Our editors never rest, even in the summer time.  This month, all three magazines feature top professionals dishing out advice to help you build your most successful businesses. The centerpiece of Kitchen & Bath Design News' August issue is an in-depth survey of the design desires and buying preferences of Gen X & Gen Y -- KBDN editor Janice Costa writes it best :  Generations X and Y, for example, seem to have a number of design preference commonalities, from a love of color and texture to a desire for clean, simple and modern designs. Some of these come from necessity, as this generation tends to have less...   Qualified Remodeler 's Laurie Grant profiles a remodel that is totally in season, and brings the beach life to a...

Asked about his favorite thing in his office, Tim Swafford of Swafford Construction in Chattanooga said it was his telephone. “It’s the cheapest and most effective tool I own,” he said. The question was part of an interview of Swafford as NAHB’s Remodeler of the Month to be published in the September issue of Qualified Remodeler , in case you were wondering if I routinely go around asking aimless questions of busy remodelers. But I liked Tim’s answer. It addresses, I think, the frustrations and pitfalls I’ve observed resulting from over-reliance on technology like email and texting, not to mention attempts to communicate via social media. My response to tedious and imprecise emails frequently is: “Oh, for heaven’s...

Refacing, sometimes also called “face lifting,” can be an economical alternative to replacing kitchen cabinets. Refacing cabinets involves replacing existing cabinet doors, hinges, drawer fronts, drawer boxes and hardware and re-laminating of cabinet face frames and finished end panels with new wood veneer. In effect, an existing kitchen can be completely transformed without removing the existing cabinet boxes, countertops, flooring, backsplash or appliances. The most common myth about cabinet re-facing is that it can always be done for a fraction of the cost of new kitchen cabinets. This is the most common sales pitch used by companies that strictly offer cabinet re-facing. Because Bath Kitchen and Tile Center offers new...

In the good old days...before the fall of 2008...most contractors were working with either cost-plus or hard-bid contracts. You did your homework, calculated your costs, overhead, profit, and you bid the job. You were either high bidder, low bidder or maybe in the middle of the bidding field. The chips fell where they would and you moved forward as the successful bidder or went on to bid another job.   Fast-forward almost four years and you'll find clients more wary, loans harder to get and fewer projects to bid. To add to the conundrum, competitors are hungrier, and costs and labor haven't gone down.   So, what do we do? We work smarter and become more client-centric. We work with clients early in the process, becoming part of...