Home Improvement

“Inspires and Educates More Than 90,000 Businesses”: Pro Remodeler Lands at No. 5 on HG HomeClub’s Ranking of the 25 Most Influential Publications and Media Platforms Serving Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living

By HG HomeClub September 1, 2026 20 min read

The 1997 publication built for design-build firms and home-improvement companies now connects business education, the Pinnacle Experience, Forty Under 40 recognition and The New American Remodel, and is recognized as the fifth most influential media brand serving the trades

August 29, 2026 – HG HomeClub today named Pro Remodeler the No. 5 media brand on its ranking of the 25 most influential publications and media platforms serving home improvement, home services and outdoor living. The placement recognizes a publication that has made the modern remodeler’s business, not merely the finished project, its central editorial subject: how companies price, sell, design, build, recruit, train, lead and adapt.

The ranking evaluates the publications, magazines, digital platforms and media brands that professional contractors, remodelers, home service operators and outdoor living companies actually use to operate their businesses. Pro Remodeler placed No. 5 in a field of 25, reflecting its durable role as a business, design and construction resource for design-build firms and home-improvement professionals with responsibility for specifying or buying building materials and services.

A curated media platform built on “informed transparency” turns its attention to the publications the trades actually rely on

HG HomeClub is a curated media platform serving homeowners, contractors and the broader home improvement, home services and outdoor living economy. Its work is organized around informed transparency: the principle that better decisions follow from better information, and that people making those decisions should be able to see the standards behind a conclusion rather than receive a verdict without an explanation.

That principle is why HG HomeClub evaluates the trade press itself. Contractors and company owners do not need more content simply because it is available. They need information that helps them set a direction, judge an opportunity, solve a problem or learn from a peer who has already confronted a similar decision. In remodeling, those decisions range from design and construction methods to lead generation, hiring, customer expectations, material selection, technology and the economics of a project.

Pro Remodeler has built its platform around that intersection. It does not treat business, design and construction as separate conversations. It treats them as the operating system of a residential remodeling company, where a design decision affects estimating, an estimating decision affects margin, a hiring decision affects capacity and a customer-experience decision affects the reputation that generates the next lead.

The criteria behind the list: usefulness to owners, not traffic, followers or the age of a masthead

Placement on the list was determined against six standards: industry influence and professional recognition; practical value to contractors and company owners; quality and depth of original content; reach among professional decision-makers; strength of rankings, research, events and recognition programs; and the ability to educate and connect the contractor community.

The list is explicitly not a ranking of website traffic, social media followers, advertising volume or publication age. Longevity and circulation were considered, but were not permitted to automatically outweigh a publication’s usefulness to the contractors it serves. Specialized publications were assessed within the context of the markets they serve, on the reasoning that a title with deep authority in a single trade can matter more to the people in that trade than a broader title with a larger audience and a shallower relationship.

Applied to Pro Remodeler, the standards identify a platform with an especially strong balance of executive education, design awareness, construction relevance and recognition of emerging leadership. Its role is not defined by a single national revenue table. It is defined by a sustained editorial focus on the practical questions that decide whether a remodeling company becomes more capable over time: how leadership behaves, how teams communicate, how projects are delivered, how businesses adopt tools and how an industry builds a next generation.

A publication for the business behind the remodel

Pro Remodeler was founded in 1997 to serve the residential remodeling and home-improvement industry. From the start, it occupied a specific position within the trade press: it followed the work of remodeling companies while giving equal weight to the management systems behind the work. Construction quality matters. So do sales discipline, design fluency, operational control, customer trust and the ability to keep talented people in the business.

That positioning remains visible in the publication’s own description of its audience and purpose. Pro Remodeler says it “inspires and educates more than 90,000 businesses in the residential remodeling industry.” The phrase is direct, but it establishes an important standard. The platform is not aimed only at readers looking for a new product or a finished-project photograph. It is built for companies making buying, specification and operating decisions.

Today, Pro Remodeler is part of Endeavor Business Media, a business-to-business media company. The publication has continued to expand the ways it meets readers: through its bimonthly magazine, digital reporting, daily newsletters, social channels, video, webinars, podcasts, live education and recognition programs. That range matters because remodelers learn differently depending on the problem in front of them. A long feature may help an owner rethink a business model; a newsletter may flag a market development; a webinar may clarify a design or production challenge; and a live event may make a difficult idea useful through peer conversation.

