OUR BLOG
OUR BLOG
Check out what’s happening with Myers Constructs as well as the latest news and trends in home renovation.
What Makes a Healthy Home?
Everyone wants their home to be a safe haven that promotes good health. Unfortunately, there are some factors that could be putting your family at risk of illness. Here are some of the typical problems we see in the homes we work on. By the way the link below is not to the house in the photo above! […]
Accessible Homes: Designing With an Eye to the Future
We often receive phone calls from prospective clients who are in their 40s and are preparing their home for “aging in place.” This may be for themselves, if they plan to remain in their homes long term, or for their aging parents or special-needs children who live with them. Our challenge in these projects is determining how to successfully update these older homes to make them more accessible and accommodating while factoring in the changing needs of the families who live there. Here’s a look at our process. The first step is conducting a survey of the house to learn how it currently works. […]
The Truck Tells the Whole Story
You can tell a lot about a craftsman by how he keeps his truck. At our Maryland Street project, the bank that owned the property before us had drywall screws driven into all of the locks except the front door. So we called this locksmith to switch out the locks and have them all keyed the same. This pro was a true pleasure to work with, and — just like his truck — he was super organized! He also likes the replica watches very much. […]
The Importance of Having a Plan
I’ve been speaking with some landscapers about creating a plan for our yard’s landscaping. I’m pretty sure my reaction to the process is a lot like most homeowners thinking about home renovations: ”$X per hour for design services?! How many hours will that take? What will that cost? Wouldn’t I be better off spending that money on plants and mulch? Why do I need a design plan anyway?” The truth is, I absolutely know the value of having a great plan, whether for landscaping or renovating a home. […]
90% Done, 75% to Go!
When it comes to closing a renovation project, that old saying holds true: the devil is in the details. It’s a time when having logged your 10,000 hours counts, and we’ve even coined a phrase for it: “90% done, 75% to go.” Because while the big, fancy and expensive pieces are installed and complete, there is still a large pile of teeny, tiny details to get done. It’s these details — the last 75% — that make your project look finished. Here is a snap of some of the things that still need to be installed at this small, whole-house renovation we’re doing for the city’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The house is in a nice neighborhood in the city’s East Mount Airy section. It’s not a fancy project, but the details still count. […]
Make it Boaty!
In our work, just as in many other professions, tidiness is important. Recently, I attended a wooden boat show in Clayton, NY, home of the amazing Antique Boat Museum. Clayton, a pretty old town with lots of cafes and shops, sits on the St. Lawrence River, close to Lake Ontario and Canada. It is a tidy place. Things are well kept and well built, and efficient use is made of space there. I use a catch phrase for these qualities. When I want our designers to find space for storage or for the field crews to make things tidy, I say, “Make it boaty!” You can see from these images that, on a boat, you must use space very efficiently and make sure that things get put away. Loose items can break or injure people when the boat rocks. In emergencies, items left lying around can cause serious[...]
Significant Home Ruined by Poor Window Choice?
A couple of years ago, I toured a home that was for sale and built by esteemed architect Louis Kahn. It was a lovely 3-bedroom, 2-bath, very modest-sized gem of a house in Elkins Park, a suburb just outside the city limits of Philadelphia. At that time, I was looking to move, and I found this house very charming and beautiful. Everything about this house “fit” within it. The yard was well tended with mature plantings and a small stream. The price was not out of reach. But, in the end, it was just too small for our family. But I’m so glad I took the opportunity to go see it because it reminded me about an important lesson: windows can make or break a house, even an architecturally significant one. If you visit the Louis Kahn Wikipedia page, you can see the house I am talking about on the[...]
We’re in The News!
Discussing modern day marketing and how we do it in : Remodeling Magazine We are moving to e marketing because it's more sustainable than snail mail. E marketing doesn't require little gas powered trucks driving all over to deliver cards with our contact info on them. But in order for this to work we need your help. When you share our newsletters and other marketing materials with your friends and neighbors, you are helping all of us be more sustainable!
“Plumb Level Square” Does Not Always Apply
Plumb Level Square is a touch stone phrase carpenters and other craftsmen use to be sure their work is tidy. But it doesn't always apply. Here is the proof. Enjoy the show! These photos were taken at The Wooden Boat Show hosted by The Antique Boat Museum in Clayton NY. Its a fine museum with many open water slips and covered galleries where they show off amazing wooden craft of the Finger Lakes Region in NY. Anyone who appreciates wooden construction methods will be blown away by the craftsmanship and engineering of these craft. It's no easy task to make wood take these shapes!
Choosing a Contractor: The Inside Scoop
At our company, I field all the sales calls. This means I spend time on the phone with potential customers. This is where I learn about the projects they’re interested in. I ask a lot of questions. I ask about their intended project, problems or issues they might be having with their homes. I get general information from callers too, like address and contact information, age and condition of their home. I ask about their budget. Knowing that callers have a reasonable assumption about costs is important because without that, it’s going to be hard to help them. I will also ask if they have worked with another Design to Build general contractor before. I learn a lot about other construction companies and what ticks homeowners off about them from this part of my conversation. […]
