5 Features you Don’t Find in a Good Multi Family Construction Contractor

Choosing the right multifamily construction contractor may not be easy, but it is vital to your renovation project. As a real estate investor you can neither afford to delay your work, nor compromise with low-standard quality. At the same time, it is important that the company you choose to work with does not sprinkle any uninformed additional costs at the last moment. This article highlights 5 things which multifamily construction contractors should not do.

Lack of Communication
Improper communication is the last thing any real estate owner expects from his roofing contractor. The reason, it keeps you uninformed about the work in progress, thereby taking away the opportunity to ensure everything is moving as per the plans, or suggest any ideas in the work methodology. Again, the absence of communication affects your relationship with the contractor, and might also hinder the efficiency of the various subsystems within the construction team.

Subcontracting
Subcontracting is the delegation of work by a contractor to someone else. This is not a very good idea, as it might affect the plans that the multi property owner had previously devised with the original contractor. The party who has been delegated the work might not have all the details you shared with initial contractor, which may create problems in the project, delay the work, and not deliver the expected results.

Producing Low-Quality WorkIn the event of subcontracting and lack of communication, low-quality work becomes a natural phenomenon. Multifamily construction contractors preferring cheap renovation materials may not deliver optimal results. This will increase problems and costs at both the ends, as the real estate business might demand for re-work. No wonder why you should only hire professionals with years of experience in the renovation business.

Adding Extra Costs
Isn’t it frustrating when you hear about that hidden fees after the completion of your project? In fact, many companies, include the expense of free quotes in the final charges to add to their income, which every commercial builder just hates. Discussing the total cost of the project, including all additional charges, therefore, remains an important step for commercial builders before they finalize any contracting company for their project.

Exceeding Deadlines
Real estate businesses have their own deadlines. In the event when a multifamily construction contractor does not complete the work on time, they are bound to lose customers and develop a bad rapport in the market. While bad weather may delay the work of any contracting company, good construction and remodeling companies always have a plan in place for emergencies. They know how to do their job, no matter the vicissitude of nature.

Conclusion
While it is imperative for multifamily construction contractors to avoid these elements, it is your duty as a real estate owner to do proper research before hiring a remodeling company. Remember, professional contractors not only have a good market value, and experience, but they also provide the best of warranties such as NDL or No Dollar Limit.

Roof Remodeling-Benefits of Tearing Off Old Shingles Before Re-Roofing

Roof remodeling is an important aspect in house maintenance. It is a tedious task that calls for proper attention to details. One small mistake while removing shingles or installing underlays, and the roof’s efficiency might be compromised. Remodeling contractors in Austin Tx are choosing to follow traditional methods in order to bring in strength to remodeled roofs and also avoid common problems like water logging and improper ventilation.

Tearing Old Shingles
First step towards a roof remodeling project is to take proper permission. Yes, roofing process needs permissions in some localities. A roofing contractor can obtain the necessary permit which is applicable to both new roofing as well as re roofing projects.

Coming to tearing off old shingles completely, the procedure is beneficial in multiple ways. It is agreed that applying new shingles over the old ones is cost effective but most remodeling contractors will forego it because the process will hide all the problems under two layers of shingles. A complete removal of old shingles leads to the discovery of the faults beneath them.

• Complete tearing of old shingles reveal problems with the roof deck that can be fixed only when the shingles are not present.
• Ventilation problems can be fixed properly to save heating bills and reduce issues related to condensation.
• Roof underlayment can be fixed or installed anew only in the absence of shingles. Re roofing projects are the proper time to check on them.

All of these changes add up to the roofing costs but they are definitely worth the investment. A problem with roof often leads to multiple conditions in turn compromising the safety of the house. It will also lead to compromised living conditions and in the long run may lead to have expenses because of the damages caused by neglect.

Disposing old shingles is usually assigned to the roofing contractor in the contract. If not mentioned the onus may lie on the property owner to find professional authorities who knows how to handle remodeling waste.

