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Just a note on
improving your home
I cringe when I here a client
say “I want to fix it up to sell”. It usually means
they really don’t care about the quality or durability
of the over all job. Just get it done fast and keep it
as cheep as possible. Or, another quote I here is, “I’m
doing this because my realtor wants me to”.
Many realtors have there own
crews. The realtor will present there crew as fast and
cheep but in the end you end up paying the same as if it
was a custom well thought out project.
My main point is, no home starts
out exactly the way you want it, unless you have a
custom home built and do not compromise what is
important due to cost or ease of construction.
Home improvements should start
right after purchase not after 10 years of living in the
home just to help it sell faster. The thought and care
you put into a particular project will shine through and
you will get to enjoy the fruits of your labor as well
as get top dollar for your work at resale.
Plan each project one at a
time. Know in your mind what the end results will look
like before you start. Purchase the materials
throughout the year. Then when you have time roll up
your sleeves and get to work.
Compromising quality for the
sake of being easier is usually a bad idea. I was in
Sandpoint last week and I came across a Victorian house
for sale. It looked good from the outside. Very little
change over the years had occurred. It had all the
beautiful characteristics of fine homes built in the
1900’s. The house was vacant and the front door was
unlocked (I love Idaho) so I walked in to take a look.
I notice some literature on the
counter with the realtor information. One brochure said
that in 1909 the house was voted the most beautiful
house in Sandpoint. So I began to look around.
The Kitchen had been remodeled,
new cabinets exc. The fireplace had been modernized
with a newer insert installed and looked bad. I bet the
original was really nice. The Bathrooms had been
remodeled poorly. The tile floors in the bathrooms were
1 1/4 higher than the hallways they intersected. The
contractor didn’t take the time to remove the old floor
before the new mud set tile job was installed. Very
hard to fix now.
While touring the basement I saw
the old kitchen cabinet uppers. They were reinstalled
in the utility room. The doors had glass panels and the
height of the cabinets was about 48 inches tall. They
where beautiful. The doors probably didn’t close well
do to paint build up and paint on the hardware. A
little paint remover and plane off some of the paint
build up and you’re done.
The replacements were
not nearly as grand, they were about 36 inches plain oak
stained that you see in every track home in the 1990’s.
All the remodeling that was done cost a lot of money and
brought down the value of the house! Very sad to say
the least.
Norm
Jan 17, 2011
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NL Kile Construction