Additions and Remodels

Additions & Remodels

Ever look around your home and wish you could wave a magic wand to make it wonderful again? Maybe you started out in the home and it fit your family and your needs, but over time your needs and your family outgrew the home.

We have had this conversation many times with our clients. What they have just does not work for them any longer. So they keep asking themselves the same questions over and over: Should we move? Start over? What are the next steps?

Does this sound familiar? We understand your frustration and confusion. Not knowing where to begin is the most frustrating and confusing part.

We are here to help guide you through the process of falling in love with your home all over again.

But where do we begin? Let us show you our process:

1. Surveying the home.

What do you love most about your home? We want to know your favorite parts of your home. Maybe you no longer love any part of your home – that is okay too. We can help you sort out your feelings for your home!

What parts of your home do you no longer love or which parts just do not work for you anymore?

We can focus on specific areas of your home that need to be adjusted to fit your needs again. If you can dream it – we can make it happen.

People often get hung up on some common myths and that leads them to narrow the possibilities in their own minds. For example, A load-bearing wall is not feasible and too costly to remove or we can save money by refinishing these cabinets. Load bearing walls are not a scary thing to remove and because of laminated beams, the cost is not as much as everyone believes it to be. You also do not have to have columns or visible beams that are eyesores. Refinishing cabinetry is not always cost effective. In fact, sometimes, it costs more to refinish cabinets than to buy new cabinetry!

Throughout our interview process, we can uncover your true needs and help you think outside the box.

2. Drawing up the vision.

Our General Contractor and his team can use an in-office software program to draw up what we feel is the best way to remodel or add to your home. This drawing will give you a 3D view of what the home will look like! It will also provide a floorplan view that we can use to create an estimate, pull appropriate permits with the city, and for our subcontractors to work from.

These drawings are done at no cost to you if you chose to hire us for the job. If you do not choose to hire us, and you wish to use the plans in the future, we will give you pricing for the use of this proprietary information. Depending on the size of the project, plans may need to be drawn by a draftsman. We will
let you know what we feel is the best way to go about this during our interview process. Hiring a draftsman will entail an additional upfront cost for this service.

Once we have plans, we will go over them with you to make sure that you are happy with the function and design.

3. Estimating and finish selection allowances.

We will send the plans out for bids by our licensed subcontractors and vendors. We will set an allowance budget for categories that are applicable to your job: Plumbing Fixtures, Electrical Fixtures, Countertops, Flooring, Hardware, etc.

Once we have finished plugging in the numbers we will send you an email invitation to our online software. You will set up a username and password to access your project portal. You will be able to view all the specifications and the estimates.

You will be able to view some options that we have provided that we feel are a good fit for your home and project. How much fun is it to scroll through and see pictures of fixtures? LOTS of fun!

Once you have had a chance to review the numbers and decide that you would like to proceed forward we will draw up project documents for you to sign. You will find that we have taken a lot of time to make sure that all specifications are clearly outlined. You will need to review these specifications to make sure that we did not miss anything. This keeps everyone’s expectations in black and white. No one wants to be halfway through a project and have to say ͞We thought we were getting……We will sign the bid documents and get ready to get started!

4. Things to know about remodels:

1. Sometimes there are unexpected issues that we will find once we do demo work that will need to be addressed. We try our best to survey the area to make sure we have accounted for these things – but faulty wiring or plumbing is hard to identify behind the walls and this may cause there to be additional expenses – please have a contingency fund in place for these types of things. If you’ve ever seen any remodel show on HGTV you will know what we are talking about.
2. We will need access to the house during business hours whether someone is at home or not. This allows us to schedule our crew and subcontractors in a timely manner. If working in your home while no one is there is an issue – we will not be a good fit for you as a builder.
3. There are certain situations where the remodel will require moving out temporarily. We will communicate this to you early in the process so you have ample time to make that decision and make arrangements for your family.
4. During remodels – things get dirty. We will build temporary walls or blocks with plywood or plastic sheathing when possible to separate the job site area from the rest of the house. We will clean up the bulk of our mess at the end of every day in the remodel area. We will also have the remodeled area professionally cleaned at the end of the job. However, you can expect a great amount of dust in the rest of the home throughout the job. Also, when we are done and have the remodeled area professionally cleaned – please know that the dust will still settle a few days afterward and you may need to clean the area again. These are things that are just not avoidable, but we strive to minimize it the best we can!