As long as people spend time in their homes, there will be a market for remodeling services to upgrade kitchens, bathrooms, patios, and a host of other living spaces. At the same time, the faltering economy has forced many homeowners to scale back or delay projects. That poses a challenge to business owners specializing in indoor and outdoor improvements, who say that, to succeed these days, a track record helps — and so does a little patience.

After a decade of adding whatever they wanted in their houses, Richard McCullough Jr. says, homeowners are now considering what they really need.

We definitely see more major additions as compared to new-home construction,” said McCullough, president of R.A. McCullough Inc. in Longmeadow, a firm that both builds new homes and remodels existing ones.

“But,” he continued, “we’re looking at more practical additions — for people who, let’s say, have two, three, or four children and are adding a bedroom over the garage and maybe another bathroom or a new kitchen while they’re at it. There aren’t as many calls for things like sunrooms, but mainly practical additions for people who might have been looking to build when times were better.”

Across the spectrum of home-improvement businesses — those focusing on kitchen or bathroom renovations, large-scale additions, masonry repair, and landscaping, among others — the stagnant economy has posed challenges, but the consensus is that people still want to improve their living spaces.

“We’re not doing as much work on new construction, as I’m sure everyone else is finding, but people still want to invest in their property,” said Cathy Hartley, marketing and sales support for Hartley Bros. Landscaping in Westfield, which upgrades both outdoor and indoor spaces. “One fellow chuckled when he told me, ‘I don’t feel safe putting money into the stock market the way things are now, so I might as well put it into my house.’

“Even if you’re unsure of the market these days and you’re hesitant to commit to building or buying a new house,” she continued, “people are taking their existing house and updating it, whether that’s renovating a bathroom, adding a bedroom, building out a basement, turning unused space into a bonus room, or adding that deck or patio to give themselves some outdoor living space.”

‘Outdoor living space’ is a meaningful way to describe landscaping projects these days, when a trend toward ‘staycations’ as opposed to family trips has homeowners interested in turning their yards into retreats of sorts.

“Pool installations have tapered off a little bit, but people are still doing pools and creating space around it, like dining areas, outdoor kitchens — space where you can relax and entertain people,” Hartley said.

If you’re going to treat your home like a retreat, she and others told BusinessWest this month, plenty of opportunities exist for home-improvement companies that are patient and fast on their feet.

New Caution

Garrett Kimball, owner of Custom Cabinet & Millwork, bought the Springfield-based firm in 2005, “right at the onset of the economy going down, and I’ve been crazy trying to build sales,” he said. “And there are some ways in which the economy is affecting us.”

One change, he said, is a trend away from speculative remodeling, when homebuyers take on short-term debt to buy, quickly improve, and resell a property.

“I’m noticing that, when people are doing remodels nowadays, they’re not working off of lines of credit or home-equity loans unless they’re building a house,” he continued. “Also, people who are doing remodels are looking to live in their house for an extended period of time, five or 10 years; they’re not looking to sell the place. So they’re employing their own specific tastes to remodel, rather than throwing cabinets up against the wall in an effort to sell the remodel.”

In fact, in many cases, McCullough advises against renovating for the sole purpose of reselling, when the residential market — which traditionally maintains a steady rise in value over the long term — is still in such flux.

“We don’t know where home values are going in the next year or two, whether they’ll go down or stay steady,” he said. “If someone is moving soon, remodeling may not be for them. But the longer view they have — the longer they’ll be staying in their house — the better it looks. So people are looking at doing additions for practical reasons.”

Added Hartley, “as a homeowner, you can justify spending more on a home you’re planning to stay in. Maybe you use higher-end materials, or marble that’s more expensive because that’s what you want. If you’re planning on a quick turnaround to resell it, maybe you won’t be too extravagant, but, of course, it depends on what someone’s circumstances are.”

However their habits might be changing around large-scale remodels, homeowners are generally not shirking more urgent, practical improvements, said Bill Sweeney, owner of Mr. Home in Wilbraham, a business that focuses on projects such as basement waterproofing; mold, mildew, and fungus remediation; concrete and masonry restoration; and a range of handyman services.

