With housing starts beginning to slow down, home remodeling is becoming more popular. It's estimated that homeowners spent $210 billion on residential remodeling last year, a 5.8 percent increase from 2004.
And 2006 could see the largest increase in remodeling spending in 10 years - NAHB's Remodelor's Council predicts a 13.2 percent jump in spending. Why such a big increase? Three not-so-ladylike hurricanes - Katrina, Rita and Wilma - which decimated a good portion of the Gulf Coast.