What's your favorite area of a home to work on? Personally, I enjoy bathroom projects, both remodeling and building new. Perhaps you prefer working on kitchens. These are both areas that present unique problems because they receive constant use and take considerable abuse. The upside is that they're a good way to showcase your professional skills.

Bathrooms started out as a basic utility, but they've gone way beyond that. Today's customers want luxurious comfort, including more space, steam rooms, exercise equipment, or larger (even social) bathing facilities. And kitchens frequently serve as the focal point for family gatherings. So what's your role in all this? You'll want to suggest installations and products to enhance your customers' bathrooms and kitchens and meet their very personal needs. As a skilled contractor, you can create bathrooms that are important – and yet very private – rooms. You can design and build kitchens filled with warmth and personality.

Bathrooms and kitchens are big business. Both can generate large sales and big profits. How profitable they are depends in large part on your knowledge of new products on the market, and how well your company can sell and install those products.

But here's a word of caution: Don't overlook the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Familiarize yourself with barrier-free issues and codes as defined by your local building department. Right now, barrier-free codes generally only apply to commercial installations, but I think it's only a matter of time before they become mandatory in residential applications. Just look at what's happening in people's lives. More and more people remain in their homes longer than previous generations did, and many parents are now moving back in with their children instead of going to commercial facilities like nursing homes. The time will come (if it hasn't already) when you'll be asked to create barrier-free living space, particularly in bathrooms and kitchens. Being abreast of the law and current trends in the field, as well as available products and their proper installation, can give you a major edge over the competition. For detailed guidance on this, order Accessible Housing, (http://www.asktooltalk.com). It's packed full of useful information.

With that in mind, I want to introduce you to some state-of-the-art products. Some may lengthen the life expectancy of some areas of the bathroom or kitchen. And their sheer good looks will ensure that you leave behind a satisfied customer, the kind that provides you with many referral customers!