Tag: Construction tips

What You Should Know Before Adding a Room to Your Home

Posted on by Rebekah Severi

Home additions can’t be done on a whim; you need to understand fully why you’re adding a room, plan for it, arrange the finances, and make sure you have permits in place. The most common reason for homeowners to want to add another room, typically a guest room, library, or home office, is lack of space. You need more space, and sometimes that’s hard to achieve with open floor plans. Or you might have to add a guesthouse or mother-in-law suite. Whatever it may be, it’s an extensive and expensive process that requires serious planning.

Here’s what you should know before you get on with it.

Clear the Red Tape

There’s a lot of red tape involved with residential construction. The rules vary from state to state and city to city. If you’re in Round Rock, Texas, you’ll have to run your plans by the relevant government entities and your homeowners association (HOA) to get your permits before you break ground. That can be quite a drill because red tape is lengthy and tiring and may delay your timeline by a month or more. Just plan for it.

Once you go through the process, you might be asked to make changes to your plan to comply with local, environmental, and HOA rules and codes. Austin’s laws are especially complex and strict, so just be patient. If the zone you live in controls construction tightly, it might be hard to get the permit. Allow at least six months to get through this process. A professional home renovation contractor in Round Rock can handle all of this for you as part of their services.

Plan Your Finances

The first thing to note about home additions is why you need them. If it’s for the comfort or luxury of you and your family, then it’s reasonable to splurge as long as you can afford it. If it’s so that you can upsell your property in the market, make sure you do a cost-benefit analysis before you begin. Not all renovations will give you an equal return on investment, even in the crazy Austin real estate market. The expected returns on investment must exceed the costs incurred in the home renovation project. Make sure you account for your time and effort to bring the plan to action when you’re estimating the costs.

Living Arrangements

This is one aspect of the entire project that homeowners often miss or ignore. If you’re living in the house where you’re adding a room, you may need alternate accommodations while the project is underway. Depending on the size of your project, you may need to move out during just part of the project. If you can stand a few weeks of the constant noise and dust that come with living on a construction site, stick around. But some people—especially those who work from home—can’t do this.

Some larger room additions like a living room or kitchen expansion may require that you move out because there’s just too much noise and debris and the HVAC needs to be turned off. Make sure you sort this out before the construction starts because moving out midway can be difficult.

Reach out to the home remodeling experts at Freccia Group in Round Rock, Texas, to put your room addition plans into action. We have in place a design and construction team that has done residential renovation projects in Round Rock as well as across the Central Texas area. Call us at (512) 410-1342 to talk about your home remodeling project and how we can make it come true.

Planning for Home Repairs and Renovations

Posted on by Rebekah Severi

When your home is damaged, the sales price might be decreased if you put it on the market. There are, of course, exceptions, such as for homes in an older or in-demand neighborhood where the land is worth more than the structure. Home builders are going to demolish the existing home to build a new one, so the condition of the structure doesn’t matter.

However, if your home is still worth more than the land, and you have structural damage like foundation issues, the market value of your property can take a nosedive. That’s why keeping up with your home over time is important. But if you have to sell your home, as in the case of a family property that’s owned by an elderly relative, home renovations and repairs can increase that home’s value.

Why Renovate Your Home?

Be clear about why you’re taking on this project. Much of that depends on whether you’re going to live in the home for the next five years or more. If you are, you can take on larger projects without worrying about whether you’ll get your investment back when you sell. Making your home more enjoyable is a great reason to renovate.

However, if you’re going to sell soon, there are projects that will return more on the investment than others and make your home more marketable. Taking care of routine repairs like holes in walls, broken doors, and peeling paint both inside and out will attract many more buyers willing to offer top-dollar bids, and that’s the end goal. Some improvement projects will return high on your investment, paying off when you sell, while others, like a new patio or swimming pool, won’t.

In the Austin area, real estate prices in some places have risen 40% since 2020, and renovations can be deceptive; but the rule still applies. Properties are being snapped up at above asking price with very few concessions from sellers. Don’t spend the money on anything you don’t have to, since, in some cases, the new homeowner is going to renovate the home anyway.

Costing Is at the Core

Now that you’ve decided to move forward, draw up some plans and make a list of any repairs that you need done. It’s always better to consult with an architect—especially if you’re going to be removing walls. However, many contractors can help you visualize what you want to do and help you prioritize based on needs versus desires.