Conclusion
Installing new shingles over the old ones looks cost efficient and might also sound like it will provide extra protection to the roof. In reality, this cost saving method might actually be harming the life of the roof and compromising the quality of air and temperature inside the house. Time to time renovations help detect small flaws that will end up costing a fortune in the long run.

Increasing ROI with Multifamily Apartment Renovations in Texas

For multifamily owners looking to improve the resale or rental value of their property, renovations often play a critical role in achieving their objective. Apartment renovations not only enhance the property’s curb appeal, but also improve return on investment. Texas has seen a large influx of property buyers in the last 5-10 years, leading to a rise in demand of renovation service providers in the state. Now, there are many professional renovation experts in the state but only a few of them specialize in improving return on investment with multifamily apartment renovations.

Focus on Your Property’s Aesthetic Appeal
If all structural and safety aspects of your multifamily property are sound, you can enhance its sale or rental value. Exterior renovation is quite often as important as interior for getting the maximum possible return on investment in multifamily apartment. Cost vs. Value estimation by a prominent apartment renovation magazine shows that the most profitable renovations for multifamily owners are to the property’s exterior.

Exterior apartment renovations in Texas have delivered high returns to multifamily owners in the last 5-10 years. The most valuable renovations were exterior, such as door replacement, siding, window, and the like. The old adage of first impression works in apartment renovations too. If prospective buyers or renters find the paint on the front door of your building peeling, or the sidewalk cracked, they will feel that the property is not well-maintained. Even if the building is structurally sound and offers comfortable accommodation, ill-maintained exterior will turn most buyers off.

Target Interior and Exterior Apartment Renovations
Some important exterior renovations from the point of view of improving ROI include improvements in sidewalk, window enhancements, door replacements, and even simple maintenance jobs such as trimming of weeds and shrubbery. The interior renovations important for improving ROI include remodeling of kitchens and attic bedrooms, custom remodeling of bathroom, and upgrade in cabinet doors, flooring, fixtures, countertops, and appliances.

Conclusion
When hiring a construction company for apartment renovations in Texas, make sure they employ qualified professionals who can enhance the value of your property. Architects, engineers, interior designers and other professionals with expertise in renovations are not easy to find as it seems. You need to ask some tough questions and based on whether they offer satisfactory answers or not, you can choose a renovation service provider.

The renovation experts should be able to provide an estimation of cost involved and the enhanced value of the property after the renovation.

Remodeling Your Home? Save Some Love for the Planet

If you consider Global Warming and other environment related hazards to be a major concern, then welcome to the 21st century. Contrary to what doom theorists might say, there are several ways through which we can minimize carbon footprints. Among all the ongoing concepts in this field, sustainable development has come out as the most modern concept for maintaining ecological balance. In this line, the concept of a green home is one way through which you can conserve energy and become more energy efficient and thereby, reduce the carbon footprint and electricity bills along the way.

When we talk about green homes, then it means trying to be energy efficient and consume renewable sources of energy as much as possible. The concept of green home needs to be applied while building a new home as well as during remodeling the existing one. Though, any competent contractor specializing in real estate remodeling in Houston TX would be able to guide the way, it is important for you to be proactive during all stages of the project, especially during planning and material selection.

During the remodeling stage we can consider adding renewable energy system such as solar panels or small turbine that will provide your home with electricity, space heating, cooling and water heating.

Steps to Follow for Going Green While Remodeling
Planning and executing the concept of green home involves few steps that are essential for efficient green home. These steps are:

Step 1: Prepare
The first step on the way to achieve energy efficiency in multifamily property is to check few fundamentals. These fundamental includes: how much you pay for utility bills, how much energy you can save or to know about which equipment consume more electricity and make comparisons among the energy level consumption in different area of the multifamily property. Broadly the preparatory step includes:

Gather Bills
Record of previous utility bills plays an important role in designing the module for energy efficiency in the multifamily property. By collecting previous utility bills you can know the area where there is maximum electricity consumption. Later you can decide to replace that system with another more energy efficient system.

