About Home Remodeling

If you're remodeling a kitchen, adding a family room, installing replacement doors or windows, you're joining the millions of homeowners investing in their homes. Home remodeling can enhance your comfort and improve home security, and can also add to the value of your property. According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (JIHC), spending on home remodeling was up to $214 billion in 2001, up from an estimated $150 billion in 1995.

Now estimated at $243 billion, remodeling spending has directly benefited from several years of rising rates of home ownership, large increases in house prices and low interest rates. Harvard reports that economic growth averaged just 2.0 percent annually in 2000-01 (in inflation-adjusted terms), while remodeling expenditures increased more than 6 percent.

Items to consider for a remodeling project:

• Scope of the project
• Cost
• Timeline
• Added resale value of project

According to the Harvard report, "in 2000 and 2001, some 41 million homeowners undertook almost 100 million improvement projects, nearly two-thirds of which involved replacing structural elements or major systems. Replacements include a broad range of improvements to home exteriors (such as roofing, siding, windows and doors), interiors (such as built-in appliances, plumbing fixtures, flooring, paneling, and ceiling systems), and systems (such as electrical, plumbing, and HVAC). Homeowner spending on such projects averaged $50 billion annually over the period."

Although the do-it-yourself market is large, many opt for choosing their own upgrades and materials, then hiring a professional to install their fixtures, doors, windows, flooring, etc. The JIHC reports that from 1995 to 2001, households with incomes over $120,000 accounted for 67.1 percent of the growth in spending on professionally installed home improvements and nearly 54.1 percent of the growth in D-I-Y expenditures. As the number of high-income families grows, ongoing innovation in product design insures that these high-spending households will set the pace for both the professional contractor and D-I-Y segments in the decade ahead.

Look for an installation company that can provide you with free estimates, a warranty and a money-back guarantee to create a low-stress remodeling experience.