Consumer Awareness
Deciphering Remodeling Proposals, Selecting the Right Contractor, Why such a huge spread in prices?
The Scenario…
You are a homeowner considering a remodeling project and you want the best price possible without sacrificing quality. First you should hire a residential designer, like Home Options Design – http://www.HomeOptionsDesign.com to draw some preliminary plans to show a “road map” of what the finished product should look like. The reason I recommend preliminary plans is because they will show enough detail to visualize the final project, to qualify your budget, and sufficient enough for any contractor to bid the project. If you end up not doing the project, you haven’t spent that much out of pocket. You should only spend the minimum on plans upfront, until you make sure the project can be built within your intended budget.
You have preliminary plans, now what?
After you complete the preliminary plans you can start to talk with local remodeling contractors, distributing the plans to them in order to get several remodeling quotes. All contractors selected have the same plans so the prices should be pretty close, right? WRONG! Even though your plans specify certain items, it is unlikely you spent enough money to detail out all items involved in the construction of the project. This leaves some of the detail to the imagination of the remodeler that is pricing the project. He will have to make certain assumptions and these vary from contractor to contractor. This is one reason your prices will vary from contracting firm to contracting firm. Most contractors use subcontractors for certain aspects of a remodeling project and that is another reason prices can vary quite a bit from remodeling contractor to remodeling contractor.
I got three prices. Shouldn’t I go with the middle of the road price?
Now that you have secured three prices from reputable remodeling contractors you are having a difficult time deciphering why there is so much price variance and which contractor you should choose. There is always that old philosophy of going with the middle of the road price….basically you throw out the cheapest contractor’s price (you feel they obviously forgot something and you smell change orders), throw out the highest contractor’s price (you feel they obviously are covering ALL their bases) , and go with the one in the middle (seems like the safe bet). Most people feel going with the middle of the road contractor is in their best interests. While this philosophy can be a decent one, you may have just cost yourself thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
How to make sure you don’t leave those thousands of dollars on the table!
In order to dechipher various remodeling contracts, the materials included, and other various details you should hire a professional project manager, such as Home Options Design, http://www.HomeOptionsDesign.com This type of expertise only comes from years of experience, over 25 years of remodeling experience to be exact. Home Options Design’s project managment services could save you tens of thousands of dollars by reviewing and helping you interpret exactly what is included in each contract and acting as the OWNER’s REPRESENTATIVE, not the Contractor. This is just one way. Please contact Home Options Design for a free in home consultation to discuss our project management services and other ways that we can save you money and headaches, you will be glad you did.
Are you looking for a green product consultant to suggest “green” products that can easily retrofit into existing structures, but don’t know where to start?
If you are reading this blog then you already have the answer to that question. You have found the best starting point in the United States. I am a Regional Representative for a company called Eco-$mart, Inc. which specializes in green building products and technologies such as grey water recovery systems, rainwater collection systems, solar technologies, water cooled HVAC retrofit units, Eco-flector radiant barrier window screens, L.E.D. light retrofits, and many many more. . There are thousands of green products on our website at http://www.eco-smart.com Many of these products can easily retrofit into existing commercial as well as residential homes.
With the new economic stimulus package that President Obama approved, there are many advantages and benefits to implementing “green” products and technologies into your business right now. There are many tax breaks and incentives available for a variety of options. If you couple those benefits with our competative leasing options, you will see a ROI in only a few short years. If you own a business or are responsible for implementing any facilties changes, please contact me. I will come to your business location (within my N. FL. territory) and present a detailed presentation outlining the many benefits that these green retrofit products provide.
One plumbing upgrade that is inexpensive, easy to do yourself, saves water, time, and money.
The typical situation: If you live in a typical residential home in America then I am sure you have this situation. You are standing at your bathroom sink fixing to wash your face, shave, or some other task where you desire to utilize hot water. After turning on the hot water side of the faucet, you hold your hand underneath the running water to wait for the hot water to make it through the plumbing system and actully come out of the faucet. This process can take anywhere from a few seconds up to a minute or so. All the while water is being wasted and furthermore if you are on a municipal sewer system, you are paying for sewage fees on this perfectly good and wasted water.
