Professionalism and Education: Stepchild No More Remodeling has come into its own over the past 20 years, defining itself as an industry apart from construction and home building as well as improving its public face. “Remodeling was the red-headed stepchild of the construction industry,” says Darius Baker, former chair of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s (NARI) education committee, echoing an oft-spoken sentiment.
Shaping the industry was a thirst for knowledge shared by many remodelers across the country combined with “an increase in volume in the industry and a need to raise the bar and be more professional in the way we conducted business,” says Jud Motsenbocker, winner of REMODELING’s 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award.
“I’m not convinced that consumers care about [credentials], but education is vital,” says Tom Kelly, whose father, Neil Kelly, was NARI’s first president.
The growth of the market caused the professional associations — NARI, the Remodelors Council of the National Association of Home Builders, and National Kitchen & Bath Association — to take notice and respond with certification programs. These include NARI’s Certified Remodeler (1985) and Certified Lead Carpenter (1996) designations, the NAHB’s Certified Graduate Remodelor (1988), and the Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS) designations. NKBA was the forerunner, with programs begun in the 1970s.
Along with the growth of the professional associations in the 1980s, came the development of trade publications, which offered another arena for education as well as a forum for manufacturers to connect with remodelers. Peter Wood and, eventually, Hanley Wood publishers and REMODELING “have been a dominant force in helping shape the industry,” says Les Cunningham, a veteran remodeler who is now a consultant.
Through REMODELING, Hanley Wood created a major trade show, The Remodelers’ Show, first held in Pittsburgh in 1991, and four years later it held its first JLC Live show.
The other driving force in professionalism was the development of peer review groups such as Remodelers Advantage Roundtable (1991), Cunningham’s Business Networks (1986), and the NAHB’s Remodelor 20 Clubs (1997), as well as personal business consulting.
Consumers: Armed and Dangerous The 1980s gave remodelers yuppies and DINKs, great rooms and McMansions, microwaves, brass, and what Time magazine called “the mauving of America.” Inspired, perhaps, by Nancy Reagan’s White House makeover, homeowners’ budgets and expectations soared, and REMODELING’s debut issue, in May of 1985, warned readers to prepare “to field a lengthy list of questions about design, materials, workmanship, time frame and price.”
Much of the building activity involved new suburban developments, yet buyers of existing homes were revitalizing urban neighborhoods and historic towns as well, hinting at the back-to-the-city movement that continues today.
Recession struck in the early 1990s, driving interest rates as high as 17% and dampening remodeling activity and home sales alike. Economizing homeowners became do-it-yourselfers, pushing sales at The Home Depot to $15.5 billion by 1995. Remodelers learned to work with solar technology, skylights, 1.6-gallon toilets, and appliances approved by the EPA’s new Energy Star program.
The early ’90s also witnessed a shift in design sensibilities. “Cheap but chic” entered the lexicon as Target brought affordable design to the masses. “What was happening on the street began to drive style,” says Robyn Waters, a former Target executive. Gen Xers began to buy homes and wire them for technology. Other emerging population segments included immigrant families and older homeowners, aided by home equity loans and reverse mortgages that fostered aging in place.
The Internet and new shelter publications gave consumers unprecedented access to information about products, design, and price. “Reality” TV shows featuring dazzling home makeovers followed. Educated clients are “good for design” because they “stretch the envelope” with vivid colors, unique products, and sophisticated lighting and appliances, says Jim Strite. They can also be hard to keep up with. “I’ve had clients ask me about products I’ve never heard of,” says Don Van Cura, Don Van Cura Construction, Chicago. Worse is when clients “think that in one week there’s going to be a new kitchen.”
More recently, safety fears and soaring home values, among other factors, have triggered “a reprioritization of our values around home,” says Vickie Abrahamson, a trend forecaster with Iconoculture. Observes Strite, “The home is that one place where people feel they can invest their dollars and be secure.”