As tens of millions of baby boomers enter the golden years, many insist they will stay in their home as long as possible. You'd think remodeling contractors would come out of the woodwork to show active seniors how to remodel baths and kitchens or other rooms to fit retiree lifestyles.

Apparently not.

It isn't that remodelers will turn a blind eye to the lucrative business. It's that surprisingly few are certified experts to retrofit homes to help seniors "age in place." Such recognition from the National Association of Home Builders is intended to assure the elderly that select remodelers and builders understand the ins and outs of home makeovers for the unique circumstances of aging seniors.

Aging in place is a broad term to define the mobility, physical and esthetic needs of the elderly who want to stay at home. Most housing is not built with these considerations in mind, notably wider hallways lined with sturdy railings, grab bars and seats in no-threshold showers and easy-access kitchens that minimize stooping and bending.

The NAHB designates these go-to contractors as Certified Aging in Place Specialists (CAPS). This means individuals and companies have completed NAHB coursework and have shown sufficient know-how when it comes to specialized construction and consultation techniques.

But there seems to be a lid on CAPS members. A check of states considered retiree havens at the NAHB Web site shows sparse contractor participation. For example, there are three CAPS members in Arizona and 18 in all of California. Florida has 48 members.

Some states list no aging-in-place specialists, including Mississippi, Wyoming, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Arkansas, Hawaii and West Virginia. Several other states have one or two designees. Only 5 percent of 16,000 NAHB remodelers are CAPS members.

That's hardly enough to meet the potential demand from 88 million people projected to be over age 60 in the next 16 years. More than 80 percent of these midlife and older people want to live out their lives at home rather than be relegated to nursing homes or assisted living facilities, reports AARP.

So, why don't more CAPS candidates bubble to the surface? According to Jim Lapides of NAHB, CAPS is the fastest growing educational program for builders. Classes steep remodelers in marketing to seniors and how to retrofit senior homes. He says a problem for many busy builders is setting aside time to attend a solid string of seminars to earn the designation. Classes also examine esthetic and construction sensitivity issues because "people don't want their home to look like a facility," says Lapides.

However, contractors are beginning to queue up to provide the unique remodeling assistance. In 2002, the first year of the CAPS program, 53 contractors earned the designation. In 2005, that number is expected to pass 300.

Seniors can be a tough crowd. Most prospects are reluctant to admit they age let alone need help. Janet Cook, a CAPS member in Mesa, Ariz., says seniors erect a barrier as soon as she broaches the topic of future housing needs.

"It's a challenge because they say, 'No, we're in good health, it's not going to happen to us, it doesn't apply to us,"' says Cook. Instead, she tries to "speak to some issue that's not as personal a marker as 'you're getting older."'

The numbers of certified remodelers are certain to grow. Dan Bawden of Houston, among the first to promote with NAHB that it was time to take senior housing into account, says "there's no way that it's not going to expand, it will get bigger. Just look at demographics. It's not just wheelchair stuff. People stay healthier for longer and they are going to need more help to make sure their homes accommodate the aging process."