The top reasons why homeowners don’t remodel

They are afraid, and for good reason. Half of all complaints to the BBB involve remodelers. In a Qualified Remodeler Magazine survey several years ago, they reported 48% of respondents would not hire their remodeler again. Ouch! So, it turns out, you are fearful of making mistakes, trusting the wrong person, cost overruns, and generally getting fleeced financially. All legit concerns. However, these are concerns, not necessarily conclusions.

The reason #1 fear is so powerful is that homeowners can’t be expected to know how to ask the right questions that would address their concerns.  They don’t know what legitimately goes into a design/build process. They don’t know anything about the costs or the complexity. Why should they? They might as well be asked about the development and creation from scratch of their own custom spaceship. And to make it worse, they don’t want anyone to know they don’t know. It goes under the heading of “never show weakness while negotiating.” Especially if you don’t know what you're negotiating.

Housing affordability and increased mortgage rates are assumed to be a major factor in remodeling. Surprisingly, 89% of homeowners reported that it wasn't the case. Only 9% of homeowners said elevated home prices and/or mortgage rates prompted them to remodel.
So, how did homeowners pay for their projects?  54% used home equity loan/line of credit, while 29% used savings. Only 10% used credit cards. If costs were not a factor, 92% of homeowners said they would choose to remodel additional areas of their homes.

Now that we’ve scared the crap out of you regarding our very business, we’d like to arm you with three questions you should ask to begin answering #1, #2, & #3, to put you back in control of the whole business.

Why should you do this project? Where does it hurt? How much does it hurt, and who will benefit from stopping the pain of an ugly, dysfunctional, or disintegrating home?

Next, why should you do it now? Why not wait for a better time? When would that be? What will change over time? Will it cost less if I wait? Will I have more support or funds? Of course, in the history of the world, no one has ever said, “I wish I had waited a year or three to remodel my kitchen!”

Finally, and this is the big one, why should they do a remodel project with you? The depth and truthfulness of that answer should deal with those main concerns most homeowners have about doing a remodel, or, at the very least, set forth a process that will clearly handle them to your satisfaction.

We know this is scary and hard. That’s why our initial presentation piece starts by admitting this very fact. And we know how you feel, too. And that really does matter.