Columbia SC Home Improvements

Deck with chairsWhile Columbia SC home additions such as an outdoor deck or a garage can instantly add resale value to your home, other types of Columbia SC home additions are made simply to satisfy the current homeowner.

Columbia SC home additions that require construction may also require a permit. Permits are the way a state regulates construction practices within its jurisdiction.

The home upgrades and additions that may not require a permit are:

  • Fences six or fewer feet high
  • Platforms
  • Decks 30 or fewer inches high
  • Plumbing work
  • Electrical work
  • Upgrading or replacing fixtures

While the home upgrades listed above are fairly common, they’re not the most popular.

Here are three of the most popular Columbia SC home additions.

Jacuzzi

A Jacuzzi is one of the most popular Columbia SC home additions partly because of the high-powered water’s ability to rejuvenate, refresh, and relax the user. Jacuzzis assist (and in some cases speed up) the healing process of muscle aches, back pain, and other injuries. Other Jacuzzi use benefits include improving your flexibility, increasing muscle endurance, and soothing the stress of high blood pressure patients.

The water jets in a Jacuzzi also help alleviate fatigue by aiding the release of endorphins into the body while allowing harmful toxins to leave the body.

Jacuzzis vary in price from just under $1000 for basic units to over $14,000 for a top-of-the-line model.

Adding a Jacuzzi to your home can provide multiple health benefits for years to come!

Swimming PoolSwimming Pool

You don’t need an Olympic-size swimming pool to make a splash in the world of home water sports. Swimming pools come in a wide range of styles from in-ground to indoor.

Starter swimming pools, such as the above-ground Intex Ultra Frame 16-foot set, can be obtained for around $650. Yet, more elaborate in-ground pools can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Home Sauna

The heat produced in a sauna provides your skin with several benefits. As the temperature in a sauna rises, the heat causes your blood vessels to dilate. The increased blood flow helps your muscles relax.

As your heartbeat speeds up, you get a mild cardiovascular workout while sitting in the sauna. Also, the profuse sweating (caused by the heat) helps toxins exit from your body.

Introductory-level home saunas can be purchased for a little over $1000, a small investment for increased health benefits.

Columbia SC home additions can both personalize and add personality to your property. What popular home additions would you add to our list above? Leave a comment below.

Home and Commercial Inspections in the Columbia SC area is our specialty! Every year we help hundreds of clients save tens of thousands of dollars, by responsibly finding and exposing conditions that threaten property, value and safety. To learn how we may be able to serve you, please click and read, or call 803-261-5810.

When it comes to bang-for-your buck home improvement projects, there are few that top making your home more energy efficient.

Questions or comments about this video? Just contact us with the comment link below.

Home and Commercial Inspections in the Columbia SC area is our specialty! Every year we help hundreds of clients save tens of thousands of dollars, by responsibly finding and exposing conditions that threaten property, value and safety. To learn how we may be able to serve you, please click and read, or call 803-261-5810.

Home Improvements That Never Go Out of StyleIf you’re looking to remodel or upgrade your house these days, creating lasting value is sure to be a top concern. You’ll want to add features that won’t be outdated just a few years from now — reducing your home’s marketability and making your house look like it just crawled out of a time machine. Many people have the idea that a home remodel has to involve a new kitchen or bathroom. But some simpler, less expensive projects, can also bring lasting value to your home.

Lighting: Adequate light is more than just brightness — it’s a major contributor to our sense of comfort and well-being. Good interior lighting reduces fatigue and stress by reducing strain on eyes; outdoor lighting adds curb appeal and safety. Interior and exterior lighting fixtures — recessed ceiling lights, sconces, track lights, and flood lights — contribute to the overall value of a house and property, making it more marketable when it comes time to sell.

Storage: Storage is one of the most sought-after features of prospective home buyers, and built-in storage solutions always deliver. Built-ins have a neat, fitted appearance that takes advantage of every available square inch of wall area. Because they make use of existing structural components, such as wall studs, built-ins generally cost less than free-standing furniture of comparable size, quality, and function. Fit built-in storage solutions under stairs, as window seats, and in closets.

Paint: From boring beige to rocketing red, your rooms will never go out of style. Why? Because you can easily redo them — a new paint job is one of the simplest, least-expensive of all remodeling projects. A Do-It-Yourself paint job on a 12-by-12-foot room costs only about $150 for paint and painting tools; if you’re not the do-it-yourself type and need to hire someone, expect to pay a licensed paint contractor $300-$400.

Wood Floors: Shag carpets come and go, but wood flooring has the uncanny ability to look great in any setting, whether traditional, contemporary, or country. The warm, upscale ambience of wood floors helps preserve the value of your home, and the cost isn’t prohibitive: Pre-finished wood floors in oak, maple, and bamboo run $8-$12 per square foot, installed.

Molding: Adding architectural interest with trims and moldings is a good way to bring rooms to life. Little details can have a big impact when it comes to creating homes that really stand out. You’ll pay $1-$3 per linear foot for a 5-inch-wide, paint-grade crown molding; $1.50-$6.50 for wood.

Stonescaping: Masonry materials used to create walkways, patios, and retaining walls helps define and shape outdoor spaces. Making your yard usable for sitting and strolling increases living area, which contributes to your property’s value. Materials, such as brick and stone, are virtually indestructible, readily available, and have timeless good looks. You’ll pay $17-$28 per square foot for professionally installed natural stone pavers.

