Designing Your Large Renovation

When you are looking for a contractor to take on a large renovation that includes kitchens, bathrooms and large parts of the actual layout of your home or chalet then its not just important to find a contractor that can do the work but they also will need to be able to help you with the overall layout and flow of the home.

What do I mean by the layout and the flow of the home? Well if you were building a new home it's something that your architect would be worried about. It's how the home actually functions for you and your family.

Now style is important when doing any renovation but its not the only thing that you have to consider. One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they get so wrapped up in the style of the home that they forget about how the home is suppose to perform and function.

Whatever style you like has to be able to work within your life, that means that you shouldn't be planning renovations that don't improve the quality of your life just to fit a trend or style.

Here are some things to consider when you are planning a large renovation of your home or chalet;

Placement

The placement of the rooms in your home is very important. If your planning to move things around in the house make sure that you are not putting the bathrooms all the way at one end of the house, farthest away from the rooms that you use all the time. Nobody wants to miss a big part of the movie because it takes to much time to walk to the bathroom and back.

Openness

This is one of the biggest changes in houses in the last 25 years. Homes went from having designated and closed off rooms to being open and flowing from one room to the next. Kitchens should flow into the next room whether that room is the dining room or the living room. People cooking want to be able to interact with their guests and vice versa.

Flow

If you have a living room filled with couches and chairs that is hard to navigate through just to get to a main area like the kitchen then you don't have good flow. You want people to be able to move around your home in designated walk ways so that travel from one room to another is simple and obvious. That doesn't mean that you need hallways everywhere, just the opposite actually.

In new homes this is all organized by the architect as they draw the house they give you ideas of the best possible way to achieve Placement, Openness and Flow. But in an existing home that is about to undergo a serious renovation its up to the homeowner to achieve these 3 things.

But how do you as a homeowner do this? Well the simplest thing is to find a contractor that can do this for you, someone that can not only give you the high end renovation that you desire but also help you in the planning an layout of the home. A good contractor will have plenty of experience doing this for people and will already understand the basics of placement, openness and flow.

Now you can have plans created by a draftsmen or interior designer, these will help but once walls start coming down and floors are stripped there are always changes that have to happen, these changes are best handled by the contractor working with you.

Where do you find a contractor that can help you with all of this?
You just found them....

Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

We don't just help people with new custom homes, we also spend a lot of time renovating peoples homes and chalets. Usually we are doing this with little too no plans from the homeowners or other design professionals. Communication is the key, the more informed choice you are able to give the homeowner the better, the more information they have from us will also help the project move along at a faster pace and have a much smoother finish.

If you are planning a large renovation project and think that we could help you with it please feel free to email us at greatlakescustomhomes@gmail.com

Let us help you,

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Now Is The Time To Start That Fall Renovation

As we close in on the end of August and the start of September (the kids finally go back to school) the clock starts to run on contractors ability to start and finish renovations before Christmas.

Why is Christmas the big goal? Because its the first thing everyone thinks of when they start a renovation or new home build, will it be done for Christmas.

If you start a renovation project after October there is a good chance that you will not get it completed before Christmas.

As you approach Christmas not only does your hired contractor become busier but so does all the sub-trades that they rely on. The electricians, the plumbers, the drywallers and the tilers all end up booked for months ahead of time.

Its hard to finish a renovation when you can't get the sub-trades to show up on time or at all.

The later you wait to start your fall renovation the greater the risk you take in not having it finished before Christmas.

With September only a week away you are already starting to run out of time.  Starting in the middle of September only gives you 3.5 months before Christmas comes. That's if you can find someone to start that fast, usually they won't be able to start until October making it less then 3 months.

Stop waiting till the kids are back to school and the house is quiet, start looking for that contractor and planning your renovation now!

Let's get these going before it's to late.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Renovation Decisions Are Key To A Smooth Project

When you are renovating before you start you (as the homeowner) should take the time to make as many decisions as possible.

When I say as many decisions as possible I don't just mean the general layout of what you want accomplished in the renovation, I mean the colour of the walls, the type of flooring, the style of trim, your electrical and any plumbing fixtures.

Now depending on the size and scope of the renovation that you are hoping to have completed you probably won't be able to make all those decisions, but even if you can narrow your choices down to a couple for every category then you can finalize it when it is required to be ordered.

