For trusted remodeling professionals and associates in the Puget Sound, the Remodelers Council at the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBAKS) has become a real community. Here, members can swap industry knowledge, build thriving business partnerships, or lend a helping hand. For current council chair Teri McDermott, this spirit of camaraderie is what makes the group so special.

“There’s a genuine openness and willingness to help one another that you don’t often see, even among competitors,” she says. “We all share a commitment to supporting each other and elevating our industry with high standards, and that’s something I truly value.”

Teri is the CEO and owner of  CRD Design Build, where she has been guiding Seattle-area homeowners through thoughtful remodeling projects for over three decades. She credits her start in the business to her late husband, who passed away in 2024. “I’m an accountant by degree and by nature, and I actually fell into construction through my husband, whom I’d been married to for more than 30 years. He started a company and needed support on the administrative and financial side, which is where I stepped in,” she says. “Over time, that path led us to purchasing CRD, and the rest is history.”

Serving the local community is at the core of Teri’s work. At CRD Design Build, she ensures each client is educated about the remodeling process so they can make informed decisions with confidence. “I have a strong passion for learning and education, and that carries into how we serve our clients.” Teri and her team are also regular Rampathon participants, serving neighbors in need year after year. “Volunteering our time to build ramps and improve accessibility for those in need is truly priceless and a powerful reminder of the difference we can make in our community.”

It's no surprise, then, that when asked what she'd do if she hadn't ended up in homebuilding, Teri's answer still centers on bringing people together. “I love planning parties!” she says. “If I didn’t own CRD, I’d likely be running a party planning business. I enjoy creating fun, memorable experiences for people of all ages.”

It’s this same enthusiasm that Teri brings to the Remodelers Council when sharing her vision for the year ahead. “My vision is to bring members together through education and collaboration. By building strong relationships and partnerships, we can continue to elevate our industry and support one another in meaningful ways,” she says. “There’s so much value in learning from each other, and that’s what excites me most.”

Learn more about the Remodelers Council and how you can get involved.

By MBAKS Senior Policy Analyst Allison Butcher

At the end of the first quarter of 2018, King County is leading the way in building permit activity in the region, with single family permits up 19 percent and multifamily permits up 25 percent compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, single-family permits have dropped 19 percent in Snohomish County and multifamily permits are down 58 percent year-over-year.  For the three-county region as a whole (King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties), permits are up 7 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

The Builders' Bulletin is intended to provide a convenient way to track housing in our market and includes information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, State of the Cities Data Systems, Office of Financial Management and the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Download this month's report:

How Well Does Seattle Recover From Disaster?

Turns out, pretty well.

80.5 percent* is the percentage of Seattle metro area homes that have recovered to peak pre-recession value, according to a recent Trulia article.

What does this mean, exactly?

It means that the Seattle area has recovered quite well compared to a large amount of the United States. The region ranks #22 nationally in recovery percentage (a bit surprising we're that low), currently sitting behind Colorado smoking buddies Denver (#1, with an impressive 98.7 percent recovery rate) and Colorado Springs (#7, 93.4 percent), San Francisco (#2, 98 percent), and Oklahoma City (#3, 94.3 percent—and give us back the Sonics, please).

Other cities beating us at the moment include Dallas (#9, 92.5 percent), Honolulu (#11, 91.5 percent), and Portland (#13, 90.3 percent—grrrr).

Find the full list here.

Among the areas with the lowest recovery rates, including the bottom tier of Las Vegas—#101, with just 0.6 percent of homes back to pre-recession value), Tucson (100, 2.4 percent), and Fresno (99, 2.5 percent), it's no surprise to find that these cities have seen the worst income growth in the years spanning December 2009 to January 2017.

And guess what?

The cities with the strongest recovery rates, including our beloved Seattle, also have the strongest income growth. With the median Seattle proper home price currently clocking in at $638,000 (and $426,000 in the Seattle metro area), that's no big surprise, really. It takes a heavy wallet (or a lot of big wallets) to help dig us out of such a monumental disaster, especially considering that just 34.2 percent of all homes nationally have fully recovered to their pre-recession peak value.

The three big factors that set the tone for quicker recovery include, alongside income growth, job growth and population growth, as well as post-recession vacancy rate.

It's a bit humbling to see just how far into the hole the housing market was just eight years ago, spurred by the foreclosure crisis that was so big it now has its own major motion picture. The good news is that, according to Trulia, U.S. home recoveries have been steadily—albeit slowly—climbing since the stuff that hit the fan began to get cleaned up, to the tune of 5 to 6 percentage points per year. While Trulia's data suggests we won't see 100 percent of homes fully recovered until September 2025, the fact that we can again use terms like "thriving" and "booming" when it comes to the housing market and our economy feels good. Let's hope we can keep wearing these buzzwords out.

Now, if we can only figure out where to house all these home-hungry folks…

*All data courtesy of Trulia.com