OUR BLOG
OUR BLOG
Check out what’s happening with Myers Constructs as well as the latest news and trends in home renovation.
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. […]
Doing Your Homework As a Home Improvement Buyer
I recently spoke with a potential client who had a hugely specified project he wanted to build, but an insufficient budget to do so. Here are some things he could have done to be a more prepared buyer: Check out Remodeling Magazine — This is a well researched source where homeowners can go for solid answers about renovations. Prices will vary depending upon the age of the home, but it’s a great place to start your research. Start here before you hire an architect or designer to come up with a project design for you. The information is very good, and it’s FREE! Remodeling Magazine […]
The Sweet Smell of Home Improvement
Most people don't know that their houses smell new and much nicer after they renovate. It's kind of like "new house smell" gets sprayed on their home. The first week or two of construction is dusty and may not smell very good. In fact, it can uncover many BAD smells, like mildew, rot or sewer gases. It's icky. No two ways about it. But after that phase, NEW STUFF is installed. So you smell all the new pine lumber, plywood, drywall, primer and paint, adhesives and polishes. The new cabinets often still smell of varnish or paint. Floors can smell terrible during the varnishing process, but after that they smell fantastic. In fact, two of my favorite scents include new cement and fresh wax -- a fine old-time finish. The experience of finally being able to see, touch -- and smell! -- so many thousands of dollars of shiny, new,[...]
Home Changes, Life Changes
Many of our customers of replica handbags have older homes, in which large, complex or expensive projects have been delayed. Sometimes, the needed renovations are really overdue, but we are glad our customers waited until they found us to work on their homes. Renovating a home is stressful. It costs money — sometimes a lot of it. Just to remind ourselves of these facts, we renovate our own homes from time to time. […]
And on the Subject of Our Heat Wave Newsletter…
Let's not forget that PECO's rate caps will expire this December. And, says GridPhilly.com, PGW is negotiating for a 10 percent rate hike. In short, staying cool (or warm, come winter), isn't going to be getting any cheaper. Improving your home's energy efficiency is "the way forward," as the saying goes.
We’re On Vimeo! Take 2!
Check out this cool, new trailer about our team at Myers Constructs, Inc. This is just another example of our efforts to market our business without polluting the earth in the process. We've found that we don’t have to rely so much on the postal service to deliver printed marketing materials when we get great results from the organic sharing of our messages. So, please share this clip with your circle of contacts ... and stay tuned for more fun media soon!
