Remodeling expo brings professionals, homeowners together

On the third weekend in October, southwest Missouri homeowners looking for ideas or professional help to renovate their homes will have one-stop access to nearly 110 remodelers and vendors.

The Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield is gearing up for the 2010 HBA Home Remodeling Expo, set for Oct. 15–17 in the E-plex at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds, 3001 N. Grant Ave.

As of Oct. 4, there were 108 remodelers and vendors signed on to participate in the show, about 20 fewer than in 2009, said HBA Operations Manager Charlyce Ruth.

The event is orchestrated by a subcommittee of the HBA Remodelors Council, said council Chairman Andy Flint, president of HA Construction Design.

“We start planning in the spring,” Flint said. “It’s up to us to get vendors to sign on … every year and have booths there. Without (them) we wouldn’t have much of a show.”

Flint said that although most remodelers have managed to stay busy amid the recession, there’s usually a good return on remodeling expo participation, which starts at about $415 for an 8-foot-by-10-foot booth.

“People who come in the door are really interested,” Flint said.

“A lot of plans walk in the door – people with sketches on cocktail napkins, and they can sit … and visit with the remodeler,” he added.

Unlike the home show, the remodeling expo isn’t open to new-home builders, only remodelers and vendors with associated products or services.

Richard Brownsberger, owner of three-year-old Hometown Disposal Inc. is a first-time vendor at the Remodeling Expo.

“We have recently, within the last year, expanded into the residential market,” he said. “We were mainly commercial and roll-off containers before, so our new venture into residential, house-to-house trash pickup is really what we’re going to be promoting there.”

Brownsberger said about 25 percent of his business is residential. In addition to using the remodeling expo to increase that percentage, he’ll be using the event to conduct a food drive to help the less fortunate.

“A trash company doing a drive for food is a little different,” Brownsberger said.

He hasn’t yet determined whether the collected food will be donated to a large organization such as Ozarks Food Harvest or to nonprofits directly, but he plans to keep it in the community.

“A little effort on our part makes a big impact on the community as a whole,” Brownsberger said.

“There’s going to be a lot of people … to come through, and if we have a third or a fourth bring one canned good or dry good, that would be a huge amount,” he added.

Flint said the Remodelors Council evaluates the expo each year to see what changes might be warranted. For 2010, he said visitors won’t notice any changes.

Seminars are again a key component of the remodeling expo, ranging from green remodeling trends to choosing a remodeler.

“We pick (topics) that are going to be easy to listen to, that are interesting and are typical questions that customers have,” Flint said.

On the exhibitor side, the Remodelors Council as a whole is responsible for the presentations this year.   

“We changed seminars a little bit (to take) the load off individuals who were spending more time putting the seminars together than in their booths,” Flint said.[[In-content Ad]]