Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Remodeling Your Home News | Social Media Marketing Plan Examples

The Following Story is from Associated Content and brought to you by Timer for shower

There are dozens of reasons people are renovating their homes today, from ?flipping? houses to the growth of families (through babies, returning young adults, and elderly parents who need to live with their children). For any renovation, the owner can break it down into very distinct phases.

Planning

The first stage of renovation is planning. This involves first detailing what the goal is for your home remodel ? more value in the home, additional room, new luxuries, conversion of open space into bedrooms and bathrooms, whatever. There are dozens of simple, often free programs that allow you to lay out your home on a computer and change things around.

When you have a general idea of what you want to do, start visiting home improvement stores and picking up samples. Look at everything. You never know where you?ll find the best inspiration. Home improvement magazines can also give you some great ideas.

Finally, look at furnishings and decor while you?re planning home changes. One of Frank Lloyd Wright?s favorite architectural tricks was to design furniture while designing the home. You can copy this by planning your home remodel around key furniture items, or around a style of furnishing you really like.

When you?ve settled on a plan, create your budget ? and add 20% to it. Your home improvement store can be of immense help in creating a realistic budget (but add that 20% even to their estimates. If you come in under budget, you can have a nice housewarming party.)

Also at this point, you may want to speak to a realtor to determine how much your renovations may add to your home?s value. If you?re planning on dipping into your home equity to finance your renovation, or planning to flip the house, this information can have a significant impact on your plans. In addition, a realtor might offer other advice that can help you better plan your home remodel.

Construction/Demolition

Most renovation construction consists of one or more of the following:

  • Cosmetic changes (interior or exterior)
  • Structural repair
  • Interior alterations
  • Landscaping and patio work
  • Add-on rooms
  • Adding bathrooms and other plumbing/electricity intensive projects

The first is the simplest, the last the most involved. Before starting, determine which level you?d feel confident in doing yourself. Everything else should be done by a contractor.

If your renovation is a simple thing ? you need to repanel walls, or change your tar shingle roof to tile ? you may well be able to do it yourself. When you start building new rooms, modifying plumbing and electrical routing, or altering interior walls, you really should speak to an expert.

Finishing

At the end of your remodel, you may choose to complete the last steps yourself ? painting, tiling, cleanup. A few of these jobs can be harder than they appear (for instance, how do you space tiles properly? Most people haven?t a clue) so think hard before you do your own finishing.

Things To Consider

Home remodeling habits often follow fads, not trends. Think carefully about this before you remodel. For instance, how well does bamboo wood really wear as a flooring? Answer: it?s terrible, and hardwood laminate isn?t much better. How about spiral staircases? Answer: with an aging population and for families with small children, they are seen as dangerous.

The kitchen and bathroom remodel are the most lucrative of the simple remodeling jobs, with up to a hundred percent return on your remodeling dollar even if you use a contractor. As long as you avoid proven losers (trash compactors or non-neutral tones in appliances, for instance), you?ll get the best bang for your buck.

Your home should not be jarringly different from your neighbors? homes. If you want a home that looks like a castle but you?re surrounded with charming Southwestern homes, you may have a problem selling it later. Similarly, if all your neighbors have a koi pond and heated patio, you may want to follow suit; there?s a reason they have done this.

The aging America dictates a few things you should at least consider. You?re likely to have better value in your home if it is more accessible to more people: doorways wide enough for wheelchairs, handrails in bathrooms (or bathrooms that easily modify to support them), hand-held showerheads in showers with built-in seats. An extra first-floor bedroom with its own accessible bathroom is a great investment today.

Think high-tech. Wireless computer networking is increasing in popularity, and a home designed in such a way that your wireless can reach throughout the house is a selling point. There are dozens of other little things you can add: speakers throughout the home so you can have music everywhere, for instance, or built-in sprinkler systems and excellent security systems with wireless cameras (cheaper than you?d think these days).

Don?t go overboard on your renovation. Home prices seem to have peaked lately, and in many areas prices are dropping. While in lower-value markets prices are still rising, this will not last forever. You don?t want to find yourself losing money because prices suddenly dropped in your area.

One of the cheapest and most surprising remodel jobs is a garage remodel. People are adding cabinets, matched refrigerators, residential-look flooring, and upscale workbenches. This remodel is relatively inexpensive, but has the potential for adding a lot to your home value.

In snowy areas, if you?re redoing the patio, walkways, or driveway, it?s a really good idea to consider making them heated. Not having to shovel so much snow can be an enormous selling point, especially after the winter we?ve had. It?s also a safety issue; a heated walkway is unlikely to harbor treacherous ice that an elderly homeowner or relative can slip on.

Bring all your measurements to the home improvement store with you. If you have blueprints, so much the better. Depend heavily on your home improvement store. They often offer classes in specific tasks like tiling, or demonstrations for simple jobs like spackling.

Shop around for contractors and materials ? but references are much more important than price. A bad contractor can cost you a lot more than he?ll save you, and most fly-by-night operations are ?judgment-proof? ? that is, they make so little legally-attachable money that you?d be wasting your money by suing them, even in small claims court. With a good, friendly, patient contractor, you might be able to convince him to allow you to work as a helper on the job, taking off some of his charges for the job in return. If you get one like this, remember that he?s the boss, and that you were the smart guy who hired such a skilled contractor. In other words, don?t get in his way and do as you?re told.

Always assume steps will be behind schedule. And do everything you can to protect your project in case of rain, freezing temperatures, and other attacks of Nature. A sudden rain can ruin a roofing job, or allow rainwater to soak into unfinished walls and insulation, causing a mold problem.

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Source: http://clearwavemobile.com/socialmediamarketingplanexamples/2011/06/14/remodeling-your-home-news/

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