Pennsylvania may have a law that helps protect homeowners against unscrupulous remodeling contractors, but that hasn't stopped homeowners from quizzing contractors about their qualifications before signing a contract.
"They are asking for from three to five references, and some even want to check the contractor's insurance coverage before they sign a contract," said Timothy Miller of T.R. Miller Contracting Inc. of Etna.
"I can't blame them for asking. Most of these homeowners have been ripped off in the past by a contractor who, after taking their money, either never showed up to do the work or started the work but never finished," he said.
The state's home improvement contractor law, adopted in 2009, requires contractors to register with the state and obtain a registration number that must appear on their advertisements, letterheads, cards and contracts. They must also show proof of insurance from a national company.
That protection is important because home remodeling work is a billion-dollar industry. It reached $452.4 billion last year according to the Remodeling Futures Program of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University
And this year, remodeling work is expected to reach $455.8 billion.
In a report on remodeling activities in the top 25 metropolitian areas of the nation, the Harvard study showed that during the years 2000 to 2009, $10.8 billion was spent by homeowners in the Pittsburgh region. That's an average of $1,585 per household.
July remodeling activity nationwide had the highest level of remodeling activity since 2004, according to BuildFax, a division of Builderadius, which provides the a national database of historical building permit data. July also marked the 21st consecutive month of growth in the remodeling industry.
The state law has helped as Pittsburgh-area homeowners turn more and more to remodelers to add an addition to their home, or make interior improvements to kitchens and bathrooms.
"The average cost of an addition is about $75,000, and usually it is a one-level unit for a family room or for an office with bedroom," Miller said.
Many homeowners are using home equity loans to help finance the work, he said.
Although activity was good nationally during the first half of the year, new remodeling jobs have declined, according to the National Association of Home Builders' Remodeling Market Index.
At the end of June, the Index was at 43.9 percent, down from the 46.5 percent at the end of the first quarter. An index below 50 indicates that more remodelers report market activity is lower compared to the prior quarter.
While the index indicates that the home remodeling market softened somewhat in the second quarter, this is still the second highest we've been able to report since the third quarter of 2007," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.
"There are several barriers blocking the way to a stronger recovery. Home owners who may want to remodel still face stringent lending requirements, and uncertainty about the economy is making them hesitant to undertake major improvements," he said.
Some remodelers, such as Chris Trapani of Trapani Remodeling Inc. of Pleasant Hills, have found a niche in the remodeling industry that has kept them busy.
"I do primarily bathrooms and custom glass enclosures, which has resulted in a great year for me," he said.
When John and Debbie Macuga of Upper St. Clair decided, instead of moving, to fix up their kitchen and bathrooms in the house they have occupied for 24 years, they turned to Trapani to install glass enclosure showers in their two bathrooms.
"He is a craftsman, something we found it difficult to find when we decided to have the work done in our bathroom," he said. The glass doors fit nicely and he spent one day on each door to insure they fit right, he said.
"The cost was $2,500 to $3,000 each," said Macuga. He said the decision to stay was because they like the location, their neighbors and the community
Some work has been done when the homeowner brings a parent or parents into his home, Trapani said.
He has built ramps on the exterior leading into the house to accommodate elderly parents.
Remodeling work in this region is very competitive, said David Bachman of Bachman Builders Inc. of Coraopolis.
"That's because mostly home building is down and many builders have supplemented their income by doing home remodeling work along with new housing construction," he said.
Most remodeling work involves making improvements or repairs that are necessary, but do not, in many cases, include the extra luxury items such as granite in kitchen, or a fireplace in an addition which was the norm in the past, he said.
Among repairs being done this year is repairing walls and roofs where ice was formed during the winter, and as the ice evaporated it infiltrated walls and roofs, causing damage.
The rain storms and hurricanes that struck homes in Westmoreland County has produced a lot of remodeling work for Jeffrey Irwin of Irwin Contracting in Jeannette.
"It's been a pretty good year for us because of the amount of roofing and siding work we've had," he said.
"This is not usually a big part of our business, because we still are basically a home builder, but the hail and storms that struck in Hempfield, Penn Township and Ligonier, turned our work more to remodeling than building new homes," he said.
About 30 percent of his work this year has been in remodeling and he expects to continue this type of work in 2012 since he already has jobs scheduled next year.
