National News: For Remodelers, Recovery Won’t Mean Business as Usual

You have got to read this article from the Nation’s Building News giving highlights from the recent Remodeling Show. 

According to the article…

• The latest findings of the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity, which was released late last month by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, spending on home improvements should begin rising early next year. Spending will, however, still have ample ground to recover, remaining 8.9% below its year-over-year level in the second quarter of 2010.
• Sixty percent of remodeling businesses never make a profit; 81% of them don’t track their profits by market and 64% don’t track profit by product. Most businesses don’t have a written business plan. Sixty-two percent of remodelers don’t track client retention and 64% don’t know their sales conversion rates. Consequently, roughly two-thirds of remodeling companies fail in their first five years,  roughly the same as the 60% failure rate experienced by small businesses overall. However, about 90% of remodelers perish before celebrating their 10th anniversary.
• Case Remodeling has found that after contracting an initial job, largely a smaller project coming in through its handyman division, 18% of its clients went on to a second job within 18 months. Of that 18%, 72% went on to a third project.