BANGOR, Maine — Though the economy has yet to bounce back fully, vendors at the 40th Bangor Home Show seemed upbeat about this year’s construction and home improvement season.
“Things appear to be a little bit better than last year,” said Mike Wight, president of Boughman Builders Inc. of Ellsworth, one of several builders hoping to drum up new business at the show, held each April at the Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center.
“There’s a lot of interest,” he said. “We hope to get several jobs out of this show.”
The company, which builds new stick homes as well as modular homes, brought four full-size model homes to display outside the auditorium, so potential buyers could see for themselves what their new homes might look like.
Dale McLaughlin, sales manager for Maine Cedar Specialty of Ludlow, hoped to develop a list of potential log-home buyers during the show.
“Everybody seems to be fairly upbeat,” he said. “I’ve been pretty impressed with not only the turnout so far but also the questions,” which he thought bodes well for the coming construction season.
Also available were a number of financial services providers, including mortgage companies and insurers, so that serious shoppers could start the application process before leaving Bass Park.
For those who aren’t planning to build or expand a home, the show has booths touting pellet stoves, cleaning products, appliances and entertainment systems, hot tubs, fences, security systems, paving services, countertops and more.
Within the first few hours of the show, which opened at 1 p.m. Friday, several thousand people already had stopped in to check out a variety of home construction and home improvement products.
Among them was Bangor City Councilor Gerry Palmer, who plans to build a new home within the next six months.
After having lived in a large rambling house on Hammond Street for more than 30 years, Palmer and his wife, Susan, are getting ready to downsize.
“The children are all grown up. We’re getting ready to build a smaller home,” he said, adding that the couple bought a parcel on outer Broadway along Kenduskeag Stream. He said he and his wife would live in a mobile home on the 3-acre property while their new house is under construction.
Among the products Palmer was checking out were insulated concrete foundations, which he said his contractor likes.
Also making the rounds of the more than 200 vendor booths and displays was Faye Booker of Greenville.
“I’m looking to replace my roof,” Booker said, adding she has her eye on a metal roof system as well as solar panels, which she hopes to install as a way of generating electricity and heating water.
Deep discounts of luxury linens also caught her eye. One of the vendors at the show offers 1,200-thread count queen-size sheets for $30, Booker said.
“You probably couldn’t get them for under $100 — even at Wal-Mart,” she said.