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Top home improvement projects with the highest returns

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Put your money to good use when improving your home – to prepare to sell or not – with these projects with the highest return on investment (ROI). Home renovations can be very expensive so it is wise to keep resale value in mind.

New entry door

The face of your home… improving your door is easy, not that expensive, provides a new fresh look and pays off big with 90-100% ROI

Installing a fireplace

A fireplace is something that many buyers long for in a home. Adding one adds value, atmosphere, and warmth. Estimated ROI 91%

Replacing exterior siding

Not a very exciting project but it goes very far in putting a fresh and updated look to your home. Nothing speaks “expense” to a buyer like a house that needs painting or residing. Estimated ROI 80%

Replace garage door

Sometimes these face the street and are very noticeable and sometimes not.  Either way, garage doors are an integral part of our daily lives and ones that works well and looks great will add value. Estimated ROI 90%

Adding attic insulation

Another not-so-exciting one.  However, this improvement can get a return on investment of up to 116% in addition to saving energy costs on an ongoing basis. Because this improvement is not readily visible, make sure you let buyers know about it when you sell your home.

Often, the items that return the most are not the big-ticket items like luxury kitchen and baths.  It is hard to re-coup costs of adding a $25,000 bathroom or a $50,000 kitchen remodel.  But, a $1200 shiny new efficient entry door or $1600 new garage door pay off big in making your home seem brand new with a lower cost that is easier to recoup upon selling.

Have a question? Ask your First Weber agent

First Weber agents are in and out of homes every day and can help you with suggestions on how to improve your home in the smartest way.  Take advantage of their knowledge in the neighborhoods and invite them over to talk home value/home improvements buyers like.

Ask your First Weber Agent

First Weber sells real estate throughout Wisconsin: Metro Milwaukee and Southeastern WI, South Central Wisconsin/Greater Madison, Southwest Wisconsin, Western WI, Central Wisconsin, Northeast Wisconsin and Wisconsin’s great Northwoods. You can start searching for Wisconsin real estate and Wisconsin real estate agents at firstweber.com

Source: RIS Media and Realtor.com

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25 Backsplash Ideas For Your Kitchen Renovation

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From eye-catching tilework to impressive slabs of marble, this collection of some of our favorite backsplashes will help inspire your next remodel.

In the kitchen, copper-colored stainless steel tiles from TileBar create a glowing backsplash. The cabinetry is by IKEA, the countertop is Caesarstone, and the induction cooktop is by Bosch.

The stools are from Crate & Barrel. The Hobsons chose a geometric-patterned glass tile backsplash by Island Stone. Induction cooktop and oven are by Bosch.

In total, the renovation was completed for around $35,000.

The showstopping material elements are the Borghini honed marble countertop and backsplash by Ann Sacks. Hasami porcelain vessels line the open shelving.

In the bathroom, a custom ceramic backsplash designed by Meredith and Sample joins an iroko-wood tub created by their students a the University of Toronto.

Sasha samples berries at the island while Wes, perched on the counter next to Deborah, clutches the whipped cream—similar in color to the backsplash, made of traditional Moroccan tiles and available through Emory & Cie.

Butler’s pantry with herringbone backsplash

Heath Ceramics hex tile backsplash and counter with copper edge

We had the stone counter and backsplash cut from the same slab of Vermont marble, achieving a continuous graphic pattern.

The metal backsplash and drawer pulls were fabricated by 12th Avenue Iron; the cooktop is by Miele.

In this California home, a red mosaic tiled backsplash balances the lower white marble counter.

Rendered in sharp blue, the timeless motif of Greek Key is used as this kitchen’s backsplash.

Kitchen Sink with J Schatz Platinum Formations Tile Backsplash and Brutal Coffeemaker

The pendants over the kitchen island are from Cisco Home; the bar chairs are by Studio One for Lost & Found. The patterned concrete tile floor is from Mission Tile West, as is the mirrored backsplash (above), which was originally meant for the living room fireplace. “I think we over-ordered,” Lena recalls. “So I said, ‘Let’s do a disco backsplash.’ It just needs to make you smile, and I think it does.”