This same situation often occurs while preparing for a shower and wastes even more water.
The inexpensive and easy solution is a residential hot water recirculation system! A residential hot water recirculation system can be a very cost effective and easy solution to this problem.
The benefits are
- Saves energy and water
- adds convenience
- has a 15 year life expectancy
- extends water heater life
- reduces sewer pollution
- reduces air pollution
- easily installed on existing plumbing systems or in new homes
- high return on investment (R.O.I.)
Here is a diagram of how the system works: 
Here is a diagram of how easily it is installed: 
If you are interested in an economical solution to stop wasting water that is both inexpensive and easy to do yourself, please contact me though the contact form on my website. I will be happy to assist you.
Thank you,
Are you a Jacksonville, Florida homeowner trying to pull an owner permit at the City of Jacksonville’s Building Inspection Division, for a project you are doing yourself?
If you answered yes to the above question and are reading this blog post, then you are probably feeling frustrated and just about to give up. You were probably asked questions like, “Do you have any plans?”, “Do you have a survey?”, “Do you have an Elevation Certificate?”, “Do you have a Certificate of Appropriateness?”, “Do you have Energy Sheets?”, “Do you have Florida Product Approval sheets?”, “Did you get an Administrative Deviation?”, “Do you know that your property is a non-conforming property?”, or many other questions that can be overwhelming to first time permitees. That is where I can help. Home Options Design offers homeowners in Jacksonville and all of Northeast Florida permitting assistance. We can provide permitting consultations on the items mentioned above as well as any other questions that the building department asks. We can provide plans and drawings, specifications, Florida Product Approval sheets, Energy Sheets, or help you secure any other document that the building department requires. Our fees are reasonable and our turn around times are usually pretty quick too. If you need help permitting a project with the City of Jacksonville’s Building Inspection Division, please contact us. You can do this by visiting our website and filling out the form or clicking on the email icon.
Thank you,
Home Options Design LLC
“HOW MUCH WILL DESIGNING MY PROJECT COST?”
I often get asked questions similiar to, “How much do you charge for drawings?” or “How much will designing my project cost?” This is a tough question to answer without learning more about a specific project. Some projects are only interior and do not have any structural changes. This type of project can usually be done fairly inexpensively, which I consider around $500. Other projects that are much more complex in nature due to the amount of structural changes taking place can run a couple thousand dollars. Projects that are very large in square footage or scope can run more than that, but these projects are not the most common. Most projects can be completed between the $500.00 to $2,000.00 range.
“HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO COMPLETE THE DRAWING PROCESS?”
The amount of time a project takes to complete can also vary. This is usually dependent on how visual or decisive a client is and is not usually due to Home Options Design taking too long. An average time frame for completing drawings on a mid size project would run approximately 4 weeks. Smaller projects can be completed in as little as a few days, with large or complex projects taking up to 8 weeks. Once again, the average project should be able to be completed in only a few days to a four weeks.
QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC PROJECT DESIGN?
If you have any questions about a specific project, please contact me. I will be happy to answer any question you have. Thank you for taking the time to visit our website and I look forward to serving you for your project design needs.
Tommy
Home Options Design logo | providing Residential & Light Commercial project design in Northeast Florida
Home Options Design is a Regional Representative for Eco-$mart, Inc.. Eco-Smart is a wholesale distributor for a wide variety of Healthy, Efficient, and Disaster Resistant Products for Better Living. I encourage you to take a look at the Eco-Smart website and become familiar with all the products that are available. Eco-Smart is adding new products all the time. We just added a line of sustainable and “green” countertops manufactured by Torzo Surfaces. Please contact me with any specific product information request. Eco-Smart is currently the exclusive Florida distributor. I will be happy to help you with any request that you may have. Businesses looking to retail “green” construction products and technologies should contact me about those opportunities.
