Every year, concrete professionals from around the country convene in Las Vegas for the industry’s premier trade show, World of Concrete. World of Concrete 2006 featured over 1,800 exhibitors, crowds in excess of 80,000 and over 800,000 square feet of exhibition space, arguably the most successful turnout in the show’s history.

Never ones to miss World of Concrete or a chance to gather with colleagues, the Concrete Foundations Association (CFA) and the Concrete Homes Council (CHC) had an inviting booth where visitors had an opportunity to relax, network, and, of course, cast their votes for the Basement of the Year—affectionately called the Basement from Hell.

This year, however, we especially enjoyed talking with association and council members about the steps they are taking to transition to removable concrete form (RCF) home construction technology. Here’s a sampling of the kind of work members from around the country are doing with RCFs…

■ Mark Markovich, Dependent Foundations Inc., of Brighton, Michigan, is currently putting the finishing touches on his first concrete home in Hartland, Michigan. The project is a 6,160 square-foot single-family custom ranch with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and a walkout basement with its own bedroom, kitchen, dining and day room.

■ Dave Pfanmiller, Security Building Group (SBG), has finished another townhouse project in North Topsail Beach, North Carolina. The two-unit project is similar to SBG’s three unit project showcased on the CFA Summer Meeting tour three years ago. Both of the new units are 1,561 square feet and feature 3 bedrooms, 2.5 spacious baths and wonderful views of the ocean and intercoastal waterway. Only one of the units remains on the market.

■ Dave and Curt Fields, SBG, traveled to the gulf coast of Mississippi and viewed the devastation brought about by Hurricane Katrina. They may be putting their skills, and RCFs, to use as they have had discussions with homeowners that want to rebuild custom homes in that region.

■ This summer, Tri-City Contractors of Raleigh, North Carolina will start another large-scale custom-home project with Jon Rufty, Rufty Homes. This will be Rufty’s third RCF estate home in the Raleigh-Durham area. The first was the La Maison de Be’ton, a 12,000 square-foot home still in use as the model home for the Fonville Morisey Builder Marketing Group’s upscale Birklands neighborhood. The second Rufty home is the Chateau, a 10,000 square-foot Parade of Homes residence in Durham, North Carolina (featured in CFA newsletter Vol. 12, No. 5).

■ Mike Hancock, Basement Contractors, who builds under the name Hancock Building & Design in Edmond, Oklahoma, has recently completed two custom homes using RCFs (and has five more homes in the works for 2006). The first is an 8,500+ square-foot French Country home with 5 bedrooms and 5 full and 2 half baths. The home includes concrete decks, staircases, concrete surround fireplaces and a domed ceiling in the master bedroom. The second estate residence is an impressive 8,500 square-foot Mediterranean-style home with 4 bedrooms, 4 full and 2 half baths. This home has a very open floor plan, four-car garage, theater room, concrete decks and freestanding concrete fireplaces.

■ Outinord Universal, in Miami, Florida, working with EH Building Group of Palm Beach, Florida, is expanding the very popular Sail Harbour town home development in Lee Memorial Health Park. Located in Fort Myers, Florida, Sail Harbour has been an excellent value offering a magnificent location and ambience—the 1,747 to 1,974 square foot town homes range in price from $200,000 to $260,000. (Sail Harbour was featured in the June issue of Builder magazine and the EH Building Group recently debuted at #7 on the Builder magazine Fast Track 2005, a who’s who of the most promising builders across the nation.) Outinord will soon start on the Tribune Lofts project in the trendy Freedom Parkway area of downtown Atlanta, Georgia.

From coastal town homes to metro lofts, from ranch-style to grandstyle estate homes, RCF technology is playing an ever-expanding role in the home construction industry.

As more concrete contractors and builders make their move to RCFs, they are expanding the profitability of their businesses. But most important, they are creating beautiful yet low-maintenance, energy efficient residences with the highest investment protection from catastrophic weather, fire, mold and termites on the market today.

We should all be proud that we are involved with the business of building homes to stand the test of time.

Join today at www.concretehomescouncil.org.