For remodeling and renovation companies

Turn old-house calls into signed remodels. Without living on the phone.

Remodelers spend the day behind a dust wall with a saw running, which is exactly when the homeowner with a 1950s ranch calls. Outfitter gives your renovation company a website that shows your before-and-afters, an AI Front Desk that picks up the calls you miss, and local ads and reviews handled by Emma, your AI agent.

Build my Renovations website → Start my marketing
Built for how remodelers actually work
Basement finish leads screened Pre-1978 homes flagged for lead-safe work Before-and-after project pages Review request at punch-list sign-off Helper & carpenter hiring ads Consults pre-scheduled for you No contracts
Example owner of a local home renovation company

One agent.No logins.

Call or text Emma the way you’d talk to an office manager. She does the rest.

01

Answers every call

EmmaAvailable 24/7

Asks your questions, offers the homeowner a time and texts you the details to confirm.

02

Free website

Built for your trade in about five minutes, from what already wins work.

A free Outfitter website on a phone
03

Ads, done for you

  • Facebook & Instagram
  • Google Business
  • Direct mail postcards
  • ChatGPTComing November
Call or text Emma: (507) 628-0400
Remodeling by the numbers · 2025–2026

What the research shows about who’s renovating and why.

Six data points from housing researchers and remodeling surveys, each linked to its source at the bottom of the page.

44 years
median age of a U.S. home
The housing stock has never been older. Homes built before 1980 drew 24% more improvement spending than homes built after 2010.
Harvard Joint Center, 2025 [2]
54%
of homeowners renovated in 2025
Their median spend held at $20,000, and they averaged 2.7 interior room remodels each. The top tenth of projects reached $150,000 or more.
Houzz, 2026 [3] [4]
$52,012
average basement remodel
The 2025 national job cost, with 71% recouped at resale, one of the better paybacks among large interior projects.
Remodeling Cost vs Value, 2025 [5]
27%
of improvement spending by owners 65+
Up from 14% two decades earlier. Aging-in-place and older-house upkeep are a growing share of the work.
Harvard Joint Center, 2025 [2]
137,000
laborer and helper openings a year
Projected each year through 2035 for construction laborers and helpers. Their median pay was $46,680 in May 2025.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [6]
74%
look for reviews under three months old
A remodeler with great reviews from 2022 looks inactive. Ask on every job, including the small ones.
BrightLocal, 2026 [1]
The remodeling year

Spring starts and basement season. Two peaks, two different pitches.

Homeowners plan in the dead of winter, sign in spring, and go back indoors in the fall wanting the basement or main floor done by the holidays. Emma times your ads and postcards to each swing.

Spring · Mar–May

Sign the projects people dreamed up all winter.

Whole-floor and older-home remodel ads go live. Front Desk catches calls while you’re mid-demo and pre-schedules walkthroughs for you to confirm.

Summer · Jun–Aug

Keep the pipeline full while crews are busy.

Postcards hit the blocks around each finished house. Review requests go out at punch-list sign-off, while the homeowner is still showing it off.

Fall · Sep–Nov

Basements before the holidays.

Basement finishing and family-room ads run as people move back indoors. Front Desk flags water and leak calls urgent, since a wet basement has to be fixed before it gets finished.

Winter · Dec–Feb

Interior work and next year’s list.

Interior jobs keep crews working. Hiring ads go out for helpers and carpenters, and Emma starts spring messaging to people who asked about bigger projects.

Your climate and housing stock set the rhythm. A remodeler working 1920s foursquares in the Upper Midwest has a different year than one doing 1990s tract homes in Arizona, and Emma plans for yours.

Front Desk · answers 24/7

The best remodel leads call while the saw is running.

ServiceTitan’s 2025 trades survey named general remodeling among the trades where the most owners said they were struggling. Front Desk answers the calls you can’t take from inside a gutted room, asks your questions about the house, pre-schedules a walkthrough and texts it all to you.

How it handles a remodel call
  • Tells every caller up front it’s an AI assistant, in your cloned voice or a natural one
  • Asks your questions: which rooms, the year the house was built, any water or structural worries, budget range
  • Flags active leaks, sagging ceilings and water in the basement as urgent and texts you
  • Pre-schedules a walkthrough for you to confirm, never a start date
  • Doesn’t quote per-square-foot prices unless you told it to
  • 35¢ a minute from your tokens. Setting it up and changing it are free.

How Front Desk works →

Example call. Front Desk follows the rules you give it.

Website

A remodeling website that proves you can handle an older house.

Give Emma the basics and your site is up in about 5 minutes. Change it by text: “Add the Elm Street basement photos.”

