Update Your Home With a New Covered Front Entance

Do you have a simple square box home, that looks boring when you drive up to it?

Maybe you should think about changing the look of the front.

One of the simplest ways to do this is to build a covered entrance on the front of the house that covers the front door.

You can make your entrance any style you want, it can be as fancy or simple.

A covered entrance serves many functions;

• It gives a welcoming feel to the first impression of your home to guests.
• It gives people waiting to come in the house shelter from the weather.
• It sheds water away from the front door and the front walk. This is good for the longevity of the doors,siding and walkway of the home.
• It protects people coming in and out of the home from falling snow and ice.
• It can be made so that it is a covered sitting area for outside enjoyment.
• It is a sheltered place in an age where everyone has packages delivered to their front doors.
• Its a nice place to leave a baby stroller for quickly getting the child out and going.

Front entrances can large like the one above; Or small like the one below.

When you are thinking about renovating the exterior of your home, think about the front entrance and what changing it could do to not only the curb appeal of your home but the functionality.

You won't be disappointed.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Construction Forecast 2019 for Collingwood, Blue Mountain, Wasaga Beach, Creemore, Meaford

Residential Construction Forecast 2019 for Creemore, Meaford, Blue Mountains, Collingwood and Wasaga Beach

As I write this the same thing that was driving the construction industry in 2018 is driving the industry around here in 2019, that would be the real estate market.

The real estate market pushed the cost of used homes even higher then ever before with the price of used homes climbing even steeper then we thought it would in one calendar year. That price increase came about from several things;

1. A large number of people from other parts of Ontario where the real estate market is even higher wanting to move here to work or retire. They like the area and also liked the fact that they could buy something around here that was nicer and larger then their current home for a cheaper price. With more and more people working from home this allows people to move farther from the larger city centres.
2. A complete lack of inventory of houses that were for sale on the market. The selling season started really early in 2018 in February instead of the traditional spring real estate push. This early start removed a large portion of the houses that were for sale before the spring rush arrived. Thus all houses that were listed in the spring were listed at a much higher number and sold throughout the summer. This kept the prices high and also kept the amount of houses on the market at a minimum.
3. The lack of development in the past decades. The townships in this area have been slow to embrace development of any kind, especially new home sub-divisions. The result has been that they are now approving developments that are already not enough to satisfy the demand. As they play catch-up this does nothing to lower the demand for houses.

Because of the lack of choice and the lack of houses to buy and the pressure to actually buy homes, people are buying homes that aren't really what they want. What they do once they have them is spend the money (that they saved from selling homes in one area to buy in this area) on renovating their new home and also usually adding square footage thru additions. This has created a lot of construction work as most people don't want to wait long after they have already purchased the home to start renovating it. A lot people try to renovate before they even move in.

Residential Construction Forecast 2019

Collingwood

In Collingwood which is the centre of the real estate spike in the area and the place that people look to live first, this has made the price of century homes a premium. Renovations and additions of these homes can be seen on every street. This will continue well into the future as the older homes are resold to people who have the  means to repair and expand them. Small houses and every vacant lot that remains are being removed and built on with new custom homes. These homes vary in shape and size but the homes that are being built are of a very high quality.

There are sub-divisions being constructed but they are slow to get going and even slower to be finished. This is keeping the cost of used homes at an all time home and also bringing people that want to buy and renovate extensively to the market. Construction in Collingwood does not show any signs of slowing down any time soon.

Town Of The Blue Mountains

The Town of The Blue Mountains is the one place were there is still a lot of custom homes being constructed. This is because there is still vacant land to buy and build upon. There are also many very old ski chalets that are small and ill maintained that are being bought and torn down so that larger homes can be constructed. The Blue Mountains is were you will find most of the very large custom homes being constructed with no expense spared in their design and construction.

Because of the cost of land being extremely high in the town of the Blue Mountains and the fact that waterfront is at a premium renovations and additions are also very popular. A lot of the homes that are being bought up are still being used as second and third homes for people wanting to enjoy the area when they have the time and don't wish to make it their permanent home. This is fueling the renovation and additions that we see being built and planned as people are unwilling to spend so much money on a new custom home when it is only to be used on the weekends.

