Canadian Lumber Tariffs in 2026: The 34.75 Percent Stack and How to Quote a Florida Frame This Winter
Commerce cut the duties on most Canadian softwood in October, but the 10 percent Section 232 tariff still sits on top, and the cabinet tariff is set to double on January 1, 2027. What the stack adds up to, why the market moved more than the duty did, and the quoting rule that keeps a Gulf Coast frame from eating your margin.
7 min read · October 30, 2026
BriefingSarasota-Manatee Permits Through September: Houses Hold, Multifamily Falls 42 Percent, Hi Hat Ranch Gets Its First 3,000 HomesThe October permit roundup. Through September, single-family authorizations in the metro ran slightly ahead of last year while multifamily fell about 42 percent. In October, Sarasota County approved the first Hi Hat Ranch village, and Manatee paused data centers for a year and lined up bonds for 794 affordable units.4 min read · October 28, 2026
FloridaThe 2026 Florida Building Code Starts December 31: What Gulf Coast Builders Should Explain to Clients NowThe 9th Edition takes effect on the last day of the year, and the date your permit application goes in decides which code your job is built to. The reroof rules a homeowner will ask about, the filing deadline that matters more than any one section, and how to say all of it at the estimate table.8 min read · October 27, 2026
The NumbersBuilder Incentives in Florida, Late 2026: What Lennar's 12 Percent Tells a Buyer, a Semi-Custom Builder and a Trade PartnerLennar's third quarter put its incentives at 12 percent of what it delivered, down from 14.1 percent in the first quarter, and named Florida resale sellers as its sharpest competition. Read three ways: by the buyer at the model home, by the semi-custom builder down the road, and by the trades who build both.7 min read · October 26, 2026
BriefingSarasota County's Live Local Lawsuits: Six Cases, Thousands of Apartments, and the Trades Waiting on a 2027 TrialCommissioners voted in April that rural RE and OUE land does not qualify for Live Local apartments. Six lawsuits later, a judge has let the cases against the county go forward, the trial dates sit in 2027, and the site, framing and finish work on those projects is parked until a court or a settlement moves it.5 min read · October 23, 2026
BriefingFederal Flood Insurance Runs Out December 11. What an NFIP Lapse Does to Gulf Coast Closings and Your December ScheduleThe National Flood Insurance Program is funded to December 11, it has lapsed twice in the past year, and while it is lapsed it cannot write a new policy. For a Gulf Coast builder with a spec house in a flood zone, or a remodeler whose client is refinancing, that is a scheduling problem you can solve now.5 min read · October 22, 2026
BriefingSeptember Housing Starts, Read for Gulf Coast Builders: The South Gained on Apartments While Single-Family Permits SlippedThe Census Bureau's September report put national starts at their second-lowest pace in 25 months, and the South was the only region to post a gain. Under that headline, Southern single-family starts and permits both fell from August. What the split means for a spec builder's next phase, a framing crew's winter, and the finish trades waiting on completions.5 min read · October 21, 2026
BriefingFlorida's September Housing Report, Read for Builders: Sarasota-Manatee Prices Up 4.3%, Tampa Sales Down 7.7%Florida Realtors' September numbers show a state market that lost some speed without breaking. On the Gulf Coast the two big metros split: Sarasota-Manatee held volume and pushed its median to $485,000, while Tampa Bay closed fewer houses at flat prices. What that means for a builder's spec schedule, a remodeler's pipeline, and the condo work coming next.4 min read · October 19, 2026
BriefingThe Rays Ballpark Is a $2.3 Billion Job With a 2029 Deadline. What It Does to Tampa Bay Crews and the Small Jobs Around ItFunding is approved, AECOM Hunt Turner is the builder, and the schedule works backward from opening day 2029. For a Gulf Coast builder, remodeler or trade, the stadium is less a bid than a three-year pull on the same crews you need.4 min read · October 16, 2026From the Field
Playbooks
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PlaybookThe 14-Month Documentary: A Filming System for Custom Home BuildersA custom home takes longer to build than most marketing campaigns run. Filmed on a schedule instead of on impulse, that year yields one flagship film, a handful of chapters, and a year of short pieces, all from nine half-days on a site you were already driving to.9 min read · August 21, 2026
PlaybookEmail Nurture for Long Wait Lists: The Video Letters That Hold a Client for Ten MonthsA signed client with nothing to look at is the easiest job in your pipeline to lose. Ten short films, sent to one address at a time, that keep a backlog from turning into a cancellation.8 min read · August 18, 2026
PlaybookThe Handoff Film: A Closing-Day Video Clients Actually ShareThe last twenty minutes of an eighteen-month relationship are the most shareable footage a builder will ever have, and almost nobody rolls on them. The shot list, the permissions, and the three cuts that come out of one afternoon.8 min read · August 17, 2026
