NEW YORK - Glenn Bridges can tell that the market for home remodeling is picking up - when he's hanging cabinets or laying a floor in a customer's house, a next-door neighbor is bound to knock on the door and ask if he's available for a project.

They'll look at his handiwork and then say, "We have something we're interested in doing," Mr. Bridges says. "It's quite uplifting."

The collapse of the housing market decimated business for contractors like Mr. Bridges, most of whom are small businesses with just a handful of employees. But many are seeing business improve as home sales slowly recover and homeowners who had put off projects during the recession are feeling better about the economy. Still, the improvement is gradual and projects aren't typically as lucrative as they were back when homeowners were able borrow against a large amount of equity in their houses.

Mr. Bridges was so optimistic about the remodeling market that in February he restarted the contracting business he was forced to shut down in 2007. When he closed, he had to lay off his three full-time workers. But at the start of 2012, things began to change.

"I had people that needed work done and all in one weekend they said to me, 'Why don't you help me ... why don't you get active again?"' says Mr. Bridges, owner of Eagle Ridge Contractor Services in Naples, Fla.

He's worked steadily since February, installing new kitchens and bathrooms that range from $10,000 to $25,000, depending on the size of the room and the quality of the cabinets and appliances. He hired one full-time worker when he started his business again and says he may take on as many as three more if business is good enough. And he's optimistic that it will be, because he's getting more requests for bids on projects. "Where I was pricing one or two (projects) a month, I might now price five or six a month. And I think I'm not unusual - for our market, there's more optimism."

Sales of previously occupied homes are up more than 9 percent this year, and spending on residential construction has risen 16 percent. People who track housing trends see signs that remodeling is on the rise - and that the improvement will continue. Harvard University's Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity suggests that annual homeowner improvement spending could rise 12.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, up from levels reached in the first three months of 2012.

Some of the uptick is coming from new homeowners fixing up and some is coming from people who put off work during the recession.

"Even though it's a down market, homeowners are always having to do certain projects - roofing, siding, heating systems," says Abbe Will a research analyst with Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. "When we're moving into a recovery phase, we're going to be looking to the discretionary projects, like kitchen and bath remodeling. We're expecting to see lots more of that as the housing market stabilizes."

But while the upturn is encouraging, it hasn't yet turned into the boom that some had hoped for. After rising from a low reached at the end of 2008, remodeling activity rose sharply but then fluctuated since the end of 2009, according to the National Association of Home Builders' index of remodeling activity. It's "improving, but not as much as we thought it had been earlier," says Steve Millman, director of economic services at the NAHB.

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Resurgence in remodeling boosts sales for contractors

Just the thought of remodeling a room can be overwhelming. Where to begin? What is the cost? What stays and what goes? These are some of the most complicated questions homeowners face when choosing to remodel. The fear is that once the hammer begins to tear away at your comfort zone, there's no turning back.

Tile plays a large part in remodeling when considering a kitchen or bathroom remodel. These two living spaces are the most expensive to remodel. If you're contemplating changing the layout of the space, a plumber, electrician and kitchen/bath designer have to be commissioned, which adds to the cost of the remodel job.

In order to keep remodeling within your budget, consider working with the existing cabinets and countertops if the project allows. Here are a few scenarios where this practice was implemented.

Using existing cabinets: The homeowners of this

The solution: An 18x18-inch ceramic tile, light

Debbe Daley goes over the tile selections at the Nashua Tile Center. (sun/jon hill)

Outdated bathtub solution: In this bathroom, the existing baby blue tub/shower unit was to stay. Again the cabinets were a golden finish and in great shape. The existing countertop was a white Corian. The existing wall tile was 4x4-inch square with blue tiles the same size placed in a design in the center of the wall and topped off with a blue bullnose tile. This design and color were considered to be outdated.

The solution: Working with the cabinets, countertop and tub, a white 12x12 inch tile was chosen with gray veins in a high gloss to mimic the look of marble, with a companion wall tile to complement the floor tile. Tying it all together would be tiny, multicolored subway glass tile in light soft frosted blues, clear glossy glass pieces and iridescent blue tiles. This combination of deco accent tiles was the key piece needed in updating this bathroom and providing a more modern look.

Updated tile tips: Try incorporating accent glass tiles into your tile design. There are so many shapes and sizes, 1-inch mosaic and mini-subway tiles, glossy and frosted. Natural stone combinations of tumbled marble, granite and glass can be used as an accent strip in a shower, on a wall or as a border on a backsplash. The possibilities in tile design are endless.

