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Get the latest news and see project photos of a wonderful home in our Fall Newsletter.
See more photos of this project in our fall issue
Topics include:
Go to Fall Newsletter – click here
We are excited to announce that Trace has been awarded a 2011 Guildmaster Award for exceptional customer satisfaction. For the fourth year in a row, Trace has received this national award honoring contractors who demonstrate the ability to consistently deliver homeowners an exceptional experience.
Homeowner hot-button issues assessed through surveys include:
“We are pleased to say that 88% of our clients responded to the GuildQuality customer satisfaction surveys and 99% of them said they would recommend us to family and friends,” said Art Stinson, Trace founder and president.
Upon completion of major projects costing $30,000 or more, GuildQuality surveys Trace’s clients, questioning them on quality workmanship, finishing on budget and on schedule, worksite cleanliness and safety, and other key factors. Then one year later, the Atlanta-based firm surveys clients again to assess the contractor’s performance of any follow-up or warranty work needed.
Founded in 1991, Trace Ventures is celebrating 20 years of award-winning design, building and remodeling for homeowners who value quality, on-schedule completion and on-budget performance. The firm also provides maintenance and repairs services, as well as energy-efficiency improvements through TVA’s EnergyRight program.
For more information, please contact Art or Martha Stinson at 615-292-7354, art@traceventures.com, martha@traceventures.com, or visit www.traceventures.com. Trace Ventures is located in Hillsboro Village at 2123 Belcourt Avenue.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GuildQuality provides customer satisfaction surveying to America’s best builders, remodelers, contractors and real estate developers to help them monitor and improve the quality of their service.
Once a year, GuildQuality selects the cream of the crop from all of its quality-minded contractor customers and recognizes exceptional customer service with the Guildmaster Awards. Visit the Guildmaster section of the GuildQuality website to see information about all 2011 Award Winners and read about award qualifications.
For more information, visit www.guildquality.com or contact marketing@guildquality.com.
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A room addition can and should be a remodeling project that achieves two things:
• Adds value to your home
• Adds to your enjoyment of your home
“It’s hard to increase value to the fullest potential if the new wing or second story looks thoughtlessly ‘glommed on’”, says Art Stinson, CGR, CGP, CAPS, president of Trace. Common culprits to additions that look out of place, according to Art, include a disjointed roofline, new windows that are different in size and style from the existing ones, and little regard given to mass and scale.
Whether a home is 100 years old or built a decade ago, appropriate additions can simultaneously achieve the residents’ lifestyle goals, retain architectural character and boost value. That effort begins with a thorough understanding of a home’s current conditions. To achieve this, design/build professionals will:
• get a site survey and investigate zoning overlays and municipality restrictions
• check out utility easements, setbacks and other factors that might impact the location, size and shape of the addition
Then the endeavor turns to matching the needs of the residents – be it a home office, family room or master suite – to the conditions and character of the house. Design/build professionals will carry this out by:
• Considering proper proportion, scale and form to achieve harmony between the new and existing structures
• Giving thought to rooflines and how the addition will tie in to your house
• Leveraging an established network of resources to get materials that match or complement the roofing, siding, windows and other exterior finishes
“The ultimate goal is to make the new construction appear seamless, as if it was there all along,” says Art. No matter what the original structure’s architectural style, whether ranch, four-square, Tudor Revival or anything else, an appropriate addition harmonizes with and does not detract from the existing home. Both thoughtful design and skillful construction are required in order to enhance the home’s outward appearance, neighborhood stature and future marketability.
Come on down to Goodwill Industries, 937 Herman Street, Nashville, for The Accessibility Event on Friday, Mar. 4, from 8 AM to 4 PM. As Certified Aging in Place Specialists, we’ll be there with information on how you can make your home friendly and accessible for all life stages. Cost: Free.
This event is hosted by the local chapter of International Interior Design Association in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It will bring together the design, construction, facility management and disability communities together in one place. The schedule of events features the following:
When it comes to enjoying winter, being comfortable and staying warm while conserving energy and saving money doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, we’ve come up with five easy and affordable winter house-warming tips to help you do just that. With no further ado, here they are!
If you haven’t done so already, call TVA and schedule an in-home EnergyRight™ audit. Then complete the recommendations with a qualified contractor. You’ll instantly have a warmer, less costly, more energy efficient home! Just call 1-866-441-1430 to get started and tell them Trace sent you.