Use an Energy Efficient Tool
It is important to do the comparative study to understand the energy efficiency of your building. Here, comparative study means, comparing electricity and water usage per square foot of your building with the national average. This statistic can be later used to educate the tenants.

Step 2: Perform Lighting System Retrofit
The next step on the way to go green is to replace the energy consuming lighting system with the energy efficient lighting system. This step includes the following:

Replace Incandescent Bulbs with CFLs
Replace the old incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Lamps, CFLs. One of the offsets that you might feel is - CFLs are costly, however, by using CFLs instead of old bulbs, you can save almost 75 percent of electricity.

Replace T12 Bulbs with T8 Bulbs
The old fluorescent lighting system still have 40 Watt’ T12 lamps, this can be replaced with much thinner and energy efficient fluorescent bulbs – 32 Watt’ T8 bulbs.

This step of replacing older energy consuming systems with the recent energy efficient system also includes: use of low-mercury lamps, low faucets and so on.

Step 3: Improve the Indoor Air Quality
The third step to minimize the carbon footprint is to check and improve the indoor air quality of the multifamily property. Poor indoor air quality in the form of Carbon Monoxide (CO) or any other gas leak is not only hazardous for the atmosphere, but it can also be the reason for serious health problem, such as nausea. Following steps should be taken to check and improve the indoor air quality:

Check CO and Gas Emission
The finest way to improve the indoor air quality is to check emission of Carbon Monoxide (CO), other natural gases and liquid propane. Emission of these substance has adverse impact on health and thus become reason for many diseases. These substance are the byproducts of the heating oil used while cooking or natural gas combustion that occurs in gas furnaces and water heaters. These devices can be tested and it can be insured that there is no emission of any natural gas or Carbon Monoxide. This testing generally occurs in the energy audit process.

Trace for any Sign of Moisture
Moisture are the result of variety of sources, such as bad weather, cooking, exterior walls, etc. Moist environment can further result to dust mites, mold and mildew. These substance have capacity to damage the structure of the house. Hence, it is important to check, trace and deal with any sign of moisture in the form of condensation or peeling paints.

Install Exhaust Fans in Bathrooms and Kitchen
To control moisture and minimize the emission of Carbon Monoxide, exhaust fans should be installed in bathrooms and kitchen. Always fix exhaust fans with Energy star qualification, these are 70 percent more energy efficient as compared to normal fans.

Minimize VOC-Paint
If in the process of renovation, you are about to use paint, then do check that paint should be low on Volatile-Organic Compound, VOCs. VOCs are the byproduct gasses that are found in different building materials. These gasses have potential deadly substance that can adversely impact human health. Nowadays, paints with low VOCs compound are easily available. 

Step 4: Plan for Future Maintenance and Operation
Next step in the process of increasing energy efficiency of the multifamily property is to plan and use only green products during any maintenance or operation, that doesn’t increase carbon footprints. This step includes the following:

Purchase and Use Green Cleaning Products
Cleaning products are hazardous. They can impact human’s eyes, ears and respiratory system. Further due to nitrogen and phosphorous emission, these cleaning products also contribute in increasing carbon footprint level. Therefore, before buying cleaning products always check that they are certified by Green Seal or Environmental Choice, or otherwise you can also check the VOC content of the cleaning product and buy the one with the lower VOC content.

Plan to Invest and Use Green Materials
Well, it is impractical to remove all the existing valuable components of the multifamily property with the green or energy efficient materials. Doing this will need huge investment. Though, you can plan to use green materials in your multifamily property at the time of future renovation. For example, to replace the existing roofs, you can plan to buy energy efficient roofs that meet the Energy Star requirement. You can also plan for using green materials while doing Capital Need Assessment, CNA by transforming it to green CNA.

Execute Retrocommissioning
Retrocommissioning is the process to improve the performance of existing equipment and system of the multifamily property. In addition, retrocommissioning includes giving training to owners and staffs about how the improved performance of equipment and system can be enhanced and sustained in future also. 

