- Remodeling Business Improving in Western Mass.:
By Joseph Bednar, BusinessWest Online
Business is picking up for remodelers, but cautious consumers are focused on needs, not wants.
- Kansas City Suburbs Ripe for Remodeling:
Suburbs look for solutions as they show their age
By MARK WIEBE, The Kansas City Star
The houses that began spreading across northeastern Johnson County in the mid-1940s represented a vanguard suburban movement in the Kansas City area…But the houses left in the wake of that boom — which lasted from the post-World War II years to 1970 — didn’t stay new forever. By today’s suburban standards, many of them seem small, lacking adequate closet space, large master bedrooms and enough bathrooms.
- Prairie Grove Considers Requiring Remodeling Licenses:
By Scott F. Davis, Northwest Arkansas Times
The Prairie Grove City Council tabled on second reading an ordinance requiring a residential remodeler’s license from the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board for contracts greater than $20,000.
- Dramatic Powder Room Remodel With Granite Slab Floor:
Remodeler Mark Daniels of Mark Daniels Kitchen & Bath in Manassas, Va. installs a single slab granite floor in his sleek powder room. View the final project and a slide show of the step-by-step installation.
- Homeowners not afraid to splurge for remodels:
RenovationHouse projects increase as many decide to get creative
BY TIM FALL (The Oklahoman)
Inventory stack-ups in new and used homes are causing sweat beads on the foreheads of many Realtors, builders and sellers, even in Oklahoma’s relatively chipper housing market.
In one sector, though, things are looking decidedly up: Renovations and remodels.
- Existing Home Sales Hit Bottom:
Kitchen & Bath Design News
Existing-home sales dipped to their lowest annualized level in years during the first quarter of 2009…Housing analysts believe, however, that existing-home sales are now beginning to stabilize, amid signs that first-time buyers are responding to low mortgage interest rates and tax credits.
- Free Building Permits in Denver:
Friday, June 5, 2009 Denver Business Journal
Denver residents have pulled 291 free building permits for $1,422,198 in home-improvement construction during the first week of the city’s two-week offer of free permits, officials said Friday.
- Composite Decks Recalled by Louisiana-Pacific:
Decks Can Deteriorate and Break, Posing Fall Hazard
- Remodelers build on spark of recovery:
By Lisa Rauschart, special to The Washington Times
Drive around the neighborhoods of the greater Washington area and you may literally see more signs of economic recovery.
- Contractor Conundrum:
by J.N. Sbranti for the Modesto Bee, Modesto, CA
Nailing down jobs hard when rivals are unlicensed
- Power to the people:
By Onell R. Soto, staff writer, San Diego Union -Tribune
One Block Off the Grid uses community activism to build networks of solar energy systems so homeowners can get volume discounts
- Reclaiming the Environment:
by Rosa Salter Rodriguez, The Journal Gazette
Every day is Earth Day to these Fort Wayne ”ecopreneurs”
- Santa Barbara Backs Fire Sprinkler Mandate:
By Lara Cooper, Noozhawk Staff Writer
Council votes to require fire-suppression systems in new single-family homes and in certain commercial and residential remodels
- Hope on the Home Front :
— from The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, CO
Building officials with both Mesa County and the city of Grand Junction … believe the slowdown in housing starts here may be bottoming out.
- A Turnaround in Design Work:
By Joan Verdon, The Record, Hackensack, N.J.
Apr. 7—A Little Falls business is betting the remodeling market is about to bounce back in a big way and has begun construction on a $5 million, 38,000-square-foot complex of remodeling, design and appliance showrooms.
- Establishing Allies:
In my next Road to Recovery story, an Indiana remodeler talks about how aligning with supplier salespersons, subcontractors, and a condominium manager has helped him nurture his year-old company.
- Second Home Sales:
Vacation and investment home statistics from the latest Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey from the National Association of Realtors.-N.P.
- Road to Recovery: Life Lines:
Though remodeler Steve Ramaekers in Detroit is struggling, he is able to stay in business due to his handyman division, renegotiating rent and insurance contracts, and by tracking real estate values.-N.P.
- Success Index for Small Biz:
Take this survey to see how competitive are you. Complete the survey and receive a score that you can use to compare your company against the average small business.—N.P.
One Tennessee remodeling company is relaxing its full-service sales pitch in this tough market and allowing clients to DIY specific segments of their projects. http://www.remodeling.hw.net/consumer-sentiment/partial-diy.aspx