Blog Archives




 

  • KBIS and IBS to Join Forces in 2014
    By Janice Costa - Tuesday January 22, 2013
    It's been a tough few years, and everyone from kitchen dealers and designers to manufacturers have been feeling the pinch. So, is it any wonder that trade show attendance has struggled along with the rest of us these past few years? When budgets are tight, there's a tendency to look at other, more affordable options -- online networking instead of live events, webinars instead of live seminars, web-based product reviews instead of venues with live product displays. Technology gives us options and alternatives that weren't available just a few short years ago, and these can be a blessing when budgets are tight. Yet even the most technologically connected among us know that there's nothing quite like being there. Seeing, touching...

  • Big News at the Big Show
    By Andrea Girolamo - Tuesday January 22, 2013
    So, the 2013 edition of the International Builders Show is barely two hours old and already we've probably got the biggest nuggest of information that the National Association of Home Builders could drop: in 2014, the NAHB and the National Kitchen & Bath Association have entered into an agreement to join the International Builders Show and the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, back here in Las Vegas. The details, straight from the press release: The new mega-event will be held Feb. 4-6, 2014 in Las Vegas, with each show occupying a separate hall. Kitchen and bath brands that have participated in both shows can choose to exhibit in the KBIS or IBS hall. One pass will provide access to both exhibits. NKBA and NAHB will continue to produce...

  • Deadlines rule
    By Rob Heselbarth - Monday January 7, 2013
    Deadlines rule my professional life. If we editors don’t get our magazines to the printer by deadline, we pay financial penalties, potentially higher shipping fees, and we might lose our slot on the presses and get delayed several days, which means you get your magazine late. Deadlines also rule remodelers’ lives. If the concrete guy misses his deadline, or the windows arrive late, the domino effect of schedule changes this would create can be enough to give a project manager a heart attack. Profit could suffer and clients would get upset, which never is a good combination. Deadlines make it easy to hold people accountable, and can help when trying to judge a person’s performance. It’s pretty simple, actually; Did so-and-so meet...

  • Changing Customer Service Needs in an Increasingly Online World
    By Jeff Kaliner - Monday December 17, 2012
    Throughout the past few years, posting reviews of products and services on social media and online consumer review sites has become increasingly popular for consumers, and particularly homeowners researching their options for home remodeling services. From Angie’s List and Yelp to CitySearch and Google Places, not to mention Facebook and Twitter, there is a growing list of online resources where customers can provide detailed reviews of their personal experiences — good, bad and indifferent — for all the world to see. Likewise, the number of people consulting those reviews and personal accounts before deciding on a major purchase or signing a contract for a service is also growing by the day. In fact, according to a recent Nielsen...

  • Help us chronicle Sandy's clean-up
    By Andrea Girolamo - Monday December 10, 2012
    You may have had a delay if you tried to correspond with a few staff members of ForResidentialPros.com around October 29, and for the rest of the week following.  Superstorm Sandy, that Frankenstorm, or Hurricane, or Tropical Storm (depending on where you were when it hit you), knocked much of the east coast of the U.S. down for the count. What a lot of our readers don't realize is that some of our staff weathered this out in more than just words and pictures -- we have staff, including most of the editorial staff of Kitchen & Bath Design News , located on Long Island, who were very much in harm's way during the storm. KBDN Editor Janice Costa said it best in her editorial this month , illustrating the higher truths the storm...

  • Pondering the next four years
    By Todd Vendituoli - Wednesday December 5, 2012
    Well, the election is over and some people are happy and others are not. I can’t say exactly what will happen with the economy over these coming years, but as a contractor for almost 30 years I know it’s going to be interesting if nothing else. However, from my perspective I think the construction industry as a whole is in for more rocky times, and here’s why.   We still have unemployment that is way too high, with no signs that it will come down to reasonable levels at which more people are employed and can afford homes. Many countries around the world have many monetary issues that are major problems, such as Spain, which has an unemployment rate of almost 25%. The United States is no longer a country of prosperity and...

  • Waterfall from the Ceiling
    By Laurie Banyay - Monday December 3, 2012
    After returning from a 10-day trip to Pittsburgh over the 4th of July, I spent my last day of vacation at home doing laundry and preparing for the week ahead. On my fifth and final load, I heard water flowing, but didn’t think much of it. My mistake. A hose had burst off my second-story washing machine and water had seeped through the floor then poured through the kitchen ceiling, dumping what ended up being at least 1/2 inch of water on the kitchen floor. At least 1 inch of water saturated the laundry room floor. The space between the floor and ceiling was soaked and water damage was spreading fast. I watched drywall turn yellow and cracks spread by the inch. After a frantic call to my insurance company, emergency cleanup workers...

  • My firm is (skeptically) moving to BIM
    By Todd Mather - Wednesday November 21, 2012
    My firm just lost a project. I should say another project, because we do not always receive the contract (or commission) on all of our proposals. This one was more abrasive. The reason? Revit does not find a Home at my firm. At least not yet.   We have been holding off from the BIM movement for years. There are a few key reasons for this. One, cost. Two, our projects – custom residences and remodels/additions – don’t seem to demand it. Three, why fix what isn’t broken?   I know all three reasons have been diminished by the CADD gurus of our time in every blog on this topic. Still, we are not alone at our firm … but we’ll be making the move very soon now that we did not receive this large commission based upon this...

  • Hurricane Sandy – How businesses can play a role in recovery
    By Jeff Kaliner - Monday November 19, 2012
    By Jeff Kaliner When Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast last month, it caused a massive amount of destruction in numerous cities and communities, especially in New York and New Jersey. From widespread flooding and power outages to gas shortages and the leveling of entire neighborhoods and towns — the list of damage inflicted by the storm is long and requires an intensive recovery effort. Businesses in the affected areas are also dealing with additional problems, such as revenue loss, property damage, data loss and employee absenteeism due to hardship. That’s something we know firsthand, as several of our Power locations, including offices in Long Island and northern New Jersey, were hit directly by the storm. We were lucky and only had...

  • What Designers Must Address with Moulding
    - Wednesday November 14, 2012
    Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a five-part series about mouldings, taken from a whitepaper by Fair Lawn, N.J.-based Kuiken Brothers Co. Inc. titled "Using Moulding to Enhance the Beauty and Elegance of a Space and Create New Revenue Streams." Mouldings are used in new home construction when homeowners are trying to create a specific look and feel. They may have a preference for a certain period in history and want to recreate that. Or, they might want to fit into a neighborhood that has a commonality of style. In renovation, mouldings are generally used to change the way a room works and feels. Encourage homeowners to consider mouldings early. Christine G.H. Franck, designer and co-author of Winterthur: Traditional American...

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