“Over the last 10 years, we've seen a fairly significant core of the population spending more than half the value of their home on improvements. Some of that is because buyers increasingly are moving into older suburbs convenient to their jobs in the city, and they're renovating smaller Cape Cod and ranch-style homes.”
“There's a strong concern in that area, which has been heightened over the last four to five months. There's more emphasis on technology to ensure that homes are as energy efficient as they can be.”
“For consumers, this means they are going to get contractors who return phone calls, and they are going to be able to get two or three bids, instead of just one.”
“If you need to build a hospital, you're going to build it. But things that are really maybe more spec -- office, retail and things like that -- might be more susceptible to sharpening the pencil to make sense.”