Step 5: Educate the Tenants
The last step in the process of going green is to educate the tenants. It is important to aware the tenants about the ways through which energy efficiency can be attained. Tenants can be educated in following ways:

Organize Tenant Awareness Meeting
Prior to renovation or retrofit process it is essential to convey tenants about your concerns regarding the steps that you are about to take to increase energy efficiency of the multifamily property. Your concerns can be conveyed and awareness can be spread among the tenants by calling few meetings.

Discuss Utility Use Patterns with Tenants
Discuss the utility use patterns with tenants, and make them aware about systems of the building that consume more energy and also emits maximum environmentally hazardous substance. Also encourage tenants to purchase and use Energy Star qualified products.

Ensure Tenants have Operational Knowledge
After renovation, ensure that tenants have operational knowledge of green system and products. This can be done by providing tenants with proper written materials and manuals that clearly states how to use and optimize the green systems of the building.

Conclusion
By going green where there is an option available, we can minimize the carbon footprints. While building or remodeling our home there exists an enormous scope through which we can add renewable sources and become more energy efficient in our day to day life.

If you too are contemplating a makeover for your property and need a specialist provider of real estate remodeling, it is important to ensure that the one select has proven competence in the domain, validated by a consistent streak of dynamic remodeling jobs. If you are looking for multifamily remodeling in and around Houston, TX then feel free to consult our experts.

Multi Family Renovations – Boosting Sales

Multifamily units are a hit with millennials. The country has changed gears in last 2 decades and today, people have less time at their hands and an inclination towards easy comfort. A multifamily unit comes with all the modern amenities and has become the preferred choice for the generation which prefers a luxurious life and has no prejudices when it comes to adjusting in compact spaces.

Apartment renovations in Texas, Ohio or any other state for that matter, is the best way to increase the price of a property. The investment is worth it most of the times and in fact is the smartest thing to do, to boost the ROI on the initial multifamily unit investment.

Investment in Renovations: Is it Worthy?
Investing in a property that is not for personal use, always comes with its pros and cons. There is very thin line between renovating to attract to going all over board with changes that might unnecessarily increase the price of the unit.

An owner of a multifamily unit, looking to sell or rent his property should understand the fact that renovating an investment means ensuring greater returns. He should consider the following points before he decides to renovate.

Is the property old and in need of repairs?
A Multifamily unit is all about modern amenities and if it doesn’t have that, there’s no chance of a sale and of course profits are completely out of scope. Nobody invests in a place that looks dull and was built a century ago.  So, it goes without saying that property owners should invest in renovations and give the whole place a makeover before showcasing them in the market.

Does it need some vital repairs?
Leaking roofs or broken kitchen appliances, definitely call for renovations. These renovation projects add to the value of the property and should be considered before putting it on market.

Will the renovation increase the price?
Owners of multifamily units for rent should think if the renovation will substantially add to the price of the property and put it on the costly side. If so, then the task comes down to deciding how important that renovation is and if there are any cheaper substitutes to it.

Then again, if the renovation is about repairing a roof, which may fall down at any time, it has to be done at all costs and at the same time, if it is about adding a fancy window to enhance the look, it can definitely wait.

Conclusion
Investing in a property which is an investment in itself, is a fair idea, if it can bring in ROI. There is no point going over board and increasing the price of the property so much so that it goes out of budget for most of the prospective demographic. Apartment renovations TX, must be planned smartly, with the sole purpose of adding value to a property.

Increase the Rental Value of Multifamily Property: Renovate It!

Real estate investors are looking for multifamily properties to invest, as they are a safer bet compared to single-family housing. Multifamily apartments are a better investment option as they require same amount of maintenance as a single family house yet the return is higher than single family housing. Here are certain pointers that should be remembered before remodeling your apartment in Texas.

