Is now the time to tackle a fixer-upper?

Suzanne Bellanger and her husband opted to renovate a Westwood house. Contractor Michael McLaughlin paints a room. (Travis Dove for The Boston Globe)

The house Suzanne Bellanger, her husband, and their two children recently moved into doesn't exactly have all the amenities. In fact, at the moment it doesn't even have a stove.

But the 160-year-old house in Westwood does have a barn, which Bellanger plans to convert into a workspace for her floral design business. And a contractor she trusts was available and offered a good deal on a renovation. In Bellanger's view, the temporary deprivations - the kitchen is still weeks from being finished - are far outweighed by the house's potential.

"This is where we hope to spend the next 20 years," she said. "Even with the cost of all the improvements, I don't think we could have done better for a home in Westwood."

Many home buyers, real estate brokers, and developers are making similar calculations these days. With a glut of contractors competing for work and plenty of properties on the market with rough edges, now may be the time to take on that fixer-upper.

Amy Massey-Weider, a broker with Century 21 Shoreland in Hyannis, sees it on Cape Cod, where once prohibitively high prices have steadily fallen.

"We're not seeing the biggest, nicest houses in neighborhoods being bought," she said. "We're seeing houses that need work and are selling for a good deal. Clients here seem be more comfortable that their equity position in a house is going to stay strong, and that they will be able to do a renovation over time and for less expense."

For instance, Michael Ryan, one of Massey-Weider's clients, recently paid around $300,000 for a ranch-style house in Cotuit with what he describes as "old-lady decor." He's putting $100,000 into a gut renovation.

"In the commercial business, we see prices coming down," said Ryan, who works for a commercial construction firm in Boston. "A perfect example is putting in a septic system. If I were looking at doing it five to 10 years ago, it would have been $15,000 to $20,000. Now, it's in the $10,000 range."

Ryan ended up going with the middle bid of around $10,000 on the septic tank, based on his assessment of who would do the best job.

But buyers beware: While a glut of contractors may create opportunities, it also poses risks. As any veteran builder will tell you, a good price doesn't equal good work.

The number of construction supervisor licenses issued in Massachusetts in 2008 jumped by more than 30 percent from the previous year, according to the Executive Office of Public Safety. If you're looking for a contractor, the department has an online database, accessible through the Mass.gov website, where the licenses of contractors, along with any violations, can be looked up.

"During the downturn in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we saw all kinds of people - painters, lawyers even - all of the sudden had pickup trucks and were calling themselves contractors," said Doug Hanna, managing partner with S+H Construction Inc. in Cambridge. "That's what happens in these times."

Or, as Tom Mitchell, president of Mitchell Construction in Medfield, said, "A cheap price is long forgotten, while the sting of poor quality lingers on."

Still, because of the economic slowdown, Mitchell and other contractors say they have felt pressure to lower their prices, and many established builders are offering special promotions. This corresponds with a national survey in late 2008 by the consumer referral website Angie's List indicating that 70 percent of contractors were willing to cut prices by 10 percent, and the rest were willing to consider deeper discounts.

Even with the prospect of good deals on houses and contractors, it is perhaps not surprising that first-time buyers still shy away from labor-intensive properties, according to many brokers. In addition to the perils of finding a good contractor, conventional sources of financing, such as home equity loans, have largely dried up.

First-time buyers Seth and Sharon Clarke had planned an ambitious renovation of the condo they recently purchased in Cambridge, but they have put it off due to the economy.

Still, the couple, both architects, hopes that with the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit enacted by the new administration they will be able to begin work next year on their "Obama bathroom."

It could be that professional developers are in the best position to appreciate and take advantage of falling renovation costs.

"You can still make money in this market," said David Edelman, a developer who works in Brookline and Boston. "Prices are by far more reasonable than they were five to six years ago. The key is finding the right person for the job. In the past, everyone with a saw and a hammer could get work. Today, only the good ones are going to be left standing and the marginal ones will be gone."