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Why Making Local Connections Makes a Difference
By Asher Raphael - Wednesday March 27, 2013
On March 26th, we celebrated the opening of our latest Power Home Remodeling Group location in Chicago with a ribbon-cutting event where elected officials and notable members of the business community gathered to hear our plan to bring jobs and revenue to the area. At Power, the nation’s sixth largest home remodeling company, we’ve experienced significant expansion over the past five years and now have locations in eight markets, from the East Coast to the Midwest. For a company like ours, which was started in 1992 by two cousins in their post-college apartment in Pennsylvania, being an active part of a local community is an essential element of our growth and success. When we open a new location, our first step is to introduce... -
2013 Spring Predictions: What Remodeling Projects Will Be Most Popular With Homeowners?
By Asher Raphael - Wednesday February 20, 2013
Next month marks the start of the spring season, a time when many homeowners across the country will dig out of the winter weather with a renewed interest in refreshing and remodeling their homes. While this increased interest in home improvement during the warmer months may be nothing new, the most recent Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University forecasts a significant increase in activity through the third quarter of 2013. This prediction of growth in the double-digits is a promising sign that the industry is on the rebound and slowly, but surely, recovering. Coupled with the typical spring upswing, this could prove to be a very busy spring for many remodeling... -
IBS 2013: Editor Perspective
Rob Heselbarth, editorial director Another successful International Builders’ Show is finished, but not before plenty of activity took place. Small manufacturers continue to be absorbed by larger companies, while larger manufacturers continue to broaden their horizons, in the quest to become one-stop product shops for home builders. A decking manufacturer purchased a trim company, a brick maker purchased a manufactured stone siding company, a window company now offers exterior trim and siding. Even products themselves can do more than ever, as an appliance company now has a refrigerator that dispenses hot water from the door. It no longer seems acceptable for a manufacturer to offer only one type of product. Of course I generalize... -
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...