Whether you’ve lived there for five months or 15 years, it’s not uncommon to find that you are delighted with your home — with one or two nagging exceptions. You’d really like to remodel, but the project often gets pushed to the end of the “to do” list, because it’s either too expensive or too inconvenient to be without a kitchen or bathroom for an extended period of time. Still, let’s face it, the harvest gold kitchen, worn carpeting, or the cracked bathroom tiles have got to go.

In many cases, the reason your home may feel inadequate is that the average American house was built in the 1960’s and is now pushing forty or fifty. In a sense, your home is in the throes of a mid-life crisis, and it’s up to you to address the situation with some remodeling. And, with interest rates at historic lows, there’s no better time to take advantage of home equity financing to fund your project.

Your first steps are to determine how much money you can spend and to define your vision of the completed project. Working with a professional designer will help ensure your vision comes to life and will prompt you to define your goals. For example, do you want an innovative new design, or are you striving for functionality?

If you’re having trouble getting started, there’s help. “Remodeling Your Home” offers valuable hints on how to set priorities, remodel within a budget, understand a contract, and apply for permits. In order to “avoid sticker shock” author Carol Davitt suggests hiring a design-build firm, which will significantly enhance communication between the designer and subcontractors. Using a design-build firm also will help you cut down on costs, and many companies will rebate a portion of the design fee, if you end up signing a construction contract with them down the road.

When interviewing remodelers for your project, asking several key questions may enable you to save money. If you’re adding windows, see if you can use snap-in window grilles instead of windows with true divided lights. This could save you up to $200 per window. Need new flooring?  Find out if you can substitute seamless vinyl for ceramic or unglazed tile; or if you can swap hardwood floors for carpeting.

Remodeling is a dirty business, and you may find yourself without the comforts you take for granted, such as hot water or a flushable toilet. When signing a contract to improve any room of your home, assess the capacity for makeshift spaces. You may find the disruption easier to weather if you can carve out room for a small refrigerator and coffee pot, while your kitchen is out of commission. If not, you may want to consider a temporary move to save both time and money. Moving out entirely also will speed up the remodeling process by allowing workers to forgo the meticulous nightly clean up.

Whether your remodeling project is large or small, it’s important to carefully think through your options and talk to several remodelers before you get started. “Remodeling Your Home” provides home owners new to the process with helpful hints ranging from choosing a remodeler who is a member of NAHB Remodelers to writing a proper change order — and everything in between.

“Remodeling Your Home” is available from BuilderBooks, the publishing arm of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Contact the NAHB BuilderBooks store at 800-223-2665 or visit www.BuilderBooks.com to order.

What you Don't Want

If you have collected photos of your dream kitchen, drafted a general budget, and talked with friends about how you wish your home was more comfortable or modern, you may be ready to hire a professional remodeler to get the job done right. 

Do your homework when hiring a professional remodeler. A professional has training, experience, and references from satisfied clients to demonstrate their remodeling expertise. 

Check out these steps for hiring a professional remodeler: 

1.      Collect names of remodeling companies. 

Start by searching the National Association of Home Builders’ Directory of Professional Remodelers at www.nahb.org/remodel. You’ll get a list of nearby remodelers to contact. Asking friends and neighbors for names of qualified remodelers will also help you find a match for your project. 

 2.      Discuss your project with a couple remodelers. 

Call a few remodelers from your list to discuss your project. Describe what you envision for the home remodel, styles you like, your estimated budget, and other ideas for the remodeling work. Ask the remodeler if they can provide background information on their expertise. They may have a website or brochure they can share that describes their experience and accomplishments. 

 3.      Ask if the remodeler has general liability insurance. 

Be sure to ask some important questions about the remodeler’s business that will help ensure you hire the best professional. Does the remodeler have a license, if required in your state? Do they have general liability insurance in case of an accident on the job? Do they guarantee their work? How do they handle any problems that may arise on the project? Having these answers in advance will prevent future problems and nail down the best professional remodeler for the job. 

 4.      Check the references and background of the remodeler. 

After you start speaking with remodelers and find one or two who match your project’s needs, be sure to conduct some background research by checking with the Better Business Bureau, talking to their references, and asking if they are a trade association member (such as NAHB Remodelers). Remodelers with these qualities tend to be more reliable, better educated, and more likely to stay on top of construction and design trends. 

 5.      Don’t fall for the lowest bidder. 

Many people may be lured by the lowest price to their remodeling project, thinking that they have found a great deal. But beware of these alluring low prices. These bids may be more costly in the end if the contractor is cutting corners, not taking into account certain costs, or is inexperienced. Professional remodelers have stories about coming into homes to fix remodels from unscrupulous contractors who did shoddy work or failed to complete the job. Often times, the lowest price may not ultimately provide the best value for your home remodel.  

