Is home improvement / contractor pricing coming down at all?

We did lots of bathroom remodels, so many bathroom remodels, and saw lots of normal people finishing out basements or doing basic kitchen updates.
In that category of construction it seemed like it was all middle class people that got incredible deals on loans.
I've had my house for 14 years and during covid I refinanced to 20yr mortgage with no out of pocket costs and saved over $400/month on payments.
I even had the option to refinance to 30yrs and pull $60k out of my house for improvements without increasing my monthly payment.

Besides insurance jobs we didn't see much major remodeling for normal people, it seemed all the big construction was being done by the rich only.
I think anyone wanting major remodeling/additions just bought a new house because it was so easy to sell and get a new loan.
When you think about it why spend $80k to remodel your house when you can sell it in less than a week and upgrade to a house that has what you want.

 

Generally 450 SQ/FT. Might be a bit higher or lower but it's a good current baseline for the Mammoth Lakes area.

 

Now would that be for a very basic addition with no finishes ( a "box") or is that for say mid-level?

 

That's fully finished. Depending on how high end the homeowner wants to go that figure can get much larger.

 

I'm starting to see contractors advertising and even doing some cold-call work in my area. I wonder if the winds are starting to shift.

 

Before I retired last April. I was at a job site that the framing crew walked off the site to go down the block for an extra 4 dollars an hour. The guy offered me a job on the spot.
However framing is not what I wanted to do, good money offer but I like finish work.. screw that working in the elements here in North Dakota. I got as much as I wanted doing window warranty work.