PlaybookTime-Lapse on the Job Site: Rigs, Intervals, and What to Do With Four Months of FramesMost builders buy the camera, mount it, and then discover the hard part is the last ten percent: the interval math, the mount that has to survive a Florida summer, and the four cuts hiding inside a folder nobody ever opens.9 min read · August 11, 2026The Numbers
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The NumbersWhat Lead-Gen Platforms Actually Charge Premium Trades, and the Owned-Media AlternativeAngi, Thumbtack, Google's Local Services Ads and Houzz Pro, priced from their own pages and filings, then run through the only number that matters: what a signed job costs, and what you own when you stop paying.8 min read · October 1, 2026
The NumbersThe DIY Tax: Pricing the Owner Hours That Go Into EditingEditing your own video looks free because it never generates an invoice. Here is the honest ledger: the full hour chain per piece, three ways to price an owner-hour, and the number that decides whether doing it yourself is thrift or the most expensive habit in the company.8 min read · August 13, 2026
The Numbers100 Views in the Right ZIP Beat 100,000 Anywhere Else: The Reach-Quality MathA short video that travels is not one that works. Here's how to price a view by who saw it, the two platform defaults quietly spending your budget in other states, and the audit that tells you which of your numbers are real.9 min read · August 7, 2026
The NumbersAttribution Without Fantasy: Tracking Video's Role in a Nine-Month SaleThe premium trades run on a sale too long and too human for any dashboard to score honestly. Here's what you can actually measure about video's contribution, and the two lies to stop funding about the rest.8 min read · July 24, 2026Florida
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FloridaFlorida's Condo Reserve-Study Backstop Is December 31, 2026. The Repair Work Lands on Contractors NextState law gives older condo buildings one last date to finish the reserve study alongside the milestone inspection, and lets boards pause reserve funding to pay for the repairs those inspections find. For a Gulf Coast contractor, that is a 2027 bid list forming right now, sold to a board instead of a homeowner.7 min read · October 14, 2026
FloridaThe 55+ Renovation Market: Selling to Homeowners Who Check EverythingFlorida's biggest remodeling client is over sixty, has equity, is staying put, and will spend four months verifying you before the first call. Most contractor marketing is built for someone else entirely.8 min read · August 21, 2026
FloridaFEMA's 50% Rule and Coastal Remodels: What to Communicate on CameraOne threshold decides whether a Gulf Coast project is a kitchen remodel or a whole-house elevation. Most homeowners first hear about it from a stranger at the permit counter. Here is how to explain it on camera, accurately and without pretending you're the one who makes the call.8 min read · August 15, 2026
FloridaWest of the Trail: The Teardown-Rebuild Wave and Who's Filming ItSarasota's oldest premium neighborhoods are being replaced one lot at a time: ranches down, elevated houses up. The builders doing the work are largely invisible online, and the audience is standing on the sidewalk watching.8 min read · August 11, 2026The Briefing
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BriefingSarasota's Bayfront Goes Vertical Again: Hyatt Centric Harborside, the Waldorf, and the Trades That Follow a TowerKolter's 20-story hotel-and-condo tower on the old Hyatt Regency site and the 18-story Waldorf Astoria Residences at Five Points are the next two downtown jobs on the calendar, and a third project just dropped eight stories. Who gets hired, in what order, and what to film while the fences are still up.5 min read · October 15, 2026
BriefingMortgage Rates Hit 7.28%, the Highest Since 2023. What October's Survey Means for the Buyers Your Builders Are Waiting OnFreddie Mac's first October reading put the 30-year at its highest since November 2023, three weeks after the Fed raised rates. For a Gulf Coast builder or trade: the payment math on a $450,000 loan, why two-thirds of production builders are paying for incentives, and the one conversation that does not need a rate forecast.5 min read · October 8, 2026
BriefingThe Hurricane-Free Streak Ends This Week. Here Is What the Quietest Start Since 1914 Did to Your PipelineEight named storms, zero hurricanes through the first week of October, and now Isaias spinning up in the Gulf toward the Panhandle. The read for a Gulf Coast hardening contractor, roofer or builder: the fear pitch is gone, the money that pays for hardening sits in paperwork, and this week is a watch window, not a sales window.6 min read · October 7, 2026
BriefingAmendment 3 on the November Ballot: What the Homestead Jump Means for Remodel Budgets and Rental-Property ClientsFlorida votes November 3 on the largest homestead-exemption change in a generation. The honest read for a Gulf Coast builder: a modest nudge to some clients' budgets, a quiet shift for landlords and second-home owners, a year-end deadline for new arrivals, and county budgets that pay for the roads you drive to the job.6 min read · October 6, 2026The Punch ListOne email a month. Every playbook, none of the noise.