Silvertree Remodeling

Acting as your own contractor.

Will this save you money? Yes and no, depends. Being a contractor is a job, it takes time to line up materials and subs and things come up to complicate the process.

The reality is, a contractor does charge to manage your project and you could do his job and cut out all the management fees, this could be a lot of money. Contractors bill around 25% of a jobs total selling price to overhead and other costs. But they do earn this money. Insurance, phones, the funds to come back if there is a warranty issue all comes out of this percentage. Add the fact this is a full time job and you begin to see where the money goes. It ain’t buying a diamond collar for his poodle.

Acting as your own general contractor saves money, but it comes with full responsibility for properly finishing your job. Warranty work is on you, subs will charge you for delays, give you a higher price than a contractor who uses them often and you won’t get discounts on materials because your a retail customer. Plus you warranty all material you buy yourself.

I’m not saying don’t do it, but I am saying be realistic on what you might save. You will save money, but you will earn every cent.

Paul Lesieur/ Silvertree Construction

Paul Lesieur General Remodel

Kitchen Cabinets

When discussing kitchen cabinets there are typically three basic types of cabinets discussed:  stock (also referred to as modular or economy), semi-custom and custom.  Let’s talk about what these terms mean.

Stock Cabinets

Stock cabinets are the type of cabinets sitting in a box ready to sell on your local big box store’s shelf.  They come either pre-finished or unfinished.  You can’t walk up to the counter and request a slightly different size or a different drawer construction; what you see is what you get.  Some companies offer stock cabinets that are only partially assembled.

Semi-Custom

If you want to stir up a bunch of custom cabinet makers at a fondue party start talking about “semi-custom” cabinets.  You’re likely to get an earfull about how there is no such thing, cabinets are either custom or they are not.  Both stock cabinets and semi-custom cabinets can be referred to as “modular”, they typically are made in widths varying in 3 inch increments.  I think semi-custom is an important and necessary distinction since these cabinets offer endless choices to consumers.  While it’s true the layout must be built around 3 inch increments(for most non-custom cabinet manufacturers) they are typically offerend in an infinite combination of heights, depths, door overlays, box material, drawer construction, drawer mounting, stains/paints/glazes….. and so on.

Custom Cabinets

Custom cabinets are just that: custom.  They are built to fit the exact design, layout and specifications for a specific project.  They typically do not have a filler piece between a cabinet and the wall, rather the cabinet against the wall is scribed to it.  Anything and everything about the cabinet can be specced by the customer.  Usually when you see doors that are flush with the cabinet frame rather than laid overtop of the frame it is a custom cabinet.

Let’s be clear about one thing: custom does not denote quality.  I have seen very high quality semi-custom cabinets and I’ve seen very poor quality custom cabinets.

By Owen Sechrist/ http://www.rubycon.us

Paul Lesieur Kitchen

Save money by helping

In over 30 years of remodeling I have been offered by homeowners the option of letting me have them be available to work on their home.  I assume these people thought they were hard and reliable workers and that may indeed be true, but I never let it happen.  Why is that?

First of all,  do you suppose these people offered the owners of restaurants they eat at to help cook the meals and maybe save some money?  How about offering the dentist to help put their kids braces on, or maybe they offered to help their car mechanic to replace the muffler and save a little money?  I doubt it.   So why ask me?

When you offer to help your contractor you are saying to him that a person with no skill, save a long ago part time job doing labor during summer vacation will be on his job.  You are saying that you want an amateur to be on the crew and are assuming this won’t impact the outcome.

There is a flow with professionally run jobs, it’s a well oiled machine with everyone on site doing their accorded tasks.  Things go in a fixed order that usually results in a better production and finishes.  A licensed contractor has insurance and workers compensation that protects and takes care of anyone in his employ.   When a homeowner works with their contractor they have just created an insurance problem for the contractor,  exposing him to litigation if the homeowner were to get hurt.

Last but not least, an inexperienced crew member will need lots of management and explanations, and this slows down the project manager and takes him away from more important tasks.  This means that the job will take longer and maybe cost more.

Seriously, think about it this way, what if your contractor came to your job and asked to work next to you?  Would this work at your place of employment?  If you’re a banker  can I come and help you write loans, or if you’re a department store manager can I come to work with you and help out,  you know,  just do simple stuff like put things on shelves?  Would that be something you would consider?

There isn’t a contractor out there that doesn’t cringe when a homeowner wants to help.  Reasons are insurance regulations, the need for close supervision, the fear of something bad happening like an injury or something being broken.  Smart contractors do not sign up jobs with homeowners on the crew.

Can you do anything to help?

Yes, maybe you can demo and clean before we show up, maybe you can make sure there is nothing in our way, you can be ready when its decision time.  Just don’t help.  This is what we do and we are trained to do it, and we train our helpers to work within the work culture we have developed.

Thanks for the thought, but its harder than it looks.

Paul Lesieur

Paul Lesieur General Remodel

Where can you save? What works and what doesn’t.

