Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 24, 1991                   TAG: 9102250410
SECTION: HOMES                    PAGE: E-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY HOMES EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUILDING BETTER IN SPOTS, BUT NOT IN LEADER'S AREA

"In Southside, the Petersburg area, sales are picking up, and Lynchburg and Roanoke are stable," said Jules Elliott, owner of Old Colony Homes.

"But I'm laying the foundation for the last house I have on the books."

The civil engineer turned home builder said he built six homes in 1990, compared to 25 to 30 he generally builds each year.

Elliott said Fredericksburg is on "the edge of the most depressed building area in the state."

He said home builders, who operate on little profit margin, can't cut building costs when a market is depressed. But, he said, new houses have to compete against the existing houses for sale whose owners often can cut prices.

Elliott, who builds in the first-time-buyer price range, said the profit margin can be so thin that some builders have had to sell below cost or at cost.

He said a new house that cost him $83,000 to build is priced at only $88,000.

LCM Corp. of Roanoke has paid a $250 penalty to the state for violation of asbestos-removal procedures on one of its own properties. The Department of Labor and Industry found last June that LCM, a licensed asbestos-removal contractor, was not on the site when work was being done at the Old Shenandoah Drive-In site in Northwest Roanoke.

Lawrence Musgrove, president, said LCM owns the property and was having the grass cut last summer before cleaning up the old screen that has fallen.

Also paying a $250 penalty involving similar violations was Alleghany Insulation Corp. of Covington, which was absent from a Westvaco site where it was overseeing asbestos removal last April.

Other actions taken recently by the state against contractors include:

Blue Ridge Properties Inc. has had its Class A contractor license revoked, which means the company cannot do work on a job of $1,500 or more. The license loss is a result of a $10,000 payment from the Virginia Contractors Transaction Recovery Fund to Larry Creekmore. Creekmore, in his request for reimbursement, said that in 1987 he paid Blue Ridge $16,762 toward a $69,500 house construction project and Blue Ridge did not use the money for the project.

Rick D. Weaver and J. Matt Fortren, trading as All American Pools on Hollins Road, Roanoke, have had their Class B contractor's license revoked following payment of $9,420 from the Contractors Transaction Recovery Fund to Benjamin and Suzanne Trout of Franklin County. The payment stems from a 1988 agreement in which the Trouts paid Weaver $8,200 for a pool that never was installed.

> Bear Mountain Outdoor School in Highland County has scheduled several courses related to home building or renovation, with some non-construction-related workshops to run concurrently.

Practical Buildings Skills will be offered three times, May 5-11, July 21-27 and Aug. 4-10. Finish Carpentry will be taught June 2-8; Advanced Carpentry Skills, Sept. 15-21; Home Improvement and Repairs for Women, June 23-29; and Rural Building Design and Construction, Sept. 8-14.

The non-building workshops are Woodslore Hikes, May 5-11, June 2-8, Sept. 8-14 and Sept. 15-21; Creative Writing, June 23-29; Mountain Dulcimer Construction, Aug 4-10; Quilting, Aug. 11-17; and Watercolor in the Mountains, July 21-27.

Courses also will be offered in log cabin construction and restoration, timber frame construction, building with stone, spinning and natural dyeing and blacksmithing. Weekend workshops are scheduled in solar design, design basics, roofing, advanced timber framing, maple sugaring, organic gardening, sheep raising, shiitake mushroom cultivation and beekeeping.

Bear Mountain School was started in 1987 by Tom and Laurie Brody. Tom Brody is a graduate of the University of Colorado with a degree in environmental biology.

Fees for the weeklong workshops range up to $600 and weekend fees start at $175. Lodging and meals are included. For additional information, call 703-468-2700 or write the school at Hightown 24444.