Partner - National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)

Introduction

The NAHB Research Center is the only full-service product commercialization consulting company for the home building industry. Its mission is to promote innovation in housing technology to improve the quality, durability, affordability, and environmental performance of homes and home building products. What does this mean to builders and manufacturers? We help drive innovative new building products into the marketplace, to improve the quality and affordability of housing.

Since its founding over 40 years ago, the NAHB Research Center has realized that quality building products are the first step to high-quality housing. The Research Center's third-party testing and quality assurance capabilities provide the industry with solutions that optimize performance, reduce product failures, and improve quality and customer satisfaction.

Created in 1964 as a subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the NAHB Research Center has established itself as the source for reliable, objective information and research on housing construction and development issues. The company's unique relationship with the housing industry, and the breadth of technical expertise, provides an unrivaled depth of understanding of the housing industry and access to its business leaders to fulfill the industry's research needs.

Our Approach Sets Us Apart

The NAHB Research Center relies on four key resources and our interdisciplinary team approach to provide flexibility in its research capabilities.

1. Technical Expertise

The NAHB Research Center staff really knows the home building industry. Its nearly 90 full-time employees have specialties in all related disciplines - building, remodeling, all types of engineering, architecture, applied sciences, planning, land development, market research, educational development, and communications.

2. Full-Service ISO 17025 Accredited Laboratory

The Research Center offers a full range of material and structural systems testing services. Its headquarters includes a full-service, accredited laboratory with a wide variety of testing capabilities - from stain resistance of countertop surfaces to compressive strength of full-size walls with loads up to 400,000 pounds.

3. Research Home Park

The Research Center is a builder, too - and the company understands builders' problems. Just around the corner from its corporate headquarters and laboratory is the NAHB National Research Center Home Park , where, as a licensed builder in the state of Maryland , the Research Center is able to put its research results to the test in the real world of home building.

4. Strong Relationship with the Industry

The Research Center has access to the business leaders and innovators of the home building industry. As an independent affiliate of NAHB, the company is in a unique position to draw from the experiences of the 225,000 members of NAHB and to involve those members in research efforts across the country and around the world.

These resources have helped the NAHB Research Center develop a strong core of research capabilities to respond to the changing needs of the home building industry.

Research Capabilities

Areas of expertise for the NAHB Research Center include the following:

Engineering Services

• Engineering expertise - electrical, civil, mechanical, energy, structural, materials
• Natural disaster damage assessment
• Building code & product standard development
• Building code consulting
• Performance/durability testing
• Building systems optimization

Laboratory & Certification Services

• IS0 17025 accredited product testing laboratory
• Accredited to conduct over 70 ASTM/ANSI tests, including the following:
• Material properties testing
• Structural systems & component testing
• Building envelope testing
• Plastic plumbing fixtures testing
• PS2 testing for OSB
• ANSI ADA compliance testing
• Prescriptive guidelines development
• Product certification & listing
• Plastic plumbing products
• Insulation materials
• Third-party quality assurance certification
• Contractor quality management system certification

Applied Market Research

• Proprietary & customized market research
• Focus groups and roundtables
• Domestic & international clients
• Syndicated Annual Builder & Consumer Practices Surveys
• Qualitative & quantitative research

Quality Assurance Consulting Services

• Founder of the National Housing Quality Program
• Quality assurance training & consulting
• National Housing Quality Award
• Industry roundtables on emerging issues (e.g., insurance cost and availability)

Land Use & Development Research

• Thorough understanding of development process from acquisition to finished lots
• Expertise in related areas:
• Low-impact development
• Resource-efficient development
• Green building practices
• Regulatory impediments to innovative development techniques

Condition Assessment & Master Planning

• Residential inspection capabilities - neighborhood conditions, environmental analysis, energy usage, accessibility, interior & exterior structural conditions
• Computer modeling of maintenance/modification cost

Home Building & Remodeling

• Field evaluations & national demonstrations
• Industry relationships
• Best practices assessment & promotion
• Licensed builder in state of Maryland
• National Research Center Home Park

Existing Programs

With these capabilities as the foundation, we have developed the following programs:

• The National Housing Quality Program
• Annual Builder and Consumer Practices Surveys
• Product Certification and Labeling
• The National Center for Seniors' Housing Research
• The National Center for Land Development Technologies
• U.S. Military Housing Assessment Program
• Product Development Research Program

Contact Information & Links

For more information on the NAHB Research Center's activities, capabilities, and partnerships, call (800) 638-8556 or visit

• NAHB Research Center
• Technical Website
• OSB Testing & Certification Program