Remodeling
Success 101

Q: What's a "change order"?

A: A change order is a request to alter, exchange, or substitute a product or design feature that has already been approved, delivered, or installed. When you request a change, your remodeling contractor will likely have a process in place to confirm the request and make sure it is done to your satisfaction. As construction progresses, a change order is likely to cost more because of the extra dollars and time spent making an alteration to an already complex project. Therefore, take the time up-front to make informed decisions and then try to stick to them during the building process.

We Americans love our older homes, especially those that are of historic origin. When it comes to living in such a house, however, it often becomes clear that the house was not designed to accommodate a modern lifestyle. Small kitchens, small rooms, smaller closets, and too-few bathrooms or bedrooms are telltale signs of an outdated design. Rather than give up their older homes, many homeowners look to remodeling projects to bring them relief.

Making potentially radical changes to a historic or otherwise well-designed house carries responsibility for homeowner and remodeler. The original and appropriate scale, proportions, and details of the house must be respected in any remodeling project, as these are the very things that were attractive in the first place.

The best solution, of course, is to upgrade the home's interior finishes and make changes to the floor plan -- open up a kitchen to a family room, remove a wall and add a bathroom to create a master suite, finish a full-height basement into living space -- to incorporate modern lifestyles without changing the exterior at all.

Often, however, the planned project -- such as the addition of a second story or a new wing -- requires alterations or expansion of the home's original form. This is especially the case where the home is too small to accommodate contemporary needs, as in many homes built before 1980.

As a professional remodeling contractor, our challenge becomes reconciling the old and the new in a way that enhances the home's original architectural value and appears to be a natural evolution of its forms and detailing. Expansion of an existing house is not a new concept. Century-old farmhouses and Tuscan-style villas, for instance, are famous for their layered additions, made to accommodate successive generations. Those changes, however, were always made with respect for their initial design.

Respect for the initial design means more than just matching the trim of the original house. An "appropriate addition" considers roof forms of similar or complementary angles and shapes; windows and wall forms that are the same or proportionate dimensions; and detailing -- such as roof overhangs and exterior finish materials -- that not only meshes with that of the existing structure, but is appropriate to the particular style of the house. A Mediterranean-styled, stucco-sided, tile-roofed house with a clapboard-sided, shake-roofed family room addition is an example of what not to do.

We understand and respect the need to preserve the architectural value of an older home while upgrading, expanding, and improving that home to suit modern lifestyle needs. Performing this task well reflects our desire to retain the value of the older neighborhoods and communities in which we work. In addition, it gives our homeowner clients the best of both worlds: a beautiful, well-designed house with the benefits of contemporary conveniences.

Warm regards,

info@highcraft.net
www.highcraft.net

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