Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Remodel or Build New

One of my relatives sent this blog post to me.  It has an interesting take on the idea of building new vs remodeling.  Although I would like to focus on building new in my business, but will also do major remodels also.  In the early to mid 2000s people were building like there was no tomorrow. My coworkers and I wondered where are these people coming from that are building all these $200,000+ homes there was no way any of us could afford it and we were all making above the national average in salary.  Obviously it was coming from lenders giving money out like free tacos at Taco Bell!

I've always loved walking into an older home that has been remodeled but hasn't lost it's character.  Too many times I think first time homebuyers fall into the trap of buying a cheaply and hastily built cookie cutter that probably will be showing it's sign of age before they can turn around and try to sell it for the same amount of money that the same said homebuilder is selling a new home for to the next prospective first time homebuyer!

  *I* truly believe that with just about any amount of money over $50,000 I could build you a quality UNIQUE "home".  Is it going to be a mansion like Mr. and Mrs. Jones down the road definitely not!  You can save your hard earned money and a few years down the road add on again and again and again.  So come middle age you would  have your "mansion" yet wouldn't be drowning in debt!  Now there are people out there that could come out and pay for it all in cash too, all the more power to you, I have nothing against that either, I'll help you build your house too!  Since nobody ever really told me how when or why about buildng/buying a house, we just all have this misconception that we have to buy the "mansion" to start with, and we don't.

I think that quite a few people have learned a painful lesson the last 2-3 years, no amount of credit is going to be enough in this world if we start living off credit. You have to control what you do have, and YOU can control on how you build/buy/remodel your next house!  *I* will not be shoving a cookie cutter house down your throat saying this is the only option you have at this price, although your options may be limited!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

What IS Arete Home CM Services?

I'm guessing there will be questions to the effect of "What exactly are you doing?" Well here is the answer to that question. My goal is to meet with people when they're in the designing stage of their new home/addition and help them get construction documents first for bidding and then to build off of, and finally record drawings of what actually was built! What are construction documents? They include the specifications, the blueprints, and the contracts for various parts of the project. The contracts lead into the other side of the business; management! With the management part I will be project managing the project for the homeowners so they don't have to worry about keeping the plumbers from putting drains through the electrical lines and vice versa! Also will be making sure the job is done right, as it seems these days shortcuts are becoming more common. As are mistakes due to people not realizing what they can and can't do. Also this will give the homeowner/buyer more control over the project because they ultimately will make the decision, I will just be an advisor. Hopefully they can achieve a much better quality home for a better price!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The beginning!

After many years of dreaming what would be my dream job and occupation and how I wanted to go about doing it.  Last spring I was given the perfect idea that was close to what I was thinking I wanted to do.  So now I've started and hopefully I can continue as I find home construction extremely interesting and enjoy helping people build their dream home!  I will hopefully post updates on this blog of projects I'm working on and completed and also any current events and news that pertain to the residential construction industry. So spread the word I am looking for customers!