Home Remodeling is an Important Investment With Lasting Value

Your home is not just a place where you and your family live. It also is the most significant investment you can expect to make throughout your lifetime. This is especially true after you pay off the mortgage and home sweet home is all yours. The key to getting the highest financial investment out of your house involves making improvements on it in the form of home remodeling projects.

In other words, home remodeling is an important investment with lasting value
You have a seemingly endless number of ideas to choose from for home remodeling projects. At Mares & Dow, our team of highly-rated contractors complete bathroom and kitchen renovations, as well as waterproof basements and repair foundation structural issues. We are also known as the go-to home remodeling contractor for three specializations.

Skylights

Mares & Dow helps homeowners get the most out of lighting systems. We also install skylights, which welcome sunlight into any room in your home. Installing skylights is an important investment with lasting value for several reasons. First, numerous studies demonstrate increasing the amount of sunlight in a room enhances a room’s ambiance, which translates into elevating everyone’s mood that passes through the room. Second, sunlight represents a free way to warm up a room on a cold winter day. Third, this means you can expect lower monthly energy bills. Finally, our team of contractors directs natural illumination to focal points in a room, such as on an art collection or a valuable piece of furniture.

Siding

One of the most common ways to ensure your house has lasting value involves boosting its curb appeal. Curb appeal refers to the first impression people have of your home’s exterior. You can enhance the curb appeal of your home by installing a new roof and completing an exterior paint project. However, a more affordable home remodeling project that boosts curb appeal involves installing new siding. The right siding acts as a complementary feature to other exterior elements such as your home’s windows. You should choose a color for siding that blends seamlessly with other design elements that are added as part of a home remodeling project.

Retaining Wall

Retaining walls serve several functional purposes that increase the value of your home. Building a retaining wall in a low-lying area of your property diverts rainwater away from the foundation of your house. Adding a retaining wall also protects the most vulnerable area of your yard from erosion. However, retaining walls also can improve the visual appeal of your property, especially if you customize the design of a retaining wall. At Mares & Dow, we work closely with homeowners to design the most visually appealing customized retaining walls.

Hire the Right General Contractor for Your Home Remodeling Project

You have decided on what type of home remodeling project you want to complete for giving your house lasting value. Now, the time has come to choose the right general contractor to get the job done right.

Several factors play a role in selecting the best general contractor. You want to hire a team of home remodeling professionals who have several years of experience working on your type of home remodeling project. With that experience, the general contractor hired for your project should possess a record of proven success completing home remodeling projects. The general contractor should have earned the right credentials, such as the certification that makes the general contractor a part of the Building Industry Association (BIA).

The final factor to consider and the one that confirms the other factors is the positive reviews left by former clients on sites like Yelp and Google.

4 Popular Home Remodeling Ideas to Rejuvenate Your House

A home remodeling project involves improving the function and/or the appearance of a house. From installing a new roof to refinishing the basement to create an additional bedroom, you have numerous ideas on how to increase the value of your home. The question is which home remodeling project or projects should you tackle?

At Mares & Dow, we present four popular home remodeling ideas to rejuvenate your house.

Add More Light Sources

By adding lighting fixtures such as spotlights, and low-hanging pendants, you can brighten one or more rooms in your home. Artificial light sources also help you illuminate focal points of your home, such as an art collection or a grand piano. Illumination on a granite or marble countertop immediately brightens the ambiance of a room.

However, you have another way to add more light sources, and it involves welcoming sunlight into your home. One of our most popular home remodeling projects involves installing skylights in locations of a home that receive plenty of sunlight. Skylights deliver several benefits, which include elevating mood and helping you save money on energy bills.

Install Siding

When you think about enhancing the exterior of your house, you probably think first about installing a new roof or undergoing an extensive painting project. Although both are considered effective ways to improve the curb appeal of your home, a less costly and just as effective outdoor home remodeling project involves the installation of siding.

First, you and our team of contractors determine the right material for the siding to be installed. Second, you have to decide where you want the siding installed. As the name implies, siding attaches to the sides of houses. However, you might not want to install siding up and down the side of your home. Mares & Dow installs the highest quality siding that accentuates other exterior features of your house.

Add One or More Retaining Walls

Typically considered more of a functional home remodeling project, the addition of one or more retaining walls accomplishes much more than diverting rainwater and preventing certain areas of your property from turning into flood zones. Adding one or more retaining walls also enhances the visual appeal of your property, as well as separates your property into different areas of landscape.

Mares & Dow offers the highest-grade materials for retaining walls that improve the appearance of your property, as well as cover all the functional requirements.

Create an Outdoor Living Space

If you frequently entertain large groups of guests, creating an outdoor living space increases the amount of room where you play host. Installing a pergola or gazebo gives more room for guests to sit. Even if you do not entertain often, building an outdoor living space gives you and your family a place to get away from it all. Clients who love to cook can do their thing with much more room when we add an outdoor kitchen.

When the time comes to complete one of the four popular home remodeling ideas to rejuvenate your house, you want to hire a general contractor that has a proven record of success. At Mares & Dow, we offer a team of experienced and knowledgeable general contractors to help you achieve the vision that you have for your home.

