Contractor Warning Signs
With many homeowners opting to take advantage of the Home Renovation Tax Credit by fixing up or remodelling their homes, it’s always wise to educate yourself on signs of contractor fraud to ensure you don’t end up paying for work that never gets completed.
Following are five red flags that may indicate a contractor is not legitimate:
- The company does not list a number in the phone book. This may indicate a fly-by-night operation that will be here today and gone tomorrow. They may seem legitimate in the beginning but, as soon as you make your first payment for the job, they may vanish.
- Asks you to pay for the entire job up front. This contractor will be long gone well before your project gets underway. Or, worse yet, the contractor may have started the project, leaving you with a ripped up home and depleted funds.
- Only accepts cash. A legitimate business should have the appropriate financial accounts in place to accept a variety of payment options from clients, including personal cheques and credit cards. If a contractor only accepts cash, you probably won’t see them again once they receive a payment.
- Solicits door-to-door. Most legitimate contractors find enough work through word-of-mouth referrals and advertising. If they need to drum up business by going door to door, they probably are not an established, local operation. Chances are this contractor is running a fly-by-night business.
- Offers exceptionally long guarantees. The contractor may be making promises that can’t be kept solely to sucker you into hiring them for the job. The contractor could be inexperienced or may be running a fly-by-night business.
The best way to protect yourself from contractor fraud is to seek referrals from people you trust who can vouch for the contractor including friends, family, colleagues or your mortgage or real estate professional.
It’s also important to read and understand every word of a contract before signing it. If you don’t understand something, ask for clarification.
Also keep in mind that you should never sign a contract with a service professional who makes promises that sound too good to be true. Chances are, this contractor needs to create these incentives to attract customers. If that’s the case, the contractor’s record can’t speak for itself.
Be especially wary of contractors who try to scare you into signing for repairs that they say are “urgent”. Before agreeing to any additional costly repairs, seek a second opinion.
If you’re thinking of embarking on some home improvements, feel free to call me to discuss financing options. I may even know of a trusted contractor in your area who could get the job done well.
Labels: contractors, renovations, tax credit
Add to the Fabulous: Dig out your Basement
The cost to dig a basement hole on our 1800 sq. ft. house was only $790. However, I have a feeling you want to know more than simply the cost of digging the basement hole.
Some of the other costs that you likely want to know about are::
........You need to dig the basement hole, which as I said was $790.
........How about pouring footings and foundations, which costs $6 to $7K
.......Then there is pouring flatwork cement for a tune of $1.00+ per square foot x 1800 sq ft = $1800.
.......Putting in sub-rough plumbing which can be $1,000 plus the cost of gravel and the excavator's charges.
.......There's the windows for your basement which includes window bucks of close to $500 (4 windows) and the corrugated window wells of $500 ...total $1000 + or -.
.......The actual windows cost $400+ depending on if you have a walkout basement with sliding glass doors, which would be plus the cost of the sliders.
.......Sealing the basement walls to prevent water leakage through the walls will be another several hundred dollars.
.......The cost to backfill around your basement adds a few hundred more.
.......Now the last question is how big is your basement going to be?
That $790 figure of digging a basement suddenly became a whole lot more didn't it? The reality is, however, that the real cost only involves a few of the above: digging the hole, flatwork cement, and windows, window bucks and window wells.
You still have to either poor a cement slab, or put in footings and foundations, which in the case of the later, go down to frost level. You still have backfill whether you have a basement or not. You still have sub-rough plumbing, with gravel before the slab. With a slab you will have furnace ducting to consider too.
Even though you have all the above items to consider in building a basement, it is still only a few thousand dollars more to add a basement, in comparison to the total cost of building your home.
Considering that your home may be worth $250 thousand to $400,000, your basement will probably only cost $7K-$10K+ added to the cost. All things considered, there isn't a better investment for that extra 10K in comparison to doubling the living space of the first level, that a basement adds.
As an example, consider the storage space it adds to your home. If you didn't have to rent storage space, what would it save you each month? Or wouldn't it be nice to park the car in the garage instead of using it for storage space?
In addition, the basement maintains an even temperature of around 59 degrees all year, so the cost of air conditioning in the summer is drastically reduced when compared with air-conditioning an upper story with the same amount of floor space.
If you build your home on a hillside, a walkout basement makes for a nice feature opening up the basement so it doesn't feel so “deep” in the ground.
Many people are putting home theaters in the area of the basement that doesn't have any windows.
The furnace, hot water tank and water softener can all go in the basement utility-furnace room and not take up precious main floor living space.
