Review from the Summit: Cost vs. Value Report

The next presenter at the Summit was Jim Cory, the editor of Replacement Contractor, a Hanley Wood publication for roofing, siding and window contractors. He currently contributes to both Remodeling and Replacement Contractor magazine as well as their respective web sites and he also organizes the Replacement Contractor Executive Conference, an annual event focusing on sales and marketing in the home improvement industry.

His presentation focused on the Cost vs. Value survey that Remodeling Magazine puts out on an annual basis.

Some of the key points of his presentation included:

• While the decline is not as sharp as in 2008, the overall trend for home improvement projects is sloping downward
• On average replacement projects led to a 71.8% recovery in costs, versus 63% for Remodeling and other similar investments
• Siding (fiber-cement, vinyl) and window replacements (wood, vinyl) contribute 6 of the top ten replacement projects for the year 2009
• The decline in sunroom value continues to steepen - - at the moment roughly half of the cost is being recovered on average, down almost 25% from 4 years ago

The next topic that I will summarize from the Summit was David Alan Yoho's presentation on the fallacies involved in most Canvassing projects.