Americans love to remodel

A special in the Seattle times offers great insight to the world of home remodeling, America's new past time. While I love to remodel, the most money is probably made by contractors that come to the rescue of misguided do it yourselfers.

Americans spent $291 billion on home improvement in 2006, according to the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, up from $107 billion in 1990.

Earlier this year, 103,000 people visited the Seattle Home Show, cruising 600 exhibition booths hawking such products as retractable window awnings, solar-powered hot tubs, genuine slate tile from northern India, and other stylish and convenient additions you didn't know you needed. Ever popular, a second Seattle Home Show took place last weekend. Full Article

When Kitchen Contractors Go Bad

While attaining a dream kitchen would seem to be a matter of having the financial resources to do it, sadly money can not always buy you cherry wood. In fact, far too often the process of having a dream kitchen installed is a very challenging event. Dealing with contractors false promises and defaulted time lines is enough to turn even the most patient home owner into a frustrated person.

An opinion piece in the Orange County Register discusses one such mishap.

Dear Scott:

I am writing to you because I keep waiting for you to call, and I can't figure out why you won't call me back.

I keep going over it in my head, wondering what went wrong with our relationship. Did I ask for too many changes? Was I too picky? Or did you just get bored?

Of course, I had heard horror stories of construction projects going unfinished and contractors just disappearing, but Scott, I never dreamed it would happen to us.

I look back fondly on our first meeting. I got your number from my friend Natalie. My husband and I needed a kitchen remodel, and she said we would "just love you."

And we did love you, Scott. I could tell immediately that we shared a vision for our new kitchen. You seemed so enthused and eager to please. You didn't care that we wanted to convert from electric to gas. You weren't put off by our request to add a window. You said all the right things.

Remember shopping for granite? I can still picture you in the store (oddly, in slow motion) sharing your expertise and so wisely talking us out of the "cheap stuff." Full Story