Another pollster will be surveying North Carolinians.

A group of Republican consultants and strategists have started Carolina Strategy Group, a business-focused firm that will regularly poll state voters.

Paul Shumaker, a longtime consultant who is currently advising Sen. Richard Burr's re-election campaign, said that he started the firm to pursue business work apart from his political consulting.

"I'm trying to provide a little bit of a buffer," he said.

Other members of the firm include media consultant Jean-Paul Damé, attorney Roger Knight, Virginia consultant Vick Gresham, South Carolina consultant Mark Lisella, attorney Neal Robbins and public relations executive Tim Pittman, the former press secretary for Gov. Jim Martin.

Shumaker said the firm will do two or three polls a month on public opinion issues that could affect business, such as state taxes, but he does not plan to do "horse race" polls on how candidates are doing.

Carolina Strategy Group will be the fourth major pollster in the state, after the Elon University Poll, Democratic firm Public Policy Polling and the conservative Civitas Institute.

A major North Carolina home builder does not oppose a transfer tax.

KB Home announced today that it has joined the Partnership for North Carolina's Future, a group of nonprofits campaigning for more state investment in roads, conservation and affordable housing.

Among the solutions the partnership proposes: Giving more counties the authority to levy a 1 percent tax on real estate sales.

The N.C. Home Builders Association has opposed transfer taxes for years, calling it "unfair" and "discriminatory." The Wake County chapter even included it on a list of "anti-business" issues "likely to rear their ugly heads" this session.

Tim Pittman, a spokesman for KB Home, said that the company does not feel quite as strongly.

"We've not specifically endorsed a transfer tax at this point, but we're open to the idea," he said.