Every year brings innovation as well as refinement, and in 2006, the construction industry will enjoy a bounty of both. It's been a tough job to narrow the field of great new products from 2005—especially considering that the field ranges from elegant hand-painted lavatory sinks to excavation equipment.
However, we did some brainstorming, called on some experts and came up with a list of products that we believe deserve serious consideration by contractors and, in many cases, homeowners alike.
The criteria we used included the following, although not all applied to all of the products:
1. The product is truly innovative in the way it solves a problem in design or production.
2. Although based on existing technology, the product takes it another step to meet a newly identified challenge or need.
3. The product won an award as Best New Product at a national trade show.
4. The product makes people say, "Why didn't someone think of this before?"
The top products coming out of 2005 are listed below in alphabetical order. Click on each one to read a complete article about it, including a link to the manufacturer's website. We think you'll be as impressed as we are by the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the people in our industry when it comes to ways of saving time and money for contractors and their customers.
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