FEATURES

  • Instant Respect

    Getting certified is hard work. Is it worth it?

     

  • Single-Line Success

    Adding a specialty business isn't for everyone, but it can be a real profit center.

     

  • Staying Power

    Employees are your greatest asset. What makes the best ones stick around?

     

Before and After

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    Diamond in the Rough

    A musician oversees every last detail of this whole-house remodel to create his own Graceland.

     

Cost vs. Value Report

  • Cost vs. Value Report 2006

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value for 25 common remodeling projects in 60 U.S. markets.

     

  • New England Region

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value in 60 markets.

     

  • East North Central Region

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value in 60 markets.

     

  • West North Central Region

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value in 60 markets.

     

  • South Atlantic Region

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value in 60 markets.

     

  • East South Central Region

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value in 60 markets.

     

  • West South Central Region

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value in 60 markets.

     

  • Mountain Region

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value in 60 markets.

     

  • Pacific Region

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value in 60 markets.

     

  • Project Descriptions

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value in 60 markets.

     

  • Stats and figures on the Mid-Atlantic region

    Stats and figures on the Mid-Atlantic region.

     

  • 2006 Cost vs. Value Report

    What's the payback for remodeling? Our annual report compares construction cost with resale value for 25 common remodeling projects in 60 U.S. markets.

     

Reader Panel

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    Reader Panel: Certifications

    Although the benefits of holding professional certifications seem obvious — they serve as effective marketing tools as well as a way of ensuring job quality, among other things — many remodelers have been slow to get certification for themselves and their employees.

     

SPECIAL SECTION

Financing

  • Home Improvement Financing: Resources

    Contacts for home improvement financing...

     

  • Loans of Your Own

    Not for everyone, in-house financing requires lots of cash, nerves of steel, and the ability to evaluate risk.

     

  • Money for Sale

    According to Bob Weickgenannt, president of Starcom Design/ Build in Columbia, Md., “If you want to give your customers the best service, you've got to have all the cards.” And, in the competitive remodeling market, your trump card may very well be your ability to offer financing.

     

  • Financing Q&A

    Does offering financing make a remodeler into a mortgage broker or a bank? Is there any investment risk? Lenders and remodelers answer these and other questions that are commonly asked by contractors contemplating offering financing.

     

VIEW POINT

FIRST WORD

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    The Lowdown

    Published each November, our annual Cost vs. Value Report is among the most frequently cited research in the housing and real estate industries. It is also among the most widely misapplied, misquoted, and misunderstood research we undertake. Before the barrage begins again this year, I thought I...

     

News + Notes

  • Internet Buzzkill

    Ever wonder what people are saying about your company? Visit the world of consumer-driven e-mail groups, Web sites, and community listservs that have become powerful arbiters of opinion about the companies to patronize — or to avoid.

     

MARKET WATCH

  • Figure This: Home Costs and Percentages

    Average price of a “typical middle-management home” (four bedrooms, 21/2 baths, family room, and two-car garage) in Minot, N.D., lowest of the 317 markets surveyed.

     

  • Local Forecast: Spec Invaders

    Bethesda, Md., remodeler Mark Scott has noticed the spec housing market dying in his area. The owner of Mark IV Builders — who got his start in commercial construction and moved into spec homes before switching over to remodeling —knows from experience that many of those builders will turn to home...

     
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    Cool Days Ahead

    The second-quarter report of the House Price Index (HPI) reveals another sign of a slowing housing market. Published by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), the report shows that house prices appreciated 1.17% — more than one percentage point lower than the previous quarter...

     

COMMENTARY

GUEST COLUMNIST

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    Defining Culture

    For the past 18 months I have been able to step outside the system. I sold my company — Traditional Concepts, a high-end design/build firm on Chicago's North Shore —and have remained working as a sales consultant.

     

LINDA CASE

  • Shout It Out

    It's the annual planning season, and if you haven't created your 2007 business plan — or your business plan, period —I propose a fun, creative way to get started: brainstorming.

     

MARK RICHARDSON

  • Predicting Performance

    Making or losing money doesn't happen by accident. Results depend on how well you plan.

     

SHAWN MCCADDEN

  • Continuous Improvement

    We've all heard the adage, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” And how many times have you heard someone say, “It's good enough for now,” or “We don't have time to improve how we do it; we need to just get it done”?

     

YOUR BUSINESS

Sales and Marketing

  • The Safe Part of Green

    Demolition releases toxic residues, wood dust can be carcinogenic, and building materials often contain cancer-causing formaldehyde. Ready to get to work?

     

  • Shine On

    First impressions will always count, but final impressions are more likely to have an impact on referrals and repeat business.

     

  • Snapshot of Health

    A year-end tally form measures performance and spurs friendly competition.