Get a programmable thermostat. Just customize the settings to your use patterns and – presto! – the gizmo will automatically adjust heat levels for optimum, energy-saving comfort. We like Honeywell. Just put one in at the office.
Assuming you’ve already had your furnace tuned-up (yes?), now just check the filters monthly and change them when dirty. At Trace, we use medium-priced filters. They don’t restrict airflow as much as the expensive ones.
Nothing like a crackling fire in the fireplace to make your home feel toasty. Hire a certified chimney sweep to make sure everything is clean and in good working order. This will prevent chimney fires and carbon monoxide build-up. Visit Chimney Safety Institute of America at www.csia.org to find a certified sweep.
Buy a good supply of firewood off Craig’s List or along Harding Rd/Highway 100. No more Harris-Teeter runs for a dab of the expensive stuff. Green wood won’t burn, so make sure it’s seasoned. Enjoy!
Children keep on growing. Families continue to outgrow their homes. Folks still need that first-floor master, or heart-of-the-home kitchen, or … (your hope here). Life just marches on. Is your home in step?
It’s a question many people are asking in this economy: Should we add on to our home or sell in a difficult market and trade up?
Room additions should only be considered if you love the qualities you cannot change:
If these qualities are issues, then looking for a new location may be the way to go. If you love the spot, then tailoring your home exactly to your everyday lifestyle while improving its value may make sense.
You’ll only want to consider an addition project if you are planning to stay in the house for several years. Even in today’s economic climate, room additions can be the answer and deliver a tremendous boost to the value of your home. They can fulfill an immediate or long-term family need and can make your home easier to sell to a future buyer. But if your primary goal is strictly resale, stick to minor remodeling only.
Your main focus should be to build an expansion that perfectly suits you and your family’s everyday living needs. Otherwise, why bother to add on? But it’s also important to consider how the new space will be perceived by potential buyers when (or if) you ever move. Thoughtfully conceived and quality-built additions can both meet your needs now and translate into a re-sellable asset in the future.
Each year, Remodeling Magazine, a leading industry trade journal, works with real estate agents around the country to evaluate the resale value of popular remodeling projects one year after completion. And there’s the kicker. Most owners who remodel or add on stay in their homes far longer than a year after the project is complete. But the report does have value. It provides us and our clients a baseline to compare the costs of some common projects and offers information toward figuring out the best solution for their unique circumstances.
Below are some of the report’s findings from our region (Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama):
Regional Job Cost: $43,535
One-Year Resale Value: $39,360
One-Year Cost Recoup: 90.4%
Regional Job Cost: $34,672
One-Year Resale Value: $23,606
One-Year Cost Recoup: 68.1%
Regional Job Cost: $92,216
One-Year Resale Value: $63,940
One-Year Cost Recoup: 69.3%
Regional Job Cost: $53,937
One-Year Resale Value: $39,344
One-Year Cost Recoup: 72.9%
These figures are interesting, but your house isn’t just an investment. It’s the place where your family lives and friends gather. If you intend to live in your home for several years, short-term return figures are less important than if your primary goal is to resell. The value you place on ease of living and the enjoyment of home and family may far outweigh any presumed or estimated payback you get at some unknown point in the future when it comes time to sell.
Two more quick key factors in building a high-value addition: Do not over-improve and do not build an addition that sticks out like a sore thumb. And remember that building an addition is a big project. You’ll want to make sure you are choosing the right design-build team for your project and your budget.
To see the full Remodeling Magazine Cost vs. Value Report, click the “Resource” tab and select “Links”.
We are proud to announce that Trace has won the 2010 Guildmaster Award with Highest Distinction. For the third straight year, Atlanta-based research firm GuildQuality has recognized Trace nationally for exceptional customer satisfaction as determined by customer survey results and response rates.
Since July 2006, 98.5% (65 out of 66) of our clients say they would recommend our company to a friend. Our goal is always 100%. But we are still very pleased with our results and congratulate our entire crew on a fantastic Three-Peat. Well done!
Our response rate was also very high with 92% of all of our customers completing a survey. (Surveying was for all projects costing $30,000 or more.)
Thank you, thank you, thank you – to all of our clients – for completing the survey. We really appreciate your time and your many kind words. Most of all, we really appreciate your trust in us, your friendship and your business. Thank you!
North America’s best builders, remodelers, contractors and real estate developers rely on GuildQuality’s customer satisfaction surveying to help them monitor and improve the quality of their service.
