I once heard a production builder declare that America’s construction heritage could be summarized as “300 years of history and zero years of innovation.” He was joking, of course—to an extent. The pilgrims at Plymouth Rock would find much in their descendants’ homes today that looks pretty much like what they had in their own houses. But, just as obviously, our homes did evolve, and not just with indoor plumbing and microwave ovens. I would argue that the evolution of how you build and adapt homes is moving faster now than it ever has during the past three centuries, both in how you do your work and the tools you use to accomplish it.
As you change, we change. The January issue of Remodeling embodies several innovations we’ve made in response to how you operate now. The biggest is in our feature article section, where we’ll focus on just one subject each issue: Cost vs. Value this month, sales and marketing in February, regulations in March, and so on. Doing this enables us to dig deeper and deliver more on one subject than we did in the past. Our aim is to fill each edition with info so valuable that you’ll want to hang on to the magazine for the rest of the year.
This emphasis of wisdom over news also extends to the “Your Business” section. We’re bringing back regular contributions from our most popular columnists, including Victoria Downing, Judith Miller, Bruce Case, Paul Winans, Leslie Shiner, Melanie Hodgdon, and D.S. Berenson. The section will also have a few hard-news stories, but you’ll find most of that stuff on our website and in our e-newsletter, the Remodeling Daily Update.
Surveys show that learning about new products is important to you, so we’ll deliver at least two pages of product news each issue. And the April edition of the magazine will be entirely about new products introduced at events such as KBIS and the International Builders’ Show.
Except for our annual Remodeling Design Awards issue and the design details in “You Built It” on the back page, design content has been moved to our website. There, we’ve created a searchable, sortable showcase of many years’ worth of great design stories, photos, and videos in the Project Gallery. All that is a step above what we could deliver in print.
You can probably tell that we’ve accelerated our transition from being strictly a magazine to becoming a dynamic multimedia resource. You don’t just get your information solely from reading these days. We know that there are times when the best way to serve you isn’t through print but rather via a video, a live event, an email, a Web page, or a photo essay.
More than ever, we aim to be media maximizers, using the delivery mechanism that gives you the highest possible value. For Remodeling magazine, that means we’ll use this medium when we think that print best tells the story. With Cost vs. Value, for instance, we anticipate you bringing the January issue with you as you have your kitchen-table conversations with prospects. That’s why, along with the data this year, we’ve added feature articles that help you use Cost vs. Value to inform prospects about their particular project and help you in selling your work.
We know that your business and your clients are continuing to change, so we’ll keep close watch to ensure that what we do matches what you do. We’re the same Toolbox for Success that you’ve enjoyed for years, only the tools have been updated. Tell us what you think.