Debbe Daley is an interior designer with more than 25 years of experience. Follow her blog at blogs.lowellsun.com/daleydecor

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Swapping out tile remakes a room

NEW YORK Glenn Bridges can tell that the market for home remodeling is picking up when hes hanging cabinets or laying a floor in a customers house, a next-door neighbor is bound to knock on the door and ask if hes available for another project.

Theyll look at his handiwork and then say, we have something were interested in doing, Bridges says. Its quite uplifting.

The collapse of the housing market decimated business for contractors like Bridges, most of whom are small businesses with just a handful of employees. But many are seeing business improve as home sales slowly recover and homeowners who had put off projects during the recession are feeling better about the economy. Still, the improvement is gradual and projects arent typically as lucrative as they were back when homeowners were able borrow against a large amount of equity in their houses.

Bridges was so optimistic about the remodeling market that in February that he restarted the contracting business he was forced to shut down in 2007. When he closed, he had to lay off his three full-time workers. But at the start of 2012, things began to change.

I had people that needed work done and all in one weekend they said to me, why dont you help me ... why dont you get active again? says Bridges, owner of Eagle Ridge Contractor Services in Naples, Fla. He had spent the intervening years working on projects with other business owners.

Hes worked steadily since February, installing new kitchens and bathrooms that range from $10,000 to $25,000, depending on the size of the room and the quality of the cabinets and appliances. He hired one full-time worker when he started his business again and says he may take on as many as three more if business is good enough. And hes optimistic that it will be, because hes getting more requests for bids on projects. Where I was pricing one or two (projects) a month, I might now price five or six a month. And I think Im not unusual for our market, theres more optimism.

Bridges isnt alone. Sales of previously occupied homes are up more than 9 percent this year, and spending on residential construction has risen 16 percent. People who track housing trends see signs that remodeling is on the rise and that the improvement will continue. Harvard Universitys Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity suggests that annual homeowner improvement spending could rise 12.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, up from levels reached in the first three months of 2012.

Some of the uptick is coming from new homeowners fixing up and some is coming from people who put off work during the recession.

Even though its a down market, homeowners are always having to do certain projects roofing, siding, heating systems, says Abbe Will a research analyst with Harvards Joint Center for Housing Studies. When were moving into a recovery phase, were going to be looking to the discretionary projects, like kitchen and bath remodeling. Were expecting to see lots more of that as the housing market stabilizes.

But while the upturn is encouraging, it hasnt yet turned into the boom that some had hoped for. After rising from a low reached at the end of 2008, remodeling activity rose sharply but then fluctuated since the end of 2009, according to the National Association of Home Builders index of remodeling activity. Its improving, but not as much as we thought it had been earlier, says Steve Millman, director of economic services at the NAHB.

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Remodeling resurgence: Contractors see boost from uptick in housing market

NEW YORK (AP) Glenn Bridges can tell that the market for home remodeling is picking up when he's hanging cabinets or laying a floor in a customer's house, a next-door neighbor is bound to knock on the door and ask if he's available for another project.

They'll look at his handiwork and then say, "we have something we're interested in doing," Bridges says. "It's quite uplifting."

The collapse of the housing market decimated business for contractors like Bridges, most of whom are small businesses with just a handful of employees. But many are seeing business improve as home sales slowly recover and homeowners who had put off projects during the recession are feeling better about the economy. Still, the improvement is gradual and projects aren't typically as lucrative as they were back when homeowners were able borrow against a large amount of equity in their houses.

Bridges was so optimistic about the remodeling market that in February that he restarted the contracting business he was forced to shut down in 2007. When he closed, he had to lay off his three full-time workers. But at the start of 2012, things began to change.

"I had people that needed work done and all in one weekend they said to me, 'why don't you help me ... why don't you get active again?'" says Bridges, owner of Eagle Ridge Contractor Services in Naples, Fla. He had spent the intervening years working on projects with other business owners.

He's worked steadily since February, installing new kitchens and bathrooms that range from $10,000 to $25,000, depending on the size of the room and the quality of the cabinets and appliances. He hired one full-time worker when he started his business again and says he may take on as many as three more if business is good enough. And he's optimistic that it will be, because he's getting more requests for bids on projects. "Where I was pricing one or two (projects) a month, I might now price five or six a month. And I think I'm not unusual for our market, there's more optimism."

Bridges isn't alone. Sales of previously occupied homes are up more than 9 percent this year, and spending on residential construction has risen 16 percent. People who track housing trends see signs that remodeling is on the rise and that the improvement will continue. Harvard University's Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity suggests that annual homeowner improvement spending could rise 12.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, up from levels reached in the first three months of 2012.

