Remodeling market hits new high

IF PRELIMINARY entries in the lBetter Homes and Gardens home improvement contest are any indication, home projects shelved in recent years by a sagging U.S. economy have made a comeback as interest and inflation rates have subsided.

Contest officials say preliminary entries stand at 104,000, up 7590 from the 59,000 entries that were considered substantial in 1982. Consumers apparently waited for a better remodeling climate, and the wait paid off.

"Entries are up because interest rates are down," says Joan McCloskey, building and remodeling editor. "There's been pent-up demand, and many people are choosing to improve rather than trade up in homes." McCloskey expected an increase in early entries, but nothing on this scale that has her "astounded by the number of entries over 1982."

The 1982 contest was held when interest rates hovered near lls/o and inflation was close to double-digits. "This is really a pretty good picture of what the remodeling market is like today," says contest organizer Cheryl Brown.

While interest rates have dropped, the rates remain high enough to discourage some consumers from pursuing a new, larger home. Instead, they opt for home improvements, and the turn toward smaller living space is also a factor as some families don't want significantly more space that boosts energy and maintenance costs.

Kitchens are the major improvement targets. The breakdown of entries by category shows: kitchens, 19,133; interiors, 15,571; baths, 14,565; additions, 14,230; whole house renovations, 12,883; exteriors, l2,l9l; outbuildings, 7,745; and energy improvements, '1 ,4l5. Brown terms the entries in the whole house category as "reasonably high." That means that quite a few people are taking on massive improvement jobs. She mentions one family that raised the value of their $80.000 home to

Statistics dealers can use to sell home improvement pro jects...remodeling contest flooded with entdes...ways to enlarge the remodeling market in your area.

nearly $200,000 solely through improvement projects.

So, how does all this apply to the retailer? It verifies that there is a market out there ready to be pursued and developed. The dealer who advertises home improvement, stages remodeling clinics, builds kitchen and bathroom vignettes, distributes remodeling literature, stocks materials vital to remodelers and provides installation service will have an edge over his competition.

A survey by the National Council of Remodelers of the National Association of Home Builders shows that the typical value for a kitchen remodeling (the most common remodeling job as verified by the Better Homes and Gardens contest) ranged from $7,ffi1 to $20,933. The price range for bathroom remodeling was $3,765 to $8,201 and the typical bathroom addition cost was between $7,000 and $t2,469.

Adding new rooms typically cost between $13,703 and $42,503 and finishing a basement ranged from $10,458 to $13,500. The price range for enclosing a porch or connecting a garage was $4,164 to $8,934. Anyway you look at it, those figures indicate income for the retailer providing the materials.