Market Leaders: St. Louis Remodeling Market Stays Steady

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Part of our 2009 Market Leaders coverage.

While some remodeling markets have soared and then crashed over the last few years, St. Louis continues to move steadily along, says Scott Mosby, president of Mosby Building Arts.

The St. Louis area isn't immune to the larger economic challenges, but unlike the boom markets never saw the huge home price increases that have led to equally large drops. Mosby believes that leaves the market poised for a return to a solid if unspectacular rebound in the latter part of next year.

In recent conversations with his fellow St. Louis area remodelers, Mosby is hearing more optimism as leads and inquiries increase.

"The world's been on hold for a year," he says. "There are a lot of people with life plans that have been postponed."

The company's core customer base of baby boomers still has money to spend and equity in their homes, Mosby says. This year many have opted for smaller projects, with the company's 60/40 revenue split between design/build jobs and smaller "solutions" in 2008 reversing in 2009. Still, clients want a company that can manage those solutions with the care of a design/build project — an ability Mosby calls the company's "unique advantage." That has allowed Mosby Building Arts to stay relatively strong against lower-priced competition.

"We're competing with the economy," Mosby says. "I don't think we're losing sales to anything other than greater needs."