Home Remodeling in a Weak Economy

Over the years, I've talked to thousands of homeowners considering a remodeling project. They are at a decision point. The questions are often similar, often complex, and always cover many facets of life. One of the biggest issues is economics, and the five most common questions on that front are:

1. What do we need?
2. What do we want?
3. What will it cost?
4. What will it be worth?
5. What should we do?

The Big Shift

The way people answer these questions is changing along with the changes in the housing market and economy. Does this mean people won't remodel? No. In fact, I think it means more people will remodel (since less will be building new homes!).

Merge the economic factor with the Green Movement and you get some pretty interesting changes in the answers to these five questions.

What do we need?

Old answer: "More space, more storage, more garage bays...MORE!"

New answer: "Better use of the space we have; better storage, creative solutions, well designed nooks-and-crannies, better flow...BETTER!"

Areas like a small home office are going to be a big part of the future. Not only do people want to make better use of less space, but the trend toward working from home marches on. Home offices are a great place to get creative with design. You can use built-ins to take advantage of even the smallest areas of open space.

What do we want?

Old answer: see "MORE" response above. People haven't always been all that interested in trying to differentiate between wants and needs.

New answer: "We want to create an environment that has great design and feels great to be in! We want to eliminate clutter without giving up amenities. We want to live in a space that speaks to who we are and what we love. We want to vacation in our own home!"

American homeowners are willing to give up some space, but they aren't at all interested in giving up quality!

Words like environment, design, and feel weren't a big part of the ideas of ten years ago. At least not for the masses. That's different now.

The growth of places like Starbucks and Panera show that people want to be surrounded by a thoughtful design.

What will it cost?

Old answer (homeowner): "As long as I can refinance and the cost will be less than $____ per month, let's do it!"

Old answer (contractor): "It's not going to be cheap!"

New answer (homeowner): "It can't cost more than $________ because that's how much cash I have to put into this."

New answer (contractor): "It's not going to be cheap, but it will cost less than it would have last year, and I am willing to work creatively to get you more for your money."

Times have changed, though surprisingly the cost contractors pay to get work done really hasn't changed much. Amazingly, all the price increases attributed to the high price of fuel remain exactly as they were. Labor rates haven't dropped and workers don't work faster.

But budgets have changed. People have less to spend or at least less they are willing to spend. It will be interesting to see how these forces meet. I think we'll see an increase in people going the D.I.Y. route.

What people must be careful of in a time like this is to NOT hire unlicensed contractors or worse! Even a complete beginner would wish they had just done the job themselves if they end up in a serious mess as a result of bringing in the wrong help to save a buck.

What will it be worth?

Old answer: "It's gonna be worth at least __% more than I pay for it!"

New answer: "Unless I buy this extremely well, it's going to take at least ___ years before I can get my money back."

This does not mean people won't remodel. It just means that they will remodel for themselves, for what they want and need, not for some future, "maybe, maybe-not" ROI.

What should we DO?

My answer: Create a retreat; make an environment that makes you feel amazing when you're home. Be sure it encompasses both indoors and out. Don't let economic worries or budget concerns stop you from making the most of the place where you spend so much of your life.

Whatever the budget, there is a solution. Especially if you're willing to do a little research and get your hands dirty!

Tim Layton

Remodeling Guy

Visit The Remodeling Guy Blog - Helping you build your dream, without losing your mind, your money, or your marriage!

http://www.remodelingguy.net

Materials For Stair Treads

How to Install Ceramic Tile - Proven Steps to Success

You can quickly learn how to install ceramic tile and have stunning success with your project. Sure installing tile is usually left to the pros. But with the right tips, most people can build beautiful surfaces. It's just a matter of getting the right tools and learning how to prepare the surfaces and put the tile in place. Following are the four basic steps for getting tile installed the right way.

Gathering the materials is the first step. Now materials includes getting the few basic tools required for tile installation. There are just a few special tools required. The most important tools you don't already have are the tile cutting tools. That would include tile nippers, maybe a tile cutter board and usually a tile saw. You can rent a saw or start with a very inexpensive saw too.

The other part of gathering materials is deciding on the tile you will use and how much tile you need. That may be the hardest part of the whole project. That's because you have so many tile choices. After you decide how much tile you need, you'll know how much tile adhesive and grout you'll need too. Your tile supplier can help you figure quantities of all the materials. Once you have your materials you're ready to get started with the installing.

