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HOME REMODELING CONTINUES UPWARD TREND IN SPENDING

Renovations revolve around electrical features in today’s updated home

DENVER, CO — Spending on residential remodeling and repairs continues to climb from a reported $233 billion spent in 2003, a sum that accounted for 2% of the U.S. economy that year. According to economists who follow home improvement industry trends, the market sector has not seen a major downturn since the early 1990s, although it is only in the last five years that federal government agencies have even collected data or reported on the remodeling industry as separate from the home building sector.

Baby boomers are largely credited with fueling this quarter trillion dollar per year industry as the bulk of them gained homeowner status in the 1970s and ’80s, during which time expenditures for remodeling tripled nationwide. Expenditures jumped another 250% between 1980 and 1990.

“The remodeling trend is gaining steam,” says Gary Stone, founder of Allstar Electrical Services. “Homeowners are looking at climbing interest rates and deciding to keep their home and reinvest in it. It’s the smartest economic move they can make frankly.”

Probably the most common electrical upgrade in any remodel is a service panel upgrade, according to Stone. Since the late 1990s, Allstar Electrical Services has provided electrical contracting and repair services for residential and commercial property owners plus property management companies in Colorado. The company has won awards for electrical construction - three awards in early 2007 from the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC).

“Typically homes built in the ‘40s-‘50s-‘60s need more outlets and more lighting for things like dishwashers, microwaves, computers and entertainment centers,” says Stone. In fact, one home office desk could feature 8 or more pieces of electrical equipment that needs plugging in: computer, monitor, printer, keyboard, desk lamp, calculator, telephone fax and scanner. That’s already 9 plug-ins. There’s the laptop, pencil sharpener, radio, TV…that’s a lot of power and that’s only one workstation setup.

Security is one of the big concerns of homeowners today, says Stone whose company wires fire and burglar alarm systems along with motion-controlled lighting like the 400-watt halogen wall-pack light fixtures Stone says “put exterior lighting up to the next level.”

Security and lighting go hand-in-hand, according to Stone. “Read about it and you’ll find it’s true. Perimeter lighting is one of the best deterrents to intruders. In addition to installing power and lighting, Allstar Electrical Services installs CCTV and card access systems, used both in high end residences and businesses and multi-family residential developments.

Some of the lighting features that residential homeowners are including in their remodeling projects—features that Allstar Electrical Services routinely installs—are:

Under-cabinet kitchen lighting, mini-pendants, in-floor lighting, chandeliers in rooms like the bathroom vs. the dining room, built-in coffee pots and blenders, warming ovens and billiards lighting are commonplace anymore, Stone adds. “Our job at Allstar Electrical Services is to bring homes into the 21st Century so that owners can access as much power as they require without draping extension cords through the house and into the yard.”

For information, contact Gary Stone at 303-399-7420 or visit Allstar Electrical Services on the web at www.allstarelectrical.com.