Naples Illustrated – April 2008
Excerpted from the original article published in Naples Illustrated, April 2008 issue
Remodeling Remedy
by Nanci Theoret
The slowdown in the real estate market has been a boon for some Collier County contractors—so much so that construction companies have started division spin-offs dedicated to remodeling. Custom homebuilder Frey & Son Homes has opened a 26,000-square-foot showroom in Bonita Springs, and Boran Craig Barber Engel Construction Co., which has built 141 of the luxury high-rises that dot the Southwest Florida coast, has started a division dedicated to residential and commercial remodeling.
Kathy Guyitt, chairman of the Collier Building Industry Association’s Remodelors Council, says the new focus makes sense. Homeowners who may have considered selling a year or two ago are now staying put, adding a room to give them that extra square footage or updating kitchens and baths and floor plans designed in the 1970s. Some, she says, are even jumping on the green bandwagon, switching out old appliances for energy- and water-efficient models and replacing carpeting and paint with finishes that are better for indoor air quality. (Green building is the subject of the CBIA’s general membership meeting in May.)