Amazon partners with national homebuilder Lennar to create Alexa-enabled smart homes in select cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

Send a free Amazon Echo Dot to help break the ice, and other advice such as sitting on local boards, leveraging manufacturers, and hosting events are other inventive ways to build business with trade partners.

TDI Homes in Arlington, Va., advises simplicity in installation, interface, form factor. Standardizes on VSSL multiroom audio systems, with Control4 and Leviton control for security and home automation.

NAHB forecasts single-family home starts will up 5% in 2018, thanks in part to 'pro-business sentiment in Washington', but MDU starts will fall.

Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies predicts residential remodeling activity will hit $340 billion, up 7.5%.

Cable giant Comcast packages smart home devices, services to create 'simple solution to an advanced network' for multi-dwelling unit (MDU) developers.