Wise Improvements » News

We need Contributors for National Home Improvement Publications

Joe — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:03:25 +0000

We have been contacted by an editor for a variety of National home improvement publications for fall and winter home mainteance and improvement checklists
Please submit articles, tips and to-dos with any exterior high resolution images to go along with them to us. We will forward them along with appropriate credits. This is a great opportunity for you and your business to get some national exposure. Let’s represent the Southwest! The deadline is October 17th. Contact us if you have any questions.

See the Announcement here

To all my Contractor Friends. Don’t do this!

Joe — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:07:53 +0000

Contractor accidentally levels house in Pittsburgh. Woops!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110105/ap_on_re_us/us_mistaken_demolition

Homebuilding Reality TV show to film in Santa Fe

Joe — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:31:41 +0000

This was a letter we received in our inbox. This is a great opportunity for our homebuilders. Let us know if you want to apply.

My name is Grayson and I am writing from Atlas Media Corp and the DIY Network. I am in the process of casting a show for DIY entitled “Ultimate Home Builders,” a documentary series following the build of 13 homes from the ground up. I’m writing this e-mail to see if you might be interested in taking part in the series. We are looking to film a build that will be breaking ground in the next month, with the length of the project lasting around about 5 months.

In terms of a time commitment, we would send a film crew out to cover key parts of the build about 5 or 6 times during the length of construction. We would also want to do a couple of interviews with you and the homeowner. While we are not able to compensate you for your time, it would be a great advertising and publicity opportunity to be featured on a show that demonstrates the positives of homebuilding.

This is a legitimate television show, which means we are not looking for any sort of money from you. If you have a family in mind that would be interested, then we would like to receive photos of you, the family, as well as a bio giving us a little bit of background about you both. Any information on the house (style, square footage, unique design elements etc) would be much appreciated. Please let me know if you would like any further information on the show and if you are interested in moving forward.

Feel free to check out the DIY Network website http://www.diynetwork.com for a better sense of their programming and viewership.

If you are interested please contact Wise Improvements

Remodel Cost Vs Value In Santa Fe

Joe — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 18:33:29 +0000

For homeowners one of the most important questions to ask yourself when considering an improvement project (second only to “will I love this?”) is “will this be worth the investment if I ever decide to sell?” This is a daunting question which is not easy to answer. There are so many factors involved including local markets, comps and budget. Luckily for us the Association of Realtors and the Remodellers Council of the National Homebuilders Association (we are members of both) do an annual Cost vs Value report on home improvements, retrofits and remodels.

While Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico do have our own little quirks in this area I think it is a good jumping off point. For example decks, and front door replacements in the mid range category are good performers returning 80.6% and 128.9% on investment respectively. On the higher end remodels replacement of siding (new stucco?) and window replacements (vinyl and wood) performed the best. Check out the full report. It gives average prices for projects and other valuable information. Wise Improvements would love to hear your reaction to this study and your experiences with ROI on improvements and remodels in our local market. If I get enough responses I will post them which may help us all navigate this complex real estate market we all find ourselves in.

Thanks, Joe L.

Finally the US Government Helps Remodelers and Homeowners

Joe — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:43:02 +0000

This is not the entire fix like 2030.org and Mazria’s plan for 4.5 million jobs but it is a start. Apparently it will start with a home energy score program rolled out in ten states. The closest to us will be Eagle county Colorado. We will keep a close eye on this. Then a FHA backed home improvement PowerSaver program. These will be accompanied by a list of skills and guidelines for professionals in doing this kind of work. There is also a SBA program for entrepreneurs looking to get into this field. This is endorsed by the NAHB but they will be tracking it closely to make sure it does not have adverse affects on existing housing stocks and their appraisals. Thanks Joe Biden, Obama, Udall, Bingaman, and Lujan and everyone else that worked on this. Let’s get green retrofitting! For all the information see here.

Green Building Summit and Expo

Joe — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:54:18 +0000

Please join us this weekend for the Green Building Summit and Expo in downtown Santa Fe at the Community Convention Center.

The Summit is for building professionals, appraisers, architects designers and finaciers.

Classes run Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9am-4pm. There should be CEU’s available.