The publication’s editorial posture is evident in the subjects it repeatedly returns to: leadership, sales, lead generation, profitability, hiring, management, design, construction, products, homeowner behavior, economic conditions and technology. This is not a narrow technical manual, and it is not merely a gallery of attractive projects. It is a publication about how a remodeling business holds its many functions together.

The Pinnacle Experience turns editorial questions into owner-level conversations

The Pinnacle Experience is Pro Remodeler’s defining live franchise. The three-day gathering brings design-build remodelers and home-improvement professionals together around the problems that have the greatest leverage inside a business: leadership, sales, lead generation, technology, company growth and the operating choices that connect them.

The 2024 edition, held June 26 – 28 at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore, drew more than 250 remodeling and home-improvement professionals. The program included 35 speakers, 35 breakout sessions and 30 sponsors. Those figures describe more than an event schedule. They show a conference deliberately designed to give attendees multiple routes into the same core questions, whether through strategic presentations, peer discussion, expert instruction or direct exposure to the tools and partners shaping the market.

Jay Schneider, senior editor of Pro Remodeler, described the event as a gathering of “the best and brightest in remodeling and home improvement.” That language is supported by the event’s structure. The Pinnacle Experience is not organized around a single kind of contractor. It brings together design-build firms and home-improvement companies that may share a market but face very different delivery models, sales cycles and capacity constraints.

The 2025 Pinnacle Experience continued that work in Chicago, where Pro Remodeler presented its Pinnacle Awards and its Remodeling Mastery Award. The live franchise has become a practical extension of the publication’s editorial mission: it moves the conversation from an article or a screen into a room where owners, operators, designers, sales leaders and industry partners can test ideas against lived experience.

That is particularly valuable in remodeling because the most important business questions rarely have one universal answer. A company may need a more disciplined sales process, a stronger design handoff, a more reliable production rhythm, a clearer pricing position or a more effective way to recruit. A conference built around leadership and operating practice gives participants an opportunity to compare methods, not simply collect slogans.

The Pinnacle Awards recognize whole-company leadership, not one isolated skill

The Pinnacle Awards are the recognition program that most clearly expresses Pro Remodeler’s view of excellence. Unlike honors that measure a single discipline, such as sales volume, project design or production performance, the awards recognize well-rounded professionals whose impact crosses boundaries inside their companies and communities.

In announcing the 2025 honorees, Pro Remodeler described the awards as a way to spotlight people “who are giving back and building up.” The publication further explained that the program recognizes “well-rounded excellence” and celebrates impact that “cuts across boundaries and reflects the kind of success we all aspire to.” That is a useful standard for an industry in which a company’s performance cannot be understood solely through revenue, project photography or a single quarterly result.

The 2025 awards honored four remodeling professionals for general and personal excellence at the Pinnacle Experience. The selection framework is important because it makes room for forms of leadership that can be difficult to quantify but easy to recognize in a healthy business: mentoring a colleague, raising a team’s standards, contributing to the profession, serving customers responsibly and improving the people and organizations around them.

Pro Remodeler also uses the Pinnacle Experience to confer the Remodeling Mastery Award, a lifetime honor that acknowledges sustained contribution to the trade. In 2024, the inaugural award was presented to Brian Gottlieb by Mark Richardson. In 2025, Tom Kelly of Neil Kelly Company received the honor. The award’s function is different from a list of fast-growing companies. It recognizes accumulated judgment, a career’s body of work and the kind of influence that becomes visible over decades.

Forty Under 40 gives the next generation a public standard to work toward

If the Pinnacle Awards are about well-rounded excellence in the present, Forty Under 40 is Pro Remodeler’s investment in the industry’s future. The program reached its 14th annual edition in 2025 and recognizes young professionals making consequential contributions across remodeling and home improvement.