One of the biggest delays in completing a renovation project for people is waiting for them to make decisions. This actually slows down your renovation far more then you realize.

It doesn't sound like a lot of decisions to have to make, but what you don't realize is that once your renovation starts your contractor (if he's the right contractor) will be asking you questions and giving you options and asking you to make decisions on certain things and this will happen probably every day.

These decisions could be as follows;

•  Upgrading existing insulation.
• Fixing damaged areas of walls.
• Changing windows.
• Fixing found water infiltration.
• Removing rodents and other unwanted pests.
• Upgrading or repairing existing electrical.
• Upgrading or repairing existing plumbing.
• Adding more lighting in existing ceilings.
• Changing plans because of existing structures that make the original plan impossible.
• Adding sound proofing.

Those decisions come as the demo is started and happen up until the drywall has been installed. These decisions are usually not included in the original budget, so its not just the decision to do it or not but it is also a decision on how it will affect the final costs and if and when there should be cost cutting.

If you haven't made any of the main decisions at the start then these decisions which are decisions you have a very small amount of time to decide on will take priority and one day you will realize that your contractor is asking you where your plumbing fixtures are because they need to be installed shortly.

Another factor of making your decisions early is that usually your first thoughts on the project are the best and most closely resembling your original vision. Once you start though everyone will be giving you a piece of advice and sometimes they can muddy the waters so much that when you finally have your renovation project complete it looks nothing like what you wanted it to at the start.

If you want your renovation to run smoothly without a lot of delays then make sure that you make your decisions early and often in the project. You will then have a far better chance of ending up with something that you truly love.

Rob Abbott

Village Builders Inc.

Cold Weather Problems To Watch For In Your New Home

Its Fall and with the real estate market being so hot as it has been in the last year there are a lot of people that are in newly bought homes that have never been through cold weather together.

There are certain things that you need to pay attention to (now that the cold weather has started to arrive) in your newly acquired home;

• Drafts. Unless you have a brand new home your older home will probably have drafts. They could come from many different locations. You need to document them so that when you renovate the home later you will know where to tell your contractor to focus on.
• Windows/Doors. With the weather change you will now start to see if your windows and doors still open and close properly. This is the time when wood shrinks and things move in older homes, sometimes it's just an adjustment that needs to be made and sometimes its a bigger repair. Also look for fogging of windows that doesn't go away.
• Leaks. From top to bottom you need to pay attention to see if there is water penetration happening. It could come from the roof, it could come from windows or doors and it can happen in the basement. It doesn't have to be a lot of water, any amount is a warning sign of things to come.
• Debris.After large fall and winter storms you should look around the outside of the house, look for debris. Your looking for things that have fallen or blown off the house, things like shingles, eavetrough or facia can come unattached in big winds from the house. Sometimes trees can dislodge this as well, repairing it without fixing the root of the problem will just waste time and money.
• Cold spots. Even if you have central heating, that doesn't mean that every part of your home is heated evenly. Look for rooms or area's that are colder then the rest of the spaces in the home. If you are resorting to space heaters then you should think about a more permanent solution that will save you money on your heating bills in the future.
• Heating system. Does your heating system sound like its running properly? Does it sound like its labouring or does it have a funny noise? Does it react to the house when it is cold? Do you have a hard time finding a proper temperature in the house? A lot of these things can be fixed simply but not if your contractor doesn't know they are happening and where in the house they are happening.

These simple observations will help you direct your contractor when you go to renovate your newly bought home. When contractors are on site renovating other parts of your home it's easier, quicker and cheaper for them to fix it as they are doing your other work then getting them to come back at a later date just to address a certain issue.

Your contractor wants to help, they know that you the homeowner have a limited budget, that means that they want to help you spend that money in a way that helps you the most and doesn't cost you more money down the road when something has to be redone because of a certain issue that was never resolved during the first renovation.

Simple observations on you the homeowners part will go a long way in saving you money later.

Rob Abbott

Village Builders Inc.

5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Starting Any Major Renovation

Before you jump head first into a major renovation on your home or cottage you should be asking yourself these questions, if you don't you are asking for trouble.