The Expo is Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm and is free and open to the public.

to register or for more information please go to

http://greenbuildingsummit.com/

Hope to see you all there

New Lead Paint RRP rules

Joe — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:46:25 +0000

These videos about the new EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rules are a must watch for Contractors, Homeowners and Realtors. These are now in effect. Fees a can be as high at $37,000 a day per violation. Need RRP certified renovators, certification classes, and lead inspectors. Call Wise Improvements today!

http://www.remodeling.hw.net/lead-paint/rrp-education-series.aspx

Letter to our Leaders Job Growth and Green Retrofits

Joe — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:51:13 +0000

Dear Mayor Coss, Santa Fe City Council, and President Obama,
Thank you for this opportunity to be heard on how to promote job growth and our local economy during these challenging times. As business people in Santa Fe we believe the best way to stimulate job growth is through the building industry. It is (or was) the third largest industry in Santa Fe behind tourism and state government before this recession. Now our work has all but vanished and our unemployment is enormous.
As we are sure you know, the Federal Government is making energy efficient home retrofits a priority in their job creation programs. This recent pdf highlights the ways in which they are planning to motivate homeowners and help fund the programs:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/091204-PERAB-Home-Retrofits-Memo-Final.pdf
The concern we have is that by the time this is finally enacted and funded more construction jobs will have been lost in Santa Fe and more business will have disappeared. We cannot afford to wait much longer before some urgent action is taken. We also have concerns that the tax credit incentives involved in this program may not be enough to encourage many homeowners from taking full advantage of the program and the amounts that will be funded per homeowner (currently $12,000 of which $6,000 would be the tax credit. These may not be enough to successfully retrofit our older Santa Fe homes with their unique building styles.
On a National level, we encourage the Federal Government to seriously consider Ed Mazria and 2030 challenge’s plan to encourage retrofits through a federally funded mortgage write-down and a low interest loan program, which would enable many people to take advantage of serious and comprehensive energy efficiency measures while reducing personal debt in these difficult times.
http://www.architecture2030.org/news/news_120809.html
We would like to suggest an immediate major stimulus to our local construction industry, which has suffered enormously over the last year (down 78%). There are several models that individual municipalities across the United States are already successfully using to both stimulate the local construction industry and also encourage homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient. We would like to encourage you to look at these.
A very successful model which could be implemented fairly rapidly is one similar to that currently underway in Sonoma and Boulder Counties, which fund energy efficiency upgrades through Special Property Tax Assessments:
http://www.bouldercounty.org/bocc/cslp/CSLPintro.html
Our state has already enacted legislation last year (SB647) to enable counties and municipalities to set up Renewable Energy Finance Districts to encourage homeowners to install solar, geothermal and wind energy on their properties. The special assessment on property taxes which pays for this encourages homeowners to participate in the program as the debt that is incurred is not personal but remains with the property should it be sold. The addition of broad energy efficient measures to this program would incentivize homeowners to undertake major energy efficiency retrofits to their homes without having to add to their personal debt to do so. As the mechanisms are already being put in place for renewable energy measures, there would not be many further administrative costs involved in the implementation of such a program.

Sonoma County has a very successful program in place that does just this and so far this year has created 800 construction jobs (an 8.4% increase) while neighboring counties continued to lose construction jobs. Beginning Dec. 15, bills can be pre-filed for the New Mexico state legislative session that begins in January. We suggest that a bill be introduced, sponsored by the City, to expand the terms of the Renewable Energy Finance Districts to include major energy efficient retrofits of existing homes that produce trackable energy savings. We encourage the city and county to immediately investigate how this would be implemented so the program could be ready to go as soon as a bill were passed.

http://www.sonomacountyenergy.org/energy-improvements.php

Long Island has a very similar program in place but with a limit of $12,000 per house funded as a “benefit assessment” through their solid waste fund.
http://www.ligreenhomes.com/page.php?Page=home

There is also the city’s affordable housing trust fund or a bond issue which could help to kick start any one of these programs. Clearly these types of programs would make housing more affordable to operate and the city more affordable to live in. The gross receipts and income taxes to the city and state from the stimulated construction industry would more than pay for any outlay of funds to these programs. The demand should also drive green jobs and green job growth as more installers will be needed.

The existing programs mentioned enable and encourage homeowners to make significant changes to their homes. They have added GREEN construction jobs and jobs in the many peripheral businesses that rely on the construction industry. They are already well-studied and have solid track records that Santa Fe could use to rapidly implement something similar before more jobs are lost. In addition these programs would help us cut energy usage and reduce green house gas emissions. These programs will work towards the climate issues that all of us face and that the administration is working on in Washington. This is a win-win for everyone in our community and on our planet. We hope you will see the logic in these ideas and will seriously consider instituting some of these policies and programs. When you do we would be pleased to offer our knowledge and expertise in support.
Sincerely,
Joe Lewis
Wise Improvements LLC
505 216 7529
admin@wiseimprovements.com

Amanda Evans
Advanced Home Analysts,
505-690-2603
amanda@ahanewmexico.com

Word to the Wise E-Newsletter

Joe — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:15:06 +0000

This months enewsletter has announcements about the Green Building Summit and Expo, Tips for getting your garden ready for winter and information on owner Joe Lewis’s NYC marathon fundraiser for Team Hole in the Wall and The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. To read the full version go to the link

http://bit.ly/3NEHou

If you are not a subscriber and would like to be then please sign up at the top of this blog or on our homepage

www.wiseimprovements.com

Thanks and enjoy