Sorry, no sugar-coating here.
We approach our home construction projects a little differently. We’re 100% transparent. Our experienced team has seen the pitfalls inherent in “contingencies” and what that can mean for an unsuspecting homeowner. That’s why we take pride in being totally upfront BEFORE your home renovation or custom home project gets started. We take the time to walk our clients through the process, budgets, timelines, and the realities of what they need to prepare for. Truth is, we’d rather lose a project up front rather than surprise you later in the build because of a wishful-imaginary-optimistic-fairy-tale budget or expectation. After all, we’ve worked as hard to build our reputation, as we will to build your dreams.
We take the time to explain the details.
Take the difference between renovating and remodelling for instance. Most home owners and residential construction contractors do not differentiate between a “home renovation” and “remodel”. However, there is a distinct difference between the two. That’s critical for homeowners to understand ahead of time as it affects budgets, timelines, and most importantly, expectations.
RENOVATIONS.
A renovation is mostly repair work that is done to a home that has become intolerable with age to live in. Some typical examples include re-painting old interiors, fixing moldy drywall, repairing doors that are falling off, or re-doing bathroom tile that has dirty and missing grout. These are usually associated with rental properties before welcoming new renters, or for homes that are intended for sale very soon.
REMODELLING.
A remodel on the other hand is a completely different approach. This is specific work that home builders do to turn a property into a dream home. It is most often done when someone decides to purchase an existing building or property because they see its inherent potential, rather than building a custom home from the ground up.
Remodelling allows you to choose your room layouts, specific millwork designs, the style of kitchen, and even the number of bathrooms you want. With our experienced partners in design, we can work with any existing building footprint to build exactly what you have been dreaming of. So although most people call that an “involved reno” at best, it is actually a re-structuring of a building to suit your aspirations, vision, and lifestyle.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.
Now that you know the difference between the two, let’s get into some of the challenges you may face when choosing to renovate, rather than remodel.
A home renovation is a unique process, and in many cases it is more complicated than a new home build. That’s why a lot of residential construction contractors attempt to talk homeowners out of their renovation plans, and convince them to do a completely new build.
There are a variety of issues and inconveniences that a renovation project can bring up. Some examples include technical setbacks like faulty framing, rot, and Building Code discrepancies. However, the largest issue that comes about is the age-old battle between expectations vs. reality that homeowners are typically presented with.
As a homeowner, being able to create informed decisions based on facts, (not optimism) is key to a successful renovation. That’s why we have developed a client education process to assist you in making the correct decisions for you and your situation. Our proprietary methodology is designed to bring homeowners up to an operational level of knowledge in order to speak the language of the contractor.
NAVIGATING BUILDING CODES.
We are constantly surprised how many clients run into issues with residential construction contractors who do not grasp the complexities of working with governing municipality inspectors. Often this happens because these inspectors point out corrections that are needed to be done (and rightly so, we might add) that were not included in the original estimate. The building code has changed significantly since most older homes were built, and these need to be carefully considered when undertaking any new home improvement project. At Niso Homes, we can anticipate these necessary hurdles with proper planning, and by ensuring that code consultation is a part of our design build phase.
TRADE PARTNERSHIPS BUILT ON MUTUAL RESPECT.
Niso Homes has built trusted relationships with a select group of sub-contractors who share our fanatical attention to detail and our on-time, on-budget mentality. We know their standards and they understand our expectations. So you can rest easy in the knowledge that anyone we recommend to create your Niso moment is a consummate professional. They will arrive on time, be polite and courteous, and will clean up their work areas during the project–not just when they’ve finished. We only partner with the best but if you want to “shop around” to see what the industry norm is for sub-trades, we are happy to provide competitive quotations for your review.