The U.S. home improvement industry is extremely lucrative — worth about $57.2 billion in total — so it should come as no surprise that an innovative start-up connecting homeowners to home service professionals would be able to garner a ton of fundraising. What is surprising, though, is just how much it was able to get.…

It’s been 50 years since Oregon and California residents experienced “The Flood of the Century,” as one NewsOK article calls the Christmas Flood of 1964. Where there are now cracked concrete slabs and broken bridges, there once stood vibrant communities that were destroyed within a matter of days by widespread flooding. Homes were filled with…

Generation Y — those born between the mid 1980’s and late 1990’s — already have a lot on their plate between dealing with crushing student loan debt, a shaky job market, taking the perfect “selfie,” and growing up during a time in which reality TV has replaced MTV. Now they’re being blamed for killing the…

After filing eight legal actions involving home improvement contractors, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane shared some consumer tips and recommendations. The contractors were ordered to pay a total of more than $130,400 in consumer restitution and civil penalties, for lack of compliance with Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act (HICPA). The attorney general’s most…

It’s almost surprising that it took over six years of living in a recession for many American families to reject cookie-cutter homes in expansive housing developments; nevertheless, the “tiny home” movement seems to be picking up and gaining popularity among many middle-class American individuals and families. An avid TV watcher may already be aware of A&E’s new…

For North Carolina residents, taking their car to the mechanic puts a little more strain on the budget than anywhere else in the country.According to a recent CarMD study, the average cost for car parts and labor in North Carolina amounted to $426.45 in 2013. The national average for the year was $392.49, according to a June 21 WGHP…

Conditions are boiling over at the Villa Oaks Townhomes in Houston, Texas this week as the entire complex is without air conditioning. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the heating and cooling industry will expand 21% from 2012 to 2022, mostly due to rising average temperatures throughout the United States and a higher demand for central air…

According to the U.S. Interior Department, 11 states in the eastern U.S. will receive approximately $102.7 million in grants for use in protecting against future storms. Much of the money will be going to New York and New Jersey, which were hit worst by several recent storms. “Climate change is going to make weather events more frequent…

A new marketing and educational program in Missouri is aiming to promote the use of native plant species in the lower Midwest. The Grow Native! initiative aims to preserve the region’s ecosystem and encourage biodiversity in the area. The term “native plant” describes plants that are indigenous to a particular area; these types of plants…

This winter’s brutally cold “polar vortex” caused energy prices to go up for many Americans — but a growing fragility in the U.S. energy system could make the cost of energy continue to increase indefinitely, an April 25 article in the Los Angeles Times reported. A recent study predicted that the cost of electricity in…