Fresh white kitchen with warm wood wrapped island, black cabinet pulls and Dwell patterns Heath tile backsplash .

A backsplash laid out in a herringbone pattern adds a subtle layer of texture while pendant lighting adds depth.

Fireclay Tile in a classic subway pattern goes beyond the standard 18″ H backsplash raising the ceiling visually.

Detail of natural stone backsplash by Decorative Materials Inc. High gloss white cabinets by Vogo.

To complement the white-washed custom cabinetry in her kitchen, architect Julie Salles Schaffer has designed a tile backsplash to resemble “melting butter in a white pan”. Daltile arranged her two-color AutoCAD design—white and off-white—onto a mesh backing for a small fee. To soften the edges of the cabinets’ drawers and doors, Schaffer requested radial edging.

Hand-made Moroccan tile backsplash by Mosaic House with contrasting niche; custom kitchen cabinets designed by MIRIAM BIOLEK Interior Design with Bendheim’s mouth-blown glass inserts.

In this urban townhouse, a Zodiaq® London Sky countertop wraps the wall behind it to become the backsplash, providing a polished backdrop for design details and vignettes. Its muted color complements dark wood cabinets and rich, metallic accents.

The Ferry Building shop displays seasonal goods as well as items from some of Heath’s most popular collections. The top shelf here features serve bowls, platters, modern cups, bud vases, and a pitcher from this year’s Summer line in aqua/zest and ocean pacific. Heath worked with chef Alice Waters and designer Christina Kim to create the Chez Panisse line, named after the famed Berkeley restaurant, which is seen here on the second shelf: side bowls, mugs, and café bowls in Jicama, Cardoon, and Forrest. The backsplash is Heath dual glaze tile.

Owners Kirsten and Lloyd chose a muted mosaic tile from Modwalls to cover the backsplash and back wall of the kitchen. New cork floors from House + Earth give a nice feel underfoot. Perforated chrome lights from Rejuvenation under the bar soffit enhance the mid-century vibe.

Source

https://www.dwell.com/article/6389148431602909184

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3 home improvement issues you should never ignore

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Serious problems can pop up around your home without much warning — some of which can cause thousands of dollars in damage. Fortunately, you can prevent the majority of these household calamities by recognizing their warning signs. Here are three signs of impending disaster that you can’t afford to miss:

A FLAILING FURNACE

Unpleasant sounds and reduced energy efficiency point toward a potentially disastrous furnace problem. In many cases, furnace issues are caused by an old or clogged air filter. Forgetting to change your furnace filter can seriously damage your furnace and threaten the safety of your home. Dirty filters restrict your furnace’s airflow and reduce its energy efficiency. This will result in higher utility bills and additional strain on your unit. An overworked furnace can also experience mechanical failures. In extreme cases, furnace defects can cause gas and carbon monoxide leaks.

Update your filter if you notice the signs of a furnace problem. Most furnace professionals recommend changing your filter once a month — especially during seasons that require constant HVAC activity. The cost of a replacement will differ according to the filter’s effectiveness. Bargain- priced models come in convenient multipacks but lack sufficient filtering capabilities. Washable filters — while more expensive than disposable models — are reusable for several years and provide excellent protection against dirt, dander and other airborne irritants.

HomeAway.com, most summer rental homes are booked April 1. Which means it’s time to start planning. 

Lucky for Illinoisans, we needn’t travel far to find gorgeous scenery (hello, Great Lakes). Here are 10 lakeside homes for rent in locales worthy of your summer vacation.

(Lauren Hill)

Click here to see the full list. 