Can You Commit To A Major Renovation

Major renovations take longer then you think. The longer the renovation takes the more a lot of people become disinterested in it. Life can get in the way. Having major renovations is a big commit of you (the homeowners time) even if you have a contractor.

Can You Find A Good Contractor To Do The Job

In these busy times finding a good quality contractor to do the renovation for you is harder, the really good ones are usually booked and pretty busy. But if you star the process early enough and you look around for the right one you should be able to find the right contractor. Contractors will make time and space for you, as long as you appear to be serious about the renovation and you will be committed to having it done in a timely and efficient manner.

Can You Make Decisions In A Timely Manner

A good contractor will give you options on your renovations as the project proceeds. You the homeowner will have to make timely decisions or the project will come to a stand still. Some decisions will cost money others will save you money. Your ability to make an efficient decisions will help keep the project on schedule.

Can You Afford It And Can You Handle Paying For It

Renovations are expensive, the cost of labour and material has risen every year especially in the last couple of years. When you and your contractor figure out a budget you should add 10 to 15 percent on top for a contingency fund, this will allow for anything that was forgotten in the budgeting, changes to what you want and for fixing problems that are always found when doing major renovations. If you go into your renovation thinking that your going to be able to bring your renovation in under budget then your going to be in trouble.
The other problem some people have is that even if they have a budget they can't handle paying, renovations that last a long time require you to write a lot of cheques. You will be paying for things on the time. This can wear on a lot of people to the point were they come to a point that they just stop paying and the renovation comes to a grinding halt.

Can You Handle People In Your Home

Major renovations are invasive. You will have people (mostly men) in your home, their will be different people all the time as different sub-contractors come and go. In any renovation a good contractor will end up using up to 20 different subs. That's 20 different companies with 20 different sets of workers. Every sub will need access to a different part of your house. One thing you should consider is that you should move out during the renovation, this will help you if having people you don't know around you all the time.

Do You Know Why You Are Doing The Renovation

Sometimes people get it into their heads that their home needs to be renovated. This sometimes comes from what they have seen on TV or what their friends have had done. People get caught up in the "keeping up with the Jones", there neighbour got a new laundry room so they should too. Most homes that are older then 20 years usually need to be renovated, but its the amount of renovations that are needed is the big question. Everyone has a limited amount of resources that they can spend on renovations, you should make sure that you are spending them on the right ones.

Before you start any kind of renovation, or before you even start interviewing contractors you need to come up with a list of things you want to do to your home or cottage. From that you need to come up with a rough budget. With those two things settled then you can start the process of finding a contractor and planning your renovations. If you can't answer yes to all the questions above then you really should rethink having your home renovated.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Stop Repairing Your Cottage And Renovate Already

This winter is turning out to be a wide one with temperatures rising and falling from warm enough to allow it to rain to so cold that you don't want to go outside into the freezer. We have weeks of blowing and snowing and then rain and sunny skies. This kind of weather can be really hard on older chalets and cottages as they will have foundation problems, pipes freezing, heating system issues, roof leaks and a whole host of other issues that will go wrong with the building.

This could be considered a disaster, with you having to spend money on fixing or repairing all these issues that keep happening to your place when you are simply trying to enjoy your weekend.

There is another way to look at it, its a wake up call, its your cottage/chalet telling you that its time to renovate and repair the place so that this doesn't happen in the future. The winter is actually a pretty good time to start having your cottage fixed. A good contractor can renovate and repair your cottage while still allowing you to be able to use it when you come up on the weekends.

As they are renovating they then can fix all the other issues that prop up like freezing pipes or heating system issues. Instead of you finding the problem when you arrive on friday night, your contractor would find it in the middle of the week and have it repaired before you arrive on the weekend.

Your cottage will require renovations in the near future, why not forgo the cost of emergency repairs, hire a contractor to renovate the cottage and have him take care of everything without the cost and stress of the emergency repairs.

This winter isn't a one off, extreme weather is becoming the norm in Southern Ontario, so you might as well start preparing your cottage/chalet for it now, have it renovated and fixed right and not worry about it into the future.

Call a contractor to start repairing and renovating today,

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Create A Renovation List For Your Wants And Needs

At least once a month I meet with a perspective client at their home to talk about what they would like in terms of renovations. Once I am there and we start talking about what rooms they want to renovate the list becomes longer and longer.