An important preparation step is getting the base for the tile solid and clean. A surface that moves will cause cracked tiles. Often the easiest way to get a solid smooth surface is to put down cement board. But that's not necessary since tile can be installed over many different materials. Once you have your materials and your surface preparation done, the actual installation is not very hard.

Laying the first tile is the hardest part. That's because the position of the first tile determines how much cutting of tiles you'll do. It also determines how straight the joint lines will be. Getting the tiles lined up correctly will make for a neat installation. The best way to get the lines straight is to use your chalk line early and often. Actually setting the tiles involves some art. Setting tile is easiest if you gently twist the tiles into position. You don't want to drop the tiles into place or slide the tile into place either. Make sure you have enough mud on the tile so you have a little extra so you can bump the individual piece into place.

Once the tiles are in place, the grouting of the joints goes quickly. Grout does come in several types. Whether you choose sanded or unsanded grout depends on the size of the joint. Another option is using epoxy grout where the tile is in a constantly wet place. After the grout sets briefly, it is easily cleaned to finish the job.

You can learn how to install ceramic tile with the right instruction and some practice. There's no reason why you can't do a professional looking job on your first project. There are quite a few tricks to learn to make it easier to lay tile.

Video tutorials showing how to install ceramic tile can be found at our website.

Al Bullington invites you to visit http://InstallingCeramicTile.net for answers to your tile questions.

Buying A Functional House

The Choices of Cellular Shade Blinds

Choosing a window covering can take a lot of thought, mainly because there are so many things to think about before a final decision is arrived at. One of the most popular choices of recent years is that of cellular shade blinds, which have the advantage of offering many of the advantages of other window coverings, but all rolled into one.

There are essentially two types of shade in this category, and that is the honeycomb variety and the room darkening shade variety. Which one should be chosen depends very much on the type of effect that is desired, and how much insulation one expects, such as that to be had from a decent set of curtains.

If you are looking for a shade that simply makes the place a more relaxing place to be, then honeycomb cellular shades could well be a good choice, since they provide excellent shading qualities and yet do not make the room totally dark, or at least so dark that the room looks gloomy. They also give total privacy, which is important for many people.

However, depending on the type of house you live in, keeping warm may also be a consideration. In this instance the choice of cellular room darkening blinds may be a more apt choice. These styles of shades will not only provide more room darkening ability but will also provide a great level of insulation, and that's something that many people would welcome.

These are the two basic choices in the cellular shade style, and to know them makes the job that much easier when it comes to choosing the type of window blinds that are right for you.

Carl Formby owns and operates http://www.bamboopatioblinds.com, a site dedicated to information about window blinds and especially Cordless Cellular Blinds.

Corrugated Metal Roof Damage

Web Designing - What's It All About?

What does web designing mean anyway?

That's pretty simple as it is basically a way for your prospects and/or customers to find you from the comfort of their own home.

By just using their home computer and having an internet connection, business can reach more and more customers
than ever before. The ability to talk and build that all important relationship with a customer all the way in
Europe, is astonishing.

Now how in the world do you accomplish this!?

Well, it's really not difficult if you have the right know how and the right tools. There are many places today on the world wide web that offer specialized training for building a website. But you don't have to go that route, as these sites are usually extremely expensive and take a very very long time to learn.

You could of course hire someone to do your web designing but this will cost you hundreds to thousands of dollars and you won't have much control over the design.

The other route you can take is to do it yourself, this is not as hard as it might sound. There are many tools out there called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) where you just type in your content and you have a website. Again, not much control over your layout design.

The best way to get started on web designing is to learn just a little HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)
Then you can either purchase or get for free, templates. These are sites that are built without any content, they already have graphics on them and easy to follow instructions anyone can follow.

The best place I know of that offers great tutorials on learning HTML in the shortest amount of time is http://www.w3schools.com/html

This is a free resource and you learn at your own pace right on your computer.

Just remember, that when you do learn web designing, first consider the purpose of your website, this will make things easier on you, espeically when you need to edit your web designing.

Web-Designing made easy! Don't outsource and pay hundreds to thousands of dollars, when you can learn it all step-by-step with this awesome new product. http://www.laurasbasicstowebdesign.com -- web designing

Where Everyday is a Mall Day

A set of buildings that contain retail stores, with connecting walkways, allowing visitors to walk from store to store is a shopping mall, or some may call a shopping centre. Since the 1920's strip malls started to become very popular due to the rise of suburban living. In some countries such as the United Kingdom, strip malls are called retail parks, out-of-town shopping centres or precincts.

