Home Shows are a great way to look at different exterior and interior building products before deciding to make a purchase or an appointment with a remodeling company. And if you are like most, we go to a home show looking for something, find it, and then we find another product that excites us.

We have all walked through home shows before with a specific product in mind.  The show can be a deciding factor in whether you purchase the product or not. When I find the product, I immediately want to know what the price is.  When the sales person working at the home show tells me that he would need to come out for an appointment, I resort to the standard fall back question, “Can you give me a ballpark on the price?”

I have found that many times this doesn’t produce the results I am after.  As consumers, we want to find the products we want at the best possible prices.  Notice that I didn’t say, lowest possible prices.

We all have stories where we have been disappointed when purchasing a similar product that was the lowest price.  We learn our lessons of course, but it doesn’t stop up from trying to get the best price.

When you are walking a home show, make sure you have a plan for what you are looking for, research the products you are looking for, who in your area carries them, and research those companies.  The internet is our friend, and we can do a lot of our own research.

Here are some home show tips:

1. Make a plan for the home show
2. Know what you are looking for
3. Know which companies carry the products you want
4. Have a list of prepared questions for them

Know going into your home show that sometimes companies will offer a price, sometimes they won’t.  Just because they won’t, this doesn’t make them a bad company.

At the same time, be prepared in case they aren’t able to give you answers to your common questions, have back up questions prepared.  Ask things like, we live in this specific area of the city, have you done work over there?  Or, you did work for the Johnsons across the street from us, what would they say about your company if I asked them?  Find out where you can see the work they have done before you have them come out to your house.

Home shows are great, and by incorporating some of these tips, you will be a home show pro.