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!

About Guild Quality

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.

About Guildmaster Awards

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.

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.

 As a certified QCN contractor, Trace Ventures’ offers the full spectrum of energy-related specialties eligible for reimbursement:

• Duct sealing
• HVAC
• Primary windows
• Storm windows
• Air sealing
• Caulk/weather
• Insulation
• Rehab

 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.

With Fall’s great pleasures such as tailgating, Preds games and hiking in full swing, the mundane world of caulk, gutters and pipes may not even be on your radar. But listen up.  Nashville’s Fall rains and freeze-thaw season are just ahead. Do these things if nothing else! Then kick back and relax when winter gusts blow through.

Essential Tasks – Outside

1) Clean out your gutters

This is Job One! If water has no where to go, it dams up in your gutters and seeps or pours in where you least expect it. In no time, it can do a lot of damage inside and out.

2) Fix broken gutters
We hate to break it to you, but gutters have to be fixed from time to time. Make sure they’re securely fastened with the right pitch to send water to downspouts and away from your house.

3) Trim your trees
Look for dead or dangling branches, rotten wood or cavities, mushrooms at the base of trees, and splits in trunks. If you spot potential hazards, call a tree professional before that next storm.

4) Inspect your roof
To keep water out, look for and repair damaged or loose shingles, gaps in the flashing (especially where the roofing and siding meet vents and flues), and damaged mortar around the chimney.

5) Check exterior walls
Look for exposed wood, loose or crumbling mortar, loose siding and signs of wood rot that need repair in order to keep your house weather-tight.

Essential Tasks – Inside

1) Assess your home’s insulation
This is a no-brainer! Adding proper insulation and caulking around openings will reduce your home’s heating and cooling costs by as much as 30 per cent.

2)Service your heating systems
Have your heating system checked, cleaned and serviced every year. Change your filters at least every three months.

3) Know your plumbing
Know how to cut off the main water valve to your house. If your pipes freeze, the quicker you shut off the water, the better your chance of avoiding bursting pipes and one major headache.

4) Inspect your windows
Check for proper caulking and repair broken glass and loose or missing putty. Older homes often need a modern glazing compound instead of putty for a waterproof seal.

5) Test alarms
Make sure smoke and fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors all work. If they’re not hard-wired into your house, be sure to put in new batteries.

Deciding whether to remodel or sell your home is a dilemma faced by many homeowners. Art Stinson, our fearless leader and home remodeling guru, offers the following quick tips and advice to help you get to the heart of the matter. We hope you find them enlightening.

Art’s advice for making the right decision – should you remodel or sell?

1. Do you like your location, your neighbors, your yard? The shopping? The schools? The commute? If these are problems, realize they will not go away no matter how much work you do to your home.

2. What is your house worth and what would it be worth after the project? Get a real estate agent involved early on to assess the impact of a project on your home’s value. Then if you do decide to sell, you will already know a good resource.

3. How long are you planning to live there? If five years or more, remodeling lets you benefit from living in a space tailored exactly to your lifestyle while simultaneously increasing your home’s value. If only a year or two, don’t bother. Let the new owners do the work.

4. How does your home measure up to those around you? The most worthwhile investment is a remodeling project that brings your home up to the level of your neighbors’ or to no more than 20% above the median sale price for your neighborhood.

5. Have you weighed the cost of moving against the cost of remodeling? You will spend 8% to 10% of your home’s sale price on fees and moving-related expenses. The cost of updating a kitchen or bath may actually be more affordable.

With today’s slow housing market, who wants to sell when it isn’t financially advantageous? At the same time, if you plan to move within five years after the remodel is complete, then selling may be your best option. If you’re still not sure, feel free to give us a call and we’ll be glad to talk over the possibilities together.

We gathered the troops and a few daughters one Saturday and – voila! – a mini-makeover was completed in short order at Smithson-Craighead Academy, a Metro Nashville charter school designed especially for children at risk of failing in grades K-4.  Located in northern Davidson County on Brick Church Pike, 90 percent of the children enrolled there are on free or reduced lunch. Most come from a culture of poverty with parents unable to provide the support and encouragement needed for academic and life success.

Joining up with Hands On Nashville, here are just a few of the tasks we performed to the inside and outside of a very old building, from applying some good old-fashioned elbow grease to performing technical repairs:

• Repair broken cafeteria seats and classroom desks
• Diagnose and remedy persistent roof leak
• Repair gutters and downspouts
• Remove loose and missing floor tiles and install new
• Paint walls
• Pick up litter
• Rake leaves and weed
• Spread mulch
• Leave in much better condition than found
• Celebrate accomplishments with lunch at Swett’s

Interesting links:

Click here to see a two-minute video of our mini-makeover!
Hands On Nashville
Smithson Craighead Academy

Our own Mark Holliday, CR, has earned the Certified-Aging-In-Place Specialist (CAPS) designation. This universal design specialty means friendlier homes – from wider doorways and no-step entries to easy-to-use faucets and light switches.

Seventy-seven million people will reach retirement age in the early decades of the 21^st century. Aging in place is a specialized remodeling field that allows people to stay in their own homes as they grow older, rather than being forced to relocate. To help people maintain active lives within a framework of changing physical ability, a CAPS remodeler can make modifications such as adjusting the height of sinks and appliances, replacing standard doorknobs with easy-to-operate levers, and many others.

CAPS is a collaboration between the National Association of Home Builders and AARP. To learn more, give us a call or visit this page on the web.

The Public-Private Partnership for Advancing Housing Technology (PATH) recommends 10 top remodeling projects for making existing homes more durable and resource efficient. The top 10 list includes everything from proper air sealing through insulation and caulking to giving old wood new life by using recycled flooring, and much more.

Click Here to download the list.