While a shopping centre is usually referred to as an open-air retail complex, in North America the shopping mall is considered an enclosed retail structure, simlply abbreviated as the Mall. In some countries such as Ireland the mall is pronounced "maills" and are very small shopping centres placed in the middle of town, with a mixture of small local shops also known as ma and pa shops and a variety of chain stores. The term "Mall is gradually growing in use, especially among the younger generation.

The history of the shopping centre can date back to as far as the 10th century A.D. Isfahan's Grand Bazaar, Tehran's Grand Bazaar is still one of the largest covered markets in the world, with 58 streets and 4000 shops, this great bazaar was built around the 15th century. Opening in 1774 in Oxford England, The Oxford covered Market is still in existance today. In London the Burlington Arcade opened in 1819. Which the concept of the Arcade was introduced as The Arcade, built in Providence Rhode Island ,in 1828, thus introducing the concept to the United States.

In Morgan Park, Duluth, Minnesota, an early indoor mall was built in 1915 holding it's grand opening on July 20, 1916. The Architect was a gentlemen from Chicago and the building contractor was one of Duluth's own. Two-stories with a full basement the shops in the building were located on all three levels. Some of the shops were accessible from both inside and out, but, all the stores were located within the interior of the mall.

With the rise of suburban living, and the automobile culture in the United States, shopping took on a new style of shopping centre, taking away from the downtown shopping experience in the mid-20th Century. The fully-enclosed shopping mall did not appear however until the 1950's. The Northgate Mall built in north Seattle, Washington, USA was built in 1950, Northland Shopping Center built near Detroit, Michigan, was built in 1954. Both of these Malls were built as open air shopping centres, that were late enclosed as malls.

Where Everyday is a Mall Day, and shopping is Fun, Looking for Bargians http://www.malladay.com/articles

Should You Hire an SEO Company to Promote Your Website?

Going for the gold...reaching for the summit...obtaining notoriety for your website is the goal of the seo company. There are distinct advantages in hiring a qualified seo specialist to perform for you the necessary elements in reaching for the grand prize of page 1 rank on Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

The obvious results are increased traffic to your website, branding of your url for search engine placement, giving people the idea that your site is at the top of the Google search for a reason. That reason being that you have the best information about the keyword category that they are searching for and possibly, they will come to your site and signup for the project that you are promoting.

Its really all about keywords, ad content and linking on the net. There are absolutely no magic buttons, even though some disreputable so-called gurus, may tell you that there are software programs that will do it all for you...but you need to fly right past that notion. There are NO programs that allow instantaneous success on the net. In order to become successful on the information highway you need to blend all the necessary ingredients together for the perfect seo campaign. It requires consistent and diligent work to obtain these positions.

The advantages of hiring a qualified and tested seo specialist to handle the promotion of your website are many...I will list a few below.

1. If you do not have the time to devote to your mlm project or service, then the hiring of the seo specialist will free up your time for other pursuits. Successfully promoting on the Internet does require time and effort. Unless you have the time to spend doing it, the money that you will pay for the seo's craft will be good money spent.

2. If you do not have a clue as to how the Internet actually works then hiring the seo master will be far better than buying ludicrous software programs that they claim will drive motivated visitors to your sites for only $297. Bottom line here...and take it from someone who knows...there are NO programs that will drive traffic. There are only time tested and proven strategies and Internet marketing techniques that do work. So, you will actually save money by hiring the expert rather than trying to do it all by yourself.

3. When the seo expert places your website on the top notch of a keyword category you will be putting your project, your goods, or your services in the best possible position for traffic and will ultimately make sales. There is one rule in marketing...NO TRAFFIC=NO SALES! If no one ever sees your site...and unless you have a top position on Google they probably will not...then you are dead in the water. The money that you invest in building your online business will be dollars well spent. No seo specialist will ever tell you that they will make sales for you. This is an unspoken law of seo promoters. There is absolutely no way that the seo specialist can guarantee sales for its clients. Its a false statement and if you are ever in contact with one of these pseudo-masters...you are urged to not become involved with them. They are out to steal your money.

