Remodeling has become more popular over the past 2 years than ever before, but why is that?

We all know that the economy is still feeling under the weather, and the housing market has been in intensive care for some time. When things get tough, people get creative, and no more so than when it comes to where you live and how you live there. According to the BuildFax Remodeling Index, home remodeling increased for the 22^nd consecutive month this August, showing that people are spending their pennies on making what they already have a little bit better.


You may not know this, but Emmer isn’t just about building homes; we do remodeling, too. So when we saw this huge rise in remodeling, we had to ask ourselves: What actually spurs people remodel? After some research, compiling and opinion scouring, we came to four main reasons that inspire people to remodel:


1)      Resale:  It is most certainly a buyer’s market out there. If you’re trying to sell your home, nowadays it isn’t uncommon to put into play the old “spend money to make money” principle. Sprucing up parts of your home to make it more eligible for the current market, or even putting in add-ons that make it a little bit better ranking, can actually improve your chances of selling.

2)      Repair: Sometimes, things break. Kitchen cabinets, bathtubs and garage doors- all these things deteriorate after time, and depending on how well they’ve been treated, they can fall apart even faster. So, remodeling the kitchen or bathroom can sometimes be justified simply because it doesn’t work right anymore.

3)      Renovate: A little more aesthetic than something that’s broken, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t just as annoying. Cracked pink floor tile? Appliances from the 1970’s? Visual frustrations like that can really put a damper on a homeowner’s opinion of their home. It’s very common for a home to be remodeled to update the style, increase size or simply re-establish function. A tiny kitchen may have been fine for a couple when they started, but now that they have four kids, maybe a bigger oven is necessary.

4)      Re-Appreciation: Okay, so that isn’t actually a word, but we think you get the picture. In this day and age, not everyone can get a new home that’s exactly what they want. If people are having a hard time moving into their perfect place, sometimes they take that money and make where they are a little bit more like the dream. It’s hard to admit, but the current circumstances make it more apparent that we need to appreciate what we have and do with what we’ve got.

So, as the market has changed, people have changed, and the term “housing market” encompasses more than just building. If you’re in the Gainesville area and thinking of remodeling, let us know; we may not be building the place you call home from scratch, but we can certainly make your home your dream home.

We’d love to hear about your stories of remodeling! Why did you choose to remodel? Did you have other reasons than the ones we listed? Let us know in the comments below!