Will Sharp, Lawrence, an employee with Keys Landscape Inc., Lawrence, prepares to plant a tree outside 536 Country Club Terrace. This home, built in 1930, has been remodeled and will be on the annual Lawrence Spring Parade of Homes scheduled for Monday and Tuesday as well as May 5-6.

Mike Nuffer usually builds new homes, but now he’s marching to a bit of a different beat for this year’s Spring Parade of Homes.

His $825,000 entry at 536 Country Club Terrace is more than a five-bedroom, four-bath residence with zoned heating and cooling.

It’s also a remodel.

“It definitely shows what we can do with anyone’s home,” said Nuffer, president of Michael Nuffer Construction Inc.

Nuffer’s novel approach – only the second time a remodeled home has made it into one of the Lawrence Home Builders Association’s traditional showcase events for new homes – is reflective of a market still working to wring out excess inventory in the midst of tightening mortgage standards and a nationwide slowdown in sales and prices.

Builders are finding themselves turning more often to remodeling projects to keep things going between speculative construction jobs.

“They’re being creative, and finding ways to continue to be in the business,” said Bobbie Flory, the association’s executive director. “A lot of them are doing remodeling. There’s still people out there doing new construction, and some are fine and doing quite well. But others are finding other things to do until the market returns.”

Of the parade’s 27 entries – undeveloped lots, built homes and ready-to-buy condos – eight are return entrants, Flory said. Such events are organized to give builders an opportunity to show off their best work, letting the public see features, styles and other elements that might one day be built into a new home.

Or add to an existing one.

The house on Country Club Terrace, for example, has been around since 1930, back when Herbert Hoover was in the Oval Office. Nuffer and Jeff Arensberg, broker/owner of RE/MAX Professionals, partnered up to buy the expansive lot and set about to update the place and make room for other homes nearby.

The 78-year-old home still retains its brick exterior and other foundations that simply couldn’t be built today, Arensberg said.

“This place was built like a bunker,” he said. “Every wall that’s here was perfectly level. Every floor that’s here was perfectly level.”

While simply refinishing the oak floors made sense, they couldn’t stop there. An expanded kitchen, new garage and additional rooms are part of a home that now measures out to 4,200 square feet, more than 50 percent larger than the original.

Workers spent much of the day Thursday scurrying to get landscaping into place, as Nuffer and others were putting finishing touches on their handiwork inside.

The residential market may be relatively slow by Lawrence standards, but preparations for the parade were as fast as ever at entries across town and into Baldwin City and Eudora.

“We still have builders out there, right now, getting their 11th-hour work in,” Flory said. “It’s a fun, exciting time.”