This is part 1 of 4 articles on how a home owner can save on their remodeling. Today we start part 1.

Getting your own materials.

First thing is how does a contractor make money? Car mechanics make $100 an hour. Comcast charges about $125 per hour, ATT about $125 per hour. Of this the installer may make $35 an hour with benefits, then the cost of overhead like advertising, truck, tools, office staff and ,so on that money gets whittled down to about $10 left over for profits. So, the phone company does not really clear $100 an hour, they have expenses. And the customers pay for those expenses. The profit, well that allows the business to grow. And yes, the owner, the person who takes the risks makes money.

Companies mark up materials they supply and install, and will only service products they supply. Why is that? Well first off is no one will warranty a product the customer supplies, why would they? What if it was a return with parts missing or it doesn’t work right. Most professionals will install homeowner materials, but they wont warranty them. Businesses markup materials to be able to afford to come back out on service issues if they come up. If they didn’t do this they could not afford to provide and warranty the products they install. If your service provider, lets say the plumber, puts in a toilet and it leaks, he owes you a cost free repair, no questions asked.

Homeowners looking to save money will sometimes offer to provide materials. We will install them, but if we run short of tile lets say, you owe us a trip charge to come back another day, thats only fair. If you get a screaming deal on paint, $1 a gallon, you will save money, but my markup still needs to cover my business expenses so my labor costs may be a little bit higher. We need X amount of dollars to stay in business. If we can’t make money on materials, we make it up on labor.

So, how can you save on materials? If you find products deeply discounted and they work for your remodel you will save money, just ask your contractor if he will install them. Keep in mind, you are responsible to make sure they are adequate in quality and amount to complete the job. You won’t have a warranty, but for many products that isn’t important. Tile, lumber, paint, and other items rarely have problems, but remember, if the paint isn’t shaded the right color, that’s your problem.

Last question is, why do contractors buy such expensive materials? You would too if your job depended on satisfying clients. Good stuff installs faster and lasts longer and fails less. Value is what you get out of something and price is what you paid. If you want to get materials to save money, ask your contractor what those savings will cost you.

Paul Lesieur-Silvertree Construction a Twin Cities Remodeler

Next week: Can I help?

Paul Lesieur General Remodel

Minnesota Floor Styles

When remodeling, its the sum of all parts that make your Twin Cities home a winner or not when the dust settles. In all remodeling projects we have ever done, flooring is always a key ingredient in whether we hit the WoW! factor or not. Why is that?

Flooring is a big piece of the color palette, its one of the first things you notice when walking into a home. Not only is it important in a design sense, its important in other ways also. Will it stand up to your traffic? Is it easy to clean? Flooring is very critical to a beautiful finish. So where do you go to look at flooring and talk to a professional?

I go to Floors of Distinction. Minnesota floors take a beating from the wear and tear of the seasons we live through, and Floors of Distinction knows what to recommend depending on what you and your designer are thinking. Their store has over 4000SF of showroom with all the traditional products along with the newest and greenest solutions to your home makeover.

Owner Bruce Bedoin has been very helpful to me along with all the people on his staff. My customers are never rushed and with the staffs extensive product knowledge and numerous displays to look at I haven’t met anyone yet who has gone home disappointed. So what’s new at Floors of Distinction the showcase of Minnesota flooring?

This week I picked up 2 types of cork flooring, Antico premium vinyl tiles, some sheet goods from Europe and bamboo hardwoods that just knocked my socks off. They also feature carpet including Karastan rugs, which is what I have in my home.

What to expect: Real service in a nice showroom staffed by friendly sales people. Give them a try.

Floors of Distinction, the Twin Cities best shop for flooring.

Paul Lesieur Twin City Home Improvement Pros.

Twin Cities kitchen refacing companies typically deliver a better product than kitchen reface companies in other parts of the country, with one exception, the East coast. The reasons being partly because its the oldest part of the country and because of the house styles many New England homes lend themselves well to this type remodeling.

Twin Cities refacing companies on the other hand have great product suppliers near at hand and because of this we get better pricing on many materials.

Refacing comes in 3 flavors, being:

1. Lower end refacing using value price products with (MDF) Medium Density Fiberboard doors. This is a good product and very stable and is used for a painted door or a door covered with (RTF) Rigid Thermofoil. These are great looking products, but not wood in the traditional sense.

2. Solid wood doors in many wood species, this is the bulk of refacing and provides a beautiful job. Cherry, alder and maple is used and of course oak. Other woods can used and these doors are the raised panel/ flat panel doors you see everywhere.

3. Last but most impressive are the Ultra Refaced Kitchens, some going in at over $100,000. Here you will find custom woods and colors plus all the bells and whistles you would find on any high end kitchen remodel.

So whatever your budget, there’s a reface for you that will give you that beautiful kitchen fast and save you money at the same time.

Paul Lesieur/ Twin Cities Kitchen Cabinet Refacing

Paul Lesieur Kitchen