Sure we all get caught up in seeing the “elevations” or how the house will look from the street. But let’s face it, you spend more time inside your house than you do walking around the outside of it. The ease to which you can live within your house is going to have the most influence on how much enjoyment you get out of your custom home.

There are some pitfalls that are easy to avoid and also some very easy ones to miss. Let me give you my top ten floor plan considerations:

10. Putting a bedroom over the garage.
“Hey you know what honey? We can use all that wasted space over the garage for a master bedroom!” Why yes you can. But go into the project with an understanding of noise. Garage openers are not quiet devices. Neither are husbands with a garage workbench and power tools. Either set rules in terms of garage use or invest in some quality ear plugs.

9. Quiet spaces separated from loud ones.
Along the same vein, you might not want to put your study next to the play room or the kitchen. Banging pots and pans, kids banging pots and pans or your spouse banging pots and pans over the kids heads to stop them from fighting are not necessarily conducive to getting work done, bills paid or even just “quiet time”.

8. Closets in halls.
Think of traffic patterns in your house. If you have a heavily travelled hallway, having an open closet door blocking it, can be an issue. Use pocket doors or move the closet.

7. Put your laundry in a convenient spot.
Having your laundry as the same floor as your bedrooms, seems obvious, but in fact most people throw their laundry machines in the basement. Save your back and frequent trips up and down stairs by putting the laundry closest to where you need it the most.

6. Dining room and patio access from kitchen.
Plan on having company or eating alfresco? Make sure you kitchen has easy access to the dining room or the patio/outdoor eating areas. Lugging that Thanksgiving turkey through multiple doorways can be a recipe for disaster (pun intended).

5. Putting the TV room next to kitchen.
Having your family room next to the kitchen or even integrated into the kitchen can be a great way to keep the family close. However, both rooms are noisy places. Unless you separate the activities, no one will be able to hear anything. Mix in some chatty in-laws and several local noise ordinances may get broken.

4. Will you really use that room?
Formal living room’s look nice, but rarely get used. They are just showpieces that need to be cleaned. Formal dining rooms in houses with large eat in kitchens are the same way. Think about your lifestyle and design rooms that will get used and enjoyed, not giant dust bins.

3. Try and keep you guest rooms separated.
Do your guests really want to hear SpongeBob SquarePants at 6am on Saturday morning? Consider placing guest quarters on the opposite end of the house from your main family living areas.

2. Consider a playroom in the basement.
Unless your kids are freaks of nature, they can turn a clean and orderly playroom into a war zone in less time than you can say “Calgon take me away”. Inevitably at the height of the toy tornado, unexpected guests will arrive. Save yourself the embarrassment of a messy house and relegate the playroom to the basement.

And finally the number one thing to be aware of:

1. Do NOT put a bathroom right next to kitchen.
Seriously. Who wants to hear those kinds of noises while cooking. Enough said.

Sure, a lot of these tips seem basic, but as we get caught up in the fervor of planning custom workout rooms, breakfast nooks, bidets, and fallout shelters (I grew up in the cold war so forgive me) the simplest of concept of convenience and practical usage get left in the dust.

Take your time and plan wisely. When you have your plan, show it to some friends, a buddy, the mailman or anyone who you normally bore with your vacation pictures. A second, third or fourth set of eyes can often times see something you did not.

Oh, I almost forgot our shameless plug. At Kelly Custom Homes we work with homeowners every step of the way to make sure the home plan you select also has an appropriate floor plan to match your needs and lifestyle. That’s just how we roll.

Whenever she wants you to.

All kidding aside (not really), the best answer I can give is “it depends”. And what I mean by that is it depends on the type of project, the part of the country you live in, and quite frankly your tolerance for mess, and sensitivity to the aromas of construction (not mine of course, but paint etc…)

Probably the largest factor has to do with the time of year. Certain projects lend themselves to certain seasons more than others. For the sake of this post, lets assume you have four real seasons, and live in the snow belt. Kelly Custom Homes is in CNY (Shameless plug) and we are used to working year round on new custom home construction even in the dead of winter. However renovations are another cup of joe.