Built for renovation companies
  • Basements, main-floor remodels, attic and bonus rooms, and older-home updates, each with its own page
  • Your lead-safe certification, service area and how a project runs from walkthrough to punch list
  • Every request lands in your email, and visitors can book a time live with the AI
  • Live at getoutfitter.ai/site/your-name from day one. Professional ($79/mo) adds your own web address, no banner, and Google reviews and posts.
getoutfitter.ai/site/your-name
Example site for a made-up renovation company. Yours is built around your own before-and-afters.
What changed in 2025–2026

Lead dust, ended credits, tighter budgets. Homeowners will ask you about each.

Three changes that come up when you walk an older house this year. Get the answers on your site and into your phone screening, and you sound like the remodeler who reads the fine print.

Lead
EPA tightened the lead-dust standard
An EPA rule published November 12, 2024 dropped the floor dust-lead hazard level from 10 micrograms per square foot to any amount a recognized lab can report, for homes and child-care facilities built before 1978. Separately, anyone paid to disturb paint in pre-1978 homes still needs EPA lead-safe (RRP) certification. [7] [8] [9]
What to doTell Emma about your RRP certification and it goes on your site and into Front Desk’s answers.
Tax credit
The federal credit for windows, doors and insulation ended
The 25C energy-efficient home improvement credit, 30% of qualified costs with $600 for windows and up to $500 for exterior doors, does not cover property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Take it out of any old-house window or insulation pitch. [10]
What to doText Emma “remove the tax-credit line” and it’s off your site.
Budgets
Homeowners plan to spend less
In the 2026 Houzz & Home Study, the median renovation spend homeowners intend for 2026 fell to $15,000 from $20,000 actually spent in 2025. Credit cards are now used by 34% of renovating homeowners. Expect more phased projects and more single-room jobs. [3]
What to doOffer a phase-one scope on your site, and have Front Desk ask for a budget range up front.

For context: NAHB’s Q2 2026 index for moderate $20,000 to $50,000 remodels rose 4 points to 73, while $50,000-plus projects fell 3 to 64. Mid-size jobs are where the activity is. [11]

Hiring remodeling crew

Demo days need hands. Recruit before the spring rush.

The BLS projects about 137,000 openings a year for construction laborers and helpers, with a median wage of $46,680 in May 2025. Harvard’s Joint Center reports that a majority of remodelers said skilled trade workers were in short supply in every year from 2015 to 2023. [6] [2]

What Emma runs for you
  • A Facebook and Instagram job ad near your jobs, with hourly pay and hours up front
  • What you need spelled out: demo and cleanup, drywall or trim experience, reliable transportation
  • A quick application built for a phone
  • Each helper or carpenter who applies, texted and emailed to you
Example hiring ad with the pay in big numbers, a short application, and the applicant texted to the owner
Example hiring ad and pay.
One agent · four jobs

One agent for the phone and the marketing. You stay on the remodel.

Call or text one number. Emma, your AI agent, runs your website, your ads, your phones and your hiring, set up for your renovation company.

Website

Basements, main floors and older-home work shown with real before-and-after photos.

Marketing

Spring remodel ads, fall basement ads, review requests at sign-off, postcards around finished houses.

Front Desk

Picks up while you’re mid-demo, flags leaks and water calls, pre-schedules walkthroughs.

Recruiting

Helper and carpenter job ads near you, every applicant sent to your phone.

Example conversation.

The remodeling growth guide

Websites, marketing and sales calls for renovation companies that want better jobs.

A working guide for owners of small remodeling companies: how to show your work online, where to market basements, main floors and older-home updates, and how to qualify and close a remodel over the phone.

On this page: Website · Marketing & ads · Phone calls · FAQ · Sources

1

Remodeling website best practices

Lead with before-and-after pairs from your own jobs

Show the same corner of the room before and after, shot from the same spot. Caption each pair with the room, the town and one line about what changed, like “moved the laundry, added an egress window.” Stock photos make a remodeler look like a lead broker. Real dust-to-done pairs make you look like the crew.

Write pages for basements, main floors and older homes

Give basement finishing, main-floor remodels, attic or bonus rooms, and older-home updates their own pages. Explain what’s different about each: moisture and egress for basements, load-bearing walls for open floor plans, plaster, knob-and-tube and lead paint for older houses. Pages like these answer the questions people actually type.

Show you know old houses

The median U.S. home is 44 years old, and homes built before 1980 draw more improvement spending than newer ones [2]. Say which eras you work on most and what you find behind the walls. If you’re EPA lead-safe certified, put it on the page; paid work that disturbs paint in pre-1978 homes requires it [9].

