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The house serves as our shelter and protection. It is every man’s dream to own a house which is safe and comfortable to live in. Many people consider it as our life-long investment. That is why constructing or renovating the house is planned carefully.

Plans in constructing or renovating a house can be very difficult especially without any help. There are a lot of things to consider like the budget and financing available, the materials to be used, the time needed and most especially the design of choice. Continue reading ‘Planning to Construct Your Dream House’ »

In the early 1900′s, Sear and Roebuck offered a selection of pre-designed homes in their mail catalog. For a mere $2,500-$3,000, one could buy all the materials needed to build the home they selected. Additionally, detailed building instructions were included for the 30,000 plus pieces needing assembly. From 1908-1940, Sears and Roebuck sold over 70,000 catalog homes. After seventy years since the last Sears home was built, the next generation of pre-designed homes is becoming very popular.

Unlike the Sears homes, pre-designed homes are prefabricated and constructed off-site in an assembly-line fashion, which is then transported to the permanent site. These homes are designed and built so well, that even experts in the housing industry have trouble discerning a prefabricated home from a traditional home. Continue reading ‘Prefabricated Homes – The Next Generation’ »

Less new homes have been sold in the last year or so, due to home buyers finding foreclosed homes more affordable in light of the recent recession. Research in the property market has however established that buyers now prefer ‘green’ homes to luxury homes with non-green additions.

Forty nine percent of those looking to buy homes, preferred homes containing devices which aid energy saving such as solar panels over luxury features. Only 31 percent of those interviewed preferred luxury features. Continue reading ‘The Inside Scoop on New Homes’ »

Over time it appears that prefabricated structures are being used increasingly in applications other than commercial construction. It used to be that “prefab” meant cheap, because in its original applications decades ago, probably the primary attraction of these types of buildings was that they could be put up very inexpensively. Think of the Quonset huts of World War II or the prefabricated houses that California Gold Rush prospectors could buy in kit form. Structures such as these housed people with much bigger things on their mind, and so basic functionality and cost were paramount to their acceptance.

Not surprisingly, in the decades since, architects from all over the world have been drawn to the economical aspect of prefab and also challenged by its inherent constraints. After all if prefabricated construction is cheaper, one can certainly use one’s creativity to compensate for the restrictions in materials usage and construction techniques which make on-site customization difficult or impossible. Continue reading ‘Prefabricated Structures – More Attractive Than Ever If You Are Building a Home’ »

The one thing that I know about honesty is that even people who lie, want to be around people who tell the truth. Honest people seemed to bring an air of comfort with them and this makes people feel comfortable. If you’re looking for a contractor that’s going to make you feel comfortable, honesty is going to play a big part in your contractor selection.

That makes a lot of sense, but how do we find an honest contractor? It’s often hard to tell whether a contractor is dishonest or is going to be honest with you. If you have a problem separating honest people from dishonest ones and you regularly find yourself in uncomfortable situations, because of some choices you’ve made in the past, maybe you should have another person with you when interviewing your potential contractor’s. Continue reading ‘How Important is an Honest Contractor, Really?’ »

There are more contractors who underbid jobs today than ever before. The problem seems to be getting worse and not better. You would think that the homeowner would benefit from these low prices, but it’s just not working out that way.

This morning I received an e-mail back from a termite damage job that I recently bid. The homeowner told me that I overbid the job by almost double his lowest price. Obviously I don’t know if the homeowner is telling me the truth, because I’ve had homeowner’s light to me in the past. I know that’s hard to imagine, but there are some dishonest people out there and their motives are usually unknown to people like me. Continue reading ‘Underbidding Construction Projects is Creating Big Problems’ »