It’s National Home Improvement Month: Stop Dreaming and Start Doing!
During the past 12 months (or more), we’ve all spent a lot of our time indoors and, because of that, we’ve been made acutely aware of the things in our homes that could use some updating. It’s finally time to stop dreaming and start doing some of those updates!
And May is National Home Improvement Month, so let’s get started sprucing things up. We have some tips and advice to get a kick-start on a remodeling project you’ll love!
Value Engineering
Where should you begin? Take a look at your wish lists and narrow things down by asking yourself this question: “What project would make the biggest difference in how well my home suits my family’s lifestyle?”
Like so many homeowners, your top-of-mind consideration in starting home remodeling is probably the budget. So that means a critical part of the process will be “value engineering” which means taking a look at the “cost vs. value” aspect of a project and making choices that will let you get started on the right track and stay there.
Value engineering is a budgeting, planning, and design technique that allocates more funds to the areas that are the highest priority to you. Every homeowner has differing ideas of what’s most important, and we will strive to understand yours and build your remodeling project around those priorities.
Kitchen Scenario #1: An Active Lifestyle
Do you have a busy family with an active lifestyle? The time spent in your kitchen may involve keeping track of your family and their schedules more than cooking elaborate meals.
For this type of project, we can allocate the budget to easy-to-maintain counter and floor surfaces, smart appliances that will save you time, and extras like a beverage center and prep sink so everyone can help out with meals and snacks. We’ll look at making a wide-open floor plan with a large island so the hard-working kitchen can also be the perfect, welcoming spot for family gatherings and entertaining friends in an informal and casual setting.
Kitchen Scenario #2: A Love of Elegant Entertaining
Perhaps you’re a homeowner who enjoys entertaining and takes pride in preparing elegant gourmet meals for family and friends. Your budget should concentrate on professional-grade appliances, a food preparation area suited to your cooking style and high-end fixtures and finishes to complete the look.
It’s possible that your floor plan should also be different from that of a busy family. While including an island where guests can gather outside of the food prep area, you may find you need to keep the dining room instead of an open great room, so you can host larger dinner parties and holiday get-togethers. Adding a butler’s pantry and wet bar can also be important budget items when elegant entertaining is a high priority for you.
Value engineering is the key to the success of a project by planning your budget around your very specific needs and wants. One remodeling project won’t fit every homeowner, but a remodeling company like ours can make sure that what we do will be the perfect fit for you and your lifestyle.
You can count on us to take the time to listen, understand what you want, and to deliver it with exceptional quality and customer service. Let’s talk!