Upgrading our retreats
Pandemic homebodies a boon to remodeling industry
With people forced to become homebodies because of various lockdown mandates, the past year has been a boon to remodelers.
“Because of the low housing stock and the low inventory of new homes, coming out of the pandemic, a lot of people weren’t moving,” said Tom Poulin, owner of Poulin Design Remodeling Inc. “So homes weren’t changing hands. We saw home remodeling explode last year.”
It didn’t start out that way as Poulin at the end of March 2020 laid off 15 people.
“That’s the first time I ever had to do that,” he said. “But by early May, we had hired them all back. And now we’re looking for more installers. And everybody that I know who’s in the industry is very busy.”
Sales were up about 20% this fiscal year compared to the last, Poulin said.
That’s definitely the trend, said Mark Lucero and Marjorie Viguers, owners of American Design and Remodeling.
“Everybody has been sitting at home staring at their four walls or however many they have,” Viguers said. “They have no place to spend money and nowhere to go so they decide to put money in their homes and make their lives more comfortable.”
Bathroom redo
The majority of the projects involved wet areas like bathrooms or kitchens.
“The bathrooms, they tend to wear out, on average, after about 15 years,” Poulin said.
“You have to replace or at least address the wet area, like everything in the shower area, wall surrounds, plumbing fixtures and shower bases. The whole area inside the shower compartment, it gets so much use, so much water, and if it’s not maintained you’ll get water damage and mold issues.”
A whole bathroom redo can cost as much as $20,000 if it is a gut-and-replace, depending on the replacement materials. Just doing the wet areas can generally be done for $8,000$12,000.
Replacing out-moded features helps spruce up a bathroom and make it more modern, Viguers said. For instance, removing large tubs became a distinct trend.
“The giant tub, it’s a water thing,” she said. “Most people don’t take baths that much, they shower more. A lot of these houses built in the ’70s and ’80s, they had the big deck tubs and little, tiny showers in the bathroom. That’s not real functional if you’re not into bathtubs. On one job, they used the tub to store paper towels and toilet paper.”
The extra space is usually turned into enlarging the shower or adding more storage space.
A big factor in these decisions was the condition of the bathroom itself. If it already had water issues or mold damage, then it just made sense to remodel it, as opposed to upgrading the bathroom as a re-sale investment. And just getting an updated look helped swing the decision, as well.
“It may not be worn out and they can still use it, but they
see all the new products on TV and on the internet and on our website and they want it,” Poulin said. “Instead of traveling, which they can’t do very easily, they said, ‘Let’s put our money into the house and make it a retreat.’”
New kitchens
Likewise with the kitchen, which can be an even larger expense if it includes replacing the appliances. It was in the kitchens that people went all out, Poulin said. A lot of the work included removing or moving walls to create a space that could draw the whole family together.
“We generally do a total kitchen remodel with new flooring, new cabinets, new countertops with granite or quartz, generally taking out the walls and opening up the kitchen,” Viguers said. “Islands are a very popular item. All-new lighting, new electrical, new tile floor.”
A project of this nature could cost as much as $60,000 or more, she said, and take five to six weeks to complete.
For Poulin, the kitchen market really took off in the fall.
“We saw in December, January, February that we got swamped with kitchens,” he said. “I think the reasons are it’s a bigger investment, and also a larger disruption to the cooking and eating area of the home. And then it became the classroom. It became a lot of things because of the pandemic. People didn’t want that part torn out and having to live through it.”
In kitchens, it was typical to replace appliances with updated, modern ones, Poulin said.
“People are looking for induction cooking, the convection cooking, the chef ranges,” he said. “It’s not as easy to eat out anymore.
Hopefully it soon will be.
“In kitchens, the countertops are worn out or outdated material. In the cabinets, the drawer guides worn out. Sometimes you replace a faucet and end up doing a whole remodel.”
Again, the moves are generally motivated by a desire to upgrade the home for better living.
“That was the pandemic,” Poulin said. “It has turned us to our houses. Our homes are our priority. It’s become our retreat. Our safe haven.”