Friday, December 18, 2015

Village Builders Holiday Schedule

Village Builders will be closed for two weeks for the Christmas Holidays.

The office will be open on Monday December 21st, we will be closed between December the 22nd and January the 3rd 2016.

We re-open on January 4th 2016.

If you would like to get a hold of us we are available via email, if you want to leave a message please remember that it is the holiday's and it will probably take us several days to get back to you.

Happy Holidays from everyone at Village Builders.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

5 Things To Consider When Planning Your Renovation

5 Things to consider when planning your renovation

1. Budget. This is the single biggest thing you will have to decide when you want to renovate your home. It doesn’t matter if you want to renovate your entire home or just one room you can’t start to make any plans for your renovation until you set the budget. Set your budget realistically.

2. Plans. Whether you draw them on a piece of paper, have them drawn by a professional or draw it out on the floor of the room with your contractor, you need some sort of plan. Don't ever start a renovation without a clear plan of where you want it to finish, some of the worst mistakes are made when someone starts a renovation telling themselves they will figure it out as they go.

3.  Style. Since you have plans now you need style. Best laid plans will look all wrong if you don't have the right style in the room. Look through magazines, watch TV shows and mark down what you like and what you don't. This will go a long way to helping you organize the room during and after the renovation. Make sure you involve your better half, chances are you and them will have different styles, you will have to find some common ground.

4.  Contractor. No matter how much you plan, if you don't find the right contractor to do the actual work then your renovation will turn out poorly. Take your time and find not only a contractor that is good at what they do but one that you can personally get along with. This will make the renovation experience a much more enjoyable experience.

5.  Price. Make sure that you get a price. It doesn't have to be a fixed price as some renovations can be hard to price, you should at least have a budget that you and your contractor will be working from that will help keep costs in line throughout the project. As I said about the budget, the price should be realistic, if your contractors price looks to cheap or way to expensive then you should be looking around for another price to compare it too. If it's to good to be true then it probably is something wrong with the price.

Whatever you want to do, you should be planning as much about the renovation as possible before it ever starts; right down to the colour of the carpet, every detail that you are able to decide on before the pressure of the renovation starts the more enjoyable the renovation experience will be.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Understanding Quotes From Subs- A Job For Your General Contractor

Understanding quotes from subs- A job for your general contractor

One of the most difficult things when building a house is sorting through the prices that you receive from your sub-contractors.

If you don't understand the terminology that your sub contractors are using then you will have trouble understanding what they are going to install under the contract that you signed with them. A lot of people end up taking the lowest bidder from a reputable company and then are disappointed with the end results; not because of poor workmanship or poor installation but because what work was completed and the products that were installed were not what you as the homeowner thought they would be; you didn't understand what was written in the contract that signed.

Industry short forms, product codes and a homeowners poor understanding of systems in the home and how they work make it almost impossible for a homeowner to be able to determine if every sub contractor that prices the job is pricing the same material or systems.

This is one of the main reasons why when you are building a custom home you should be using a general contractor.

General Contractors solicit quotes when they originally budget your home before the build process starts. This might only be one quote for the budget from each part of the build (electrician, plumber), but it creates a baseline for them to work from going forward. Later in the build process if you are asking for more quotes (from multiple plumbers and electricians) then the general contractor will require all new bids to be based on the same criteria that the original quote was structured around.

This type of organizing allows the General Contractor to present the best quotes to you the client without fear of not getting what you wanted.

Your general contractor can save you enough money doing this over the entire build process that they almost pay for themselves in the money they save for you compared to if you were to be going it alone.

Let your general contractor worry about the quotes from the subs and you can worry about how you want to decorate your new home.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Why Do Custom Homes Cost More Then Resale Homes?

Q:

Why do Custom Homes Cost More Then Resale Homes?

A:

The simple answer to that question is that Custom Homes are brand new and come with a warranty, where a home that you bought from someone else is older, has been used and generally will be in need of some kind of repair.

Resale homes if they are older then 15 years or if they have not been updated in the last 15 years will need to be renovated. They will need to be renovated either immediately (before you move in) or with in the first couple of years that you live there.
When buying someone else's home you are buying it at discount compared to a new one because the life expectancy of everything in the home is less then the new home.

Key staples to the home have already started the clock towards being fixed ore replaced all together;


  • Furnace. Either because of improper maintenance, age or the need for something more efficient you will eventually have to replace parts or the entire heating system.
  • Septic System. If you live in the country or somewhere with no access to sewers then you will be on a septic system. Septic systems have a shelf life, usually after 30 to 40 years they need to be updated, repaired or replaced. This depends on the overall use, the way it was used and how it was maintained. Replacing septic systems can be expensive.
  • Windows. This is one of the biggest expenses that you will end up with in a used home. Windows usually have to be replaced after 20 years, depending on what type of windows and the level of trim this can become very expensive.
  • Roofing material. Most used homes have asphalt shingles, asphalt shingles are only good for about 15 years and then they require replacing. This is usually not that big of a cost, but if you end up with a leak because of the condition of your shingles then the costs start to rise.
  • Waterproofing/foundation. This is one of the trickiest things about used homes, if they are in a wet area then the tar that was applied to the outside of the basement walls to keep the basement dry will actually dry out after 20 to 25 years. This can not only be an expensive to fix it also can be hard on your landscaping around the home.
  • Style. Homes are out of date after 10 years these days. For resale you will have to update the kitchens and bathrooms when you go to sell it.
  • Toilets and Faucets.Things start to wear out after 15 years like toilets and faucets, so there's a very good chance that you will have to renovate your bathrooms and kitchen while you are living in your home.
  • Abuse. Used homes can go through a lot of abuse from previous owners, abuse that you do not notice while touring it. It's only later that you come to understand how heavily used the home was by the previous owners.
Today one of the number one reasons people have new homes built or they renovate an older home is to increase the energy efficiency of the home. Custom homes built today are so well built and sealed tight that it's almost impossible to compare them to homes that are 20 plus years or older. With energy prices for gas and electricity only going up having a home that is energy efficient is becoming an ever more demanded and required commodity. 

So when you are comparing why a new custom home is more expensive then homes that are resales think about everything that could and will eventually go wrong with the used home. Add that into the cost of the home and then see how much of a price difference there are between the two.

Rob Abbott
Village Builder Inc.