Both the custom home and renovation/addition market in the town of the Blue Mountains shows no signs of slowing down as it is suffering from both sides of people who want to move here to live and people that want to own something to stay while they play. This area also has the ability to grow as there is still more land available to build on that is untouched.

Meaford

Meaford has seen a lot of changes and will have a lot more to come, the push from people wanting to live in the area has come to Meaford driving the cost of used homes up and also bringing the cost of vacant land up along with it.

There is a change in Meaford from an older population that is there to retire to younger people with families wanting to live and grow. This is bringing more custom homes being built along with renovations and additions.

The value of these projects is not what you usually see in Collingwood and the Town Of The Blue Mountains but there are a lot of them and more demand for it all the time.

Meaford could be on the cusp of a large building boom in the coming years.

Town Of Wasaga Beach

Wasaga Beach has been probably the fastest growing area for several years. The cost of housing in Wasaga Beach has always been less then in the surrounding areas but that has changed with the overall demand for people wanting to live in the area. As real estate has risen so has the demand for renovations and additions to existing homes.

Custom Homes have grown in value as property near the water can only be built upon now if you are removing an existing building. People with the means to do this usually have the means also to spend large amount of money on their new homes. High End custom homes are becoming more the norm near the water in Wasaga Beach.

The town of Wasaga Beach is very large and there are still places in the beach that can be had for less and these area's still see the normal amount of renovations and additions that are of normal value.

The demand to live in Wasaga Beach will probably not go down any times soon as you still have retirees that want to live there along with a lot of families (because of the amenities) and the tourists that still come for the beach in the summer wanting a place to stay on the weekends.

 Creemore (Clearview Township)

There is more custom homes and renovations going on in the Creemore/Clearview Township area then normal. That doesn't mean that there is a boom in the residential construction industry in the area. The amount of residential construction that actually happens in a township as large as this one is usually not a lot. Decades of suppressing development has driven the cost of used houses up and vacant land even higher. There are finally some sub-divisions being built that might alleviate the pressure but they are slow to come aboard.

With the amount of turnover in used homes there will continue to be a strong renovation industry with the custom homes being weaker.

In Conclusion

Overall there is plenty of work in new custom homes, additions and renovations. More additions and renovations in most of these area's then new homes just because of the lack of vacant land that you are able to buy and build on.

If you are planning to build, add on or renovate then I suggest that you start calling around now to find your contractor because the good contractors will be booked up early this year and possible even into next year with the way the demand is shaping up for used and new homes.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

You Get What You Pay For-When It Comes To Renovations

Recently we completed a renovation for clients, it was an interior renovation only and mostly cosmetic.

We had to bring in Electrician and Plumbers and our own carpenters to a lot of the work, but when it came to us bringing in a painter the homeowner refused to pay the prices that we found for them. We got multiple quotes and the homeowner still believed that the prices were to high.

Once our work was completed the homeowner brought in their own painter to finish the job, a painter that they found that fit their smaller budget.

Later when I returned to talk to the homeowner and pick up the final payment I asked about how their painting ended up with the painter that they hired.

It didn't go well, to the point the homeowner had asked the painters to leave before the job was completed and they were now finishing the job themselves and actually repainting a lot of the area's that the painters had already completed because of the poor workmenship.

At the time when I had presented the prices to the homeowner they had made comments that "those prices are ridicules, its just paint for crying out load!"

Now I stood there listening to my client trying to justify to herself and (trying to justify to me) about her choice, but the bottom line is that she was now painting the house herself and if you look at the work that was completed by the painting contractor (that doesn't have to be redone by the homeowner) and the cost of the homeowners time and their own materials that they had to buy to finish the job, my painters were actually cheaper in the long run. That doesn't even talk about the wasted time from everyone involved and the job is still not finished.

The old saying "You Get What You Pay For" is true. There's a reason that some trades are cheap and other trades are not, one party is paying for quality professional employee's that take time to do the job right with a high degree of quality, the cheaper trades pay employee's less (because they have less experience) and want to get in and out quickly so the costs don't run up.

No matter if it's your contractor bringing you a price from a sub-trade or you hiring a trade on your own the lowest price is usually not the right choice, especially a sub-trade that is significantly lower then its competitor. There's usually a reason that they are cheaper and those reasons are usually not good for you and your home.

Remember You Get What You Pay For!

Rob Abbott