Welcome to My Home Additions Blog
I will comment from time to time when I think I have something to say that might be of some interest. Sometimes
I get the urge to vent my thoughts about things related to remodeling & home additions & this is a
perfect way to do it. As you probably know the word Blog is a contraction of weblog. People have started to write
blogs on every conceivable subject in which they think they have some expertise. It's another way of adding my two
cents to the subject of home remodeling. Feel free to comment, suggest or add your own two cents if you want. You
can email me here
I Am Not a Magician
I once had a request for an estimate to "finish the attic".
I arrived at the appointed time greeted by both husband & wife. Up the stairs we went & I see a
partially completed attic.
They explained they wanted two finished bedrooms each with their own closet.
So we start going through several items including flooring, heat, electric etc, etc & last but not least the
wife says, "also I want the wall separating the two rooms to fold back & disappear so I can have one large room
whenever I want".
I replied, in my best New York accent, "Mrs Smith I am a contractor not Mandrake the magician. I do not do
disappearing walls as part of my act. There is no way to fold back a wall & then make it disappear".
Not surprisingly, a few minutes later I was out the door. Another job lost because of my rude sarcasm.
True, she thought I was inferring she was a ding bat & replied to the inferred insult by booting me out.
I was only trying to explain you can't always have what you want & I did it badly.
Through the years homeowners have requested five sided walls with a five sided roof, a star shaped addition,
round rooms & a bunch of other irregular shapes. They would always finish their request with "but I want to do
this as inexpensively as possible."
Eh?
There is a reason most remodeling conforms to the same standards. It is the most economically feasible way to
get your remodel completed.
Once you get out of the norm you are asking for economic trouble. The costs skyrocket out of sight & out of
your budget.
So, if you really, really want to do your remodel as inexpensively as possible - keep it as simple as you can
stand - & the cost goes down quickly.
How to get him to pull the trigger
(For Wives only)
I have just finished explaining to the husband & his wife how I can give
them a new addition on their home that will satisfy their every need. The size is right the flooring, windows,
cathedral ceiling, skylights, heating, electric are in place & the price is within their
budget.
We have spent a few hours going over every detail of a beautiful addition that they both
desperately want & need for themselves & their family. I say "Mr. Jones, we have discussed
all the details, everything is in place. I have written a contract detailing all the work we will
perform & all the cost entailed. Let's get this going & I will start work in about 6 weeks. That
will give me enough time to get your permits & organize your construction".
Mr. Jones has beads of perspiration breaking out on his forehead. His hands start to
tremble, his eyes start to glaze, his face is turning beet red. The moment of truth has arrived. Months of thought
& planning have come to a successful conclusion. He & his wife have talked about this for
years & now it is presented to them just as they envisioned.
"I've got to think this over." Suppose I lose my job, suppose the interest rates go lower,
suppose the neighborhood burns down, suppose I get transferred to Kansas City, suppose we have an earthquake. What
if war breaks out inTimbuktu or the Arabs won't sell us any more oil. No, not now. I've got to give this more
thought."
I look over at his wife. She's on the verge of tears. Things look hopeless. Months of
planning for an addition they want & can afford is going down the drain. It's over & she thinks there
isn't much she can do.
Unfortunately I have seen this scenario all too often. This person cannot pull the
trigger. He can't bring himself to make the decision.
The Solution:
The only way to make him go ahead with the remodel is for the wife to
intervene. Say something like this. "Harry, you have done enough thinking. It's time to do
something & I've seen & heard enough. Bill, (that's me) Give me the pen & after I sign
give it to Harry. Harry will sign, won't you Harry?
Harry will sign. All he needs is a little push. I give you my personal
guarantee.
"It's All About Money"
(No it isn't)
A lady wrote about some addition ideas for their home & asked me to suggest what
I thought was the best solution. It was a very well thought out, descriptive letter laying out options that they
had to add to their home. (Whether to expand out or up) An excerpt from the letter follows:"We need more bedrooms
for our grandchildren, and workspace so we want to add a master suite, lots of storage space, and at least one
study. We'd actually like a studio/library too, with perhaps a half bath -- my husband works from home much of the
time. What we do will finally depend on cost, and the relationship between the old and the new. We have a number of
options."....
My reply:
Nice letter. You are doing some clear thinking & planning before acting. Before I tell
you what I think you should do, I want to comment on one of your thoughts. "What we finally do will depend on
cost"
In my humble opinion that is the last thing your decision should depend upon. I suspect
you are not part of the Bill Gates fortune & you only have so much money that you can afford to invest. (Room
additions are investments not an expense) Whatever that amount is should be used to build whatever will please you
the most. (Whatever fits your everyday living habits & wants.) After making that decision then decide how
much you can do on the budget already formulated.
Does it make any sense to build an addition, spend a large sum of money & then
not have exactly what fits your needs? Spend as much as you can afford on what you want, not on what will give you
the most square footage for the least amount of money. Whatever you spend will be returned to you with a huge
profit when sell time comes around, plus you will have the enjoyment of use for years to come.
Sounds like you have a great piece of beautiful property & plenty of room to
build. Consider building a one or two story addition as large as you can afford. Add large high quality casement
windows 5'-6' high to capture the view of your surroundings. The second story ideas present too many structural
problems. In addition you mention grandchildren which means you both are not kids anymore & stairs may
present a problem later on (if not now). If you read my "Room Addition" book you will learn, among other
things, that additional footage is cheap if you know how to buy it. Hope this helps
Regards,
Bill Harbrecht
How many times prospective customers said to me "It's all about cost" Sorry, I don't
agree. It's all about living better. Don't look at the trees, look at the forest.
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