Remodeling's the way to go

By Deborah Adamson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Bill Shiroma cherishes the Kamehameha Heights chalet-style home that has been in his family for decades. The trouble is, it looks its age.

Jeff Pua prepares a display for Natural Stone Design Center i Bella Pietra's booth at the BIA Home Building & Remodeling Show, which opens tomorrow for a four-day run at the Neal Blaisdell Center's Exhibition Hall. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

He has installed laminate flooring, ceiling fans, new gutters, screens and ceiling molding himself. His next target is the kitchen, which has "peel and stick" tiles, only two fixtures and sliding windows. Shiroma plans to refinance his mortgage and pull out about $20,000 for renovations.

"It's gotten to the point where the kitchen really needs it," he said.

The sounds of hammering, sawing and destruction are reverberating all over Hawai'i. Homeowners, flush with home equity cash, are driving one of the hottest remodeling trends in at least a decade. It's particularly busy on O'ahu but the Neighbor Islands have seen their share as well.

The BIA Home Building & Remodeling Show, which starts tomorrow at the Blaisdell Center and runs for four days, is expected to draw 30,000 people, which would make it the best attended in the show's 10-year history, said Karen Nakamura, chief executive officer of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii.

More than 150 companies — such as manufacturers and contractors — will be showing their products or services.

"Remodeling is a really hot market right now," Nakamura said. "Eighty percent of our housing stock is over 20 years old."

Much of the remodeling has been concentrated between Hawai'i Kai and 'Aiea, since most of the new home construction is in West O'ahu, she added.

In 2002, Honolulu saw nearly $400 million worth of additions and alterations for both private homes and businesses, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. That's up 50 percent from 2001. State figures aren't yet available for 2003.

Jim Byxbee, president of Homeworks Construction in Honolulu, said his company has enough residential work to last for a year. Homeowners who want to hire his contracting and design firm are looking at a two-month wait.

"It's been extremely busy," he said. "Remodeling now is at its height."

Byxbee and Nakamura attribute the spike in business to pent-up demand, rising real estate values that enabled owners to take out home equity loans, access to cash from refinancing their mortgage and an improving economy. Homeowners also want to get ahead of an expected jump in demand for construction services from the military to build housing, which should starting kicking in this year.

Byxbee said the state's 4 percent tax credit for renovations and home construction, which was allowed under legislation enacted shortly after the Sept. 11 atacks and which expired last summer, didn't have a big impact on business since most homeowners didn't seem to know about it.

Indeed, homeowners are even willing to pay more for remodeling as industry expenses have risen "sky high," Byxbee said.

With a shortage of labor and strong demand, wages have jumped. For instance, Byxbee said he's paying non-union carpenters $25 to $30 an hour.

"If we have to pay more, we have to charge more," Byxbee said.

Reach Deborah Adamson at dadamson@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8088.