These days, I hear and read a lot
about the forces driving growth in
the remodeling industry. Many industry
pundits claim that the steady
increase in remodeling activity over the
last decade is proof that bigger — bigger
sales force, bigger jobs, bigger crews,
bigger marketing budgets — is better,
both for the industry and for individual
companies. Some even claim that this
growth signals a fundamental, historic
shift in the industry, a change in the
rules that will pressure small companies
to "partner" with suppliers to become
more competitive with the Home
Depots of the world.
While I agree that there's a place for
this kind of trend analysis, it reminds
me of a time a few