Renovating in Creemore

Renovating in Creemore

If you’re planning to renovate your home in the Creemore area you have chosen a wonderful place to invest your money and your time. Any upgrades you do to your home here will give an immediate return on your investment. Creemore has become one of the premier places to own a home or cottage in all of Ontario.

Since you’re planning to spend your hard earned money on your home then you should be doing it the right way. You should do it in a way that will give you the maximum return on your investment and it should turn out to be the home you always wanted. The worst feeling in the world is when you have spent thousands of dollars on renovations and at the end of the project it turns out not to look like what you had envisioned in your mind.

There are ways to avoid this happening to you. The most important thing you can do is hire a professional to do your renovating, a professional that has the experience to do your job in the high quality that you expect.

Here are some things that you should be looking for when you are going to hire a renovator;

·         Insurance. This might sound like an obvious thing that your renovator will have insurance, but it’s not as simple as you think. You need to make sure that they have the right insurance and the proper amount. What I mean by the right insurance is that they need insurance depending on what they are doing in your home. If they are renovating a bathroom and you are still going to be living in the house then that insurance needs to reflect that the homeowner is living on the property. The right amount of insurance is extremely important, if the renovator has a million dollars in insurance that’s sounds like a lot until you find out that your house and all its contents are worth 1.5 million to replace. If the worst happens you want to be able to have all your possessions replaced and your house rebuilt.

·         References. The builder/renovator should be able to give you a list of renovations that they have done in the area and the email or phone numbers of the homeowners so that you can call to ask them how the project turned out.

·         Quality. Ask around the area and find out what type of renovations that they do. You do not want to hire a contractor that has no experience doing high end renovations. A contractor might mean well but if they have never done a certain type of work they may become overwhelmed.

·         Ask a lot of questions. A renovator that has nothing to hide will welcome your questions. Ask about what they think of what you plan to do, do they have any suggestions that would make the job turn out better? Ask them how they are going to protect your property while their working around it. Ask them how they are going to control dust, dirt and debris.

·         Get a proper quote. Get the quote in writing. Any contractor that is a true professional will give you a written quote that states clearly what you are getting in the renovation and what you are not.

·         Designs. Find out if they do design and what is the charge for design. Try to find a renovator that has an on staff designer or works closely with a local designer. This is one of the most important aspects of renovating. If you can get the drawings done by the builder then you will be able to see exactly what you are getting. This will allow you to work with the designer to make changes before you even start. Every time you change something in a renovation after the renovation has already started it cost money. But if you can get drawings and make your changes before the builder even starts then you can reduce or eliminate that extra cost.

This is the single biggest way to ensure that you get the maximum return on your investment. A designer turns a simple renovation into a work of art, like what you see in magazines. Designers are able to give you that wow factor that everyone wants and most people don’t know how to get.

·         Schedule. Ask when they can start, when they will be finished and when do you as the homeowner need to be there to make decisions. If this is your cottage or second home and you are not going to be around all the time you will want to know when you need to be there. Or when you need to make important decisions like the choosing of fixtures, layouts and colours. A lot of this can be done over the phone or via email, but there are times when you simply have to be there to understand some of the choices that you are being asked to make.

·         Hire a contractor that can communicate in the modern world. A lot of older contractors do not like cell phones and do not use email. You want to be able to communicate with your contractor easily. In today’s world it’s not wrong to ask for a contractor that can communicate with the convenience that you are used too.

·         Hire a contractor that has a support team. A professional renovating contractor will have employees. You want to be able to call them and be able to talk to someone. No matter if it’s the operations manager, the owner or a secretary you want to hire a contractor professional with a support staff.

·         Hire someone that you are comfortable with being in your home alone without you. This contractor is going to be in your house alone without you more then he will be in your home with you. You need to be able to trust them and the sub trades that they are going to bring in to your home.

When you are planning to renovate in the Creemore area and you follow the points that I have laid out in this article you should come and check out Village Builders.

We are at 3 Caroline St. East in the village of Creemore. Check us out at www.villagebuilders.ca

If you are thinking about renovating and are looking for a builder or if you are just looking for a designer feel free to email me at robabbott@villagebuilders.ca

Rob Abbott

Operations Manager

Village Builders Inc.

Renovation Checklist

I get this question asked all the time: “How do I plan properly for my renovation?”

Planning a renovation can be time consuming and stressful.  Everything from researching and choosing your builder, securing the financing to choosing finishes requires staying on top of the details.  Here is our simplified 8-step checklist to help you through the process:

1.                   You need to decide what you want, do you want a renovation, an addition or both.  What part of the home are you renovating?  You need to decide what your wants are and what your needs are. For example you might want a new deck, but the roof is leaking.  The deck is a want and the roof is a need.  You need to fix the roof before you bother with the deck.  This will help you set your rough budget for the project.

2.                   Pick your builder.  It might sound premature without having plans drawn, but a lot of builders have in house design teams that can help you come up with a plan.  If the renovation requires an addition, this in some places requires a design number registered with the government so that you can summit the drawings to the township for a building permit.  You would need to have a draftsmen or architect draw them.  The builder you choose will either have a person on staff to do this or will be able to direct you to a qualified person that they trust. 

3.                   Price.  Now that you have drawings and a builder that you trust, you can have the builder give you a proper detailed quote.  If you are going to get other prices from other builders you will have to be careful.  Comparing renovation quotes is not like comparing new home quotes. Renovations have so many variables in it; they cannot be seen until you start in the project, so builders have to make assumptions of what problems will come up as the project proceeds.  Since builders on a renovation take a lot risk of the unknown they all price differently.  That is why it’s more important to choose the builder that you feel comfortable with and not the builder that has the lowest price.

4.                   Investigate your builder.  Referrals from customers are a great place to start.  A reputable builder will not hesitate to supply you with names of customers who will talk with you about their experience.  Also check out the GuildQuality Guildmaster Awards at this link:  http://www.guildquality.com/guildmaster/qualifications/

5.                  Get it in writing.  An experienced and reputable builder will provide you with a detailed layout of exactly what is included and what is not included in your project. They will explain the rules about change orders, the start to finish dates and the payment schedule.

6.                  The preconstruction walk through.  Before the project commences, you’re going to want to do a walk through with the builder and preferably the builder’s project manager.  You need to set rules of access, storage of furniture and personal items.  You will also want to decide what you want them to save or dispose of during demolition.   Talk about what areas of the home require protection and what kind of protection they will be using.  If you are living in the house at the time of the renovation you will have to come to agreements of how late or how early work will start and end.  Also how many days a week do you accept them to be on site.  Some people do not want workers on site certain days such as the weekend.  You need to discuss if a job sign is permitted, some neighbourhoods or municipalities do not allow them.

7.                   Be prepared to make decisions.  A good builder will ask you endless questions while doing your renovation.  This is not a sign of incompetence.  In fact it’s the mark of a good builder; a builder who asks you to make endless decisions is making sure that you are getting exactly what you want.  A good builder will also give you the options available to you and give recommendations on which one is the best choice.  But the final decision always rests with you.

8.                  The Post construction walk through.  Once the project is completed, before you hand over the final amount owing on the contract, you and the builder should do a final walk through.  This is the time to point out anything that has been overlooked.  From paint touch ups to functionality of all fixtures and hardware.  If anything needs to be addressed then the value of that item should be deducted from the final bill and paid out after the item is corrected.    This way the contractor gets paid what is owed to him and has some incentive to come back and finish the touch ups.

We want you to be completely satisfied with your renovation.  Call me to get started.  Rob Abbott. 877 866 3202 robabbott@villagebuilders.ca