Once a year, GuildQuality recognizes exceptional customer service with the Guildmaster Awards. For more information, got to www.guildquality.com and visit the Guildmaster section.
The rain has stopped in Nashville and now it is time to repair, replace and rebuild. We want you to know that we’re here, as always, and we’re ready to take care of all of your flood repair needs. As certified remodelers, we offer a full range of flood repair services.
Simply pick up the phone and give us a call at 292-7354. If you can’t get through, you can use this online form. We are reserving priority scheduling for you, our clients and friends. We are scheduling work now!
• Roof damage and leaks – inspect, repair and replace
• Foundation and chimney – inspect for damage and remedy
• Interior trim, baseboard, shoe mold – inspect, repair and replace
• Exterior trim and siding – inspect, repair and replace
• Heating & cooling systems – inspect, repair and replace
• Electrical wiring and fixtures – inspect, repair and replace
• Plumbing, water heaters, sump pumps – inspect, repair and replaced
• Insulation – inspect, repair and replace
• Drywall, plaster and paneling – inspect, repair and replace
• Flooring (wood, carpet, tile) – inspect, repair and replace
• Painting – interior and exterior
Our staff of dedicated carpenters and workers is here to take care of you through this time. For 20 years we have forged partnerships with trusted trade contractors and they stand with us as a vital part of our team to serve you during the flood recovery.
http://www.floodsmart.gov/
http://nashville.gov/
http://www.fema.gov/rebuild/recover/return.shtm
For owners of pre-1978 homes, Apr. 22 is the date that the EPA’s Renovate, Repair and Painting Rule, otherwise known as “the lead paint law”, goes into effect. Read on to see how it will affect you.
The regulation states that contractors who affect more than 6 square feet of a painted interior (a 2’ x 3’ or larger area) on a pre-1978 house must:
The same rule applies to 20 square feet of a painted exterior (a 4’ x 5’ or larger area).
“We do a lot of work in Nashville on pre-1978 homes and respect the concerns about lead exposure, especially when there are young children. We’re already sticklers about dust containment but it will definitely change the way we go about our daily work,” says Mark Holiday, one of our EPA-Certified Renovators and our Production/Client Services Manager.
1. The EPA will look to make examples out of non-compliant contractors by shutting down projects and leaving them incomplete for an unspecified length of time. Monies you have paid the contractor may then go to pay fines – a whopping $37,500 per violation per day – rather than toward progress of the project.
2. There will be an added cost to following the EPA’s mandated lead-safe work practices. You can expect to begin seeing EPA Compliance Surcharges on work estimates that average $500 to $1,500 per job in materials, labor and expenses.
3. Upon selling your home, you may have to disclose whether lead is present in your home or certify if lead-safe work practices were used during any repairs and renovations. This could affect the value of your home.
“Since there has been no EPA awareness campaign that this law is coming down, we are just trying to get the word out. This is as much a major consumer issue as it is a contractor’s issue, if not more so. Please help spread the word to your friends and neighbors and save them from getting into a situation with a non-compliant contractor that they did not bargain for,” Holiday says.
If you own a home built before 1978, before hiring any home improvement contractor, ask if they are RRP-compliant or EPA Lead-Safe Certified. You will probably get a blank stare.
Trace obtained its EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm designation on Mar. 8 after applying for it last December and has three Certified Renovators on staff.
We are excited to announce that Trace Ventures is now a certified member of the TVA-NES Quality Contractor Network for the energy right® In-Home Energy Evaluation Program.
This program uses cash incentives to encourage Nashvillians to make energy-saving home improvements. The way it works is NES, in partnership with TVA, will send an energy advisor out to evaluate your house for a fee of $150. You will be reimbursed this fee if recommended improvements totaling more than $150 are made within 90 days and are performed by a certified QCN contractor. (This is the same program behind the local “Go Green, District 18” in Metro Nashville.)
In addition, you will also be reimbursed 50% of the installation cost for up to $500 back in your pocket. Not to mention that federal tax credits also apply for some improvements up to $1,500. (NOTE: As of 12/31/10, the maximum tax credit is $500.)
As a certified QCN contractor, Trace Ventures’ offers the full spectrum of energy-related specialties eligible for reimbursement:
To get started, just call TVA at 1-866-441-1430 and make an energy audit appointment. Be sure to tell them Trace sent you.
