New book helps avoid home renovation mistakes

If it doesn't boost property value, don't do it
By: Robert J. Bruss: Inman News
If you are considering remodeling your home, but you are a little intimidated by the process, reading "What No One Ever Tells You About Renovating Your Home" by Alan J. Heavens will explain the "dos" and "don'ts" for a successful project.

This is not a "how to" book explaining specific tasks, such as installing dry wall. There are lots of other books explaining home remodeling components. Instead, this book takes an overall view of home renovation, explaining when it is wise and when it shouldn't be undertaken.

In a likeable, self-deprecating way, home remodeling expert Heavens shares many of his personal home renovation experiences, mostly to illustrate what not to do. For example, he explains his misplaced obsession with finishing his basement remodel before he completed his more visible and partially completed upstairs fix-up projects.

The book is filled with lots of real-world examples from homeowners who undertook home renovation work, mostly successful, but a few with unplanned results. The story I liked best is about Alex and Beth Cerrato from San Diego who added a 1,500-square-foot addition while continuing to live in their home with their 18-month-old son. That must have been fun. They explain how they hired a recommended remodeling contractor who actually completed the project on budget and delivered top quality work.

This guidebook to successful home renovation explains when it's best to hire contractors and when to do the work yourself. Heavens is clearly a do-it-yourself guy, perhaps because then he often writes about his personal remodeling experiences in his newspaper articles for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

But the author recommends doing lots of research before deciding to do it yourself or hire an experienced contractor. He reports the renovation business is highly fragmented, with about 880,000 businesses involved in remodeling, of which 550,000 are one-person operations.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, Heavens reports, by 2019 the remodeling business will outpace residential construction in annual volume. No wonder the home improvement stores are expanding so fast.

"Never spend money if it won't boost your property values" is the book's theme. That topic is explained in one of the 50 short mini-chapters, which break up the book into easy-to-understand components. At the end of each chapter there are dozens of short, one-sentence summary "things to remember" tips.

Heavens suggests not undertaking renovation projects shortly before selling your home. Instead, he recommends minor fix-up to prepare a home for sale to earn top dollar.

One of the most valuable of the book's many segments explains how to hire a quality contractor. Heavens advises against using the phone book yellow pages method because that's expensive advertising, which the contractor's customers pay for one way or another.

The method for hiring quality contractors the author suggests is to ask neighbors, friends and relatives for recommendations of reliable contractors. Another source, he says, is ask local building inspectors which contractors do the best work and have the fewest problems.

The book is like having a personal conversation with an impartial home renovation expert who shares his many personal experiences in an organized way. Based on his 15 years of writing his syndicated home improvement columns, interviewing hundreds of homeowners and contractors, Heavens shares his insights of what to do to have a successful home remodel.

To illustrate, I especially liked his explanations of home renovation topics from the contractor's viewpoint, such as making estimates. The author reports this is one task most contractors hate because they know many estimates will never result in firm contracts since many homeowners are just shopping and they know estimates are free.

After reading this excellent book, I have a greater understanding of the home remodeling business and what to do and what not to do for a satisfying project.

Especially revealing is the process of getting building permits and what can happen if the contractor works without a permit. For example, Heavens shares the story of a homeowner who had to tear down a $10,000 non-permitted deck that was built too close to the property line and the building inspector wouldn't grant a variance to legalize it.

Chapter topics include "Right from the Start"; "Roll Up Your Sleeves"; "Stop, Look, and Listen"; and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." The Appendix includes an excellent Internet Resource Guide.

There should be a federal law requiring all homeowners to read this outstanding home renovation book before they are allowed to either undertake do-it-yourself home remodeling or hire a remodeling contractor.

Reading this book written by a home renovator who shares his many practical experiences, and who has the ability to write in a very understandable manner, will avoid costly mistakes and make the renovation process go smoothly. On my scale of one to 10, this outstanding new book rates an off-the-chart 12.

"What No One Ever Tells You About Renovating Your Home," by Alan J. Heavens (Dearborn-Kaplan Publishing, Chicago), 2005, $18.95, 208 pages; Available in stock or by special order at local bookstores, public libraries, and www.amazon.com.