Explain how a remodel runs, start to punch list

Walk through your process in order: walkthrough, design and selections, written proposal, schedule, demolition, inspections, punch list, sign-off. Say how you protect the rest of the house from dust and how you communicate during the job. Living through a remodel is the homeowner’s biggest fear, so address it head-on.

Offer a phase-one option on the page

Many homeowners can’t do the whole house at once. Describe how you split work into phases, such as basement first, kitchen next year, and what a sensible first phase includes. A visible phase-one path turns “we can’t afford all that” into a first contract instead of a lost lead.

Choosing who builds it? 18 website options compared, with first-year costs and who owns the site.

2

Remodeling marketing & ads best practices

Keep Houzz and Google full of fresh projects

Post each finished remodel to your Houzz profile and Google Business Profile with five to ten real photos and the town name. Use the same company name, phone and service area on both. Steady new photos tell homeowners and search engines you’re active this year, not coasting on old work.

Ask for reviews at punch-list sign-off

The moment the homeowner signs off on the punch list is the moment they’re happiest. Ask then, and text the link that evening. BrightLocal found 74% of consumers look for reviews from the last three months [1], so a remodeler who asks on every job, including small ones, keeps looking current.

Time basement ads for fall and remodel ads for spring

Run basement and family-room ads as people move indoors in early fall, when they want space finished before the holidays. Push whole-floor and older-home remodels from late winter into spring, when plans turn into signed contracts. Target homes by age in the neighborhoods where your crews already work.

Offer financing and say so plainly

Credit cards now fund projects for 34% of renovating homeowners, per the 2026 Houzz & Home Study [3]. If you partner with a lender or offer payment plans, say so on your site and in your ads, with a line like “Ask about phased payments.” Financing keeps a $20,000 median-size remodel from shrinking to a paint job.

Work the street around every finished job

Houses on the same block usually share a floor plan and the same problems. Send postcards or door hangers to the nearest 100 to 200 homes showing the finished basement or kitchen wall you opened up. Outfitter mails postcards to the homes you choose for about 53 cents each.

Track signed jobs by source, not clicks

Write down where each lead came from: Houzz, Google, a postcard, a referral, an ad. Then note which ones became walkthroughs and which signed. Spend more where signed jobs come from. In a cooling market, a remodeler who knows their cost per signed job can keep spending when competitors guess and cut.

Choosing where to spend? 26 marketing options compared, including which leads are shared with other contractors.

3

Answering and selling remodels by phone

Pick up, even mid-demo

A homeowner who just bought an older house is calling three remodelers that afternoon. If you can’t step out of a dusty room, route calls to someone who can, or to an answering service that texts you the details. Call every missed lead back the same day, before another remodeler sets a walkthrough.

Ask about the house before the project

Ask the year the house was built, whether the basement has ever taken on water, and whether they know if a wall is load-bearing. Those answers tell you about lead-safe work, waterproofing and engineering before you drive out. Outfitter’s Front Desk can ask these same questions for you on calls you miss.

Qualify the budget kindly but early

Ask what range they have in mind and whether they’re paying cash, financing or phasing it. The 2026 Houzz study found homeowners plan a median $15,000 for 2026 projects [3], so plenty of callers will want more than their budget covers. Offer a phase-one scope rather than ending the conversation.

Close the call with a walkthrough on the calendar

Give two times, ask that everyone who’ll decide be home, and ask them to gather photos, old permits or inspection reports. Send a text confirming the time and what you’ll look at. A booked walkthrough is a next step; “we’ll be in touch” is usually a lost job.

Follow up on proposals with answers, not pressure

Remodeling proposals stall on questions homeowners don’t want to ask. Call a few days after you send one and ask what’s unclear, then again at two weeks with a phase-one alternative if price was the issue. ServiceTitan’s 2025 survey found estimate follow-up brought in new revenue for 42% of surviving businesses [12].

Choosing an answering service? What it should ask and which ones fit this trade, from live answering to AI.

Renovations owner questions

Questions remodeling company owners ask us most.

How do remodeling companies get more leads?

Show the work and answer the phone. Homeowners pick a remodeler from photos and reviews, so put real before-and-afters on your website, name the towns you work in and ask for a review at every sign-off.

Then stop losing the calls you already get. Front Desk answers when you’re mid-demo and texts you each lead with what the homeowner wants done.

What does an AI answering service cost for a remodeler?

Front Desk is 35 cents a minute from your token balance, and $35 covers about 100 minutes. The 2025 Cost vs Value report puts the average basement remodel at $52,012, so one caught basement lead covers a lot of answering. There’s no contract.

Can the AI tell a real remodel lead from a small repair?

