterly basis. In 2010, we hope to be able to offer even more frequent opportunities. Individual member savings from $30 to $50 is realized at the majority of the meetings.
Meeting rooms. Depending on your needs, TABA members can save $50 to $175 per day in the rental of our conference facility. The room, adjacent facilities and available technology can provide a quiet and professional setting for your next business meeting, seminar or small banquet. Members also have access to the smaller workrooms at TABA on an as needed basis.
At TABA, we try to go out of our way to serve our members. We are continuously looking for ways to improve. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any ideas for ways we may better serve you!
On The Level - Table Of Contents
Happy New Year! As all of you are, I’m hopeful that 2010 will be a better year economically for all of our members than 2009 was. At TABA, we remain committed to doing our part to assure that when our builders are ready to build, the regulatory environment is the best it can be in hopes of making the building process as smooth as possible in that respect. In doing so, we continue to solidify our relationships with the rule makers. We continue to work with our government officials to make sure that new regulations are justified and implemented carefully. We also continue to review existing regulatory procedures for potential improvements.
Lead Paint Update
NAHB and TAB have been challenging the EPA's desire to remove the opt-out and record keeping provisions in the Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program concerning lead paint. Currently homes without children under six and pregnant women residing in them may opt out of the requirement. If the opt out provision were removed, potentially 40 million homes would become subject to the rule. The proposal would require all homeowners to comply with the requirement to have a certified remodeler to oversee renovations of any home built pre-1978 homes. Our industry has apparently made some headway in challenging this rule, but to what extent is not known at this time. The EPA has said it will finalize a new proposal no later than April 22, 2010.
NAHB continues to state that remodelers should have one employee trained in the new requirements by April 2010. I am currently working to make this training available locally in the next month or so.
Upcoming Training Opportunity
A code seminar will take place at TABA on Monday, January 25th. This 1.5 hour session will educate our builders on changes to the building codes that have recently been adopted by the City of Temple. These will include the 2006 IRC, the 2008 NEC, and the 2006 IFC. Temple Fire Chief Wallace will also take this opportunity to introduce new Fire Marshall Mark Spivey to our community of builders, provide a video on proper placement of fire alarms in homes, and provide some information on one or more residential fire safety products he’d like to make our builders aware of.
On The Level - Table Of Contents
The 2010 Home & Garden Show is allmost here and booking is strong. If you didn't participate in the 2009 show and would like to exhibit in 2010, please call the TABA office and have the show layout in hand when you do so. The layout can be printed from the TABA website by clicking on the Home & Garden Show tab. A booth price guide can be found there as well. The Exposition Hall is sold out and there are fewer than 20 booths left on the domed room floor so don't delay to get your pick of the best booth because they are selling fast!
With an anticipated 5,000 visitors over the course of the weekend, our vendors consistently tout this opportunity as one of the best ways to spend marketing dollars. The dates of the event are February 27th and 28th. A membership Preview Party takes place on the evening of the 26th. Please don't wait to secure a booth.
We will continue tout GREEN/energy efficient products in 2010. Green continues to be a huge industry buzz word and a growing market segment. If you have a "green" product that helps home to become more energy efficient or reduces water usage, please let us know as we will continue to denote these booths in the Expo tabloid.
If you have any questions regarding the 2010 Home & Garden Show please contact Cheryl Hunka at 254-773-0445.
On The Level - Table Of Contents
Call For Entry ATTENTION TABA BUILDERS:
The 2010 Parade of Homes registration packet will be mailed this month. If you do not receive one by January 15th, please call the TABA office and we will get one to you. Parade entries are due by February 15, 2010 and payment is due upon receipt. The first home entry is $1,100 and every additional home costs $550 to enter.
The 2010 Parade of Homes is scheduled for April 16-18 and 23-25, 2010. Your home must be ready for preliminary inspection by Friday, April 2nd. Please read the Parade Builder Contract for details regarding important deadlines, judging and builder and TABA responsibilities. If you have any questions regarding the contract or about the parade in general please do not hesitate to contact the TABA office.
On The Level - Table Of Contents
NEW HOME STARTS
| | Dec '09 | Dec '08 | '09 YTD | '08 YTD |
| Temple | 25 | 17 | 424 | 419 |
| Belton | 1 | 6 | 63 | 74 |
| Morgan's Point | 1 | 0 | 9 | 17 |
| Totals | 27 | 23 | 496 | 510 |
Note: this data represents a compilation of the statistics that are
reported by the Temple Daily Telegram every Sunday.
ALL HOME CLOSINGS | Dec. '09 | 141 | '09 YTD | 1,815 |
| Dec. '08 | 108 | '08 YTD | 1,936 |
On The Level - Table Of Contents
2010 - WOW!!! A new year, an hopefully a better outlook. At TABA, it's time to give all of our projects another go--Home & Garden Show, Parade of Homes and we'll add some new stuff in there too just to keep it fresh. Troy and I are excited to get moving in 2010 and put 2009 behind us. Don't get me wrong, 2009 was not a bad year for the organization, but it was challenging in many ways. We have high hopes that 2010 will provided serious economic recovery for everyone. We will re-engage our membership and work to assist you anyway we can.
The many challenges of 2009 were met head on by some great leaders, and in the end, we came out better then expected. Looking forward, I would like to echo what newly elect 2010 president Jason Carothers stated in his first 2010 letter to the membership. Let's do business with a member! It brings value to your membership when other members do business with you. Further, it provides peace of mind in knowing that you are dealing with professionals that see the value in supporting their local trade association in hopes of sustaining their industry for years to come. We encourage everyone to look at who you do business with and if they are not members - call me (254-773-0445). I will give them a call and tell them what TABA membership is all about.
HOME & GADEN SHOW
It seems like when we get one over, the next one is already here!! Next month will be our 34th Home & Garden Show and as always, booking has been very strong. One building is sold out and the domed room floor has less than 20 booths available. If you are interested in taking advantage of this tremendous marketing opportunity please call me to book a location.
We still have Home & Garden Show sponsorship opportunities available. We put together a great advertising campaign for the Home & Garden Show spending over $14,000 in marketing dollars and you can be a major part of that campaign. For only $2,000 your company will be marketed in a variety of media outlets throughout Central Texas for two weeks prior to the opening of the show. If you do not plan to have a booth in the show, becoming a sponsor is a great way to participate in the event and keep your name in the minds of central Texans.
The Preview Party is scheduled for Friday, February 26th and doors will open at 6:30pm. Details are still being worked out so check back next month for all the particulars.
That's it from my desk. Hope everyone had a safe holiday and a great new year. There are no meetings scheduled for this month but mark your calendars for February 26th to attend the Home & Garden Show Preview Party.
On The Level - Table Of Contents
On The Level - Table Of Contents
