Saturday, June 30, 2018

5 Things to Consider for Your Home Remodelling Project



Home remodelling projects often seem very exciting yet intimidating at the same time. Indeed, without careful planning, you might end up busting your budget or worse, getting bad quality designs and workmanship. However, this does not always have to be the case. With good preparations and considerations, you can achieve significant improvements without breaking the bank. Here are 5 things to consider before you start renovating your home: 

Façade

The façade of your house will set the first impression of your home for anyone who pulls up to your property. Therefore, it is crucial that you do not forget to maintain its appearance and even improve it as it can greatly increase the value of your home. It is important that you keep the façade clean and without too many different styles as this could make your house seem cluttered. Improving your house's façade can be as easy as just adding a fresh coat of paint. Small changes or additions like letter boxes and street numerals can also go a long way without being expensive. The key is to keep it neat, tidy, and stick to one theme.

Kitchens and Bathrooms



by Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath

In the real estate industry, the kitchen and bathroom are often the deciding factors for someone making an offer. Hence, you should always consider a new kitchen and bathroom for your next house upgrade.

The rule of thumb for the budget on your kitchen is to keep it at 2% or less of the total value of your property. If you spend more, you will be at risk of over-capitalising on your sales margin. There are many things that you can do to your kitchen, for example, installing new cabinets and replacing fixtures like handles and lights. You should also replace all your appliances in a bundle simultaneously because not only is this more cost-effective, matching appliances could also enhance the appearance of the kitchen.

Similarly, you should not spend more than 2% of your total property value on your bathroom. If you have a small bathroom, there are many ways to heighten the spaciousness of the room. You can install your shower over the bathtub, increasing more space yet maintaining functionality. Another trick is to use light colored, large-sized tiles and lay them horizontally. This way, not only does it look more expensive, but also creates the illusion of spaciousness even in small bathrooms.

Ceiling


by Brian Watford Interiors

The ceiling is often an overlooked element in home remodelling projects even though it is a great area to elevate the interior appearance of your rooms without giving up space for functionality. There are a variety of creative ceiling designs and materials to choose from. You can add character and style to your living by installing a coffered ceiling paired with recessed lightings. Modelhome makeover shared great images on home renovation designs if you want to get ideas.  

A well-designed coffered ceiling can create a wow factor and be an aesthetic feature in your room. If you want to amplify the sense of spaciousness and brightness, you may want to consider installing skylights. Skylights can transform even an old looking room into a modern and sophisticated looking one.

Flooring


by Margot Hartford Photography

Flooring is also one of the biggest surfaces of your property and if your flooring does not look good, it might put off potential buyers if they assume that they will have to undergo an expensive project to replace the flooring. On the other hand, if your flooring fits the theme of your home and looks new, it can improve the appearance of your home significantly. Tiled floorings are great as they are durable and can bring in aesthetic value to the room. They also come in many colors and patterns. Dark colored tiles create a cozy and stylish ambiance while light colored ones can make your room seem larger.

With good planning and smart designs, home improvements can be fun and not daunting at all. You can choose inexpensive alterations that yield great improvements or splurge a bit to make your home even more impressive to both guests and potential buyers.


Saturday, June 23, 2018

The EndLess Century Home Renovation

If you have dreams of buying and owning a century home then you should plan on doing major renovations UNLESS you are buying a century home that someone has already done the major renovations too. The difference of course is that once someone has completed those much needed renovations the home is worth a lot more then it was before the update.

When you start renovating an old century home that hasn't been renovated in a long time there are a lot of things that need to be addressed and they are things that should be done in the whole house and not piece meal room by room;

  • Electrical update of wiring and panel.
  • Plumbing upgrade of drain pipes.
  • Heating system and ductwork.
  • Insulation.
  • Structural beams and walls.
If you think of the nature of these 5 things in any home they are things that run throughout the entire home and replacing, repairing or upgrading them requires work in every part of the house. This means that you will be cutting and removing lath and plaster in every part of your home at some point.

Whenever you have to deal with lath and plaster its a dirty dusty job, its far worse then drywall dust. The more you can do at once the less time you will have to live a dirt dusty mess. 

The more you can do at once the cheaper in the long run it will be, if you hire an electrician to wire one area at a time over several months or years you will be paying more then if you had the electrician re-wire the entire home at the sametime.

Re-pairing or replacing the lath and plaster with drywall or other materials is always more expensive if trades men are doing smaller jobs where they have to come back several times and start the process over again.

So if you have that romantic vision of buying and over the years slowly fixing it up remember that you will be costing yourself a lot more money then you think and you will also be living in a lot bigger mess for a lot longer time.

Do as much work as possible at one time, hire the right people to do it for you and you can get to enjoying your home instead of living through one endless renovation. At the end you will see the value in hiring the right people with the added value in your completely renovated century home.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Quality Over Price When Comparing Renovation Quotes From Contractors

No matter if you are doing a renovation or having a custom home built picking your contractor solely based on price is going to leave you disappointed in the end and probably poorer for it. 
When comparing quotes or prices you really shouldn't be looking at the cost first, you should be looking at the quality and the trust factor of the contractor. The last thing you should be looking at is the price.

When contractors do good quality work, hire proper professionals, use the right material and do it in a timely fashion then the price of the job is basically the price of the job. You can't compare other contractors if they aren't doing all of those things. You have to compare apples to apples, if your lucky enough to have two contractors that measure up on quality, trust and they are both using the same materials (then your lucky to have found them) then by all means choose the one with the lowest price.
But most people aren't that lucky.

I have seen it time and time again a homeowner is presented with a price or multiple prices for a service like painting and they think that the price is to expensive, so they go out and find someone that can do it for their price. Usually they end up compromising to get the price they want by;

1. The overall scope of the work.
2. The quality of the work.
3. The timing of the work.

Once you have comprised on those 3 things then you basically are not comparing quotes anymore, you are settling and in residential construction settling is usually not a good thing.

The contractor that does the work properly, hires the right sub trades and usually is one of the higher priced companies. They also usually have the most detailed quote laying out what work is to be preformed and the materials to be used. The point of the detailed contract is so that there is no misunderstanding between contractor and homeowner on what they are getting with the price that is quoted. The more detailed the contract the more accurate the price and the more accurate the price the harder it is to compare that quote to other less detailed quotes.

The less detailed the quote the more assumptions that you have to make about what they are supplying. This creates friction later when disagreements arise over what is an extra and what isn't.

So when you are looking for that contractor to do your next project start by looking at who best fits your job by the quality of work they are going to perform, then what they are supplying in their quote and finally what their price is compared to other qualified contractors.

Remember you get what you pay for when it comes to residential construction.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.