Business around the first two of those niches, he said, is strong but reflects the season more than the economy; after all, leaky basements and visible mold aren’t typically issues homeowners want to live with no matter what shape their bank account is in. In fact, during a particularly rainy season last fall, “we couldn’t keep up with the demand.”

But Mr. Home’s concrete-repair business, which includes repairs of broken or cracked walkways, porches, chimneys, and cinderblock structures — jobs that typically don’t rise to the urgency level of water in the basement — is up 300% from recent years. “We do 20 jobs a week on front steps,” said Sweeney. “That part of the business is up dramatically. It tells you that people are taking care of the basics.”

Meanwhile, his handyman services are up a whopping 1,000%. All this demonstrates a market for smaller-scale home improvements at a time when the economy may steer some people away from major renovations, he said, while also noting that much of this aspect of the business is generated from single women and the elderly.

“Many senior citizens have the money and the need,” Sweeney said. “They want to stay in their homes and maintain them. And with Baby Boomers aging, I see that continuing.”

There’s a certain synergy between Mr. Home’s four divisions that benefits the entire business, said Sweeney. People might want their entry doors replaced to save on long-term heating costs, and while doing an inventory of the house notice other small-scale changes that need to be tackled, from replacing basement hatchways — he gets 10 to 15 of these jobs a week — to cleaning gutters.

“These are things you have to get done,” Sweeney said. “People have to be selective, and the frills, for many, are gone.” He noted, too, that many larger masonry contractors aren’t willing to take on small projects, and some customers call him who have already reached out to several other companies with no response.

“Are we putting in $10,000 paver walkways on the masonry end? No,” he said. “But while other companies are waiting for those big, fancy masonry jobs, we’re picking up all the front steps. Those projects may not be in the thousands of dollars, but when you add them up, the numbers are impressive. The bottom line is, our business is growing, and we see that continuing.”

The Price Is Right?

Of course, when the economy suffers, the bottom line still makes a difference in what projects homeowners tackle.

“Right now, price is the biggest obstacle to be overcome,” Hartley said. “You have to be creative to find ways to meet clients’ needs and their budget. If they’re not going to sell it, sometimes that means scaling the project back or doing it in phases. Or you give them the option of using different materials. People are still spending money on their homes, but they’re not throwing money at their homes; they’re being sensitive and cautious.”

That said, Hartley noted that the number of potential customers seeking quotes on indoor and outdoor improvements is down over the past year, but those who do come knocking tend to be serious buyers who have done their homework, know what they want and at what price, and know something about the company, or were referred by a friend.

In fact, that word of mouth is crucial in these times, she said. “If you take care of people, they’ll tell their friends, co-workers, and neighbors, and that’s ultimately the best way to increase business.”

Tight times for consumers has made the field much more competitive among companies that offer home-improvement products and services, Kimball added, as evidenced by the increasing number of bids potential customers are procuring before making a decision to go forward.

“They’re bidding out much more than in the past,” he told BusinessWest. “There was a time when people would come in, and they just didn’t have time to go to three or four different remodelers. Now they’re taking their time, and they’re looking at referrals and researching the value of the organization.”

That trend applies mainly to homeowners who have been through the process before, he said; first-timers are more likely to roll the dice on someone they know little about to get the cabinets up within their budget.

“Ultimately, we’ve had a good amount of traffic over the past year and a half, even in light of this economy,” Kimball said. “However, the sales-closing rate has gone down a lot. We’re not necessarily losing sales to competitors — that’s a small percentage — but more people are putting plans on hold. I can think of four or five jobs where the customers lost their employment, and the job got put on hold.”

To counteract that trend, Custom Cabinet has expanded its geographic reach somewhat, taking on jobs in Connecticut and even New Hampshire.

For companies with some flexibility, McCullough added, the work continues.

“People want to stay in their neighborhoods, or they’re concerned about how much they can get out of their houses,” he said regarding reasons people might choose a major remodeling project over new construction. Yet, both areas of his business suffered starting last fall, when doomsaying reached a fever pitch in the news — a trend he won’t miss as the economic clouds start to clear.

“People were really fearful throughout that period,” McCullough said, “not knowing what was happening, and with so much fear being spread around by the media. But now, people are becoming more relaxed and getting back to doing additions.”

In other words, business is improving — both literally and figuratively.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at

bednar@businesswest.com