(Darcel Rockett)

Source

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/home/ct-home-improvement-issues-20180409-story.html

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[VIDEO] Mark G. Richardson’s Proven Time Management Strategy for the Busy Home Improvement Contractor

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Have you wondered why some businesses get better results from their digital marketing than you do? Tune in to learn about common home improvement marketing mistakes and how to fix them.  Some of the things you’ll hear are: Identifying and understanding the 10 BIG marketing mistakes made by home improvement contractors How to avoid each …

By Steve Eastlack | 3 weeks ago |

Learn a simple and powerful approach to business planning! Creating and having a business plan doesn’t have to be a chore. In this video, Tim Berry, Founder of Bplans.com and Palo Alto Software, shares the method he’s spent the last few decades developing. It’s a powerful system that businesses are using to identify and plan …

By Steve Eastlack | 1 month ago |

What if getting a new customer was as easy as asking for it? Voice-enabled assistants like Google Home and Amazon Alexa are changing the customer journey as it relates to how people are finding home improvement contractors online. Now more than ever, businesses need to think about how they’re going to market themselves in the …

By Steve Eastlack | 2 months ago |

According to Google, 72% of patients search for local practices online before scheduling an appointment. Misinformation or duplicate listings can hurt your rankings and make it difficult for these potential patients to find you online. Ask yourself these two questions: 1) Am I listed everywhere I need to be? 2) Do my listings present the …

By Steve Eastlack | 6 months ago |

Source

https://www.surefirelocal.com/blog/2018/04/video-mark-g-richardsons-proven-time-management-strategy-busy-home-improvement-contractor/

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Genevieve Gorder – Kitchen Renovation Lessons

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Genevieve Gorder has completed more than a hundred kitchen renovations for clients and on television, and she’s a serial renovator herself. “I’ve redone the kitchen in every single home I had as a child, young adult, and grown-up,” says Gorder. “The only period in my life that prohibited me from doing a kitchen was two years in the dorms, and it killed me!”

But even with all this experience, redoing her own spaces (vs. a client’s), has taught her things about the process and herself. Here are the six biggest lessons Gorder learned during her own kitchen renovations.

1. Budget is always a limitation.

You may think the sky’s the limit for design pros, but the reality is, everyone has to make choices. “My challenge is always budget. My imagination is wild and can be expensive,” says Gorder. “I have a lot of strings I can pull in the industry when it comes to ‘stuff,’ but labor costs what labor costs. Everyone needs to eat at the end of the day and in New York … that’s an expensive meal! If I don’t like the cost, I think of other ways to design a solution. To limit my expenses, I kept the same basic footprint but really upgraded my millwork, stone ,and appliance game.”

2. It’s important to plan — and keep an open mind.

“The kitchen is a high-functioning, expensive layer cake. You have to go in with it figured out or you get slayed,” says Gorder. But know that as you go through the process, it’s inevitable that you will hit snags and have to make changes or adjust. “If you’re not a flexible person … don’t renovate. Behind every wall is an expensive detour or surprise.”

3. You have to know when to call in the help.

Just because Gorder can lay tile and cut countertops, it doesn’t mean she wants to. “I designed the heck out of [the space] and then gave the plans to all of the special practitioners of kitchen. That’s how it works always unless you only have two days and $1000,” says Gorder.

4. The most important opinion is your own.

“Collaboration is an important part of design, otherwise you design in a vacuum and anyone can come poke holes in something you didn’t think of. I ask my family, peers, and friends: ‘What do you think of this? Or if I did this crazy thing? How would you feel if … ?’ But my home is for myself and my family. So while I take everyone’s opinion into consideration, in the end, I’m the designer and the mama of this home, so I have final say,” says Gordon.

5. It’s okay to expect the best.

“I expect a lot from myself, which in turn means I tend to set a high bar for everyone around me,” says Gorder. “It can lead to disappointment, but I like to believe in people first — skeptical is not fun for me! But if it doesn’t work, I edit the team. Life is too short to consistently battle and it shows up in the work if you do.”

Plus, you probably won’t be renovating your kitchen again anytime soon — it’s okay to want it done right!

6. A renovation can change your outlook on life.

Even though a renovation can take months or years, the final result can be transformative. “After a divorce you need to re-landscape life and boy, did I! I felt like a phoenix when it was done,” says Gorder. “I was surprised how happy I would feel to come home each and every day. It’s almost a giddiness. And that’s the true tipping point I use for all of my clients as well — that moment when you stop working for your home and your home starts working for you.”

