Say goodbye to light bulbs as you know them. The incandescent light bulb, one of the most venerable inventions of its era but deemed too inefficient for our own, will be phased off the U.S. market beginning in 2012 under the new energy law recently approved by Congress. The change is part of the Federal Energy Independence and Security Act that President George Bush signed in 2007, to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The changeover in the United States will be gradual, not mandated to begin until 2012 and phased out through 2014. So what does this actually mean?

• Old light bulbs will not be “banned” but rather, they will have to meet new energy standards which will take the less efficient models off the market.
• Under the law, incandescent bulbs that produce 310 – 2600 lumens of light – roughly, light bulbs of about 40 watts to 150 watts – will be banned from sale. Bulbs outside this range are exempt from the ban, as are appliance bulbs, “rough service” bulbs, colored lights, industrial plant lamps and three-way bulbs.
• New LED, Halogen and CFL light bulbs will be more expensive for a while. You are looking at about $3/bulb vs $.50/bulb. However, a CFL uses about 75 percent less energy and lasts five years instead of a few months.
• You don’t have to sacrifice warmth anymore. Now most alternative bulbs offer a “warm” tone so that you don’t feel like you are in a sterile operating room.
• CFLs, and even more efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are coming in the future, are a true win-win. Consumers will get lower electricity bills and the environment will benefit from reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

	CFLs	20-25W	18-20W	13-15W	11W
	Compact fluorescent light bulbs are expected to be the leading replacements for standard incandescent light bulbs, at least at first. In CFLs, electric current energizes argon and mercury vapor, which in turn causes a phosphor coating inside the bulb to emit light.
	Halogen	70-72W	53W	43W	28-29W
	New halogen bulbs look like the incandescent bulbs people are used to buying. Halogens are a more energy efficient form of incandescent, but they are the least efficient of the incandescent replacement technologies. The filament is encased in a bulb made of fused quartz or high silica glass containing a halogen gas.
	LEDs in light bulbs			12W	8W
	LEDs are the gizmos that have been around for years lighting up digital clocks and calculators. They use semiconductors that emit light when electrons move around. Recent innovation has allowed engineers to make them bright enough for light bulbs.

Have you ever gone to get a bid from a contractor only to realize you get something scribbled down with pencil and paper?

As a general contractor that gets called to jobs ranging from counter tops, to historical remodels, I need a strong program to not only help estimate the cost of the project, but to relay that information to the client in a professional manner.  Enter Build Star : my choice for this job.  I even have a login box for Build Star on our Business Home Page. Below is a list or reasons why I chose this program.

Why I use Buildstar?

1. Speed: It enables me to create preliminary estimates for a job anywhere from 2 -6 hours.  The recurring charge  is minimal compared to the service it provides.  You can base new projects off of past projects you have completed that are close in scope.  This really speeds things up.  Your accuracy increases over time as well if you track your actual expenditures and adjust the costs manually.  Just as a note though, don’t rely on just the program for the pricing solely, it is up to you to verify square footage pricing, or per job costs and include them in the estimating forms.

2. Completely Online: Not only can I gain access from any computer in the world, so can my clients, managers, and well anyone that we give access.  The other added benefit is there are no worries about the computer crashing or being dropped on site. When given a bid from a sub, its easy to access bid amounts online to see  how much is budgeted for that item.  P.S. I carry a planner and my laptop. That is all I need. Well maybe a few books and a briefcase too!

3. Detail: Buildstar can break down an estimate into as many as 90 categories. My clients receive a very detailed bid that specs out every cost from framing to a chandelier fixture. This shows that we have thought everything out, and have eliminated the need for “surprise” costs down the road. Clients appreciate the professionalism, I like the clarity.

4. Bid Requests: The one other main function I use.  After uploading plans attached to each job, I can send out multiple bid requests for each item to many different sub contractors.  It takes about 30 min to send out 10 bid requests to 30+ subs all while giving them complete access to online plans.

Now there are other features that I don’t use.  A few inlcude client questionaires, accounting, etc. I choose to use other programs that work better for ongoing managment.

This works well for me and saves an amazing amount of time.  Time I like to spend well doing other activities.

What does your contractor use to supply a bid?