Home improvement industry bustling; so is SAHBA Home Show

Some people approach the Valley Oasis Landscaping booth at the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association's home show with plant identification questions. Others have specific questions about a barbecue pit or irrigation system. And others have no clue about what they want to put in their backyard. They just know they want to give it a facelift.

Jayson Myers, Valley Oasis owner, will be at this weekend's SAHBA Home & Patio Show, ready to answer all those questions. It's industry shows like this, along with referrals, that keep the Tucson landscaping company hopping.

'We talk to so many people,' Myers said. 'We give out hundreds of cards.'

Noel Kurtz, SAHBA home show director, plans the homebuilders' research and advocacy organization's twice-yearly shows at the Tucson Convention Center. Kurtz said the majority of home improvement booths are staffed by locally owned businesses, and for some, the contacts made at the spring show carry them through to the fall show.

'For some of the exhibitors, this is really critical,' she said.

Myers' Valley Oasis is one of those exhibitors. At SAHBA's show last October, Valley Oasis made 30 appointments which led to 10 paying gigs, some of which they're still working. The company's comprehensive outdoor living services range from outdoor kitchens to landscaping remodels, installations for newly built homes and maintenance.

Myers said remodeling kept the company going during the recession and still keeps crews busy, along with more new-build jobs.

Kurtz said the shows, which are SAHBA's main community outreach event, have been in a growth pattern since the recession turned a corner in 2011, with attendees and exhibitors both passing through in greater numbers. Custom home builders are coming back, and 'green' features, like composting and water recycling systems, are popular.

According to a survey last year by Forbes magazine, 2013 was supposed to be a good year for home improvements. Forty percent of respondents said they planned to build an addition or remodel within two years, and 84 percent planned to redecorate. Home improvement was becoming a priority, with survey respondents more likely to cut back on vacations or other big expenditures in favor of sprucing up their living space.

And the Home Improvement Research Institute expected total home improvement product sales to hit $293 billion in 2013, a 5.4 percent increase over 2012. This year, the group forecasts a greater bump, up to $312.9 billion.

It's not just grass that's coming back to life. But if maintenance of a living lawn isn't your thing, Art Leon can sell you artificial turf that requires no water, no fertilizing and no mowing.

Leon, co-owner of Arizona Luxury Lawns & Greens Tucson, will be extolling the virtues of synthetic lawns at this weekend's expo. His business does four local home shows a year, including the SAHBA shows. He said the rebounding economy has helped his company install more lawns lately, but so has building awareness of artificial lawns and their technological advancements - which make artificial turfs convincing substitutes far beyond the plasticky rug that would look more at home on a miniature golf course.

'It's nice to have a product that's an easier sell,' he said.

Rafe Teich uses the home shows to strengthen his foothold in the Tucson home remodeling market. As a recent transplant to Arizona - Teich brought his Big Tyke Construction from Colorado to Tucson last year - he needs to get his name out and rebuild his referral base. This will be his third Tucson home show. He said a lot of good clients come from these events.

Teich said that during the recession, homeowners did relatively small remodels to fix up what they had. With a healthier economy over the last couple of years, more people are investing in bigger renovations, up to full overhauls. Since January, Big Tyke has worked on three full houses. He also does commercial renovations.

After October's SAHBA show, Teich's company set up 59 client visits to further discuss plans, and many of those prospects hired him- his company is currently doing a bathroom remodel based on a contact made from the fall show. This weekend, he hopes for 30 bids out of 50 appointments.

Teich said he can expect about 60 percent of the appointments he sets at the shows to lead to bids.

'When they show up to these shows they're pretty determined.'