In December, Stacey Freed of Remodeling Magazine profiled four remodeling companies of different sizes and strategies to identify how some are navigating the murky marketplace. Freed participated in a live chat Tuesday at the Integrity Facebook page to share findings about what the best remodeling companies are doing not only to survive, but thrive. When [...]

Green Codes and Red Flags Daily 5 Remodel “Building codes in your jurisdiction: Do you think they go too far or not far enough to encourage energy-efficiency and sustainability?”  NAHB Builder Confidence Index increases in October Calculated Risk “The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports the housing market index (HMI) increased in October to 18 from 14 [...]

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 [...]

Usual growth leaders absent from recovery New York Times “Why has the job picture been so bleak in the current recovery? A large part of the problem can be traced to unusual weakness in two categories: construction jobs and government jobs.” 9 tricks for creating a super model HousingZone.com “Believe it or not, if you [...]

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 [...]

The Kitchen Sink, and the Remodeling Scoop Daily 5 Remodel “An award-winning kitchen designer at this California design/build firm, a popular blogger, and now an author as well, Kelly Morisseau shares every remodeler’s frustration with a public that often holds the industry to the impossible standards of “reality” TV, down to the bare-bones costs and [...]

Here is an important piece of news for builders, if you haven’t already heard: Builders all over the country are being fined for not properly following the Residential Lead-Based Paint Regulations. Housing Zone has an in-depth article that lists out examples of builders fined for not following these practices. Did you know that the highest [...]

We ran across an article with some interesting tidbits about what homeowners want in 2011. As a builder or remodeler, are any of these on your radar? Outdoor living areas: Are you paying more attention to things like porches and patios? An outdoor kitchen (from simple to grand) and a fireplace can add a whole [...]

An underground roof? Green Building Advisor “It happens: snow loads trash them, historic commissions don’t allow them, or architects and clients simply don’t like the way they mess up clean roof lines. What do you do when you can’t use gutters to manage all that water coming off of roof eaves or valleys?” 7 radical [...]

NAR: Pending home sales up 5% in March, continue upward swing HousingZone.com “Home-sales contract activity has now increased six of the past nine months, as the Pending Home Sales Index saw gains in March, according to the National Association of Realtors. The index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 5.1 percent to 94.1 [...]