An Upside to The Downturn

As an incentive, he promises faster delivery. Last year's wait of up to a month is down to about two weeks because the factory in Pennsylvania that customizes each replacement is no longer tied up making windows for new houses.

Not everyone in the industry is hurting, particularly in parts of the District and some close-in suburbs where housing values are relatively stable, says architect Bruce Wentworth. Design work at Wentworth Inc. in Chevy Chase is somewhat down, he says, but construction is chugging along. Although consumers know that "investing in their home is still very prudent and smart, especially in this area," Wentworth says, "they might not do some of the bells and whistles they might have done -- steam showers or super-expensive appliances."

Tim Burch, who owns Burch Builders in Warrenton and heads the local chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, says that "with all the doom and gloom you read, our members are not necessarily seeing that."

In a recent survey of 132 NARI members by George Mason University, 33 percent were positive about the current market and 22 percent were negative. The rest were neutral. But when asked to predict conditions in six months, optimism increased to 47 percent and pessimism dropped to 11 percent.

"The bigger companies have seen some slowdown. If they have a lot of overhead, it's the monster to feed," Burch says. "The good contractors still stay busy."

Several market factors have enabled Bowa Builders in McLean, a high-end company with 83 employees, to trim client costs, says Josh Baker, company president.

The new-home market's collapse means "a lot more availability of subcontractors than there has been in many years. We are able to get competitive prices and better service than we have in years. And lumber and drywall prices have come down. The reality is, our costs have come down and we are able to pass that along" on some projects.

What many contractors large and small see, however, is new competition and some serious underbidding of projects by laid-off painters, carpenters, drywall hangers and others who no longer work on new homes.

"I have customers who are quoting ridiculous prices from other contractors that they may ask me to match," says Jim Prentice, owner of J.F. Prentice Construction in Oakton. "Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't."

Prentice and others urge consumers to check contractors for current licenses, insurance and workers' compensation, as well as for references.