Winter – Indoor projects prevail here. However, if you live in the snow belt like us, you might want to reconsider any major renovation. With cold air outside, ventilating the house can be a chilling exercise especially if your work is prone to have fumes, like painting, staining or refinishing floors. Plumbing and electrical projects are a safe bet. It is far better to use the winter to plan your projects and find a reputable contractor.

Spring – Let the “honey do” lists fly. Spring is the perfect time for most projects. Ventilation for indoor projects is plentiful, the ground is ripe for planting and contractors are looking for work. The only consideration would be one of convenience. A major kitchen re-do will make your kitchen unusable for many days on end. Perhaps timing major renovations such as this to coincide with a summer vacation is a better bet.

Summer – A great time for renovations. Landscaping would be better done in the spring however to take advantage of the spring growing season. If summers get hot where you live keep in mind that indoor projects that require ventilation will mean open windows, which means cold A/C will be flying out the windows, making your place hot and your wallet light. Projects requiring extended ventilation should be reserved for Spring and fall. All others are fair game and even better if you can take a vacation while your house gets its own extreme home makeover.

Fall – My favorite season to build. The air is cool but not cold. Roofs are not as hot and my suppliers are looking to get rid of summer stock which translates to savings for my customers. There is no downside to renovations in the fall. As long as the ground isn’t frozen and concrete can set, the world is your oyster. Contractors in anticipation of light winter months may also be more competitive in their pricing.

But most important of all is making sure the job is done right and not rushed. A day or two of inconvenience will be worth it in the end when you are sitting in your new sunroom during the winter.

And it will be all the more sweeter knowing that you got it done this past fall so all winter long you don’t hear comments like “wouldn’t it be nice if….”

In this segment of the article, they talk about everything from proper insulation, windows, insulating your pipes, gutter, lawn care etc…

You can read the full article by clicking right here.

While the list of preparations may be daunting, you can always find qualified professionals to help. The money you spend today will be repaid to you multiple times over in energy savings and by preventing more costly repairs.

But whatever you do, do your homework and find a contractor you can trust (Like Kelly Custom Homes in Central New York) who will work with you and your schedule and is more interested in the long-term relationship instead of making a quick buck.

Just be sure to take advantage of the limited summer weather to get these projects done. No one likes climbing on a roof to smash ice dams or crawling through a freezing crawl space to thaw a frozen pipe. Well almost no one, there are people out there that are thrilled to do it for you, just as they are thrilled to watch you empty your wallet into theirs.

If you have any questions, just drop me a line. I’d be happy to help.

I hope you are all enjoying the few actual days of legitimate summer that graces us here in Upstate NY. As someone once told me, summer in Upstate NY is really just three days of really bad sledding.

Oops. Guess a little winter preparation was in order.

With that said, I hate to bring up the “W” word. No, not our previous commander-in-chief, but something equally disturbing… Winter. It will come, and quite frankly so will the inevitable winter problems of leaky roofs, ice dams, frost heaves on the driveway and poor insulation. If you wait to fix these until the white stuff starts falling, you may find that there is no one to do it, it is too cold to do it, or quite frankly you may end up paying exorbitant rush charges to get it done.

With that in mind, I came across a great article from doityourself.com on preparing for winter, in the summer. Check it out by clicking right here

It contains some great information about taking advantage of the nice weather to get these issues fixed in the “off-season”. I will post the second part as well next week. Let me know if you have any comments.

- Jim

If you are going to be financing your new home or renovation, this contract will likely be required by your lender. Even if it is not, it is an important document to help protect both parties’ financial interests and will help head off any common misunderstandings.

By having this detailed document, in writing and signed by both you and your builder, you will help ensure that you are getting what you pay for, in the way you want it built and in the time frame you desire. For the builder’s part, when you ask to upgrade, for example, from a Corian counter top to a granite one, there will be no question as to the increase in project price. I like to refer to this document as the “No Surprises” contract.

There are many places to go to get a contract, and your builder may even have a standard form that they use. But do your homework and be prepared with one of your own just in case.

Here is a contract that I like to use that is detailed, in-depth, and covers almost all the aspects of the building process and will work as a good foundation for you.This is a New York specific form from construction-contract.net.

New York Custom Home Contract

To be extra safe, have your attorney review the contract prior to signing and make sure it overs all the different aspects and contingencies you foresee arising during the progress of the project. And as usual, feel free to ask me any questions you may have. I’d be happy to help.

