Actual kitchen photo (after)

Here is a model of a renovation that we are currently working on as well.  We took a photo of the house and created a 3D model of it.  This way our client’s can see the proposed addition virtually before it is completed with sticks and bricks.  It is much cheaper to make changes on paper (or on the computer) then it is the field.

Model of Existing house

Model of homeowner proposed addition

Feel like you are on Jeopardy?  The answer is simple enough that it could be on “are you smarter than a 5th grader!”

We are still having an war between the states, however they are all below the Mason Dixie line this time.  So what is the answer to our current looming water crisis?  Water conservation.

There is an old saying about a “penny saved is a penny earned”- why not apply it to water?  Decrease the demand for water by not consuming as much in your house or building.  Also- look at collecting your own water to use as well.

Here is a post from a friend of The Hoots Group- http://www.thecistern.com/the-cistern/2010/8/13/georgia-due-for-drought-in-2011.html

If we consume less and collect more locally (at your house), then the war is over!

To get a water analysis on your home or to learn more about conservation visit Fresh World.

State Tax Credits:
Just learned that Perdue sign a bill that now allows the applications for the Clean Energy Property Tax Credit to roll over to the following year if current year funds are exhausted.  Although the 2010 tax credits may be exhausted or shortly will be (currently, as of June 30, 2010, DOR is showing that $932,627 dollars are left in the 2010 fund), homeowners who have systems installed in 2010 can pre qualify for 2011 tax credits.  It is still a first come first serve basis therefore it is important to commission and file quickly.

The process has now changed – it is no longer mail in form but an online application process.
You will still need to provide your customers with the hard form so they may refer to it to fill in the info on the on-line form.
Directions to the processing are below in the below link which also has a link to the on line “Preapplication” form.
http://www.gefa.org/Index.aspx?page=428

An important factor here is now GEFA only approves the technology and install as qualifying.  Once that preapproval of the qualification is complete, it important that the homeowner immediately file for their tax credit with Dept of Revenue of Georgia.  If they wait to file the credit request, they could be pushed to the following year.  Currently, as of June 30, 2010, DOR is showing that $932,627 dollars are left in the 2010 fund.

GEORGIA ENERGY STAR REBATE:
Also do not forget that the Energy Star Rebate program is still in effect until the end of August or the exhaustion of funds (currently $741,219 left).
Our systems qualify for $199.  Link is attached for this program.  http://www.georgiarebate.com/

Tuffin’ It Out: Your reputation can help sell homes

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tuffin’ It Out: Your reputation can help sell homes
By Morgan Zenner

If you feel like you’ve exhausted every marketing avenue, you may want to consider a little business-to-business promotion within the real estate community. Real estate agents are the linking chain between remodelers and homeowners with a vested interest in homes. Whether buying or selling, there’s a good chance those homeowners will have a need for a remodeler.

According to the 2009 Remodeling Market in Transition report published by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies research, “Households that relocate spend an average of 20 to 25 percent more on improvements than otherwise similar households that do not move.” This suggests that homeowners are more apt to put money into newly purchased homes.

Real estate agents have an interest in high-quality homes—something that remodelers can provide—and at the same time, they build trust between your potential clients who are looking for advice on the value of the home and guidance on how to increase it.

Reputation gives you branding power in real estate circles

Jerome Quinn, vice president of operations at SawHorse Inc., Atlanta, attracts 50 percent of his new clients by way of the real estate industry. The 32-year-old company started gaining popularity in the real estate circles thanks to their high-quality work and reputation.

“The nicer areas of Atlanta have older homes—many of which we worked on—and new buyers would always ask their agents who the remodeler was,” Quinn says.

Naturally, the agents picked up on this, and started using the SawHorse name in advertisements for their homes. “There are only so many words you can include in an advertisement to describe the house, so it was surprising to find our name in these little advertisements,” Quinn says.

Eventually, that phrase ‘Remodeled by SawHorse’ was being used so frequently that Quinn had to regulate it. Now he requires real estate agents to have written permission to use the SawHorse logo on any advertisement and be specific about which area of the home was remodeled.

“People would say remodeled by SawHorse, but it really was just a day’s worth of handyman work, and we didn’t want to be associated with poor quality renovations from someone else,” Quinn says.

Quinn has created a mutually beneficial relationship to the real estate agents in his market. They love selling SawHorse homes and SawHorse loves taking care of new home buyers. “We receive a lot of referrals from real estate agents, and in return, we also recommend and refer them,” he says.

The SawHorse Web site promotes the increased re-sale value of a SawHorse renovation by placing the real estate advertisements on their page.