Some areas of the country are too close to sea level to have a basement, but if you live inland, having a basement is a real advantage when compared to the cost of putting one in. To dig a basement is a an economical way to increase the square footage of your home.
In reality, what is the cost to dig a basement? Very little, and the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
Labels: basement, renovations
Value Building Renovations
If you are looking to remodel or renovate either your kitchen or your bathroom, you are in luck when it comes to adding value to your home. While some remodeling projects add little or no value whatsoever to a home, fixing up a bathroom or kitchen can increase your sale price and can definitely give the best return over other rooms.
If you can only remodel one room, how do you choose? A number of experts will claim that renovating your kitchen will have the highest impact, although adding a second bathroom should almost always be worth the time and money, too.
In this day and age, people want their kitchens to be convenient, up to date and to have a look fitting for guests. The kitchen also tends to be a much more visible area of your home, which makes it a top priority if you use it often. Because a kitchen provides a slightly higher return on investment than a bathroom, it may be wise to begin with a project in the kitchen.
There is no question that a bathroom remodel will also yield a higher return than much of the rest of the house, though. So if you feel that your bathroom is extremely out of date and even looks drab, make it a priority. The standard you use for your decision should always be the best choice for you and your family.
Be careful, however, when choosing renovation projects. Some additions will not only cost you more money, but they can cost you a potential future buyer, as well. An addition that can really detract from the value in many neighborhoods is the swimming pool. You may wonder why anyone would hesitate to buy a home with a swimming pool. But if you have ever owned one, you know that the liability and maintenance involved are more hassle than it's worth. Only put in a pool if it is something you really will use and you know there is a market for homes with pools in your neighborhood.
Take care to avoid making your home so large that it stands out among other homes in the neighborhood, too. Over-renovating can actually lose you just as many good buyers as a home in desperate need of updates. So do some research before you remodel and make sure your home will fit nicely with the standard set by other neighborhood homes.
If you are planning to sell your home soon, many renovations may not be worth either the time or effort that it takes to master a large project. But if you know you will reside in your home for many years, choosing a remodeling project that will make you happy is always the best solution.
Labels: renovations
Inexpensive Kitchen Renovation Ideas
Unless you are able to financially build the home of your dreams, your house will lack certain aspects that you would prefer. If homeowners decide to decorate or remodel a part of the house the most practical place to start would be the kitchen. The kitchen draws comfort and warmness to it, not to mention that it is a place where food is made for a family and guests. One of the best ways to enhance the look of a kitchen is to add tiles to it. You may not necessarily like tiles on the floor, but if they are against the wall in the kitchen, they turn out absolutely beautiful. Adding tiles to your kitchen is a perfect way to add your very own taste into the area of your home where you may spend a large amount of time in.
When it comes to adding tiles to your kitchen, it is important to remember that you do not have spend money on the most expensive tiles or the even the most extravagant to add a certain warmth to it. You can purchase plain, but yet colorful tiles if you are on a budget and just add a constant pattern to it. With the colors of your tiles, you can go on to match little decorative items. You can purchase kitchen jars that vary in size and place them where you would most likely use them in the kitchen. The great thing about them is that you can store ingredients that you use on a regular basis or certain ones that you buy in large quantities. For example, these kitchen jars are ideal to store your flour, sugar, and coffee in. They are tightly sealed lids allow for the freshness of the products to remain. Their convenience will prevent you from always going to the pantry to dig up flour and other things whenever you need them.
Another great way to decorate your kitchen is to buy pictures. There are ceramic pictures available in just about any store that carries home products. The great thing about such pictures is that they are much different from framed pictures in the sense that framed pictures may be too formal or elegant to be placed in a place like a kitchen. Moreover, the warmth of the colors that are used in these certain pictures creates an even more welcoming feeling into your kitchen. While they vary in size, they also vary in the messages. Many of them contain messages that elicit humor, adding greater warmth to your personalized kitchen. However, one chooses to decorate their kitchen, it is important to remember not to over do it. There is not use in decorating a kitchen with items that you will always have to move around when you want to bake.
Labels: kitchen, renovations
Start with a Plan : Your Kitchen Renovation
Our home is very personal, we will often fill it with the very best things that we can afford. Things that we enjoy, this way our houses represent our personality. If you ask many people which the favorite room of their house is then they will probably say it's their kitchen. The kitchen is a very useful space, but it is also commonly used for meeting friends and family. How many times have you stood talking waiting for the kettle to boil? Too many to count I'll bet!