Some of the uptick is coming from new homeowners fixing up and some is coming from people who put off work during the recession.

"Even though it's a down market, homeowners are always having to do certain projects roofing, siding, heating systems," says Abbe Will a research analyst with Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. "When we're moving into a recovery phase, we're going to be looking to the discretionary projects, like kitchen and bath remodeling. We're expecting to see lots more of that as the housing market stabilizes."

But while the upturn is encouraging, it hasn't yet turned into the boom that some had hoped for. After rising from a low reached at the end of 2008, remodeling activity rose sharply but then fluctuated since the end of 2009, according to the National Association of Home Builders' index of remodeling activity. It's "improving, but not as much as we thought it had been earlier," says Steve Millman, director of economic services at the NAHB.

Here is the original post:
Remodeling resurgence boosts sales for contractors

EPHRATA - Grant County Emergency Management is moving to the fairgrounds to make room for a new district court judge.

Fairgrounds Manager Jerry Gingrich and Emergency Management Director Robert Schneider met with the Grant County commissioners recently to discuss moving from the Moses Lake building on Wheeler Road.

The county plans to expand district court into the space Emergency Management is presently using to make room for a second courtroom and several other changes. The remodel is intended to make room for a third district court judge.

Gingrich and Schneider discussed three options, including remodeling the Huck Fuller building, building a new structure and remodeling the old fair office and a conference room.

The commissioners agreed to move emergency management offices into the former fair office building and use the conference room as a emergency operations center for now.

"There are probably more than three. That was just the three that came to mind," Gingrich said. "Obviously the least expensive would be (the) conference room."

Schneider said the conference room is the same size as the present emergency operations center.

"If we needed to be out tomorrow and needed to be in another emergency operations space, this space would work," he said. "We'll leave all the walls up (in the old fair office) in the middle. We'll leave all the walls up except for some of the temporary walls ... so we have a public space because we do the signs, we do the ID cards."

Gingrich said the department plans to start moving onto the fairgrounds on Oct. 29.

"Short term we can go back to our original plan and go into the block building. Get that gutted on the 29th," Schneider said. "Get that gutted, clean it and start going through our punch list of what we need to do."

Continued here:
Emergency division moves to fairgrounds

FORT COLLINS, CO--(Marketwire - Oct 1, 2012) - Summit Cabinet Coatings of Fort Collins, Colorado just completed a major, commercial renovation on the Fort Collins Club that involved remodeling and refacing cabinets in the locker rooms. Although Summit Cabinet Coatings specializes in home kitchen remodel projects, the company is also available for commercial ventures, such as apartment complexes and hotels.

A representative from the Fort Collins Club says, "The Fort Collins Club is pleased with the outcome of our new and improved locker rooms! It's always a challenge going through renovations and changes. Summit Cabinet Coating did an outstanding job and completed our lockers in an efficient and productive manner, which allowed our Club to get back to business as usual."

Summit Cabinet Coatings performed the remodel the men's and women's locker rooms. The remodel began August 3 and finished August 27, 2012. Thanks to Fort Collins Club's and Summit Cabinet Coatings' superior planning, they only had to spend time refacing cabinets in one locker bay per room a week and the locker rooms could stay open for the majority of the remodel process. This and other steps took place to cut down on the cabinet refacing cost for Fort Collins Club.

The doors in the locker room were in rough condition from years of hard use and contact with wet towels and swimsuits, gym bags and padlocks. Summit Cabinet Coatings spent time repairing dozens of huge gouges and filling irregular grain on every door to achieve its standard satin smooth finish.All 630 doors went through the same cabinet resurfacing process.

The Club did a trial run before commissioning Summit Cabinet Coatings and placed a sample resurfaced door in a high traffic area with padlocks beating against it for three months. The test was meant to prevent unnecessary cabinet refacing cost for the Fort Collins Club, should the resurfaced doors not be able to handle commercial wear and tear. The finish passed the test with flying colors. If the finishes provided by Summit Cabinet Coatings can take a fitness club's level of abuse, they will certainly do well in a residence.

Summit Cabinet Coatings performs home and commercial projects including refacing cabinets, kitchen remodels and a myriad of other woodworking jobs. Their goal is to keep the projects as non-invasive as possible for home owners, as they can still use their kitchen while their team is at work. For commercial applications, this is especially important so that they may keep the cabinet refacing cost low.

