Firms really niche themselves on a thin slice of remodeling activity.

No matter how thin you slice it, it's still baloney.

As the residential market shows signs of softening, the nonresidential market is in excellent position to pick up the slack in construction activity. Nonresidential construction not only represents billions of dollars in economic activity, but also generates a lot of related spending in furnishings and interior decor.

They carved a niche for themselves. Right from the beginning, they were much more on the cutting edge - but at the same time they were concerned with saving history and looking back to the cutting edge of the past - the Diaghilev years, for example.

No matter how tough the meat may be, it's going to be tender if you slice it thin enough.

Any way you slice it, it doesn't look good.