Getting the Highest ROI on Your Remodeling Porject

Many a homeowner spends thousands of dollars on a home remodel only to find out that in reality it has not changed the value to their house. Unless the remodeling project is designed to fix a structural problem or flaw it is often unlikely that the homeowner will make a profit aside from the pleasure in having the house enhanced to fit their liking.

1. Location
A common mistake among homeowners is to improve their house more than that of the neighborhood it is located in. While the more improved house might possibly receive more interest than others in the area marketed it is unlikely to command a premium well above the average selling price of homes in the neighborhood. A little known fact is that market price is held in check by the lowest-priced homes in your neighborhood and not the other way around.

2. Time
While you may not be planning on moving houses immediately after a home remodel, time does impact the ability of a remodel to increase a houses value. Structural or design improvements such as an addition or completed basement will add value for a longer period of time than updates to a kitchen or bathroom or even technological improvements such as a new furnace or air conditioning system.

3. Consider the cost - and the return of your investment
Did you know that there are several sources that can give you insight into the expected payback for home improvement projects? Realtor magazine publishes an annual "Cost vs. Value" report that compares the cost of common remodeling projects and shows the payback that homeowners can expect.

Surviving Your Home Remodel

The good news is that you're finally getting the house of your dreams. The bad news is that you need to live through months of remodeling to get there. Living in a house that's being remodeled is stressful, but if you're prepared, you can make it easier on the whole family.

Plan Ahead: Find out how long the home remodeling project will take. Consider how the work will disrupt your life and make contingencies for it. Also make plans in case something goes wrong. A power outage or plumbing emergency might necessitate decamping for a couple of days.

Establish Ground Rules: Talk to the contractor about what hours and which days of the week the crew will work. That will make it easier to plan your life around the renovation. Consider getting a portable toilet for the workers so yours will still be available. Tell them where they can park their trucks and establish how they will clean up the work site.

Set up a Living Area: Cover the entrances to the work area with plastic to avoid getting dust in the rest of the house; this will also establish a living area. If you're having a kitchen remodeling job, set up a temporary kitchen with a microwave and hot plate, and designate a sink for washing dishes. Stock up on bottled water and paper plates and cups. You'll need them if you lose the use of your plumbing at some point.

Store Your Belongings: Put away anything breakable and delicate. Even if your china cupboard isn't in the work area, the vibrations from the machinery can cause things to crack or fall. If you can't move some pieces of furniture, cover them with drop clothes so they won't get coated in dust.

Has Your Home Lost Its Way

When you have been living in a house for a long time you may find that you become a little bit tired of your surroundings. This could be just because you have been there a long time or it may be that you have been through a lot in your life and the walls just remind you of bad times you want to forget or good times that are in your past that you need to move on from. Whatever the reason, and if you have the money, why not just remodel your home?

Decorate

The simplest way of doing this is probably to decorate. You could start by repainting all the walls different colours and getting all your woodwork to match. Maybe you could replace some or all of your furniture with more modern alternatives or maybe swapping some rooms around might work. By this I mean turning a living room into a bedroom or vice versa or maybe putting your kitchen in your dining room to give yourself a lot more space.

Revamp

You could take the decorating to whole other level by knocking walls through to make two or maybe three small rooms into one massive room. This works well with kitchens as they are traditionally quite small in the and often attached to dining rooms that seldom get used.

Extend

A more dramatic way of making over your house is to build house extensions. This could come in the shape of a sun room or you might want to stretch the whole side of your house, top and bottom floors, all the way out to the end of your property line. This is a more expensive option but it will give you house a whole new feel that will make it seem like a new house. Sun Rooms are particularly good for this as they let in a great deal of light that can make any home feel bigger and brighter.

Keeping it Practical

When it comes to a reconstruction project for your home, it is essential that you know which areas you should definitely cover and which ones you have to think twice about. This is very important especially if you know that you have a limited budget or you do not want to spend so much on it. While a home remodelingproject definitely has maximum impact in your dwelling place, you could still be very frugal about it if you know where to start.

Turning Old Things into New Things

For example, you do not necessarily have to buy everything you need to give your home a makeover. The more seasoned practitioners of home remodeling know that you can turn old things into new things by simply giving home furnishings a much-needed facelift. One good suggestion when it comes to this is to repaint, polish or upholster old furniture. In a home remodeling project, interior design plays a lot- and this involves beautifying the things inside the home. This includes cabinets, doors, living room sets and tables among others. If you are going for a mixed-classic look, you could paint that carved side table in a light color and make it a focal point of the hallway. If you think your living room set looks dilapidated you could simply reupholster it in a more contemporary fabric instead of buying a new one. Cutting corners in the budget does not necessarily mean having to cut corners in the finished result.

Raising and Allocating Funds in the Home Remodeling Project

When planning a reconstruction for your home, you obviously have to be smart about the budget. You have to make sure that the more important fixtures are replaced or fixed - which is where the majority of your budget will go. If you think you want to do more, you can probably hold a yard sale. Things that you do not want can be resold for a good price, which when added together could probably pay for replacing the windows of your home or buying the necessary light installments that you want. A home remodeling project has the aim of making your dwelling place neater, cleaner and more updated - which also means less stuff and no junk lying around like it used to.

And finally, try to pinpoint some areas which you can replace or renovate by yourself instead of letting the home reconstruction team do. It will lessen the amount of time they have to work, will translate into fewer payments for their services and will give you a satisfactory feeling of being personally involved in the project. This includes staining some furniture, quite possibly installing spotlights or target lamps inside the house and whatnot. Leave the bigger things to the experts, such as massive carpentry or all-over home painting. These are areas which you will probably not be able to do properly, so leave these to the experts. When your home remodeling is finished, you will be very happy with the results and delight that you did not have to spend so much.

