Home Improvements
State Licensed General Contractor or Not?
I have heard over and over again and again news media telling consumers if they are having home improvements done to hire a licensed general contractor. They make it sound like someone that does not have a state general contractor’s license will do a bad job or rip you off. Just because they have that license does not mean that they won’t mess the job up or rip you off. In Mecklenburg County, NC for a job under $30,000 a contractor only needs an occupations license for the city or county where the work is performed. Any job over $30,000 a state general contractor’s license is required. Check the County or City where you live for local codes.
When you hire that licensed general contractor he in turn hires sub-contractors to actually perform the work. You are paying him to just pull a permit. He will require the sub to carry liability and workers comp insurance. The general contractors insurance does not cover the job, the sub-contractors does. You can save money by getting your own permit. Hire a sub to do the work, most of the time you only need one. Most sub-contractors will help you with all information you need to get your permit. The sub will call for inspections; the number is on the permit. Most jobs under $5000 do not require a permit [unless you alter plumbing, HVAC or electrical wiring]. You can find what you need at www.permitingfaqmecklenburgcountync.com .
For a Bathroom Remodel, Room Addition, Sunroom, Deck, Flooring, Porch, Painting, Siding, Simple Repairs, Garage Construction or Landscaping. Most of these projects do not need a permit. The ones that do you can pull the permit yourself. You only need one sub to do any of these projects. You can find help with these at www.goodtydingsconstruction.com in Charlotte, Concord, North Carolina .
If you are building a house or doing a $40,000 addition then you need a state licensed general contractor. Juggling that many subs needs someone with experience. You can do it yourself but you might lose your hair! The aggravation you will save on large projects is well worth the expense of a state licensed general contractor. You can get a 12X12 room addition for under $15,000. A project this small can be done by a contractor with an occupations license. If you hire a state licensed general contractor it will cost you several hundred to several thousand dollars on top of the $15,000.
A Bathroom Remodel can cost between $4500 to $10,000 and up depending on what you want and the size. If Plumbing needs to be moved you might have to hire a Plumber. But again you can get your own permit and save hundreds or thousands of dollars. If you hire a large company that has a state licensed general contractor on staff you will pay for it. Then you will probably never see the contractor. The only people you will see is the sales person and the subs that do the work. Why not call a Company like Good Tydings Construction where the owner actually does the work. Then if a specialty trade is needed they will let you know. Or even find the sub for you.
When you pull your own permits then inspections are needed. During these inspections the Inspector will insure that the work is done to code. These inspections are mandatory no matter who pulls the permits. So in short if you would like to save some money you could do some of the general contractor work yourself.
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ServiceMagic
Is Service Magic worth the hassle? Are the Contractors really screened or just pay a fee for leads?
www.complaintboard.com/bycompany/service-magic-a30004.html
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www.complaintboard.com/bycompany/service-magic-a30004.html
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Sunrooms
Sunroom Contractors
There are dozens of Sunroom Contractors in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. This area includes Concord, Harrisburg, Mint Hill, Matthews, Monroe, Pineville, Cornelius, Huntersville, Albemarle, Kannapolis, China Grove, Salisbury, and Gastonia, NC.
It is hard to decide which one is right for your Four Season Room project. Prices vary from $75 to $150 a square foot. They can be built from a Sunroom Kit or a Custom Built Patio Room.
Though kits come in several colors and styles they still look like an afterthought stuck onto your Home. They are constructed from Styrofoam plastic and aluminum. No matter what you do they still look like an afterthought.
Custom Built Sunrooms on the other hand are built from the same materials that your house is made of. Although Custom Built Florida Rooms take longer to build [from 3 weeks to 2 months, kits take 1 to 2 weeks] they benefits outweigh the time that they take. Custom Built Sunroom Additions can be built with Attic Storage Space. They can even be built with a Half Bath or even a full Bathroom. They can be built with as many or as few Windows and Doors as you want. Custom Site Built Solariums can be built with the same Siding and Foundation that your Home is made with. Custom Room Construction can have Vinyl Siding, Brick Siding, Lap Siding, Hardie Board Siding. Whatever Siding you have on your home can be continued to Your New Room Addition.
Roofing on Custom Built Sunrooms can match the Roof Materials on your Home. Roofs on a kit Sunroom are made with Styrofoam covered with sheet metal. The roof pitch of a Site Built Room can match the pitch of your homes Roof. Whether your home has a Metal Roof or Shingles your new Patio Room can have the same Roofing Materials.
With a kit room your interior choice is metal or plastic. With a Site Built Room your interior can be Drywall, Paneling, Bead Board, Vinyl, Brick even Tile Walls! Windows can have Trim around them to match the Windows in your home. You can have Base Boards to match what you have in your home. Crown Molding can be installed in a Site Built Sunroom. Custom Rooms can have Custom Trim Carpentry around Doors and Windows. You have a lot more options with custom Sunrooms than kit rooms.
Flooring in a custom Room Addition or a kit room can be what you choose. You can have Vinyl, Hardwood, Tile, Bamboo, Oak, Walnut, Cherry or Pine Flooring.