Make the smartest investment in your home by hiring a professional remodeler. They’ll help you stay on budget, solve remodeling challenges, and provide a higher-quality service.

Any homeowner planning to remodel wants nothing less than a professional job.  Who wouldn’t want the best quality in terms of workmanship and materials when it comes to improving their most prized and most valuable asset?  However, when it comes to selecting a remodeler, too many buyers conveniently forget the time-proven adage that “you get what you pay for.”

The dilemma that confronts many homeowners is their desire for a top-notch job at the lowest possible price.  With price as their primary focus, they ignore other criteria that may carry more weight in producing a successfully completed project and a smooth working relationship with the remodeler.  

It’s understandable that price is a major consideration when it comes to remodeling.  The cost of remodeling has increased as the demand for remodeling grows.  Higher costs of materials (such as copper pipes) and scarcity of skilled labor are just two factors contributing to price hikes.  A national trade magazine, Remodeling, reported in a Cost vs. Value survey that a mid-priced major kitchen remodel, the most popular remodeling project, costs $56,600.  For a minor remodel of the same 200-square-foot kitchen, the cost is $21,250.

Homeowners need to understand that remodeling is a service and not merely a product.  This service encompasses the intangibles that make up the process of remodeling – how everything comes together and results in a satisfying experience and an acceptable finished product.  The materials and products that go into it can’t define a professional job alone.

The nature of remodeling as a service becomes even more pronounced when you consider that inevitably you’ll be sharing your home with the remodelers’ crews for weeks or even months, depending on the scale of the project.  All remodeling involves some degree of inconvenience, but inconvenience can easily turn into a nightmare if your remodeler doesn’t put your family’s comfort and concerns first.

Rather than selecting a remodeler based on where one bid falls compared to others, shift your focus to finding a professional remodeler; then go about getting a bid on your job.  If the bid is higher than what you budgeted, work with the remodeler to decide where you can cut back or what you can postpone to keep the project on budget.  For example, you can always have the remodeler frame in a fireplace to be installed later, but he can’t upgrade the company’s customer service if there wasn’t any to begin with.

Some important characteristics you should be looking for to ensure that you hire a professional remodeler are:

• Experience – Ask how long the remodeler has been in business.  Longevity suggests financial stability, which is necessary for the remodeler to finish the job and still be available if problems crop up after the job is completed.  Also, the more jobs the company has completed, the more expertise the remodeler will bring to your project and the hidden surprises that remodeling typically entails.

•  Reputation – Look to the remodelers’ former and current customers to gauge the company’s reputation.  Obtain the names and phone numbers of customers you can call to get their impressions of the company’s work and customer service.  Call them and make personal visits to see the work they had done.  Even better, get references from customers whose projects were similar to the one your family is planning.  Also, go visit one of the company’s jobs in progress to evaluate how they manage the construction process and how tidy they keep the job site.  Ask whether these homeowners would hire the company again.

•  Business Credentials – A good place to start your search for a remodeler is with your local builders association and it’s affiliated local Remodelers Council.  Groups like these help to keep their members informed about new products, construction techniques, business practices and industry issues. Participation demonstrates a remodeler’s commitment to professionalism and to the remodeling industry.  Many trade groups also confer professional credentials, such as Certified Graduate Remodeler (CGR), to those who meet their requirements, which is a positive indicator of the remodeler’s reputation. 

•  License and Insurance – Ask to see a copy of the remodeler’s license, if your state has such requirements, and call the licensing agency to find out if there are any unresolved complaints against the company you might hire.  It is also important to verify that the remodeler carries workers’ compensation and liability insurance.  Have the remodeler show you copies of both insurance certificates to protect yourself from liability in situations involving job site injuries or property damage resulting from the work being done on your home.

 If your goal is a professional remodeling project, then your best bet is to hire a professional remodeler.  The extra cost will pay for itself in the satisfaction you receive while the project is in progress and during the many years you will enjoy the completed project.

Every project Penn Homes undertakes is unique because every family is unique. Some projects have more challenges than others and this was definitely one of them. Weather seemed to be one of the largest with high winds, excessive rain, and snows that we don’t typically see in Shreveport, Lousiana area.

The art of this project is in the details. Balancing sleek high end appliances and finishes combined with the reality of lakeside entertaining requiring durability. The beauty of the stainless steel and granite rests comfortably with the wood and ironwork detailing of the stick shaped hardware on the cabinetry.