Maintenance Requirements and Long-Term Care for a Home Remodel

Maintenance, such as painting, cleaning, manufacturer required maintenance, routine repairs, and even future replacement can become burdensome - particularly with poor product choices.  The associated costs can exceed the original installed cost of the products, sometimes maintenance requirements (and costs) will vary based on products, the manufacturing processes and even the installations. For example, wood windows will require regular painting, typically every three to five years. Steel windows also may require regular painting, typically every five to seven years. As temperatures fluctuate vinyl window frames expand and contract very differently than glass panes which can result in stresses that can affect long term performance. Painting costs can be eliminated by the use of fiberglass, vinyl and some clad wood windows. However, the performance of fiberglass window frames over a wide range of temperature fluctuations is far superior to other materials. And lastly, the installation of the products: with almost any of the materials you choose installation in accordance with the manufacturers specifications is an important consideration - not only for long term performance but peace of mind warranty validation.

Further on the windows example, they may require some preventive and corrective maintenance to keep them in good operating condition and weather-tight. Each manufacturer has suggested or required maintenance that needs to be performed to maintain warranty validation. This should not be ignored as it can significantly add to the life cycle cost of the products you select.

Wood entry doors can warp in time and will also require regular painting (three to five year intervals). Maintenance requirements of fiberglass doors are considerably lower and have the same performance features of fiberglass windows.

Fiber-cement siding is known for long lasting beauty and minimal maintenance requirements. It is resistant to mold and, because of inherent stability, paint adheres very well over time. Its' fire resistance is legendary. Vinyl siding on the other hand requires regular power washing particularly if mold persists and it has practically no fire resistance (toxic fumes when heated).

This kind of home remodeling analysis should be performed (in greater detail) on every major component of your home remodeling project.

Tips for a Successful Remodel

ORGANIZE! To make the job easier and ensure your percentage of good ideas is as high as possible, you need a strategy to organize your information. Use a three-ring binder or expandable file folder. You must keep copies of all contracts, change orders, invoices, receipts, and permits. These will be invaluable if you have disputes with your contractors and when tax time comes around. Other sections to consider are ideas from magazines, quotes, contractor contact info, and so forth.

Don't be afraid to play designer. Many "amateur" home designers come up with great ideas, and since you are living in your home day after day, you can have better ideas than the "pros." So get out a pencil, make 100 copies of your current floor plan, and sketch out all the alternatives. It doesn't matter how great or bad they are, experiment with alternatives. At this point it's free, so enjoy!

But don't get too wild and crazy. You are almost always better to stick with a traditional size and shape in a home, both for resale value and cost for your remodel. Having a kitchen on the second floor may strike you as a clever and unique solution, but if it means moving the gas, electrical wiring, and plumbing up to the second floor, this change will add significantly to the project costs.

Figure out what, if anything, you want to do yourself. Have he home remodeling contractors itemize their quotes to determine which phases of your project you might be able to do yourself and which ones you want to hire someone to do. Tasks you might consider doing include project management, demolition, rough electrical wiring, installation of cabinets, fixtures, and appliances, and finish work. Tasks you should probably leave to the pros include foundation work, framing, installing sheetrock, and installing breaker boxes and connecting your home to the electrical service.

Marrokal Design and Remodeling Named NARI 2011 Regional Contractor of the Year

The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) named Marrokal Design and Remodeling, in San Diego, California, 2011 Regional Contractor of the Year (CotY) in the Residential Historical Renovation/Restoration category, the Entire House Remodel category, and in two Residential Kitchen Remodeling categories of its annual awards competition.

Marrokal offers full-service design/build services and has served San Diego communities for over 30 years. “I am extremely proud of our accomplishments,” says Gary Marrokal, President of Marrokal Design and Remodeling. “Our winning team continues to shine in all areas of our company, from the initial design phase of our projects through the construction phase to the service we provide after completion. I’m very proud of them and our clients.”

Contractors from seven regions around the country vie for CotY Awards on an annual basis, and all regional winners will now be eligible for the National CotY Awards. National winners will be honored at NARI’s Evening of ExcellenceSM on Saturday, April 2, 2011, at the Westin Jersey City Newport.

Marrokal’s winning projects include a historical home renovation, an interior/exterior whole house remodel, a beach cottage kitchen expansion, and a kitchen as part of a whole house remodel. Three of Marrokal’s four projects that won Regional CotY Awards also won Local CotY Awards in December 2010.

All projects submitted for judging were an improvement or an addition to an existing structure, with the exception of one category, “Residential Exterior Specialty.” Otherwise, new construction projects were not eligible.

In addition, competing projects were completed between July 1 of 2009 and November 30 of 2010 and were not submitted in prior NARI National contests. An impartial panel of judges who are experts within the industry and associated fields, selected winners based on each entrant’s binders, which include “before and after” photography and project descriptions. Judging focused on problem solving, functionality, aesthetics, craftsmanship, innovation, degree of difficulty and entry presentation.

Trophies will be awarded at the Evening of ExcellenceSM at the Westin Jersey City Newport on April 2, 2011, where National CotY Winners and Achievement Award Winners will also be announced and awarded.

The Evening of ExcellenceSM is widely considered to be the premier event of the year in the remodeling industry. It will be attended by more than 350 of the industry’s elite.

To be considered for a CotY Award, a company must be a NARI member in good standing. The entries making up this year’s competition totaled $93 million in remodeling projects. NARI members represent an elite group of the approximately 800,000 companies and individuals in the U.S. identifying themselves as remodelers.