A Look At Home Improvement Costs
When getting property management or home remodeling estimates for a project do you find that you receive many different prices? Have you ever wondered why that is? There are many factors involved with pricing especially into today’s market. We will try to explore the different variables and try and explain the differences.
Materials
This is a big one. There are all different kinds of materials for every outdoor living space or home remodeling project and they all have different price points. We like to use Timbertech materials for our decks and Unilock materials for our hardscaping. You can find these products at: timbertech.com or unilock.com for more information. We use Azek Decking for our decks which is a solid PVC decking material. In our opinion it is the best decking material on the market today. It is scratch resistant, stays cooler in the summer months and is easy to install. The capped composites are getting better but they present many challenges on installation. AZEK typically is more expensive than other composites so the overall deck price will be higher on average. This is one example but using different materials can drastically change the end price. Look at warranties, project photos, ask questions and so on. Using cheap materials could make your project more expensive down the road.
Labor Costs
Labor has really skyrocketed over the last few years. Most companies are starting wages out at $15 per hour or more. People will not work for less in today’s world. So to offset this, project prices have to go up. Also experienced people now require more pay or they will just leave and go to another company or start their own business. So business owners now pay a high price for experienced workers in which that cost has to be passed on to the consumer. Having an experienced person on your home improvement based projects does pay off. You have peace of mind that your project will be done correctly and you will lessen the chance of having issues down the road. A company that charges more usually pays their employees well. So you are paying to have experienced people install your project. With cheaper prices you are most likely to have inexperienced people working on your project and you could have big issues down the road that will create more costs. So a cheaper price in the beginning might turn into a nightmare down the road. Be careful with who you hire and do research. Ask for referrals from friends, neighbors or co-workers especially. The internet or contractor sites cannot be trusted like they use too.
Equipment
Equipment costs are the biggest reason. Does the property management and home remodeling company you are hiring have nice trucks, trailers and equipment? Do they look professional? Do their vehicles have logos? All this costs money and big money. The average cost for an excavator or skid steer is around $25-55k. Trucks are around $40-65k. Trailers $6-$12k. Not to mention all the equipment in the enclosed trailers to build the project. Most business owners pay monthly on all this equipment and this has to be passed on to the consumer. When you see a truck, trailer and machine pull into your yard that is around $120-$150k in equipment. Most people do not think of it in that way but that is the reality. Equipment continues to rise in cost and project costs will have to go up as well.
Warranties
When you hire a company do you ask about their warranty? Do you ask if something goes wrong, will you return to fix it? How long do I have? All these questions are a factor in price. Cheaper prices usually result in “tail light” warranties. You have a warranty as long as you can see the contractor’s tail lights when they leave your property. Once the tail lights are gone, your warranty is gone too. I see this over and over again. We back what we do and we work with companies that back us as well. Timbertech offers 25-50 year warranties on their products. Since we are a Gold Contractor with them, Timbertech offers a 7 Year Labor Warranty. This is only available with Timbertech products and for Platinum and Gold Contractors. Timbertech feels that with those levels the contractor knows what they are doing and that they will install their product correctly. Unilock offers a lifetime warranty on their products and a 2 Year Labor Warranty for Authorized Contractors. Since we are an Authorized Contractor with Unilock, you are covered there too. Our warranty goes beyond these even. If we install your project, you then have issues, if it is our fault, we will fix it no matter what and no time table. We do things that will last and if it does not last, you have peace of mind that we will return to solve the issue. Paying a bit more for something might be worth it down the road.
Finished Product
When your project is completed, are you happy? Do you feel what you paid was worth it? Or do you feel you should have paid more or you paid too much? Bottom line is if you are not 100% happy at the end of your project then that is an issue. I literally just received a few emails while typing this and previous estimates that I sent out the customers went with someone else. They are not happy with the results and are now asking for an estimate for us to come fix it. I am unfortunately running into this more and more lately. You truly get what you pay for today.
If you are looking for an Outdoor Living Space or Home Remodeling estimate, look no further. We offer Free Estimates and would be happy to look at your project. Hopefully this information helps you a bit more when making decisions on who to choose for your next project.