This importance of Realtor relationships stems upward in the company, from SawHorse’s parent company, The Hoots Group, which uses its Facebook page to promote real estate agents that have provided SawHorse with leads.

Matthew Hoots, CR, CLC, president of The Hoots Group Inc., explains that his relationships with real estate agents are reciprocal; however no money is exchanged. He has not sponsored advertisements, and he doesn’t receive a portion of home sales—he thinks of the real estate market and remodeling businesses as related but separate.

The exposure is just as beneficial as a percentage of the home sale would be. “Most people who live in Atlanta have heard of us, but if you’re new to the area, you will definitely notice our name in the real estate market,” Hoots says.

Last year alone, Hoots says that he earned $1 million worth of business through real estate agent referrals. “That is without active solicitation—they simply trust our brand and know that homeowners do as well.”

The Hoots group is working to take this step further, using its reputation for green building to court real estate agents who specialize in sustainable homes.

“The green community in Atlanta is very tight-knit, and we’re finding that we need to work harder to build a network within the sustainable real estate market. If we succeed we think it could be very profitable for us,” Hoots says.

Stay tuned for next week as we discuss another way to attract real estate partnerships to increase leads.

While I am happy to see it becoming more popular, I am worried that many companies are offering this as an add on to the services instead of making it standard.  The other issue that I see is HVAC, insulation and general contracting companies selling home performance ONLY from the point of view of the product they sell.

That’s is how I came up with the paper scissors rock approach to Home Performance.  As a kid, the game “Paper/ Scissors/ Rock” was played to see if you could guess which item that you opponent would select and hopefully, you would select the item that would trump theirs.

Scissors- would cut paper- would beat rock- which would crush scissors- which would cut paper…

So how does this apply to Home Performance?

Insulation- has a faster ROI than HVAC- which should be sized based on insulation- which cannot be installed with certain types of HVAC- which must be altered for better insulation- which should be installed before adding solar power- which is a great option for heating water- which is the 2nd leading use of power in the house- which can be reduced if you use less hot water…

As you can see, nobody really wins in home performance if not installed properly, they all must be designed to work together.

Keep in mind:

An HVAC guy makes money based on equipment sales

An insulation guy makes money selling and installing insulation

A solar installer make money by creating power for you

However a home performance contractor gets satisfaction out of a finely tuned house that they designed so you can have insulation and HVAC engineered to work with each other and other options that are designed to make your home more comfortable and energy efficient.  You will also tells your friends more often about a home performance contractor verse a single product installer.

Bottom line.

It’s not paper/ scissors OR rock it’s: HVAC, insulation, AND moisture management- The complete Home Performance package.

Fresh World the performance division of The Hoots Group is Atlanta’s leading home performance contractor with hundreds of improvement and thousand of assessments to date.

Find out more about us here, check out our videos, and become a fan of us on Facebook!

“Durability counts. Many kitchen cabinets may only last a few years, forcing you to start from scratch once they start to fall apart. Use solid-surface countertops and a good cabinet line if you want a kitchen that will not only look nice, but also last a long time.” -Matt Hoots, CEO, The Hoots Group, Inc.

“Come up with a design that looks nice and will stand the test of time,” adds Matt Hoots, CEO of The Hoots Group Inc. “If the kitchen blends well with the period that the house was built in or has a good, clean design, then it will add value to the home. If it is too cutting edge, you risk not being able to sell your house or get the full value out of the new kitchen.”

Find out more about us here, check out our videos, and become a fan of us on Facebook!

Share on Facebook ]]> http://www.sustainword.com/kitchen-design-tips-by-atlanta-experts/feed/ 0 http://www.sustainword.com/kitchen-design-tips-by-atlanta-experts/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SustainWord/~3/BWE31MgCo6w/ http://www.sustainword.com/midtown-green-playhouse/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 22:36:40 +0000 Greenlanta HomeAid AtlantaThe Hoots Group http://www.sustainword.com/?p=1719 The Hoots Group is proud to support HomeAid Atlanta along with our partners to create aplayhouse that will be raffled off later this year.  The proceeds will go to HomeAid Atlanta which helps build woman’s shelters.

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My father was conservative and used the word “steward” quite often with regard to money, our resources and the environment. I would not call him an environmentalist by today’s definition. He would not like it if I did either since he associated environmentalism with people trying to slow down capitalism. Every year we would go on a camping trip during the summer to either the Smokey Mountains or to some other campground. In the Smokies, I remember him getting me a T-shirt that stated- “Take only pictures- Leave only footprints.” While he did not mention environmental impact- I know that was part of the message.