Source

https://www.thekitchn.com/genevieve-gorder-kitchen-renovation-lessons-255792

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Our Master Bathroom Renovation, 1 week in: It Gets Worse Before it Gets Better (right?)

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swapping out our shower head–a simple upgrade that anyone can and should do if you aren’t happy with your shower right now, today!

But besides that, we’ve just been using our bathroom as is, making mental notes of what we someday wanted to do. As the list grew, we knew our budget would have to, too. Because the list started including things that were beyond the scope of DIY. Major plumbing projects like moving toilets across the room and nixing tubs in favor of multiple shower heads. So we waited and waited and this year, we’re celebrating 5 years in our home by knocking out the last room on our list, the master bathroom–at last.

(this photo is the same angle as the one above it)

One big lesson we learned this week is you can plan and prepare for years, and there will still be 150 decisions you have to make every day–even if you aren’t the one necessarily swinging the hammer. And a lot of them have to be made on the spot. Quickly. It’s exciting and crazy and exhausting. For the sake of summary, in my mind, there were three curveball decisions made this first week–one by us, one by the contractors, and one by the plumber…that is gonna have to get fixed.

1. The curveball decision we made 

Mid last week, after they had the walls down, they ran into a few snags with the plumbing layout. In the toilet closet, Where the toilet would fall was right on a thick floor joist. It needed moved forward 4 inches. Which made our shower 4 inches smaller. (I initially thought this had to do with our plumbing for the sinks having to be built out, as well, but they are separate). After standing in the area by ourselves, and with each other and with a measuring tape and squinting, we decided to bump out the wall into our bedroom 4 inches–which is basically the thickness of the wall. To some it may sound extreme. But to us, the wall is coming down anyway to house a pocket door, and we’ve come this far. Why not keep our grand shower as grand as we wished it to be. The final shower will be 60″ wide x 48″ deep.

2. The curveball decision our contractors made

We decided not to do a steam shower a couple weeks ago. Mostly because of a tile conflict, but also three shower heads in a 5 foot area felt like it would get steamy enough. Still! Making sure our shower had enough water pressure and power and heat to it has been the name of the game all week. Two days ago, I overheard them saying, “we’re going to have to take down the ceiling.” And sure enough, a portion of the ceiling from our utility room, down the hall and into the girls’ bedroom came down so they could run the appropriate pipes–a necessity! Part of the wall in the girls’ bedroom also came down and it’s fascinating to me how this house of ours is all connected.

Sometimes, right now, it feels like every inch of the house is in shambles, but it also makes me grateful we hired this out. How scary it would have been if we had to make the decision to take down a bunch of the ceiling and the wall in the girls’ room. I don’t know if I could!

3. The curveball decision our plumber made

Because we’re running so much water to our shower, the drain pipe has to be 3″ instead of a standard 1.5″. They warned us a few days ago, a p-trap might not make the angle in the floor joists which would mean we may have to add an extra drain to the shower or the other option would be the trap would have to be concealed somehow from below?

Yesterday afternoon, we learned our plumber (who is a genius! but definitely puts plumbing over everything else) went the route of–not my problem. There is a p-trap hanging down from the ceiling in the girls’ room!

Hahaha What?! He was thinking we could just drop the ceiling there. I can’t even wrap my head around that, but we’re talking with them tomorrow about making the switch to two drains if need be.

All in all, it’s been a whirlwind first week, and my fingers are crossed that we’re still on schedule to finish by the month mark, but it’s hard to tell right now. Is this the hardest part? Moving all these pipes around? It feels like it could be.

I’m also taking notes and working on a post about living through a renovation. If you have any pro tips to share, leave them in the comments below! I’d love to add them to a post with credit.

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Our Master Bathroom Renovation, 1 week in: It Gets Worse Before it Gets Better (right?)

Breaking Your Personal Limits