What is it about the $140 billion-a-year remodeling industry that keeps it from being acknowledged as a premier business?

Seniors’ housing is a hot business. The building industry relies on changing needs to create demand.

n late July, the U.S. Census Bureau confirmed what many remodelers had already suspected—that the remodeling market is much larger than previous statistical research suggested.

When Bob Fry found himself short on subcontractors to get through a busy work period, he added more labor in an unusual way -- he purchased it.

Union labor enables St. Louis-area remodelers to find skilled and reliable help at rates slightly higher than nonunion workers cost in the area.

Deck America’s in-home sales strategy is a bit different from other remodelers. Dan Betts, president of the Woodbridge, Va.-based company, has put together a 14-step method that spells out exactly how its sales agents should tackle the sales call.

One of the newest business niches in the insurance restoration business is growing—in more ways than one. It’s mold remediation, the removal of mold contamination in water-damaged buildings.

The average workweek put in by most business owners easily tops 50 or more hours, taking time from family and personal priorities. Yet even remodelers can work from home, helping balance all their needs.

Kitchens continue to register as the No. 1 remodel project consumers do inside their homes. Full-fledged redesign or expansion inevitably means that the kitchen's functions will be shut down for some period of time.

After nearly three years of conversation, Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and the NAHB have convinced the Census Bureau that the remodeling market is indeed undervalued.