Set a clear home remodeling budget, and stick to it. This gives you clear guidelines on what you can and can’t do; but don’t worry, most homeowners go over. Once you have your architectural drawings or your contractor has completed the visualization session, you can get a much more accurate estimate of what your project will cost. At this point, you can shift budget from one part of your project—for instance, new granite countertops for the kitchen,  which may not need as much work as you thought—to a bathroom renovation. The process is fairly fluid at this point, so you have options.

Prefer Repairs over Additions

It’s important to take care of repairs because some of them can turn into major issues if not caught early. If you’re going to stay in your home for a while, take care of the things that can affect the structural integrity of your home first. Foundation issues fall into that category. They are much easier to repair if caught early than when you start seeing cracks in your slab or along walls and doors.

Leaky pipes, termite damage, old siding, and paint are also issues you should address immediately because these can only get worse over time. After you address these repairs and have peace of mind knowing that they are taken care of, they may not wind up costing as much as you thought, and you can entertain the idea of adding a pool in the backyard, a deck with patio furniture and a view, a balcony with the bedrooms, or a fountain in the driveway.

If you’re leaning toward any additions, ask these questions:

  • How important are the home additions to the life the house offers?
  • Are the additions in demand?
  • Will the buyers be willing to pay over and above what you’re spending?

These are all critical questions, and the answers will make it clear whether you should invest in the additions. If you don’t know, ask a real estate agent who knows your area to see what improvements they would recommend investing in.

Whether you’ve decided to get your home ready to sell or you’re planning renovations to live with for a while, reach out to the home remodeling experts in Round Rock, Texas. Freccia Group’s design and construction team can take care of your residential renovation projects. Call us at (512) 410-1342 for commercial construction and home remodeling.

How To Make Your Good Residential Development Great

Posted on by Rebekah Severi

Residential development is a significant investment for any community and for institutional as well as individual investors. For many planners and developers, residential projects require a detailed approach to establish goals and a strategy to achieve them.

Modern developers look beyond traditional neighborhood and commercial patterns and rethink existing land to create modern-day lifestyle developments that support current sociological trends like working from home or close to home, proximity to restaurants and other retail amenities, and access to entertainment venues like restaurants and theaters.

Here are some of the ingredients of a great residential development:

Subdivision Design

The subdivision layout is one of the most important factors to consider when designing a residential community. The idea is to maximize the number of lots without making residents feel confined and restricted. It’s essential to incorporate the latest design techniques to strike a fine balance between land density and infrastructure.

A great residential development plan has a detailed assessment of spaces. Architects and designers can eliminate corner lots and create lots on both sides of every street to minimize costs and eliminate unnecessary intersections. It takes a comprehensive approach and expertise to cut down waste and maximize efficiency.

Create a Sense of Place

Successful residential development projects are designed around people and how they want to live. They focus on creating an inclusive community that instills a sense of place for its residents. It’s impossible to develop a neighborhood for “everyone” but defining potential residents based upon demographic, psychographic, geographic, and lifestyle factors, and formulating a residential plan, will make the area more attractive to them.

 

 A bird’s eye view of residential homes.

Efficient Design

Many residential development projects are evaluated based on their design efficiency and how they meet infrastructure requirements. The tax assessment stream also plays a crucial role. Lower life cycle maintenance costs and higher lot numbers and valuation can result in a greater tax base and vice versa.

Final Word

A great residential development plan requires careful planning and consideration. Partner with a reputable developer and building contractor to ensure the best results. Choose one with relevant experience and expertise so you can feel comfortable creating a great residential development project.

At Freccia Group, we offer specialized residential development planning services in Central Texas. We’re one of the leading home builders in Round Rock. Our professionals can help design a great residential development project that attracts homeowners and returns value to investors. Visit our website to check out our portfolio or call (512) 410-1342 to get started.

3 Modern Must-Haves for Your Older Home

Posted on by Rebekah Severi

Not all old residential properties are outdated. Some homes age like wine with a design that only gets better with time. That’s precisely why modern homeowners prefer a vintage home as a fresh change from the modern, urban architecture that they see every day at work.