Get a Cost Estimation
Before you take the dip by buying the apartment complex, visit the building with your remodeling contractor to see the building and check for the damages that require immediate attention or the changes that you want to incorporate in the building. In case, a visit is not possible with the contractor, try to take pictures of the visible damage or any feature that you want to change. This will help you in getting an estimation for apartment remodeling from the contractor and then you can calculate the total cost of investment.

Please note it might be difficult to get a visit with the contractor during the initial stages, so try for the visit before you close the deal.

Improvise the Look and Feel
You might want to make the best apartment complex in the town, then again, the building you just bought should be capable of extensive renovation. Hence, it is advisable to keep the renovation simple. Repaint the building exterior and interior, if the carpet and wallpapers need to be changed, change them and if at all required get new kitchen appliances. This will keep your cost low and yet give the building a new look and feel.

Make Front yard Presentable
Front yard is the first thing that a prospective tenant notices, hence, make sure that it is clean and green. In case the yard does not have grass, plant some saplings and grass in the yard. It makes the garden appealing for the visitors.

As far as the backyard is concerned, you can get it done once the building is occupied.

Ensure Odor Free Surrounding
Any kind of odor turns away prospective tenants. Hence, it is bad for business. Once renovation is over then ensure that there is no fowl smell cigarette smell, pet smell, any other unpleasant smell. A house need to have a pleasant aroma around it as it is appeasing to the visitors.

Repair Before You Replace
If there, is broken equipment in the kitchen or in general anywhere in the house, during remodeling the multifamily building, repair them first, if something is beyond repair, only then go for new equipment. Sometimes simple cleaning does the magic and save money for you.

Clutter Free Areas
You are done with remodeling the apartment building, however, the construction material and waste is still lying around the complex. This is a big turn off for the visitors. Ensure that the building is free from clutter and waste at all times. Even when tenants have moved in, ensure building is cleaned either fortnightly or monthly once to remove all unnecessary clutter.

Conclusion
While you are remodeling the apartments in Texas, ensure that you keep local choices and preferences in mind while planning, designing and remodeling, as this will attract people and make them feel at home.

Benefits of Hiring a Professional for Exterior Renovations

Property is like machinery. It needs regular upkeep to keep its value in the market.

Renovation- The concept
Renovation refers to the process of improving a damaged, malfunctioning or worn-out structure.

Interior v/s Exterior Renovation- The Difference
Renovation activities can be classified into the following two categories:

● Interior Renovation: Refers to remodeling or altering the interior environs like the living room, the drawing room, the family area etc. of the property. These activities are targeted towards increasing the value of the property as well as enhancing the comfort levels for its dwellers.

● Exterior Renovation: Refers to remodeling the exterior environs like the lawn, garden, backyard, etc. Building a swimming pool or replacing an old roof with a more advanced one with better aesthetics can also be classified as an exterior renovation activity.

Exterior renovation- Major Advantages
So what compels property-owners to invest precious dollars and time into getting their exterior environs modified? The answer lies in the many advantages that these activities usher in for the customer. Some known benefits include:

● Enhancing the property’s appeal: A neat, well-kept and aesthetic property will obviously create a good first impression on prospective buyers. Simple activities like modifying the lawn or the garden, improving the overall look of the door or getting an extension installed, can boost the appeal of the property significantly.

● Help in keeping a check on home maintenance costs: Undertaking regular and frequent maintenance activities can result in huge costs. One way of avoiding this is to hire the services of a provider who is an expert in property renovation services. Simple activities like replacing wooden sidings with vinyl alternatives, transform into big savings for the homeowner over a course of time, when executed by these specialized service providers.

● Heating and cooling bills reduction: Activities like upgrading to double-pane windows can result in less use of cooling and heating equipment. This helps you save on electricity bills.

Hiring the services of an experienced renovator has always been a good idea due to the numerous benefits that we have discussed and more. The trick lies in finding a reliable, experienced, and affordable service provider. It also partly resides in the ability to strike a balance between your need to save and necessity of good quality work.