D.C. Remodeling Market Down, But Stronger Than Others

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W ith the eyes of the country on Washington, D.C., as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office, we’re taking a look at the remodeling market in the nation’s capital.

The Washington, D.C., market has always been more recession-resistant because of the large government prescence and wide variety of industries in the area. Even that, though, has not let the local remodeling market escape unscathed during this downturn.

The high gas prices last summer, followed by the implosion of the credit market in the fall rattled homeowners, says Principal Chris Landis of Landis Construction [1] in Washington, D.C.

“There are still projects, but they’re putting them on hold until they figure out what’s going to happen,” he says.

Sun Design Remodeling Specialists [2] in Burke, Va., has seen a similar pattern, with those clients who signed design agreements before the financial crisis really took off taking much longer to pull the trigger on construction, says Vice President Bob Gallagher.

At the same time, those who have signed since then are much more serious and are committing to construction more readily, he says.

Both Gallagher and Landis say project sizes are decreasing as clients think more about how they spend their remodeling dollar.

“It’s want-to-have versus need-to-have,” Landis says. “All the want-to-haves are putting everything on hold.”

While he expects the market in the D.C. area to recover before other parts of the country, Gallagher says the current volatility in the economy makes it difficult to pinpoint when that would be.

Every month, The Market will examine one of the metro areas featured in our annual Market Leaders list. We’ll talk to members of that city’s Market Leaders list about the condition of that market and the challenges they’re facing. The 2009 Market Leaders list will appear in the October issue.