Home Contractors Transform Basements Into Apartments

Home remodeling projects take many shapes and sizes, from installing new siding to building a retaining wall in the backyard. One of the most profitable home remodeling projects completed by the licensed contractors at Mares & Dow involves transforming a basement into an apartment. Not only does this project increase the value of your home, but it also generates a steady stream of revenue if you decide to rent out the space. Even if you do not rent out the space, the new apartment can become an extra room for a family member or a place for guests to stay.

If you have decided to transform the basement into an apartment, let’s review what you should consider before taking on the home remodeling project.

Confirm the Legality of the Home Remodeling Project

Some local governments place remodeling restrictions on homeowners by establishing zoning laws and regulations. Common types of zoning laws and regulations include limiting the number of occupants in a home, as well as mandating certain types of parking requirements and fire escape plans. You might live in a city that prohibits the transformation of a basement into a residence for someone to rent.

If your city does not allow for a basement transformation into an apartment, you might be able to convert the basement into a space for personal use, such as an additional bathroom.

Cost

After confirming the legality of a basement conversion into an apartment, the next step involves creating an affordable budget. This is the step when the home remodeling contractors at Mares & Dow start providing help for our clients. We closely monitor the supply chain to determine the cost of materials. In addition, we calculate an accurate value for the cost of labor, which includes estimating the number of hours required to complete the transformation of your basement into an apartment.

According to Home Advisor, the national average cost to remodel a basement is nearly $20,000, but a conversion of a basement into an apartment runs much higher than that amount.

Design the Apartment

What style of apartment do you want? Do you want to design a studio or make it a one-bedroom apartment that requires partitions to divide up the space? Although an open floor plan for a studio saves you time and money because you do not have to build walls, a one-bedroom apartment with partitions allows you to charge more money to rent the space. You also have to consider the design of the floor, as well as whether you want to install one or more windows.

The highly rated home remodeling contractors at Mares & Dow help you design the new apartment by creating a floor plan and calculating the square footage.

How to Choose the Right Home Remodeling Contractors to Convert a Basement Into an Apartment

You have decided to convert the basement into an apartment. Now, you must choose the best home remodeling contractors to complete the project. The first factor to consider concerns proven experience. Second, verify every general contractor on your shortlist has earned the proper professional credentials. Certified Graduate Remodeler (CGR) and Building Industry Association (BIA) represent two common types of professional designations for home remodeling contractors. The third factor to consider is the reviews left by clients on sites such as Yelp and Google.

Spring is a Busy Season So Schedule Your Home Remodeling Now

Spring is the time of year for rebirth. Birds return from their long migration. Animals that stayed warm beneath cover appear for the first time in months. Flowers bloom to color the nearby landscape. Spring also is the busiest time of year for home remodeling projects.

At Mares & Dow, we encourage our clients to give us plenty of advance notice for their spring home remodeling projects.

Why is Spring the Best Time of Year to Schedule a Home Remodeling Project?

You can see home remodeling crews working on projects throughout the year. However, spring represents the busiest season for the home remodeling professionals at Mares & Dow for several reasons.

Ideal Weather Conditions

Spring offers the perfect balance between winter’s freezing temperatures and summer’s blistering heat waves. Yes, it rains during spring, but that allows us to take our work indoors for a couple of days, from installing skylights to making changes to your project’s construction blueprint. Contractors typically work at a faster pace during periods of pleasant weather, which spring frequently delivers in the form of warm, sunny days.

More Time to Work on Your Project

Just because we start a home remodeling project during spring does not mean the project ends before the first day of summer. For long-term home remodeling projects, starting in spring gives us several extra months of decent weather. This means we can work on your project through summer and deep into autumn. It also gives us a time buffer in case constant poor weather conditions and/or prolonged disruptions in the supply chain negatively impact your project.

Get to the Front of the Line

The earlier you schedule a home remodeling project with Mares & Dow, the more likely your project will move near the top of the line for scheduling projects. Like most home remodeling contractors, Mares & Dow operates on a first-come, first-serve basis. The only exception to the rule is a winter project that extends into early spring. If you wait until late winter or early spring to schedule a home remodeling project, it might be several months before we can start on the project.

Great Deals on Supplies

Many suppliers run sales promotions towards the end of winter to reduce the inventory of products. When the time comes to create a budget for your home remodeling project, Mares & Dow factors in the lower prices of supplies in our bid. The result is a more affordable price tag on your project, which might lead you to consider additional project options. Spring also is a good time to shop for additions to your home, such as the installation of a retaining wall and/or siding that matches the exterior decor of your house.

How Much Advance Notice Should I Provide Mares & Dow?

The complexity of your home remodeling project determines when you should schedule the project. For a minor home remodeling project, we might be able to work the project into our current schedule. However, for more complex remodeling projects, scheduling such a project months or even a year in advance gets you to the front of the line.

Mares & Dow has earned considerable praise for our work on sites such as Yelp and Google. Get your home remodeling project booked today by contacting one of our client service professionals.