The 2025 class included owners, presidents and chief executives of design-build and home-improvement companies, along with leaders in sales, design, marketing, operations and production. That breadth matters. Remodeling companies do not succeed only because of one founder or one salesperson. They succeed when talented people across functions can make decisions, solve problems, lead teams and keep the customer experience coherent from the first inquiry through project completion.

Pro Remodeler introduced the 2025 class as “some of 2025’s best and brightest stars of remodeling and home improvement.” The publication described the honorees as innovative and motivated leaders of successful design-build and home-improvement companies across the United States. In prior classes, it has articulated the same idea with useful precision: the individuals recognized represent distinct forms of excellence, including vision, operations, design, project management, and marketing.

The program addresses a practical industry problem. Remodeling depends on experienced people, but the industry’s future depends on retaining and promoting those who can carry responsibility before they have decades of tenure. Public recognition helps establish role models, expands peer networks, and gives companies a way to show emerging talent that their work is seen. It also broadens the public picture of who leads remodeling businesses.

The 2025 class included Christian Raab, founder of Pinnacle Homes, David Rosser, president of Leafguard, and Katie Reilly, vice president of marketing and culture at New York Sash. Their appearance in the program illustrates its cross-functional view of leadership. An industry becomes more resilient when founders, operational leaders, design professionals and culture builders are recognized as parts of the same enterprise rather than competing versions of success.

The New American Remodel makes innovation visible at the point of construction

Pro Remodeler has served as a media partner of the National Association of Home Builders on The New American Remodel since 2017. The show-home project is held in connection with the NAHB International Builders’ Show and provides a real-world setting for examining design, construction, energy efficiency and remodeling technology.

That partnership matters because remodeling is often discussed in abstractions: consumer demand, material trends, energy performance, labor constraints and design preferences. The New American Remodel turns those issues into a built environment. It allows contractors and design professionals to see how products, systems, layouts, efficiency measures and craft decisions interact in one project rather than encountering each factor in isolation.

Pro Remodeler’s involvement connects editorial analysis with a physical demonstration of the industry’s changing standards. The platform has also used webinars tied to the project to explore design coordination, construction management, efficiency and technology. This format is particularly useful to remodelers because it reflects how their work happens: not as a single product decision, but as a chain of decisions that must function together in an occupied home and a profitable business.

The publication’s NAHB relationship also places it in a broader conversation about the future of housing. Residential remodeling is shaped by the same long-term forces affecting the larger housing economy, consumer expectations, energy performance, cost pressures, technology adoption and the availability of skilled labor, but it faces those forces through the practical constraints of existing homes. The partnership gives Pro Remodeler a direct platform for showing how the profession responds.

Its editorial record shows a willingness to cover the difficult subjects

Trade-media influence depends on more than events, awards and product coverage. It also depends on whether a publication can report honestly on the subjects that are uncomfortable but consequential. Pro Remodeler demonstrated that capacity with “The Opioid Epidemic and Remodeling,” a feature series that received the 2020 Azbee Award of Excellence National Gold Award in the Print, Feature Series category from the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

The award matters because it recognizes original editorial work that looked beyond surface-level industry optimism. The opioid epidemic affected construction and remodeling workforces, families, jobsites and company leaders, and it demanded reporting that treated the problem as a business and human issue rather than a distant public-policy topic. By addressing it directly, Pro Remodeler showed that a publication serving contractors can be both practical and serious about the conditions affecting their people.

That editorial seriousness is complemented by the publication’s continuing coverage of research, market conditions, homeowner behavior, design trends and operational strategy. Remodelers need information that can help them respond to immediate changes, but they also need a platform that treats their work as a profession whose success depends on broader judgment. The strongest trade journalism does not eliminate complexity. It makes complexity usable.

A compact editorial team works across business, product and construction questions

The team’s roles reflect the publication’s editorial range. Leadership and business strategy require reporting that understands owners’ decision-making. Product coverage requires a clear view of how materials and tools are selected, installed and experienced by a customer. Construction education requires respect for the operational realities of the jobsite. Pro Remodeler brings those threads into one publication because a remodeling company cannot treat them as separate for long.