Home and Commercial Inspections in the Columbia SC area is our specialty! Every year we help hundreds of clients save tens of thousands of dollars, by responsibly finding and exposing conditions that threaten property, value and safety. To learn how we may be able to serve you, please click and read, or call 803-261-5810.

Remodeling Mistakes Homeowners MakeBecause fewer and fewer people are deciding to take the plunge into the troubled waters of buying or selling a home, remodeling projects are on the rise. Instead, home owners are refinancing and investing more into their existing homes to make them more comfortable, to modernize them or perhaps to make it easier to sell in this competitive market.

In their haste to make their house beautiful, people face a lot of the same problems over and over again. Whatever the reason for the remodel, it’s important to do your research and plan, plan, plan, so you don’t make many of these common remodeling mistakes.

Setting an Unrealistic Budget

Most homeowners underestimate their budget by at least 25 percent. As you can imagine, not having enough money to complete a project can not only stress you out, but can also force you to live with a half-finished project for a lot longer than you expected. Most experts suggest calculating your budget and then increasing it by 20 percent. It will help provide a financial buffer zone for when you run into unexpected costs – like finding out your kitchen pipes had a leak when all you budgeted for was a new countertop and sink.

Keeping Up with the Joneses

One of the biggest mistakes people make is remodeling or redesigning a space for what’s most popular right now. The more trendy the project, the more likely it will feel out-of-date in a few years. That’s not to say you shouldn’t update your home to match your style and interests, but if you’re looking to sell in the near future, do not get hung up on trends. A good idea would be to match the redesign to the style of your home. If you have a craftsman style bungalow, chances are investing in a very stark modern industrial look isn’t going to age well. Investing in classic styles with spots of your personality thrown in here and there will always stand the test of time.

Over-Improving

A lot of the time, homeowners invest in remodeling their home hoping that when they do sell, they will be able to maximize their return on investment. However, they fail to consider the quality and state of the homes in their neighborhood. Say you invest in a $50,000 swimming pool, top-of-the-line products – marble counters, glass and imported hardwoods – to make your remodel a true showplace, but the rest of the homes in the neighborhood are modest and average, then you run the risk of having an even more difficult time selling the home.

You will be hard pressed to find someone to pay $250,000 for a home with extra amenities in a neighborhood with $100,000 properties.

Doing it Yourself

This is probably the biggest problem homeowners make when deciding to remodel. In order to keep budgets low or reduce the costs of some projects, many homeowners think they can tackle big projects themselves. HUGE MISTAKE. Unless you have the right tools, training and connections, you could actually cause more problems down the line – including doubling your budget when you have to call a professional to come in and fix your mistakes.

Remember, when hiring a contractor, don’t try to cheap out by hiring the contractor who simply offers the lowest bid. It’s easy to find someone who will charge less just to get the job. It’s harder to find one who not only fits within your budget and your personality, but also is licensed, insured and comes with a list of great references.

Home and Commercial Inspections in the Columbia SC area is our specialty! Every year we help hundreds of clients save tens of thousands of dollars, by responsibly finding and exposing conditions that threaten property, value and safety. To learn how we may be able to serve you, please click and read, or call 803-261-5810.

Remodeling or rebuilding? Don't overpayHere are some basic things you must have to get your home remodeling or new home building project ready for competitive bidding so you can be sure you’re getting the best price possible.

1) Complete, detailed plans

Your local building department doesn’t require much to issue a building permit. All they want to know is whether the plans meet the building code, and the code is mostly about safety – not about what kind of countertops you want.

A set of “permit-ready” plans is missing a lot of what you need to get accurate and complete bids. You need far more information – especially drawings of architectural details inside and outside of the house.

2) Specifications

“Specs” aren’t part of the drawings; drawings tell the contractor where things go, the specs tell them what those things are. The drawings will show a toilet in each bathroom, but the specs tell the contractor what kind of toilets you want. If you want a different toilet in the master bath than the kid’s bath, the specs spell that out.

Without specs, you’re leaving the decisions about fixtures and finishes up to the bidders – which causes confusion and misunderstanding and makes it much tougher to compare bids.

3) Bid Invitation Letter

When are the bids due? What format should the bids be submitted in? Who do bidders call with questions? Where should the bids be turned in? How many bidders are expected?

These questions – and more – should be addressed in a bid invitation letter sent out to each bidder.

4) General Conditions

There are dozens of little issues to deal with on a construction project that have nothing to do with construction, but everything to do with the price.

Insurance is one, as are working hours; parking for subcontractors; change orders; quality assurance; dispute resolution; cleaning, and on and on. A “general conditions” document spells all of this out.

5) Quality Bidders

An experienced, qualified contractor with a track record of success competing against two guys with a pickup truck and a magnetic door sign isn’t going to get you an apples-to-apples comparison.

6) References

You might be surprised by how often homeowners don’t check references. They can give you confidence in a contractor, but they can raise important red flags, too.

If you hired an architect to design your project, ask him if he offers this level of service. Many do, and would be more than happy to help manage the specification and bidding process for you.

The important thing to remember…three quotes based on accurate and detailed specs would result in a very good idea of what a fair price for a job should be. You can’t get that kind of assurance with just one price!

Competitive bidding works the same way in new home and remodeling construction. Qualified contractors submitting bids on a well-defined project know they’ve got to give their best price if they want to get the job.

Home and Commercial Inspections in the Columbia SC area is our specialty! Every year we help hundreds of clients save tens of thousands of dollars, by responsibly finding and exposing conditions that threaten property, value and safety. To learn how we may be able to serve you, please click and read, or call 803-261-5810.