     
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    Selling the Better Life

    Remodelers don't usually think of aging-in-place modifications as a chance to upsell, but Dan Bawden does. Earlier this year, his Houston-area company, Legal Eagle Contractors, opened The Idea Center: a home remodeled into an office/showroom equipped with aging-in-place innovations, from the front...

     

  • Jumping Off the Page

    When Gehman Custom Remodeling got a flattering writeup in the The Philadelphia Inquirer last year, president Dennis Gehman opted for a more animated alternative to conventional reprints.

     

BOTTOM LINE

  • Competitive Edge

    About three years ago, Ray Gaines noticed that his company, Gaines Construction, in Easton, Conn., was only winning 50% of the projects it bid on. Then that figure dropped to 25%. Losing out on some sizable projects made him question his policies.

     

  • Growing Use of Health Savings Accounts

    A health savings account (HSA) helps individuals save for future medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis.

     

BY DESIGN

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    Universal Principles

    “It was good timing,” says Peggy Mackowski, since her husband and company co-owner David Mackowski was working on his CAPS (Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist) designation through the National Association of Home Builders.

     

GOOD FORM

  • Know Your Numbers

    One of the most dangerous characteristics remodelers seem to share is lack of familiarity with — if not outright apathy toward — their numbers.

     

Tech at Work

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    Welcome to Web 2.0

    Seemingly overnight, something remarkable has happened. The next generation of Web-based applications — Web 2.0 — has arrived. Many of these are useful for remodelers, and many are inexpensive or free.

     
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    Wireless Wonder

    He calls it his “crackberry” —that's how addicted Anthony Cucciniello is to his Black-Berry. He's never without it, and he has given the handheld wireless device to each of his project managers, lead carpenters, and office staff.

     

Ways + Means

  • People + Skills: Partner Tips

    Growing up, brothers Joel and Neil Kristianson couldn't have been more different. “We were four years apart … enough to make sure that all we did was bug each other and fight,” Joel says. Yet, years later, they're in business together as owners of Crimson Design & Construction, Naperville, Ill. —...

     

  • In-Home Negotiations

    Always be careful with pricing models and the impact of discretionary price reductions. What you want is for Johnny Sales Representative and Bobby Sales Representative to each be able to visit Mrs. Jones separately, price the same job, and come up with the same price for that job (subject, of...

     

  • Better Building Through Science

    It's not rocket science, but it is a link between building science and diagnostic testing, says Walt Harwood of the new home-performance division he runs for Neil Kelly Designers/ Remodelers, in Portland, Ore. “We do it to create homes that are comfortable, durable, safe, and cost-effective.”

     

  • Finding Mature Workers

    AARP's Deborah Russell, director of workforce issues, and The Herman Group's workforce futurist Roger Herman offer these suggestions for hiring older workers.

     
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    Mature Hiring Practices

    Although the labor pool for the trades is tight, most remodeling companies wouldn't go looking for workers in the over–55 crowd. “But the maturity that comes with an older worker is particularly valuable in this field,” says Roger Herman, workforce futurist and CEO of The Herman Group. “In most...

     

BIG50

CLOSE UP

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    Profile: Tony LaPelusa

    After 42 years in the northwest Chicago suburb of Niles, Ill., LaPelusa Home Improvement (Big50 1992) could lay claim to any chunk of the sprawling Chicagoland market. But the company's target audience is within a two-mile radius of its office and showroom.

     

FACE OFF

  • Face Off

    Do you use Internet lead-generating companies?

     

SECOND LOOK

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    Second Look: Garett Radke

    The year 1989 was significant for Garett Radke. He was named Big50, went through a divorce, and took a trip that would change his life. He was running a $500,000 design/build company with three employees when he went on vacation to the Caribbean island of Nevis.

     

KITCHEN AND BATH

DESIGN CLINIC

SPEC BOOK

REPLACEMENT

ROOFING

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    Sell Like a Pro

    Having a genuine love for people and being a good talker are excellent attributes to have when it comes to entering the sales profession. But that's just the start. Many folks share those attributes but fail miserably at selling.

     
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    Recycling the Roof

    Roof tear-offs account for an estimated 11 million tons or about 53 million cubic yards of landfill waste each year. And, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, asphalt shingles represent up to 10% of residential jobsite waste. These are all big enough figures to stimulate developing...

     

Windows

PRODUCTS

IN FOCUS

TRENDS

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    Toasty Toes

    Heat up your sales — and your clients — with radiant floor heating installations.

     
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    State of the Industry: WPCs

    Wood-plastic composites are steadily chipping away at the pressure-treated wood market.

     

LAST WORD

Bench Mark

  • Endgame

    Are you preparing adequately to finance your future?