- Jim

To that end, I wanted to offer some reading suggestions for you this summer. Books that will not only help you take a nap, but ones that will give you the information and knowledge you need to be prepared for your upcoming construction projects. I have no affiliation or financial interest in these books, I just feel that they are a resource worth passing along. They are all available at Amazon or your local bookseller.

So… You want to build a house: A complete Workbook For Building Your Own Home
Looking for a book that is a layperson’s guide to building a new house? Look no further than this book. It covers all topics including budgeting, home plans, architects and tips for controlling costs and working with Lenders.

The Unofficial Guide to Hiring Contractors

Want a good primer on hiring a contractor and outlines the best steps to take to protect yourself when finding a good contractor? Then check out this book, it contains important tips and information on how you can protect yourself and your investment in the building process.

What Your Contractor Can’t Tell You.

This book first came out in 2004, and speaking as a contractor and home builder myself (www.kellycustomhomes.net) I can say that this book contains a lot of great information to educate the home owner. In my opinion, the better educated you are, the better customer you will make and the happier you will be with the home I build for you.

From the publisher: Creating a dream home shouldn’t be a nightmare. Hiring a contractor is an enormous investment and a high-risk endeavor involving decisions that will last forever. This book equips homeowners with the information and strategies needed to turn their vision into a home or a renovation that can be built on time and within budget.

Talk about an honest face. Not every GC is as those at Kelly Custom Homes

What is the more troubling question, and a far harder one to answer is: How do you find a general contractor you can trust?

Sadly, there are some bad apples in every batch. Not every used car salesman is a crook, not every mechanic takes advantage of his customer’s lack of knowledge and certainly not every general contractor is out to overcharge you. However, you need to be prepared to separate the wheat from the chaff and find a GC that has your best interests at heart. To do this is not very hard.

What follows are three great resources for you to help find the right GC for your project. You should do all three.

1. Word of Mouth and the Internet
Who do you trust more, the ad you read in the Sunday paper, or the word of a previous customer. Through the use Internet searches, social media searches and by talking to friends and friends of friends, you can find out a lot. More importantly, if a friend or someone else close to you had work done, you can visually inspect the quality of the job and ask them about the process. Your friends will be unlikely to have an agenda and will not want to see you make a bad choice

2. Angie’s List
Visit Angie’s List online and search for general contractors in your area. Angie’s list is a site that allows customers to write reviews and reports on the projects completed for them. Businesses (which includes carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, general contractors etc…) are not allowed to post reviews. This is a consumer to consumer perspective. I can attest to the legitimacy of the site and in fact, there is a small charge to use the site to ensure that the reviews are not the work of random people looking to mess with a businesses reputation.

3. Better Business Bureau
Finally, after you have narrowed down your list of potential general contractors, check your local chapter of the Better Business Bureau to see if there have been any complaints against the builder or company you are considering. This will be a good indicator if there have been any lawsuits or negative reports about the work performed.

After completing the three steps above, be sure to meet and interview the general contractor. Ask pointed questions about billing, scheduling, markups, how they select sub contractors etc and in general get a “feel” for them. Listen to your gut and be sure not to get sold by fancy packaging.

Do your homework as outlined above and you can be sure to have a much better experience.

The one who decides to build a detached garage by himself. The guy that doesn’t have the right tools, so he MAKES the tools out of scrap iron and a wires stripped out of a broken lawnmower.

You want to be McGuyver.

How hard could it be?

Don’t we all? Not just to show your spouse how manly you are. Not just because you want to save money. But because the idea of paying someone to do something that looks so simple just bothers the hell out of you.

Before jumping headlong into this “easy” project, make sure you are hungry, because a big ol’ bite of humble pie may be in your future.

We all have skills. No doubt many of you are capable and skilled enough to do home improvement projects. I simply caution you that approaching a task that looks simple, but is beyond your technical ability, could cause more headaches than its worth. To figure out if you should tackle a project yourself or pay a professional, ask yourself these questions:

1. Can I afford to pay someone to do it?
If the answer is yes. Then hiring someone is certainly an option. If the answer is no, you need to ask yourself some more questions…

2. Do I have the tools for the job?
If not, does the cost of the tools, outweigh the cost of the contractor?

3. Do I have the skill and experience to do the job?

If you have done a similar project in the past, you should feel comfortable doing it again. But if you need an extra set of hands, ask a friend to help. Share your skill. If you are not sure if you have the skill, that should be your first red flag.