4. The successful seo master can save you time and money by telling you the programs to become involved with...and those to stay away from. Any seo guru will be the best judge of programs (or should be) and he or she can ultimately save you money in the long haul by not becoming involved with certain programs.

All in all the ultimate goal of a successful Internet marketing campaign is to make sales. You know that a top spot on Google does not insure this success by any means. You get into an entirely different area in the content and appeal of your site...the different promotional elements of that site and other features that lead to success with a website.

Websites only need one thing to become successful. They need to offer the best information about the program promoted. The do not need fancy graphics and flash presentations. As a matter of fact, search engine spiders do not read graphics, so those may appeal the human eye, but are absolutely not necessary for promoting on the Internet.

You may have built what you think is the greatest website on the Internet, but unless someone sees that site...what are the chances that you will ever make money with that site? The answer would be almost zero.

Hiring a qualified and proven seo master will be the best money that you ever invest in your new online business.

Butch Hamilton is an SEO|SEM Specialist. Living on the internet has become a way of life...a succesful way of life. His talents for obtaining top positions on the search engines have led him to the point in his life where he has always wanted to be.

"Life-What a Ride!"

Says Mr. Hamilton, "Writing has always been my passion. Gone are the days when I placed blatant ads on the internet for exposure. I have found my life's work in writing articles.

Reliable and credible information is what the internet is all about to Butch Hamilton. His experience as a self employed building contractor...steel fabrication...has led him on an incredible journey.

He now resides in his beautiful home in Texas with his wife. Writing is the passion behind his successful promoting ability on the net.

Butch Hamilton's Quote: "What we think-is what we become."

http://ButchHamilton.com

http://butchhamiltonsbestdomains.com

http://butchhamiltons-search-engine-optimization-services.com/SEO_Services_For_You.html

Web Coach Tip - "Weekend Warrior" Website Construction... NOT!

Last Sunday at church a prominent building contractor approached me and asked quite innocently, "What do you charge to build a web site?"

I cocked my left eyebrow, looked him square in the eye and asked, "what would you charge to build a house?" He half-heartedly laughed and said, "Well my dear, that depends on what type of house you want!"

My point EXACTLY!

He paused for just a second... (do you see the "ah-ha!" light bulb appearing?) It was at that moment he realized that there is a lot more to creating a website than one might assume.

I went on to explain that just like building a new home, to build a website you need:

• - a well thought out blueprint
• - appropriate codes and permits
• - equipment and materials
• - an experienced labor force
• - and a solid footer and foundation to build the home on

Then you can begin:

• - framing in the house
• - installing electrical and plumbing lines
• - hanging drywall
• - installing windows, staining trim, installing cabinets, cupboards, bathroom fixtures
• - painting, plastering, carpeting and a bunch of other "-ings" plus millions of other annoying little details

So what does building a house have to do with a website?

EVERYTHING!

Let me break down your home, and your homepage.

• Blueprint = Web site map, big dreams, and a copy of "The Secret" DVD
• Codes & Permits = domain, hosting, and a blessing from the all mighty FTC & WWW police.
• Equipment & materials = software, hardware, project collaboration tools, a large bottle of Tylenol, and a hard-working industrial coffee maker!
• Experienced labor force = seasoned project managers, staff developers, programmers, and the patience, wisdom and vision of Mother Theresa!
• Footer & foundation = Site architecture, database development, and lots of perks (beer & pizza) to keep your programmers happy
• Framing = back-end programming, directories, assets, and whatcha'majiggers
• Utilities = highly technical thingies that make the website more enjoyable
• Drywall = individual web pages with groovy gizmos
• Cabinets, cupboards & toilets = shopping carts, copywriting, and a common user interface
• Painting, plastering, and those other "-ing's" = Graphic and/or flash development & design - cosmetic surgery for websites!

And of course, those million other annoying little details don't go away either!

But seriously...

Building a house, a car, a rocket, or a website takes proper planning.

Nail down your plans, or else you may end up with a motor home that goes 300mph instead of a 3 bedroom condo! That's a visual!

Donna Payne is the Chief Web Goddess of The Web Coach.net a web development, coaching and marketing firm, and is known as the gal to call when youre feeling overwhelmed. Learn Money & Time Saving Techniques that everyone should know when working with a web designer or building a website yourself. Download your FREE "Quick-Start Web workbook" and accompanying MP3 at http://thewebcoach.net "No PAYNE - No GAIN!"