Custom Residential Architects Network

For background information, a cable news media outlet is looking for some quick tips/idea's homeowners are/can use for home improvements and remodeling projects:

- popular trends in remodeling requests
- unusual requests for remodeling requests
- Things homeowners can do to save money on a renovations (think prep/demo a space before renovations begin)
- anything homeowners need to be aware of before starting a home renovation project, that they are probably not aware of (something that doesn't get a lot of attention)

If you have some suggestions or idea's, please send them to me.  1 or 2 paragraphs should work.  This is for a quick deadline of 2/14.

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Matthew Tinder
Manager, Media Relations
The American Institute of Architects
Washington DC
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Matthew,

My best piece of advice for folks doing work on a tight budget is to try to minimize demolition of the existing building to the greatest degree possible.  On my own projects, I try to think creatively to reuse existing openings, avoid altering existing structural systems, and arrange the building elements to make flashing and weatherproofing systems easy to manage. 

Sometimes detaching the addition from the existing building slightly, and treating it as structurally independent, will make the work of interfacing the new and existing work much less intrusive and less expensive.  This obviously isn't possible in every situation, but it's always an approach to explore.  While demolition work itself is rather inexpensive, the cost to 'put things back' can quickly overrun the cost of the new work, as little odds and ends start getting tacked on to the budget to remediate existing areas in the spirit of, "As long as we've done this, we might as well do this!"  That always ends in the same sound; 'Cha-Ching'.

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David M. Sanders, Architect
Orange County, CA
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