Emilie Rusch
Rapid City Journal

The economy may be in a slump, but many homeowners at the Black Hills Home Builders Home Show on Saturday weren’t abandoning their plans for a new deck or kitchen just yet.

With rock-bottom interest rates and contractors eager for work, they agree, now might be the perfect time to get the biggest bang for their home-improvement buck.

“We’re spending our money anyway. We’re not putting it in a bag in the yard,” said Dede Sullivan of Newcastle, Wyo. “Let’s spend it and get the better deal.”

Sullivan and her husband, Forrest, have been looking into buying a new home for two years. When they started looking, the housing market was still soaring.

Now, they’re glad they waited. With prices and interest rates as low as they are, they decided they can afford to build this year, instead of buy.

And with the money they save, they can add extra features they would not have been able to afford otherwise.

“I’m definitely looking at the hot tubs,” Dede Sullivan said.

Martin and Denise Stover of Rapid City have two big projects coming down the pike – a kitchen remodel and a new roof.

Denise Stover works at Rapid City Regional Hospital and along with other employees, had to take a pay cut this month.

But she and her husband are still planning on doing at least one project this year. Her vote is for the kitchen.

“We definitely want to make a good decision,” Denise Stover said. “We’re still in a financial position to do some of these things, but we want to be cautious, as well.”

“If we’re going to do it, this was the time to,” Martin Stover said.

For Ray Grebin of Rapid City, doing projects right the first time is what matters, sour economy or not.

He and his wife, Sandy, finished remodeling their home about two years ago. Now, they’ve got smaller projects to finish – landscaping the yard and finishing the basement.

They’ll probably have someone do the lawn this year, and Grebin will start installing Sheetrock in the basement himself. The flooring will wait until next year.

“I’ve always been someone that’s believed in quality,” Grebin said. “I would have gone in that direction anyway.”

Still, Greg and Peggy Fried of Bison said the economy has made big projects more affordable. They’re one year into a complete home remodel.

“Lumber’s cheaper,” Greg Fried said. “We’re better off than we were before.”

Fried is doing a lot of the work himself. On Saturday, they had already found a good cabinetmaker and picked out countertops for their new kitchen.

When the house is done, they’ll move off their ranch and into town and start a new chapter of their lives.

“She says, ‘By Christmas.’ I say, ‘Which Christmas?’” Fried joked.