You decide what it asks: which rooms, how old the house is, the budget range, when they hope to start. It sends every answer to you by text and email, so you can see in seconds whether it’s a whole-floor job or a handyman call.

Do callers know it’s an AI?

Yes. Front Desk introduces itself as an AI assistant at the start of every call. It can use a natural voice or a clone of your own voice, made only from a recording you record yourself.

What about urgent calls, like a leak during a remodel?

Front Desk marks active leaks, sagging ceilings and water in the basement as urgent and texts you right away. It won’t promise anyone will be there today unless you’ve told it that’s OK.

Do I need RRP lead certification to remodel older homes?

If you’re paid to disturb painted surfaces in a home, child-care facility or preschool built before 1978, EPA says your firm needs lead-safe (RRP) certification, sole proprietors included. Put your certification on your website; owners of older homes look for it.

What changed with lead dust rules?

An EPA rule published November 12, 2024 lowered the dust-lead hazard level for pre-1978 homes and child-care facilities from 10 micrograms per square foot on floors and 100 on window sills to any level a recognized lab can report. It mainly affects lead inspections and abatement, but homeowners who read about it will ask how you contain dust.

Can homeowners still get a tax credit for new windows or insulation?

Not federally for new work. The 25C energy-efficient home improvement credit doesn’t cover property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Check for utility or state programs where you work, and take any federal-credit promise off your website.

How do I get more Google reviews as a remodeler?

Ask at punch-list sign-off, on every job, not just the big ones. In BrightLocal’s 2026 survey, three in four consumers wanted reviews no older than three months, and 47% said they’d skip a company with under 20. Website Professional sends the request for you.

Do I need a website if I have a Houzz or Google profile?

Yes. Profiles show a rating; your site shows the full story of a basement or main-floor project, your process, your certifications and your service area. That is what homeowners and AI tools read before they decide who to call.

How much should a renovation company spend on ads?

Set a monthly amount and measure it by signed projects. You pick the spend with Outfitter and can change it any time. Ad spend is billed at cost plus 30%, and the first $10 of Facebook ads is free.

Are homeowners spending less on remodeling in 2026?

They say they plan to. The 2026 Houzz & Home Study found 54% of homeowners renovated in 2025 at a median $20,000, but the median they intend to spend in 2026 dropped to $15,000. Offering a clear first phase helps those budgets say yes.

How do I hire helpers and carpenters for a remodeling crew?

Lead with the hourly pay and the hours, and describe the work honestly: demo, cleanup, drywall, trim. The BLS projects about 137,000 openings a year for construction laborers and helpers, so a clear ad stands out. Emma runs it on Facebook and Instagram and sends every applicant to you.

Does Outfitter work with my CRM or estimating software?

It runs alongside whatever you use. Every call, request and applicant reaches you by text and email, so nothing depends on an integration.

Is there a catch to the free website? Who owns it?

There isn’t one. Your free site runs at getoutfitter.ai/site/your-name with a small Outfitter banner, and it doesn’t expire. Upgrade to Website Professional for $79 a month to get your own domain, lose the banner and have Google review requests and posts sent automatically. The first 30 days are free, and there’s no contract.

Your business information belongs to you.

Sources

Figures on this page come from these reports. Vendor research is labeled as such; government sources are primary.

  1. BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (vendor research).
  2. Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, Improving America's Housing 2025 press release (median home age, spending by owners 65+, remodeler labor shortage).
  3. Houzz, via Kitchen & Bath Business, 2026 U.S. Houzz & Home Study: renovation activity holds steady (survey of 20,000+ homeowners).
  4. Houzz, 11 things to know about home renovations today (2026 U.S. Houzz & Home Study room-by-room detail).
  5. Zonda / JLC, Remodeling 2025 Cost vs Value Report: national averages.
  6. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Construction laborers and helpers.
  7. U.S. EPA, Hazard standards and clearance levels for lead in paint, dust and soil.
  8. AIHA, EPA finalizes stronger requirements for dust-lead hazards.
  9. U.S. EPA, Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program.
  10. IRS, Energy efficient home improvement credit.
  11. NAHB, Remodeling Market Index, Q2 2026 full report.
  12. ServiceTitan, 2025 Residential Trades Report recap (general remodeling among most-struggling trades; vendor data).

Written and reviewed by Eric Smith, Outfitter AI. Last reviewed . Rules and programs change; check with your suppliers, your state and a professional before you quote work or incentives.

Get the next old-house call answered.

Begin with a remodeling site full of your before-and-afters; Emma has it up in about 5 minutes. There’s no fee to join the marketing, only the ad spend and call minutes you use, and no contract.

Build my Renovations website → Start my marketing