Home renovations boom during pandemic

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    Omaha, Nebraska (WOWT ) — Home remodeling has become more popular during the pandemic.

Oscar Miranda said he’s currently working on some of his rental properties.

“So, we’re taking off all the old floors and replacing them with the new vinyl floor,” he said.

Joe Teeples visited a home improvement store Monday before heading back to work on his home.

“Last week you know it got really cold, so I put in some insulation to take care of some colds spots,” he explained.

However, not everyone is interested in doing their home projects themselves. Contractors are available, but they’re busy.

Chuck Hall with Nastase Contracting said the pandemic caused them to lose a few weeks of business last year.

“The demand started to pick back up, and we didn’t see a horrible drop off in financial performance from the year. It was a slight dip, but there were programs in place to help us through it,” he explained.

Hall said the company dealt with many changes. They changed how they operated.

“We would just do the appointments on the phone, at the customers home while they would be in a different room on the phone,” Hall said.

They even saw a change in the types of projects that are being requested.

“Kitchen and bathroom remodels are in high demand. I think it’s a combination of people being at home and property values rising. So they’re seeing a benefit of making an investment in their home,” Hall added.

He also said more people are looking for a deck.

“We’ve heard from a few different customers that have said we do our family dinners right on the deck right now. We’ll still have our children come over, but we eat outside. So this is a great spot for us to do that at,” Hall said.

Hall says Nastase Contracting is also dealing with a huge increase in Lumber costs. The demand is so high that they’ve seen a 250 percent price increase.

Hall expects to receive more calls for customers as warmer weather heads our way. However, depending on the project, customers may have to wait.

“For interior projects we’re on a two month back log,” he added.

Hall says the wait is sometimes due to shipping delays of products from suppliers.

Hall said those requesting outdoor projects may only see a one to two week wait. Any emergency repairs will be responded to as quickly as possible.

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