The longer I actually stay with the homeowner the more the renovation list grows as we talk about what they would like and how they would like the house to function when the renovations are completed. 

One of the problems with this scenario is that the renovation list grows as we talk about it from an initial single renovation like a kitchen to a multi room renovation or a whole house renovation. This on the surface is good for us the contractor as the job grows in size but in reality when the job becomes to large then the homeowner gets scared away from doing any renovation by the large price tag of the entire home remodel.

As the contractor I try to refocus homeowners to make a list of their renovation requirements, it should be broken down into wants and needs. Here are some examples of what a want is and what a need is;

Wants;

• New light fixtures.
• New Paint.
• New Floors.
• Open concept rooms by removing walls.

Needs;

• Fix leaky roof
• New Kitchen.
• Replace old windows.
• Repair rotten areas.

A want is something that you want to help the home function better for you or an update that will bring the home up to newer style. A need is something that needs to be completed before any of the wants list can be completed as it will cause problems or damage to any renovations that are completed. Anything that leaks water should be repaired or replaced before you ever get to the stage of renovating for an update.

If you start with a list like this then you will start to understand the cost of your needs list first and that will then tell you how much you will have leftover for your wants list.

Remember that a contractor can only make recommendations on what you should do to your home, ultimately its up to you the homeowner to decide what you want done. Make your wants and needs list, it should help focus you down on not only what you want to achieve in the renovation but what you can afford.

Rob Abbott

Village Builders Inc. 

Stay In Your Current Home And Renovate It

With the real estate market in the Georgian Triangle rising to new heights because of the demand for homes and the lack of homes that are actually for sale more and more people are opting to stay where they are and renovate their current home instead of trying to find a different home.

With all the costs associated with selling a home and then moving people are deciding to take that money and invest it into their current home.

In previous years the renovations we completed for a lot of people had an eye to resale so that they were limited to updating kitchens and bathrooms. But with people deciding to stay in their home for the long term there is a willingness to spend larger amounts of money to do whole home renovations that help the current home work better for the people that are living there.

Additions, outdoor space and garages are also being added while people try to maximize their current location as long as they can.

Money spend properly on your current home and done right should mean that your current home will be up to date and functional for you and your family for the next decade at least.

The larger renovation projects mean larger renovation budgets, these larger renovation budgets must be looked as a long term investment in your current home and not a short term bump in the home price. The added bonus of having low interest rates helps make that larger whole home renovation more affordable.

If your leery about entering the resale home market then maybe you should really think about staying where you are and investing in your current home.

If you are thinking about a renovation for your current home, send us an email at infor@villagebuilders.ca and we can see how we can help you.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Start Planning Your Spring Renovations Now

Even though winter has just started, if you are thinking about renovating this spring then now is the time to start looking around for a contractor to do the actual renovation.

When it comes to renovations your contractor will help you design and plan the renovations that you want to complete. With the design, planning and then the budgeting this can take up a month or more before you come to an agreement. Usually renovations have to go through 3 or 4 budgets with changes to materials and work to be completed until a deal can be reached between client and contractor.

Once you have designed, planned, budgeted and signed the contract with your contractor then you and your contractor are going to want to start ordering things for it. Certain things like specialty plumbing fixtures can take a month or more to receive, or a specialty wood flooring can take months to have made and shipped. It's best to have to find a spot to store the materials needed for the renovation then having to leave the renovation unfinished for that length of time that you are waiting on materials to be manufactured and delivered.

The more decisions that you get out of the way before the renovations start the less stress you will have to deal with when the renovations actually start. There will be plenty of decisions that you as the homeowner will have to make once the renovation starts. Changes and upgrades are always part of a renovation once it starts as walls are opened up and workers find things that require fixing or replacing. With everything planned and ordered in advance you can focus on the decisions that arise as the renovation proceeds.

With the 2017 residential construction season looking like its going to be extremely busy for all contractors in the area you should start to talk to them now before you end up at the end of a long list of people looking for renovations. If you wait to long your spring renovation might end up being a fall renovation because every contractor is to busy already in the spring working on people that called them in the winter.

Make that call or send that email to the contractor that you are interested in now, delaying till closer to the spring might find you at the end of that line that outs you into the fall renovation schedule.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.