This is why when considering home renovation projects the kitchen is one of the most important rooms that needs to be updated. In order to make kitchen renovations a success you need to come up with a fantastic kitchen renovation plan which makes it look perfect, while also still being a functional and useable space. We're now going to look at some of the interesting kitchen renovation tips which can make kitchen renovation much more successful.
Amazing kitchen renovation tipsYou should stop for a moment and think about what it is you intend to gain from renovating your kitchen, what will the new kitchen look like? You should write down a list of all the areas that you will be concentrating on, and list any appliances that need to be replaced.
Once you've got your plan you shouldn't just start. You should actually ask other people in your family for their opinion. You don't need to hire an interior decorator, but you do need to get some external input. Remember everyone in your family will be using your kitchen, so it's got to be a room that everyone will enjoy otherwise there is no point in starting the project.
You may also get some interesting ideas that you hadn't previously thought of. It would also be a good idea to read some of the kitchen design magazines as these will help to give you some interesting design tips for your kitchen. These magazines are very useful as they also give you ideas where you can get the materials required from.
You should then decide whether you want to do the work yourself, or whether you want to hire a professional to do it for you. It's completely up to you, if you feel comfortable then go for it!
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Funding Your Fabulous Renovations
If you have chosen to renovate your home then you know the price can easily exceed your predictions. Home renos tend to have what is known as "scope creep." This is when the renovations start and as they progress new things or problems cause there to be more work than originally predicted. This can be difficult to deal with is funding is limited so its a good idea to build contingencies into your financing plans right at the start. That way when the surprises pop up, you will be ready for them.
When thinking about renovation financing there are two likely candidates for you to consider. The home equity loan and the home owner's line of credit. The amount available for a home equity loan is based on the amount of equity that you have built up in your home. This loan is sometimes referred to as a second mortgage. It is calculated by taking the value of your home and subtracting the amount left outstanding on the original mortgage. If you own your home outright, then the amount would be the home's value. As an example, if you have a home that is worth $250,000 and you have already paid off $110,000 then your accumulated equity would be $140,000. The value of the property is what guarantees the loan so the interest rate is low as well as they payments. It is also normal to be able to secure fixed interest rates for such loans.
The other popular financing option is the home owner's line of credit. This loan does not have a finite amount save for the limit which is once again decided by your equity. This is a popular option as it allows for a lot of room when considering costs. The loan operates much like a credit card, with a variable interest rate. This is certainly the most flexible of the options and does not have a definite end date. The line of credit remains open for as long as you need it and do not close it out.
The best way to discern which type of loan is proper for your needs is to confer with a financial expert or banker. Prioritize your needs and try to find a loan that is tailor made for you. Remember that your home is going to be on the line as collateral so be sure to plan your payment schedule carefully and within what you can afford to pay. Make sure that you research all your options here and find what work s for you and for your budget.
Labels: finances, renovations
Fabulous Home = Healthy Home
When you think about adding healthy items to your home, the first thing that probably comes to mind is a piece of exercise equipment. While this is a great start, there are many more additions and renovations that may improve your health and help you to get fit.
Why purchase a treadmill or bench press that will sit unused in your garage for years? Think about taking your basement, garage or spare room and turning it into a complete home gym. It doesn't have to be expensive, but it can be more appealing that a piece of equipment that is hiding away somewhere in your home. Find or purchase a spare television to use for aerobic workout or to keep you entertained while you strengthen those muscles. Keep all your work out accessories stored together, but put them in a place that is easily accessible so that you won't feel as if it is too much of a hassle to work with. You might also add a small refrigerator or water tank to your gym for convenience.
If a home gym is too much for you to deal with, think about adding a hot tub. They are known for their many health benefits and can provide entertainment, as well. Some say that having a soak in the hot tub will not only relieve the pressure and stress of everyday, but it can also lower your blood pressure and encourage good sleep. A whirlpool may even have the same benefits. There are many claims that in addition to lowering blood pressure, a hot tub or whirlpool tub can also relieve specific ailments such as migraines and arthritis. So if you suffer from chronic pain, a hot tub may be perfect for you.
A lot of people never think about a sauna and don't know the health benefits it can provide. A sauna raises your body temperature and boosts immune function because of this. And just like a hot tub, it can also lower pressure. And, while a sauna should not be your only form of fitness, it can contribute to weight loss. However, this is not significant enough by itself. You need to exercise several times a week to actually lose weight. Nevertheless, the benefits are great enough that installing a sauna may help your health. Just remember that if you are pregnant or have other health issues, consult a doctor before using it.
Finally, anything you add to your home that will get you up and moving can boost your fitness level. It doesn't have to be big or expensive. Just do something that will add to your health.
Labels: health, renovations