4. Do I have the time?
Life gets in the way. If you need that deck put up in a hurry in time for a party or family function, you may want to consider hiring someone to get it done for you. Work, kids, family all make jobs take twice as long as you think.

5. Can you afford to do it wrong? What starts out as a project with the best of intentions – saving money, making the wife happy etc… could end up cost you a lot. If you tackle a project beyond your abilities, you might end up having to hire a contractor to fix your mistakes thus costing you more money, pissing off your wife and more importantly, creating an event that lets your spouse use the phrase “remember that time you tried….”.

In the end you need to like the result. If you do it wrong, your mistake will be staring you in the face for a long time and you will not be happy. If you hire a qualified professional to do it, you may not be able to beat your chest and claim it as your work, but you can enjoy the home improvement and still take credit for making it happen.

So, before you jump headlong into any home improvement project, do an honest assessment of all the questions above. Generally, the larger the project, the more likely it is you should hire a professional. The same goes for project complexity. If a project involves electrical, plumbing and other components, get a general contractor (such as myself) involved to manage the subs for you. If all you are doing is replacing a toilet, building shed or something that does not have the potential to adversely affect your quality of life, then have at it McGuyver and be “that guy”.

Good luck!

- Jim

Build New:

As a builder of custom homes in Central New York (shameless plug  – www.kellycustomhomes.net), I prefer to work with a clean canvas. Only your imagination and your wallet restrict new home design. There is no existing structural elements that need to be factored into the design or any concerns about how it will look when completed. Furthermore, a new home will be more energy-efficient with all the latest insulation, windows etc… saving you money on your energy bills. And finally, there is no disruption to your daily life as parts of your home become inhabitable during a remodel.

Renovate your existing house:

Although renovations can impact your quality of life while they are in progress, you will be duly compensated for the inconvenience. Renovating your existing home will be far cheaper than building a new home. There will not be any unexpected fees that go into site planning, soil testing, which usually come with a new home. But most importantly, the great thing about a renovation is that you get to stay put. If you love your neighborhood and your neighbors (well most of them), if your kids love the school they are in and if you would just hate to lose your view, then renovation is the way to go.

So what it really boils down to is this: If you love where you are but have a limited budget, renovate. It will be inconvenient and messy for a while, but it should be cheaper as long as you don’t go overboard on extras or double the size of your house. But if you are looking for a new location, one with an even better view, a better school district or even one closer to work, and want to create the dream home with the dream kitchen, then build new.

As with any project budget at least 20% more for everything. Materials increase in price, change orders can happen, or you may decide to upgrade an individual item. Be prepared!

Whatever you choose to do, don’t rush into the decision. Sit down with your family and talk about how you will use your new digs. Identify needs vs. wants and also identify items that can be upgraded later with minimal cost. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks.

- Jim

Stamped concrete patio with wood awning for protection from the elements.

The patio is an outdoor living space that will help enhance your yard, make entertaining more enjoyable and will allow you to spend more time outside even in poor weather. If the patio is designed in proportion to the house and is tastefully done, it can really help boost your home’s value. Spending a lot of money on a patio that is disproportionate in size to your house may look strange and may detract from its value. So design carefully.

You can have a concrete patio that is stamped to look like rocks or flagstones, or you can stain the concrete to have a special color or tint to accent your home. A less pricey option is to make your patio out of paver stones. These can be installed by the homeowner and have a great look.

Patio pavers are easy to maintain and replace and can be less expensive. A fire pit can make entertaining outdoors on cool evenings fun.

Incorporating a covered area for some shade or weather protection is a great idea for shelter from the summer elements, and building a stone fireplace, or buying a free-standing fire pit, makes cool evenings outdoors a pleasant time for the whole family (toasting marshmallows anyone?).

Make the most of the wonderful weather we have here in Central New York and spend more time outdoors on a great patio. You’ll have a great time with your family and friends, and when it comes time to sell you’ll enjoy the extra money it brings even more.

For more details and tips check out this article from Frontdoor.com.