Vintage homes have a promising appeal of grandeur and class, and only an old home can afford to exude that look. That said, older constructions and designs do have flaws that set in with time like fine lines on a pretty face. It mars the beauty of an otherwise gorgeous house and that’s why you need home remodeling experts in Round Rock, TX to renovate the design to accommodate modern needs without ruining the style. Here are some must-haves for older homes.

Insulated Windows

Climate change is a real issue and homeowners need to include weather-proofing solutions in their home designs to keep their living space comfortable. Rough winds during cold weather can find a way to enter the house and make the home uncomfortably chilly despite central heating. This not only makes you shiver but also drives up the energy bills because your HVAC systems go in overdrive to maintain the indoor climate. This happens because older wooden window frames may have warped over time and created gaps. You can avoid all that with perfectly insulated windows and doors to prevent heat loss. Thermal breaks allow air leaks but modern window frames eliminate such inefficiencies.

Upgraded Glass Panes

Dual-paneled glass is becoming the most-demanded feature in modern homes. The double layering of glass in windows allows the vacuum in between to prevent conduction. This serves well during harsh weather conditions, be it hot summers or cold winters. The air-conditioning won’t lose its effect through the windows and neither would the solar heat find a way in through the clear glass. Similarly, it works equally well during winters to prevent heat loss through conduction. If you prefer older home designs, don’t compromise on the windows; get new ones to maintain your comfort level at home.

Natural Light Solutions

It’s only now that architects have devised a solution for utilizing natural light to the homeowner’s benefit. Yes, we’re talking about skylights! This is an innovative window design that allows you to channel the sunlight indoors through the roof and brighten up the place. In cities like Round Rock where the sun shines on 204/365 days, you could really use this feature to highlight every corner in your new vintage home.

We evaluate older residential properties and put our home remodeling experts on the job to bring modern additions in the design for maximum comfort and convenience.

At Freccia Group, we have a design and construction team in place that deals with residential renovation projects in Round Rock, TX.

Call us at (512) 410-1342 if you have a property sell or want to invest in one.

Why It’s Important to Follow a Design-and-Build Process When Building a Home

Posted on by Rebekah Severi

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. In most projects, a well-laid plan will help you avoid mistakes in both the short and long terms. Our home builders in Round Rock, Texas,  have been building homes in the Austin area for years. Whether it’s in a neighborhood or on a country lot, we bring together architects, builders, and craftsmen to make great homes come to life.

Let us share with you some of our process:

Consultation with the Architect

Home projects are extensive and detailed and require site inspection, approvals of design plans, and the actual groundwork. An architect’s drawings are a fundamental part of the process and are referred to every step of the way. It’s the architect’s job to ensure that the design fulfills the homeowners’ needs, wants, and desires and reflects their aesthetic taste.

However, finding the perfect design match within a set budget can be a challenge because what may seem to be within financial reach may be more expensive than you think—and vice versa. This is why we carry out all projects under the constant guidance of seasoned architects who know what Central Texas residents want in a home and can figure out creative ways to make it happen.

Local Codes and Restrictions

Building within the Austin city limits holds its own challenges when it comes to permitting. It’s important to hire a home builder who knows the local codes or city restrictions. Issues like easements and environmental restrictions are often overlooked and could jeopardize an entire project if they aren’t addressed. It’s not uncommon for a builder to get to the framing stage only to discover that it has violated a restriction on the lot and now has to tear everything down and start all over. We are meticulous in our due diligence with regard to city permits in Austin, and we make sure our designs and plans are fully approved before beginning work.

Construction Schedule

We understand the importance of deadlines and of building you the home you want within our mutually agreed-upon timeline. Our builders, architects, carpenters, and other craftsmen work diligently to deliver our projects on time and with the utmost care. We care about the work we do and getting it done right. Our process is transparent, so you know what we’re doing and when we’re doing it. From the moment we break ground to the time the final touches are done, we’ll adhere to a construction schedule and inform you if something beyond our control happens that may cause a delay.

Professional Finish

Delivering the home you want on the timeline you require is our goal. In the end, we’ll conduct a thorough walk-through to address any minor issues that may stand in the way of your enjoyment of your new home. As both home-building experts and craftsmen, we take great pride in our work and want you to find joy around every corner for years to come.

At Freccia Group, we have in place a design and construction team that deals with residential home construction projects in Round Rock, Texas. Call us at (512) 410-1342 to get started.