photo by: AdobeStock

A home remodeling project is pictured.

News and notes from around town:

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If the weather forecast holds, many of us may find ourselves stuck inside our homes as another snow storm blankets the area this week. If so, take notes.

The Lawrence Home Show is set for Friday and Saturday, and you can come with a full list of everything you’d like to change about the place. (A heated driveway or a tropical address — whichever is cheaper — is high on my list.)

“It is a perfect time to come to the show and start dreaming,” said Bobbie Flory, executive director of the Lawrence Home Builders Association, which hosts the annual show.

Flory said the show will have about 65 exhibitors offering a range of products. A few topics always stand out, though. Energy bills are a big one, and Flory said technology advances are creating more efficiency in items like windows, siding, insulation and other components.

Kitchens and baths are another frequent topic at the show. There’s certainly lots of information on styles and trends for kitchen and bath remodels, but Flory urged show attendees to seek even more from the variety of companies that will be there. Be prepared to describe your particular bath or kitchen and hear what ideas vendors may have in mind.

“A lot of it is about design and layout and how to make it more functional and efficient,” Flory said. “They can give you that kind of information. They love to talk to people about their particular situation and how it can be made better.”

The show is set to run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday at Crown Toyota Pavilion, 3430 Iowa Street. There is a $5 admission charge for adults. More details can be found online at LHBA.net.

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If you heard a hammer or saw in Lawrence in 2024, chances were good that it was part of a remodeling project rather than a new home being constructed. As we reported last month, new single family home construction hit a record low in Lawrence in 2024.

As we reported, building permits for just 57 single family homes were issued by the City of Lawrence in 2024. That was the lowest total since at least 1956, which is the earliest local building permit data is readily available.

The information we didn’t have available to report last month, however, is how Lawrence’s totals compared to some other area communities. Well, we now have year-end numbers for pretty much the entire Kansas City metro area.

Those numbers confirm what was suspected at the end of 2024: Lawrence not only set a new record low but has some of the lowest building permit totals in the entire region. Below is a list of some of the major communities in the KC metro — especially on the Kansas side — and how many single family building permits they issued in 2024.

What you will notice is that there are lots of communities that are several times smaller than Lawrence in terms of population but have building permit totals that are greater than Lawrence’s.

To try to give you a sense of the actual rate of home construction in each community, the second number on the list is the number of single family building permits issued per 1,000 people in the community.

• Lawrence: 57 single family permits (0.59 permits per 1,000 residents.)

• De Soto: 60 (9.17 per 1,000)

• Gardner: 139 (5.47 per 1,000)

• Leawood: 65 (1.91 per 1,000)

• Lenexa: 283 (4.83 per 1,000)

• Olathe: 389 (2.63 per 1,000)

• Overland Park: 404 (2.04 per 1,000)

• Prairie Village: 59 (2.57 per 1,000)

• Shawnee: 100 (1.44 per 1,000)

• Spring Hill: 281 (29 per 1,000)

• Basehor: 100 (12.9 per 1,000)

• Tonganoxie: 39 (6.39 per 1,000)

• Blue Springs, Mo.: (3.7 per 1,000)

• Independence, Mo.: 55 (0.45 per 1,000)

• Kansas City, Mo.: 437 (0.85 per 1,000)

• Lee’s Summit: 416 ( 3.99 per 1,000)

• Liberty, Mo.: 77 (2.5 per 1,000)

• Raymore, Mo.: 200 (7.9 per 1,000)