Milestones as goals can be tangible, like moving from being an employee to being self-employed or hiring your first office person or first lead carpenter. But they can also be less tangible, like spending more time with your family, working only 50 hours a week, or taking a two-week vacation without your cell phone. Read more
For almost 40 years, James Krengel has dedicated his life to defining and teaching professionalism in the kitchen and bath industry. He built a successful example with his own company, then set out to help new designers and remodelers reach their goals. For his drive for professionalism and his endless energy and creativity, REMODELING awards James Krengel its 2004 Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement. Read more
If you're running a successful remodeling company, chances are you've developed a scheduling system that helps you keep your jobs on track. It may be as simple as a Xeroxed calendar or a dry-erase board. So if it's working, why should you consider computer scheduling? Read more
My husband, Bob, and I run a design/build remodeling company in California's Silicon Valley. Many of our customers are engineers, so they expect cabinets to be highly functional and designed to fit their specific needs, in addition to being beautiful. Our in-house designers work closely with local cabinet shops to produce a tailored product. By rethinking standard configurations, they're able to create unusual storage solutions and make use of space that normally goes to waste. Read more
If it wasn't one before, remodeling is definitely now a service industry. A recent NARI survey shows that a remodeler's trustworthiness and service ranked most important in a homeowner's decision to hire. Quality ranked as only the sixth most important factor. Read more
Projects for which the homeowner supplies some or all of the materials ó buy-it-yourself, or BIY for short ó have traditionally caused headaches for remodelers. They pose all sorts of scheduling and quality control problems, and there are post-completion issues with warranty and repair, as well. More important, however, removing the price of certain materials from the overall cost of a project puts the job's profitability in jeopardy. Read more
The late Minoru Yamasaki, a second-generation Japanese born in America, is known for designing New York's World Trade Center, which he saw as a symbol of man's limitless potential. Yamasaki lived in Michigan and designed his first high-rise there. About his home, near his Troy office, he said, “Buildings should not awe and impress but, rather, serve as a thoughtful background for the activities of the contemporary man.” Read more
Not all of our Reader Panel respondents do jobs where the homeowners supply at least some of the materials (known as buy-it-yourself, or BIY). But most ó 84% ó do. In fact, fewer than 10% say they have never done any BIY work at all. Read more
In a move that should increase participation in their Certified Remodeler (CR) program, NARI has launched its first “virtual” study group. Read more
Recently released data confirm what many remodelers have no doubt already discovered in conducting their day-to-day business: Big box retailers are well on their way to overtaking local lumberyards as the main suppliers to remodelers. Read more
Hurricane Katrina briefly hit south Florida before flitting across the Gulf of Mexico. The storm made landfall on August 29, battering Alabama and erasing coastal towns in Mississippi. But it wreaked the most havoc in Louisiana, where surging waters were too much for the levees that protected New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain, just north of the city and a few feet higher in elevation. The breaches caused the lake to begin to empty into the city, eventually flooding roughly 80% of it with up to 20 feet of water. Read more