Do you have a good friend whom you don’t see very often, yet every time you get to talk, it’s as if you’ve never been apart? That intangible connection and natural flow of communication between two individuals is key to a long-lasting friendship, but you might not have realized just how important chemistry can be when it comes to selecting a contractor for your renovation project. After all, you’ll be seeing your contractor on an almost daily basis, and he will be your voice in communicating your vision to all of the individuals who will work on your project. So ensuring that you and he are able to communicate well and comfortably from your very first meeting is essential. Yet selecting a contractor goes ... Continue reading article →

It’s every homeowner’s worst nightmare. Your dream kitchen renovation has begun. Your out-dated cabinets and appliances have been removed, and the rock-bottom deal you got from your contractor has let you upgrade the new ones even more than you’d hoped. The discolored tile has been ripped out, plumbing pipes and electrical wiring are disconnected, and the exterior wall has been removed to make way for the expansion. You live with the mess through a long holiday weekend, looking forward to beginning reconstruction. Your contractor ... Continue reading article →

When you’re closing on a home or beginning a renovation project, the last thing that most people want to do is take on what they view as an optional step that might further delay the process. That’s one of the main reasons why people choose not to have a professional surveyor conduct a current survey of their property. In the long run, that decision could prove to be very costly. One of our renovation clients, for example, opted not to have a survey done at closing when she purchased her residence. Unfortunately for her, we had to have a current survey in order to obtain HOA approval for her renovation project. That meant that she had to have the survey done anyway, which held up ... Continue reading article →

If you’re like most people, you probably can’t resist a great deal. That orange cashmere sweater definitely has more appeal at 75 percent off than at full price, and the temptation to extend your vacation is much higher when extra nights are half off. While these uncertain economic times have us looking for bargains in more facets of our lives, one area where you simply can’t afford to skimp is in selecting a contractor to renovate or repair your home. "It’s not ... Continue reading article →

Would you hire a lawyer to defend you in traffic court and not tell him that someone else was driving your car on the day in question? Or would you go to a doctor with a broken arm and not describe your injury, but instead let him run a battery of tests just to discover what was wrong? As silly as these circumstances sound, all too often homeowners begin a major renovation project without divulging critical information to their contractor. Most often, homeowners withhold information unintentionally; they simply forget to mention a previous condition that they believe has been repaired. Why is that information important? Since a contractor can’t see through a finished ... Continue reading article →

It’s all too tempting to skip one step of the renovation process. After all, why bother to pull a permit when odds are, no one is going to notice what’s going on inside your house, right? Unfortunately, many homeowners have discovered that not acquiring a building permit can be a very costly mistake. Take one area family whose entire downstairs renovation was completed without a building permit. When they later failed to produce the necessary documentation, a building inspector required that they remove all the sheetrock (which had already been finished, trimmed out and painted), remove the cabinetry that was in place, and basically gut the entire area down to the studs to ensure that the proper insulation ... Continue reading article →