There are many reasons to renovate your home. First and foremost, people like to make their homes their own, reflecting their own tastes and likes in the ways that they choose to decorate. Beyond that, there are many reasons people invest in their homes. People remodel to reduce maintenance, improve functionality, increase energy efficiency and for many other reasons.

Regardless of why you are investing in remodeling work for your home, you should also consider what the return on that investment might be in dollars. In other words, later, when you go to sell your home, how much will the renovations you make increase the value of your home. In order to help people understand how much a particular project might impact the value of their home, Remodeling Magazine, a well respected trade publication for the home improvement industry, releases a report each year called "Cost versus Value."

This report is put together by surveying realtors and remodeling professionals in markets all around the country. From these surveys, Remodeling Magazine is able to come up with two important numbers. The first number is an average price for a given project in each market. This includes window replacement (wood and vinyl), new entry door systems, kitchens, bathrooms, room additions, siding and a number of other popular home improvement projects. The second number is an average return on the investment for each of these projects.

Based on these figures, homeowners can figure out what to reasonably expect to invest now and recoup later from an home improvement project. Additionally, based on how much a particular investment adds to the value of the house, homeowners can get a sense of what the most popular projects currently are. If this is accurate, then right now the most popular project is the installation of new siding using a fiber cement product like James Hardie's Hardie Board.

Last month, Remodeling Magazine released their annual report which can be found here. In this report, fiber cement siding is shown to retain approximately 78% of its value when the home is later sold, which is a full 8% more than normal vinyl siding.

When you consider that this project will add to the beauty of your home while you are living there, reduce your maintenance, and possibly cut your energy bills, this seems like a pretty good deal. As one of only two Hardie Preferred Remodelers in Western Pennsylvania, Legacy Remodeling is uniquely experienced to provide its customers with quality installation of fiber cement siding on their homes.

Beyond siding, other projects fare well, also. According to Remodeling Magazine, a new door will return approximately 75% of its purchase price, replacement windows will return around 68% of your investment when you later sell your house, and a kitchen remodel can recoup around 70% depending upon the scope of the project.

When you consider the usage you get while living in a remodeled home together with the value added to your home, investing in remodeling seems like a much less expensive endeavor.