4.) Deck Addition: A deck addition is a creative way to expand a home’s space value, without adding to its overall square footage. Square footage expansions involve wall additions, HVAC installation, electrical and possibly plumbing work. The project cost of these additions will get very pricey very quickly.

Deck additions are extremely appealing to home buyers. In a down economy, where people are forced to stay home more (decreased restaurant dining, vacations, extracurricular activities like movies, bowling, manicures, etc.), a deck will add expanded space that will allow people to enjoy their outdoor surroundings to the fullest extent. The average recouped project cost? 81%.

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It would be pretty unfair of me to throw all these bad ideas onto the table, without leaving you with a few good ones.

3.) Fiber-Cement Siding Replacement: Two words: Curb. Appeal. Trying to sell your house? Ask your realtor how important these two words actually are. Ten to one she’ll tell you they are two of the most important words in the process of home buying/selling. If your house doesn’t look as amazing as possible from the exterior, then good luck trying to recover the greatest gain for your investment. On average, 80% of a siding replacement project will be regained upon the time to sell. This particular project, in comparison with several others, is fairly low in cost and high in return. The average price to consider for this project is only $12,000 – $15,000 – In comparison to any one of a number of addition projects, this is nothing more than chump change.

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5.) Sunroom Addition: 51% recoup on an average investment of $73,000. How do you like that for some depressing math? Sunroom additions fall into that category of inefficient use of space, right along with bathroom additions. If you’ve got a hankering for room addition investment, throw your dollars into a more valuable project like guest room suite for the sibling that won’t go away or a baby nursery that can be easily modified into a child’s room.

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4.) Garage Addition: This is another project that should be tackled only under the awareness that the average regain will average just above 62%. The average cost of such a project will amount to more than $58,000. Garage additions are labor intensive – They involve slab work, roofing, new siding, paint, doors, etc. Erecting a garage addition only differs from new home building in that it does not require insulated walls for HVAC purposes. Essentially, the garage addition process is no different than the building process of assembling a miniature house.

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3.) Backup Generator: The potential return on these puppies is just over 50%. If you purchase this one, accept the fact that that you are doing so strictly for personal usage. Do not make the purchase with much expectancy of potential future profit.

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2.) Home Office Remodel: Square footage is of primary relevance to the majority of homebuyers. Home offices are somewhat more popular today than they were ten years ago. But in the eyes of the majority, that additional square footage is far more valuable than an in-home workspace. Home office remodels stand to gain less than half of their cost upon resell.

I may love my home office, and you may, too. But we cannot assume that the next dweller will feel the same. Spend your dollars elsewhere.

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One of my all time favorite quotes: “Just because they make it in your size, doesn’t mean you should wear it.” I have to remind myself of this when I go shopping sometimes.

Similarly, just because a home remodeling project is available for completion, doesn’t mean you should invest in it.

Not all home remodeling projects are equal. The annual Cost vs. Value Report offers great insight to homeowners who are interested in increasing the value of their home through various projects and undertakings.

This 10-part mini-blog series will expose insider tips on a daily basis. These recommendations will help guide you down the project management path for your home.

1.) Bathroom addition: Surprised? Take note, there is a significant difference in a bathroom addition vs. a bathroom remodel. On average, bathroom additions only recoup about 60% of their invested cost. This number does not deviate according to square footage of the project. Reason being, no matter what the size of the new space, this remodel will require a number of necessary costs that will quickly drive the cost of the investment. Consider the various expenses that would be involved in such a project: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, fixtures, flooring, shower/tub, etc.

The only situation in which a homeowner would be advised to take on a bathroom addition, would be one that adds the bathroom in order to meet neighborhood standards. If your house was constructed with just one bathroom, but all other homes in the area were built with three, you may consider the addition in order to better serve the overall potential value of your home.

BATHROOM ADDITION: NO-GO

http://2dsh.sl.pt

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Our clients love us to death, our mothers can’t get enough of us and we think we’re pretty cool. But as of this year, we are officially something special in the eyes of industry leaders.

We were selected for two regional National Association of the Remodeling Industry(NARI) awards in 2008 – One for an exterior renovation in Shawnee, KS and the other for an exterior renovation in Olathe, KS. We replaced siding, installed new windows, painted the exterior, installed new entry doors, replaced garage doors and upgraded the landscaping of the home.

This year, we were again selected for two regional NARI awards. We remodeled a kitchen in Raytown, and we preformed a whole house exterior remodel on a home in Olathe, KS. Both received awards. We were pretty stoked to win another set of awards on the regional level.

But we learned this past weekend that we were going to be awarded ANOTHER set of awards on the national level (and by “set” we mean two).

The Contractor of the Year (CotY) awards are given each year by NARI headquarters to members who have demonstrated outstanding work through their remodeling projects.

We will pick our CotY awards (did I mention there were two?) up in Phoenix, AZ at the recognition ceremony this April.

And if you’d like to join us, all airfare & accommodations are completely not provided for by us. But we’d love to have you! Holler if you want to come golfing.

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Economy is jacked. Bonuses have been pulled. Household budget is struggling to keep its head above water.

You’re well aware of this. The kids know all about it. Hell, the dog has even accepted the circumstances for what they are. Everybody is doing their part in making sacrifices and concessions.

But what about the house? What sort of concessions have you asked your house to make during the past year or so? Is your house all too aware of your current financial situation?

Despite it’s kindness and unsurpassed level of understanding, has your house ceased to require maintenance? Does it no longer require replacements? Has it agreed to hold off on all pressing projects until “things get better?”

If this is the assumption you’re operating under, then might I suggest you reconsider your hypothesis.

Your house is your largest investment (tired of hearing me say that, yet?) and it should be treated as such. Rocky financial times may not afford you the ability to turn your queen-size bedroom into a king-size master suite. But the necessary maintenance and replaceable items of your home should not be left to they wayside.

Windows, siding, roofing and guttering need to be considered absolutes on your home’s maintenance and replacement checklist. With the case of each of these items, failure to replace them in a timely manner will most always result in higher paid costs later on down the road.

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Seriously. How rational does that sound?

I had to have a heart to heart with a client the other day. We were wrapping her kitchen remodel project up and she told me she was ready to go ahead and replace the windows throughout the home. We talked product and pricing, but when we started to talk scheduling, she told me she figured she’d just suffer through the winter as is, and schedule installation in the spring.

“Why in the world would you want to go and do that?” I said.

A very common misconception lies within most homeowners. They believe the winter months are inconvenient times to purchase and install replacement windows due to harsh elements and bitter temperatures. They make the logical – albeit false – assumption that a window replacement project would open the house up to the winter elements, thereby turning the cozy Kansas City home into an Alaskan igloo.

Not the case.

The average time a home is open to the elements during a professional window install is 10 minutes. (I say professional because I can only speak from the standpoint to which I work from. Those other guys, however – well, I’m not sure why you’d let them into your home in the first place. But that’s an entirely different blog topic in and of itself).

Windows are the #1 source of energy loss in any home. Choosing to wait any additional amount of time before replacement is costly and unnecessary.

Questions? Request for estimate? Interested in promos and discounts? You know where to find us.

(Quite clearly, we did not conceptualize or draw the hilarious image displayed above – hence the multiple forms of credit stamped throughout).

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