DES PLAINES, IL —The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) named 152 Regional CotY (Contractor of the Year) Winners from the 2013 competition, of which 19 were team members. Judging for the regional projects took place at NARI’s national headquarters in Des Plaines, IL during the second week of January.

Contractors from seven regions around the country vie for CotY Awards on an annual basis. National winners will be announced and honored at NARI’s Evening of Excellence reception on Friday, April 12, 2013 at the Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza, in Kansas City, Mo. National winners will be announced via Webcast the evening of April 12, and the Webcast will be available for viewing for 30 days afterward on NARI.org/eveningofexcellence.

All projects in the CotY awards program are an improvement or an addition to an existing structure, with the exception of one category, “Residential Exterior Specialty.” Otherwise, new construction projects were not eligible.

The CotY Awards program also recognizes projects with universal design and green elements through the Universal Design Project Recognition Program and Green Project Recognition Program.

Competing projects were completed between July 1, 2011, and Nov. 30, 2012, and were not submitted in previous NARI National contests. An impartial panel of judges, experts within the remodeling industry and associated fields, selected winners based on each entrant’s binders, which include “before and after” photography and project descriptions. Judging focused on problem solving, functionality, aesthetics, craftsmanship, innovation, degree of difficulty and entry presentation.

To be considered for a CotY Award, a company must be a NARI member in good standing. The entries of this year’s competition totaled over $71 million worth of remodeling projects. NARI members represent an elite group of the approximately 800,000 companies and individuals in the U.S. identifying themselves as remodelers.

The list of 2013 Regional CotY Award Winners is available on NARI’s Website.

Homeowners are estimated to spend a total of $127 billion on home improvements in the U.S. through the first quarter of 2013.

About NARI:

NARI is a professional association whose members voluntarily subscribe to a strict code of ethics. According to results from the 2012 Member Profile Study, NARI members outpace the industry norm in sales, production and employees, when compared to professionals represented in the Home Improvement Research Institute’s (HIRI) 2011 Remodeling Professional Study.

Source: NARI