NEW PRODUCTS tell them you saw it in bated labor shortages across the region and increased project backlogs by nearly two weeks, on average. Top business challeng- es exacerbated by the hurricane disruptions are the shortage of subcontractors (38% for both Irma and Harvey-stricken areas), managing cost-concerned con- sumers (23 and 46%, respectively), and managing consumer expecta- tions (23 and 31%, respectively). A shortage of products and/or materials is also a top challenge for many (23 and 15%, respec- tively). Renovation-related companies estimate the average total cost of repairs and renovations to home- owners to be $13K for the hardest Irma-stricken areas, and a stagger- ing $111K for the hardest Harvey- stricken areas. The Barometer posted year- over-year readings of 67 to 75 in the third quarter of 2017, indicating high optimism in continued year-over-year gains in the home renovation market. These scores are in line with Q2 2017 scores (65 to 78). The year-over-year scores for architects increased from 65 in Q2 to 67 in Q3 and are now at the highest level since Q2 2016. The full Q3 2017 Houzz Renovation Barometer can be found at http://bit.ly/2j0OmId or http://st.hzcdn.com/static/econ. NEW PRODUCTS –––––––––––– Product trends at Cersaie On the the Cersaie show floor in Bologna Italy, where manufactur- ers work to sell their products to distributors throughout the world, there is plenty of product artistry. Cristina Faedi, a Cersaie market- ing representative, classifies the latest tile products in terms of four different macro trends – terms you could soon be hearing from designers and architects when they describe their tile selections: past, memory, comfort, and design. That means installers could soon be working with more thin panels of varied sizes, large thicker panels, Atlas Concorde’s porcelain Nid recalls the look of wood, complete with knots and veins. Marca Corona 1741’s Bleecker