Qualified Remodeler Magazine

OCT 2015

Qualified Remodeler helps independent remodeling firms to survive, become more professional and more profitable by providing must-have business information, namely best business practices, new product information and timely design ideas.

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IN OUR Home Improvement Pro section, we are proud to be working with the team at Dave Yoho Associates. Tese folks go deep on all aspects of the business of home improvement. For example, they know, from years of experi- ence and efort, how important each word of a sales script can be in increasing closing ratios. Te right words can mean the equivalent of going from a .250 hitter in baseball to a .300 hitter. A seemingly small incremental step up can mean millions of dollars over the life of a company. Another example within the pages of this issue is found in the study of the remodeling industry at the macro level. Te folks at John Burns Real Estate Consulting have broken new ground in creating a forecast for the industry. In doing so, the project leader, Todd Tomalak, discovered something brand new about the impact of existing-home sales on remodeling. Conventional wisdom is that existing-home sales drive remodeling activity. Tomalak con- tends, quite convincingly, that existing-home sales is not a driver of remodeling. Instead it is a slight drag on remodeling. Higher incomes, higher home equity and lower unemployment, among other factors, are remodeling's drivers. Tey also happen to drive existing-home sales. GREAT REMODELERS make this business look easy, but, as many of you know, it is any- thing but easy. Slippage in proft confronts you daily, seemingly from around every corner. Tose of you who make remodeling look easy, are very likely always on the lookout for ways to improve your businesses. You never settle. Excellence is a never-ending journey. Mies struggled with it. So do you. But the rewards, like the benefts of the simple, but intricately designed kitchen on the cover of this issue, are certainly worth the efort. | am a fan of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. I have certainly said as much previously in this space. He is the German-born, Bauhaus-trained, expatriate architect who settled in Chicago before World War II and went on to become a leader in the International Style of architecture. Mies' buildings are found throughout the world. Te Seagram Building in New York City is a celebrated example of his work. Another is the original glass house, the Farnsworth House in Plano, Ill. Mies is one of those geniuses whose work is deceptively simple. He is credited with coining the phrase "less is more." Newcomers to his work can be forgiven for looking at his build- ings and thinking, "Wow, that doesn't look so hard." But when you peel back the layers of problems he solved in order to achieve his completely unadorned, stripped-down build- ings, only then do you see the hours of detail that allowed his buildings to be so functional and beautiful. THIS MONTH we feature a 2015 Master Design Award winner in the whole-house cate- gory — a condominium re-built within a land- mark Mies building. Fittingly, the remodeler/ designer embraced the master's aesthetic. Tey stripped the condo to its bones and built back only what was needed to create the required living spaces. In fact, the condo reads very much like Mies' 1946 glass house. Again, the detail work required makes the complicated look easy. In a larger sense, the deceptive complexity of the remodeling business is perhaps what I enjoy most about covering it. Remodeling is a great business. It is thought to be straightforward. But there are layers of nuance that separate the wannabes from the professionals. Focus, Rigor Make Job Look Easy I EDITORIAL DIRECTOR'S NOTE 6 October 2015 QR QualifiedRemodeler.com Patrick L. O'Toole Published by SOLA Group, Inc. 724 12th Street, 1W, Wilmette, IL 60091 847.920.9513 Publisher and Patrick L. O'Toole Editorial Director Patrick@SOLAbrands.com Managing Editor Laurie Banyay Laurie@SOLAbrands.com Assistant Editor Kacey Larsen Kacey@SOLAbrands.com Proofreader Nancy Mueller-Truax Audience Development Mike Serino MSerino@magservgroup.com Creative Director & Tracy Hegg Production Manager Tracy@SOLAbrands.com Graphic Designer Cathy Petersen Editorial Advisory Board Stephen Gidley, GMB, CAPS, CGP, CGB, CGR, CPRC, CR Jeffrey Holloway, CKD, CBD, CGR Michael Nagel, CGR, CAPS Scott R. Sevon, CGR, CAPS, GMB, CGP, GMR Donna Shirey, CGR, CAPS, CGP Kenneth P. Skowronski, CR Group Sales Director Paul DeGrandis Midwest Manager Paul@SOLAbrands.com East Sales Manager Beth Emerich EmerichB@SOLAbrands.com West Sales Manager Reed Fry Reed@fry-comm.com National Automotive Tom Lutzke Sales TLutzke@ACBusinessMedia.com Literature Galleries/ Mike Serino Classifieds Mike@SOLAbrands.com Digital Programs Tim Steingraber Manager Tim@SOLAbrands.com Operations Manager Marie Snow Marie@SOLAbrands.com Projects Manager Heidi Riedl Heidi@SOLAbrands.com A preferred publication of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry and the NAHB Remodelers

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