The cost of Custom Rooms and kit rooms are not that much different. With a Custom Sunroom you will recoup more of the cost when selling your home.
A Deck or Patio can be added to either room for your Grill or Patio Furniture. www.nccustomremodeling.com
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Casa Decks, Virginia Beach, VA............. www.virginiadeckbuilders.com
Bullock Roofing, Cincinnati, OH............. www.roofingincincinnati.com
Meyer Dentistry, Greenville, SC Dentist. For all Dental needs......... www.meyerdentistry.com
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Maintain You Home
Is it wise to maintain and repair our Homes? Should we allow our most valued possession to fall into disrepair?
Let’s face it our biggest investment is our homes. It’s where we raise our families. In some cases it’s where we will live for the rest of our lives.
To allow what we have worked so hard for to fall apart is not a good idea. If you don’t plan to spend the rest of your life there then someday you plan on selling it. When you are ready to sell, of course you want to get the best price that you can. A house that is in bad shape is not going to get very high offers. The better your home is maintained the more you will be able to ask for it when it goes on the market. If you don’t maintain it now when buyers have their Home Inspector look at it they are going to give you a long list of repairs that they want done. This will be a big expense before you can close on the sell.
Years ago some repairs would be overlooked by buyers do to the market and economy. With today’s market and economy they pick out every little problem. In order to sell your home you will have to correct these before closing. The better maintained your home is the shorter the repair list. Therefore less money you have to spend to close the sale.
Ask any Realtor, the better you maintain your home the higher your asking price can be. And face it, our homes are an investment. Don’t you want the greatest return possible on your biggest investment? http://www.leighbrownandassociates.com/
A leaking toilet or faucet can turn into a major problem if not fixed in a timely manner. Call a plumber and have it fixed. If you put it off one day you or someone else might fall through your bathroom floor. Then that $150 repair bill will turn into an $8,000 to $15,000 bathroom remodel. Once the rot starts the floor and possibly the floor joists will have to be replaced. Rotten wood repair can get expensive.
A leaking roof can cause problems with drywall, rafters or ceiling joists. Call a roofer before you have to get a second mortgage on your home. Placing a blue tarp over it is not going to help.
Is the siding falling off or rotten? Get it fixed. The water getting under that siding could cause serious damage. Drywall, insulation, mold, wall studs, rim joists are just a few of the problems that faulty siding can cause.
Replace those drafty windows with quality replacement windows. You would be amazed how much it would help with your energy bills. Not to mention you won’t have to worry about a home inspector putting windows on the repair list. You don’t have to replace every window in your house at one time.
Don’t let paint continue to peal and crack. Call a painter and have your home painted. It will help your wood work last longer. Paint isn’t just for looks, it also preserves the wood. If you allow the wood to start to rot paint will not cover it up.
Call a Home Improvement Contractor to repair your minor problems before they become major problems.
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Decks
It’s that time of year again. It’s time to enjoy the great outdoors.
Time to refurbish that weathered deck. Or replace it altogether.
Decks come in all shapes and sizes. From small and basic to large and multi leveled with curves and angles. Decks can be constructed from a number of materials. Treated pine, redwood, cedar, composite, PVC and aluminum the choices are many.
The most popular and least expensive would be pressure treated lumber. Although it is the least expensive does not mean that it is not a quality Deck Building Material. Properly cared for a deck constructed of this affordable building material can last for many years. It can be purchased at any Home Improvement Center making it readily available. The majority of decks built in the US today are constructed of this material. In fact treated lumber is used in the structure of decks built with other decking materials.
In the Charlotte, Concord NC area is a quality Deck Builder you can trust to build you the deck of your dreams.
The second most popular decking material used today is composite decking. The material cost for composite decking can be three to five times more than pressure treated lumber. There is a higher installation cost due to installation techniques. The up side is that composite decks don’t require the maintenance that treated decks require. They do require cleaning, mold and mildew will grow on it. Composite decks don’t split and warp as lumber will. The durability and appearance are worth the increased cost.
PVC decking is a high quality decking material that requires even less maintenance than composite decking. Mold and mildew does not grow on it as readily as on composite decks. There is no wood in PVC decking as there is in composite. It withstands the elements better than composite or treated lumber. The color is more stable than other materials. PVC railing is vastly superior to composite or lumber. Whether you choose lumber, composite or PVC for your deck, PVC or vinyl handrails should be used. Treated and composite railing will twist and bow while PVC and Vinyl will remain strait.
In the Huntersville, Cornelius North Carolina areacan build your deck from any material that you choose. Hand railing can be installed on porches, decks or stairs.
Another high quality decking material is Aluminum Decking. Aluminum Decking is the most stabile of the decking materials. It has a simulated wood grain and comes in a multitude of colors. It does not expand and contract as much as PVC, composite or lumber. There is matching aluminum railing. It is the longest lasting and most durable decking material. It stays cooler in the heat of the day depending on color. Aluminum deck boards fit together and keep the area below the deck dry. This makes it ideal for a deck over a patio. Unfortunately aluminum decking is the most expensive. But it will last forever with virtually no maintenance.
Deck Contractors;
Charlotte, NC