Summit Cabinet Coatings is Fort Collins and northern Colorado's premier choice for kitchen remodels in all price ranges. For more information about Summit Cabinet Coatings, or to receive a bid on your commercial remodel or home cabinet refacing cost, visit http://www.summitcabinetcoatings.com or call (970) 282-9856.

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Summit Cabinet Coatings Completes Major Locker Room Renovation for Fort Collins Club, Refacing Cabinets in Timely Manner

CMS Building and Restoration, Explains the Importance of Getting the Correct Permits Finalized for a Remodeling Job

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 27, 2012

Tina Shiachi, owner of CMS Building and Restoration, is currently experiencing a 6 week delay because a previous permit was not finalized. It was a hard hit for the customer, said Tina.

CMS was recently contracted to build a custom sun room for a homeowner in the LA area. CMS worked with an area architecture to draw up plans. Custom paneling was engineered for the room and CMS was all set to start the project, when they discovered the homeowner had a retaining wall built in 1999, and the city had no proof of a final inspection for the wall.

The contractor is responsible for finalizing the project, but the homeowner must obtain proof. In our area, they must have an inspection and have an inspection card signed once the job is completed, explains Tina.

The sun room project is now delayed, while we help our client obtain new drawings for their old retaining wall project and schedule a final inspection. The agency cannot issue a new permit, until the previous one is finalized, said Tina.

Permits requirements for remodeling work are typically obtained through a city or county agency. A homeowner should make a list of all the work being done and then contact their local agency to see what permits are required. Often times the hired contractor will obtain the permits, but it is important for a homeowner to make sure they are communicating with the contractor and then be responsible for finalizing the permits with the city or county.

Homeowners should keep a record of all blueprints, permits and inspection information during their time in the home. It is important to have proof that a completed job was inspected, whether the job is 1, 5 or 10 years old, said Tina.

To learn more about this CMS Builders and Restoration, please call (800) 601-2696 or visit their website at http://www.cmsprobuilders.com.

About CMS Builders and Restoration

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Canoga Park Remodeling Contractor Announces New Guidelines for How to Help your Contractor Avoid Permitting Delays in ...

Recently, I undertook a room remodeling project for my twins on their 18th birthday. And this is part of my continuing efforts to remodel my house, one room at a time. Although it's easy to manage an ambitious remodeling project when you have an unlimited budget, it's a little bit more difficult when you are living on a budget. I learned this the hard way. So if your next room remodeling desire doesn't include the benefits of an unlimited budget -- mine didn't -- check out some economical changes that can make an immense difference in the look and feel of your home, without breaking your bank.

Remodel Your Bathroom for $900

Bathroom remodeling projects are often known to be nothing short of a complete hassle. However, remodeling your bathroom doesn't have to be that expensive. When I made a plan to remodel mine, I looked at some of the most basic do-it-yourself costs.

Paint walls and trim: $75

Replace bathroom accessories: $100

Install a new sink faucet: $100

Replace sink and vanity: $400

Tile floor: $225

Total: $900

Helpful room remodeling tip: When tiling a floor, buy 10 to 15 percent more tile than your square footage requires to account for waste and mistakes. This helps you ensure that you'll have plenty of tiles with which to finish the job.

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First Person: My $1,000 Room Remodel

09-08-2012 15:55 Visit us @ Call: 847-673-7575 Urb's Best Chicago Remodeling and Best construction Services include General Construction, Room Additions, Kitchen Renovation, Bathroom Remodeling and many other home improvement projects. Worry free remodeling and construction! Urb Chicago Remodeling and Construction Services provide quality work, reasonable pricing and high attention to detail without cutting corners. We do it right the first time; this is how it should be done. Don't Pay more money than you have to Urb Chicago Remodeling and Construction Services prices are very reasonable and our quality is outstanding. We guarantee it! You can't go wrong when you hire the right contractor. Our estimates Urb Chicago Remodeling and Construction Services estimates are complete and detailed. Our proposal is a complete package with No hidden costs or items not included. Your bid will be itemized and very detailed as to what is included and what work will be done. A good complete, itemized building contract is the most important item to have. If you are planning a Room Addition, Kitchen Renovation, Bathroom Remodel or any other custom home remodeling project; We are happy to help.

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Chicago Construction Company, Best Construction Company in Chicago Remodeling House Rehab - Video

04-07-2012 08:56 This is a new home under construction. We will be updating the progress of the project here on youtube during the process. If you have questions or need help with remodeling or new home construction, please contact us at beetreehomes.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

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New House Under Construction - BeeTreeHomes - Video