I am sad to say that Tom Reich passed away yesterday evening. Tom was an awesome man, husband, father and friend. I’ve known Tom and his wife Fran for 20 years! Tom also worked with Curb Appeal Renovations providing his expertise in the appraisal area – Tom was a very honest appraiser and really told you like it was!
Our thoughts are with the Reich family, especially his wife Fran who will really miss her best friend…
I attended Metrocon 2009 today – the ASID Texas Chapter and IIDA industry conference held every year in Dallas. It is a great opportunity to take classes (ASID members must have continuing ed), network – meet new friends and see old, and see what is new in the industry.
Today I only had the opportunity to attend two classes…one was filled with lots of information, some of which I’ll share with you now.
First of all…many people love the look of slate and want to use it inside, outside, in the shower, etc. However…did you know that because of the iron in slate that it will rust when exposed continuously to water?!
Many homeowners in Texas love natural travertine – I have to admit it is beautiful, but after today, I’m going to make doubly sure that all our clients know about the maintenance! Any filled and honed travertine of the floor will take CONSTANT maintenance! Those little filled pieces will pop out…are you willing to keep up the maintenance and fill them with grout?
Fissures are in natural stone – no way to get around it…just realize that no two of the same stones are going to look alike.
I’ll cover steam showers in a later posting…along with glass tile! Stay tuned…
One of our clients from last year – Maureen and Jerry recently tied the knot on April 25th! Please join us in wishing them both many happy years together! Maureen moved here from California and is loving Texas, but is having to adjust to our “Texas weather”…but when I had lunch with her last week and saw the wedding pictures, got caught up with her and got to see the house after she moved all her “stuff” in…I’d say she’s officially a transplant!
Congratulations Maureen and Jerry!
We’ve decided that we’re going to go a bit more “green” and work towards reducing our carbon footprint here at Curb Appeal Renovations and have gotten rid of our old shredder for the new improved GABI model. Another advantage of this model is that once the paper is shredded, it is biodegradable. The only disadvantage we can see is that as this model ages, it tends to want to “work” less.
GABI joins our other office models – OREO and COOKIE!
This post is not going to be about the construction or the home improvement industry. It is going to be about one woman who touched many lives.
You see, Geri McGrail passed away last week. She was the wife of Pat McGrail, the Mayor of Keller. She was 62 years young. I only had the pleasure of meeting Geri one time, but I certainly enjoyed that one time and looked forward to seeing her again! Unfortunately that isn’t going to happen. Life is too short – isn’t it?
I have heard that Pat McGrail has said that Geri was one of the two best things in his life…I know he will miss her dearly and so will many others. Please keep the McGrail family in your thoughts.
Our condolences go out to the McGrail family and to the city of Keller on the loss of their First Lady.
We get these requests all the time. Free estimate, ball park, quote…they’re all about as good as you can get for “free”. Until we know what our client wants, we can’t begin to put a price to the project.
Also, have you ever really thought about those “free” estimates? How accurate are they really? And, if the person giving the “free” estimate has gone out on 10 estimates before he lands a job and you hire him – well guess what – you’ve just paid for all those “free” estimates! So are they really and truly free?
I think the best example of ball parking without knowing exactly what the client/homeowner wants can be seen in the lawsuit currently in court now – between a musician and contractor – check this article out – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/02/AR2009060201173.html - it really is unfortunate for both parties that the exact scope of the project was not determined before construction began.
Regardless of whomever you choose, remember that you get what you pay for and that it is always very important that everything is detailed up front – use 3D designs, samples, specifications, etc., so there are no surprises down the road. Make sure that your contract documents are very detailed, that the change order process is laid out, that you know what happens if something unforseen comes up in the project…I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift. Once you find the remodeling contractor that you feel comfortable with, hire them, the worst thing is having someone in your home for days, weeks and months that you absolutely hate!
I know we’ve all heard about the tax rebates…but if you’ve been thinking about getting a tankless water heater and have been holding off, NOW is the time! Many haven’t considered the tankless water heater becase it is more expensive than a tanked water heater…however with the government offering up to $1500 back through 2010, now is definitely the time! Plus, the advantages are great…you get endless hot water, with the right equipment you can have instant hot water, the tankless lasts longer, you don’t have to worry about it leaking all over your house should it go bad, they are small and most times can be mounted on an outside wall and you reduce your carbon foot print!
If you are considering any type of remodel, now would be the time to replace that tanked water heater…or if the water heater you have now is several years old…give your plumber a call!
Unfortunately a homeowner that we’re just starting to work with had a previous contractor install beautiful windows for her. They are high end windows, but they weren’t installed correctly – here are two pictures – the first shows that the “great stuff” was used which voids the warranty of the windows. This is the expandable foam insulation you get in a can – NEVER use this for window installation. The second picture is where a standard size window was used in an opening that should have been a custom size – you can see the homeowner had to use duct tape to keep the environment out! It is really sad because these are beautiful windows…
Were you one of the homeowners that had a 4% rise in property values? According to the FWST, this was the average INCREASE this year. Of course this was based on many different aspects, including mineral rights. Many of our clients are getting home improvement loans or home equity loans – yes – money is being loaned! And I guess along with the rise in property values – many of our homeowners have been surprised that their homes have appraised higher than they expected.
Once again, Texas is the place to live and work! I guess if you’ve been here any length of time, you’ve gotten used to the even keel of our economy – but if you were here 20 years ago and trying to find a job or buy a house – or had money in a S&L, you knew what type of shape our wonderful state was in – awful! We were dependent on oil, which went bust, our real estate went bust, the S&L’s went bust – Texas crashed. However, Texas worked hard on bringing in diverse industries not dependent on oil and our real estate prices have not escalated like in other areas of the country. The result – THE place now that others are wanting to move! We’ve got the lowest unemployment and the top 5 cities for work/new jobs are all in Texas!