My mother was a little bit more progressive. She helped me with my science project with my father since she was a science teacher. One of them was a Solar House. Another was a business plan on how to use kudzu to make profit. We got to work in the yard together and she taught be how to recycle and compost.

Neither of them claimed to be saving the planet by doing these activities. It was conveyed to me that it was common sense.

Find out more about us here, check out our videos, and become a fan of us on Facebook!

Find out more about us here, check out our videos, and become a fan of us on Facebook!

For each episode- we tried to incorporate a green element to since we are a green renovator.  In this episode we introduced a new type of exterior product called thermally modified wood.  It is heated to extreme temperatures which cooks out the sugars which attract insects.  It does not have harmful chemical or warps like pressure treated wood.

To sign up for your own curb appeal makeover- visit SawHorse

Find out more about us here, check out our videos, and become a fan of us on Facebook!

Find out more about us here, check out our videos, and become a fan of us on Facebook!

2 of our project managers talking to the horses

OR maybe just wanted to see how we are green.

They heard that The Hoots Group was green and they decided to take their fossil fuel free vehicles over to our office to say hi.

Find out more about us here, check out our videos, and become a fan of us on Facebook!

The Hoots Group is the builder of the 2010 Southern Building Show Showcase House. To help document the progress, we have been shooting videos of the green products being installed.

We have posted all of these videos on You Tube for you to view and learn more about the products that we are using and recommend.

Click here to see ALL of the Midtown Green House videos.

Find out more about us here, check out our videos, and become a fan of us on Facebook!

Solar Water Heaters have a 3-7 year ROI according to the DOE

While many of of clients are willing to make an extra investment to “help save the environment”, most of them are mainly concerned about their economic bottom line.  I don’t blame them. In these tough times, you have to make smart economic investments to make sure you actually get a good return on investment.

When it comes to new construction and renovations, we offer upgrades in several areas over “standard construction” because there is actually a good return on the extra cost of the investment.  I have been giving presentations to many of our trade partners and I get consistent feedback from them that ‘green cost more and does not work all of the time.’  This is a misconception based on people gravitating towards the more expensive items that are green that may look cool but do not perform as well as other options.

That is why I prefer to use the term building science.  When we make recomendations to our clients, we keep their investment dollars in mind.  We look at a few things for each solution:

1. How well does the technology work?
2. How long it is going to last?
3. How fast will it “pay for itself?”

Let’s look at a couple of solutions that we offer based on these questions.

Geothermal HVAC

1. How well does the technology work? A.  Geothermal works very well in all climate zones.  Since it is much more efficient than a traditional heat pump, it performs much better during extreme temperatures as well when traditional equipment has only mediocre performance.  We are a Waterfurnace dealer and they have some of the best equipment on the marketplace as well.
2. How long it is going to last? A.  While the condenser on a traditional heat pump it rated to last for about 12 years- the loop field (the condenser for geothermal) is rated to last about 55 years.   If you look at the upfront extra cost for the loop field it pays for itself very quickly when looking at the cost of maintenance and replacement cost over the life of the home.
   
3. How fast will it “pay for itself?” A. This is my favorite answer.  For most scenarios, we are seeing a 5 year payback for geothermal.  On some larger houses we are seeing an even faster payback since many of them use so much energy.  This translates to hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings over the life of the system.

So when considering a renovation or new construction, if the tern green seems a bit unclear and confusing, consider design a home using building science that is specifically engineered for your needs.

Our building performance  (Fresh World) offers green solutions for homeowners and builders, while our green building division (The Hoots Group) is Atlanta’s pioneer in residential building science.

Find out more about us here, check out our videos, and become a fan of us on Facebook!

Carpenter bee looking to eat my house

When I was a kid, I remember a song that went something like this, “I’m squishing up my baby bumblebee, won’t my mommy be so proud of me.”

Now I am bigger and have “badder” tools to squish up the carpenter bees that are eating up my house. Unfortunately, carpenters bees to not discriminate by zip code so if you have cedar on your house in Atlanta, you are probably experiencing a swarm of them. Since there are not many good green chemicals that can effectively combat these bees for good, I am going to change out all of the cedar on my house to Nichiha fiber cement siding.

Fiber cement is a made out of wood fibers and cement which insects do not like to eat.  It also has a 50 year warranty where cedar might last 20 years before needing replacement.

As a green builder/ renovator using fiber cement siding such as Nichiha gets us green points on the checklist as well.

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