As we all know, there are a lot of houses on the market that could stand to be remodeled. What if you were to take a leap into the real estate market and buy up these houses? It would be risky, but the rewards could be great. ForResidentialPros.com offers some great tips for this situation: [...]

We know you love your work, but it’s a job, and we all want to be paid for our labors. According to a Business Insider survey, two-thirds of contractors want to be paid with a credit card, as opposed to cash or check. Consumers tend to prefer it, too, because it offers some extra protection. [...]

Death to the McMansion Slate “Let’s start at home. If you’re in a deleveraging, after you triage the crash, you need to create or find a massive pool of demand and an equally large pool of credit-worthy borrowers. Where is there a great pool of demand? Right under our noses. In fact, it’s us. There [...]

From our friends at Remodeling magazine comes an article that any business owner will find useful: five management “don’ts” drawn from the Star Wars saga. Among them: Having no tolerance for mistakes (a lesson Lord Vader never learned) Focusing on a single goal while ignoring alternatives (a lesson Kodak might have considered as it focused [...]

It’s nice to be able to choose, right? And it’s good to be able to offer your customers choices — except when it isn’t. Psychologists have long noticed that when people have too many choices, they can become figuratively paralyzed. It’s like choosing a sandwich: Sometimes you just want a selection of well thought-out choices laid out [...]

Two Big Builder Failures Show We’re Not Yet Out of the Woods BUILDER “Just in the last few days, in a reminder of how treacherous home building remains, two of the biggest companies in the business have gone under. First, Minnesota’s Rottlund Homes, during its heyday the 40th largest builder in the country, announced that it would liquidate. [...]

With new home construction in flux, now is a great time for builders to focus on doing business smarter. Whether shoring up irresponsible spending, mismanaging project timelines or, as we’ll focus on today, creating inaccurate estimates, there’s much a builder can do to protect the bottom line even while the market is slow. According to [...]

Hold the Salt BUILDER “But perhaps the coolest aspect of this luxury residence is its water story. In an area where fresh water is often scarce, it’s got the requisite low-flush toilets (which use salt water) and a side yard and third-floor deck outfitted with synthetic turf. To keep the natural landscaping healthy and prevent [...]

Could You Design a House That Can be Built for $300? Home Design Find “Here’s a challenging assignment for innovative designers out there. A professor at Dartmouth is offering a $25,000 prize for a design for a $300 house to replace the sort of ramshackle housing that the world’s poorest are currently stuck with.” Lens [...]

Writing for FineHomebuilding.com, blogger and licensed contractor Kia Ricchi shares her thoughts on the importance of creating a sufficiently detailed scope of work for any construction or remodeling project. A well-written scope of work ensures the service provider and the client — and even any specified subcontractors — are all on the same page, she [...]