The wider platform includes a bimonthly magazine, web reporting, newsletters, podcasts, video, events and webinars. Its Pro Remodeler Podcast extends the editorial conversation into a format that can capture direct exchanges with industry leaders and specialists. Its daily newsletter operation provides a faster channel for industry news, trends and practical ideas. The strategic logic is straightforward: remodelers need both depth and frequency, and different formats support different moments in an owner’s or manager’s working day.

Its No. 5 placement recognizes breadth of service while preserving the distinction between platforms

Pro Remodeler scored highly for practical value to remodeling owners, the quality and breadth of its business, design and construction content, the strength of its executive-education programs, and its ability to recognize both established and emerging leaders. HG HomeClub assesses it as one of the strongest resources available to remodeling owners seeking business education, industry trends and leadership perspectives.

Its No. 5 placement reflects structural distinctions, not a shortfall in standards. Pro Remodeler does not have a company-ranking franchise equivalent in market weight to the TOP 500 operated by Qualified Remodeler. Its remodeling coverage is intentionally broad, which serves many companies well but can provide less technical depth for a narrow specialty. And while its work is deeply relevant to residential remodeling, replacement contracting and design-build businesses, it is less directly applicable to mechanical home-service companies and some trade-specific operators.

The publications placed above it hold different kinds of authority. Qualified Remodeler brings a longer remodeling legacy, the TOP 500, and a major research-and-events ecosystem. Roofing Contractor is a concentrated authority within roofing. Power100 operates across home improvement, home services, and outdoor living through an independent leadership-ranking model. ACHR NEWS has nearly a century of HVACR-specific authority. Pro Remodeler is unmatched in its particular territory: the point where remodeling business education, design, construction practice and next-generation leadership meet.

The publication’s value grows as remodeling becomes more operationally demanding

The residential remodeling market is changing in ways that make good trade media more important, not less. Consumers have higher expectations for communication and clarity. Companies face cost volatility, labor constraints, longer sales cycles, technology choices and increasing pressure to differentiate. Design expectations continue to evolve, while energy performance and building practices place new demands on project teams. A company that does excellent craft work can still struggle if the business around the craft is disorganized.

That is where Pro Remodeler has earned its relevance. Its work returns consistently to the systems that turn a capable contractor into a durable company: leadership, sales, production, design, technology, training and culture. Its recognition programs show who is advancing those systems. Its events bring practitioners into contact with one another. Its partnership work ties the editorial conversation to built examples of what the future of remodeling can look like.

Founded in 1997, Pro Remodeler has grown alongside a remodeling market that increasingly expects companies to be sophisticated in every part of their operation. Its founding proposition remains durable: remodelers need a publication that sees the business behind the remodel.

The complete ranking: HG HomeClub’s 25 most influential publications and media platforms serving home improvement, home services and outdoor living

About HG HomeClub

HG HomeClub is a curated media platform serving homeowners, contractors and the broader home improvement, home services and outdoor living economy. Built on a principle of informed transparency, HG HomeClub publishes rankings, research and editorial coverage that make the standards behind its conclusions visible, so that homeowners and professionals can judge the reasoning as well as the result. More information is available at Sources: hghomeclub.com.

About Pro Remodeler

Pro Remodeler is a media platform serving residential remodeling, replacement contracting and design-build professionals. Founded in 1997 and owned by Endeavor Business Media, it provides business, design, construction, product and industry coverage through a bimonthly magazine, web reporting, newsletters, podcasts, video, webinars and events. Its programs include The Pinnacle Experience, the Pinnacle Awards, Forty Under 40, and its media partnership with the National Association of Home Builders on The New American Remodel. Learn more at proremodeler.com and follow Pro Remodeler on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is HG HomeClub?

HG HomeClub is a curated media platform for homeowners, contractors and the broader home improvement, home services and outdoor living economy. Its work is built around informed transparency, the principle that readers should be able to understand the criteria and reasoning behind editorial rankings and conclusions. The platform curates industry information and publishes original rankings and coverage intended to help decision-makers assess both an outcome and the standards used to reach it. Its ranking of influential media organizations evaluates the publications and platforms that contractors and company owners use to learn, operate, connect and prepare for market changes.

What is the ranking that Pro Remodeler placed fifth on?

