It’s April Fools Day.  I had a trick played on me today that was prompted by my own foolishness.  About ten days ago I went to a prospective clients home to meet with them about a lower level finish.  We talked for awhile and I did my best to listen to their wants, needs and desires.  They were very interested…

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People often asked me, “What was your favorite kitchen/bath remodeling project”?  I think they are always surprised by my answer because it isn’t about the biggest, fanciest or most costly job I’ve ever done but a decent sized kitchen project we did back in 1998.  That was when I realized the value of a good kitchen and bath designer.  Becky…

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Need verses Want Remodeling   When the great recession hit in 2007 -08, RIGGS Company & Design was rolling along with a nice annual revenue which represented about 50 jobs each year.  Maybe 30 of them were small jobs for past clients and friends of the company, and the rest were within a range of $50,000 to $400,000 each.  Just…

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A couple of weeks back I received a surprise visit from Jim Wright, the President of the Kirkwood – DesPeres Area Chamber of Commerce.  He poked his head into my office door and said, “Have you listened to your phone messages lately”?  I laughed and told him I was a lousy businessman when it came to remembering to check for…

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Over the New Year’s weekend the furnace in our office stopped working and it was 37 degrees when I arrived this morning.  I knew it was on its last leg because it shut down last week and I had to do some emergency repairs to get it running again.  The sad fact is I didn’t want to spend the money…

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A few weeks back, most of us in the St. Louis remodeling community were surprised to hear a very prominent Remodelor closed their doors.  They were a firm that had deep roots in the community and a very fine reputation.  Specializing in high end projects, it wasn’t unusual to hear that they had a couple of million dollar projects going…

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RIGGS Company & Design turned 50 years old this month.  Amie, Bill and Lauren Kolbe of our PR firm, KolbeCo Marketing Resources, planned a celebration that had all the elements of a great party including great food from McArthur’s Bakery, wine, beer, games and raffles.  Best of all, we had a fantastic idea to raise money for breast cancer research. …

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