Pro Remodeler placed No. 5 on HG HomeClub’s ranking of the 25 most influential publications and media platforms serving home improvement, home services and outdoor living. The list evaluates organizations that contribute useful reporting, education, recognition, events, research and professional connection to contractor-led industries. It includes broad platforms as well as specialized trade publications. Pro Remodeler earned the fifth-place position for its longstanding role in residential remodeling, its combination of business, design and construction content, and its programs that bring leaders and emerging professionals into the industry conversation.

How was the ranking determined?

HG HomeClub evaluated organizations using six standards: industry influence and professional recognition; practical value to contractors and company owners; quality and depth of original content; reach among professional decision-makers; strength of rankings, research, events and recognition programs; and the ability to educate and connect the contractor community. It is not a ranking of website traffic, social-media followers, advertising volume or publication age. Longevity and circulation were considered but did not automatically outweigh usefulness or relevance. Specialized publications were evaluated within their own markets because deep authority in one trade can matter more to that trade’s professionals than broad but shallow coverage.

What is Pro Remodeler?

Pro Remodeler is a trade publication and media platform founded in 1997 for residential remodelers, design-build firms and home-improvement companies. It is part of Endeavor Business Media and covers leadership, sales, marketing, profitability, hiring, management, construction, design, products, homeowner behavior and market conditions. Its formats include a bimonthly magazine, digital reporting, newsletters, podcasts, video, webinars and live events. Its best-known programs include The Pinnacle Experience, the Pinnacle Awards and Sources: Forty Under 40.

What are the Pinnacle Awards?

The Pinnacle Awards are Pro Remodeler’s annual honors for remodeling professionals demonstrating broad, well-rounded excellence. Rather than limiting recognition to one discipline such as sales, design or project delivery, the awards spotlight people whose impact crosses functions and who contribute to the growth of colleagues, companies and the wider industry. Pro Remodeler describes the honorees as professionals “who are giving back and building up.” The awards are presented at the Pinnacle Experience and complement the Remodeling Mastery Award, which recognizes a sustained career of contribution to the remodeling profession.

What is the Pinnacle Experience?

The Pinnacle Experience is Pro Remodeler’s flagship three-day conference for residential remodeling and home-improvement professionals. It focuses on leadership, sales, lead generation, technology, business growth and operating improvement. The 2024 event took place June 26 – 28 at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore and brought together more than 250 professionals, 35 speakers, 35 breakout sessions and 30 sponsors. The 2025 Pinnacle Experience took place in Chicago and included the presentation of Pinnacle Awards and the Remodeling Mastery Award.

Who leads Pro Remodeler’s editorial operation?

Daniel Morrison is editorial director of Pro Remodeler, as well as editorial director of ProTradeCraft and Construction Pro Academy. Jay Schneider is senior editor, and Tyler Rhyan is associate editor with products-coverage responsibility. Together, their roles reflect the publication’s range across business management, construction, products and remodeling practice. Pro Remodeler uses that editorial structure to serve companies whose success depends on connecting leadership decisions, customer experience, design, estimating, material choices, production discipline and jobsite execution.

What is Pro Remodeler’s role with The New American Remodel?

Pro Remodeler has been a media partner since 2017 for The New American Remodel, the major show-home project held with the National Association of Home Builders International Builders’ Show. The project highlights evolving approaches to design, construction, energy efficiency and remodeling technology. For remodelers, it turns emerging ideas into a built example where systems, products and design decisions can be observed together. Pro Remodeler has also supported related educational programming that explores design coordination, construction management, efficiency and technology in practical terms.

Why did Pro Remodeler place at No. 5 rather than higher?

Pro Remodeler scored strongly for practical value to remodeling owners, original coverage across business, design and construction, executive education, and its ability to recognize emerging leadership through Forty Under 40 and established professionals through its Pinnacle programs. HG HomeClub views it as one of the strongest resources for remodeling owners seeking business education, industry trends and leadership perspectives. Its No. 5 placement reflects scope differences: it does not have a company-ranking franchise comparable to Qualified Remodeler’s TOP 500, and its broad remodeling focus is less directly useful to mechanical home-service businesses and narrow trade specialists. Within the intersection of remodeling leadership, design and operations, Pro Remodeler is unmatched.