Special New Years Offer to Make your Renovation Planning a Breeze

Special 2015 New Years Offer 

Wo-Built's Roadmap for Your Renovation

Credit: MS Office Clipart: Two story house with a chimney; Ribbon tied like a bow

The New Year is here and true to our New Year’s resolution we would like to start the year off by giving back and offer something truly unique.

Spring, the busy renovation season, is only 4 months away. If you are planning a renovation, now is the time to start putting all the pieces in play. Four months is not a long time and contractors get busy very soon in Spring as everyone wants to start then. It does not matter where you are in the process, you will have many questions. Who do you ask? Your friends and family who may only have anecdotal information or an independent professional who has your best interest at heart?

Over the last weeks we have introduced our ‘Roadmap to your Renovation’ process which is a great planning tool for your renovation. As you know, the wrong decision in a renovation can cost you $1,000's of dollars. Good and thorough planning and getting the necessary know-how of the process, pitfalls and risk management will save you a lot of your hard earned money.

The Wo-Built ‘Roadmap for your Renovation’ Assessment helps you formulate your ideal home and your ideal home renovation and enables you to communicate your visions to your contractor. In addition it outlines the process for you, teaches you what steps to do when, plan the project in great detail and gives you the confidence to embark on your project to achieve your ‘Dream House’.

We developed the ‘Roadmap for your Renovation’ Assessment to provide you with an invaluable tool which will enable optimum understanding of your dream house and your own abilities to deal with the renovation. By exploring your individuality and your unique problems and situations you can really determine what you want and what will suit you ultimately. Communication will be so much more effective between all parties and the results so much more satisfying.

The Assessment will enable you to voice your vision so much better than just showing the contractor magazines articles, pictures or design references from home improvement shows. This is seldom effective as the shows and magazines represent someone else's taste and situation. So the concept is the same, but different and the difference is left to the interpretation of the contractor. Hence, often the results will fall short of expectations and disappointment is possible as everyone envisages similar things differently according to his or her own experience.

The findings of the assessment are captured in the Wo-Built ‘Roadmap for your Renovation’ Report. If design options are required concept designs are explored in Wo-Built ‘Roadmap for your Renovation’ Design Options.

The Wo-Built ‘Roadmap to your Renovation’ Assessment is the basis for the detailed design by an Interior Designer or Architect, a rough estimate of the costs and construction process, methods and timing. Having gone through the Assessment you are ready to proceed with confidence with your own designer/contractor or if you wish continue with Wo-Built into the Design and Build phase.

We like to celebrate the New Year and we always have something special* for a limited time for our clients.

From now to Chinese New Year 2015 we offer a great deal on our ‘Roadmap to your Renovation’ Assessment and the ‘Roadmap to your Renovation’ Report. You not only save on $1,000's of dollars during the renovation with the know-how you are getting, you also get a great bargain on the education.

* For $350 you will get the ‘Roadmap to your Renovation’ Assessment and the ‘Roadmap to your Renovation’ Report in a bundle. You save $125.

Invest in your peace of mind. Get a truly unique education and let us help you beat the system.

Call us now to learn more on 416-402-2679 for more information. We would be happy to help.

** Offer valid for the Greater Toronto Area, Mississauga, Brampton only. Applicable taxes apply.

Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays

Image: Season's Greetings and Holiday Wishes from Wo-Built Inc.
Credit: MS Office ClipArt MH900440289

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Another year comes to an end and we at Wo-Built are contemplating the many good things that happened this year. We did some fantastic projects and met and worked with amazing people.

During this season, we want to say 'Thank You' to our wonderful clients – we would not be here without you.

For me personally, the Christmas season is full of joy and good will. I spend time with my friends and family and think of the great people I encountered during the year. At this special time of year, I am very grateful for all the help and advice I received on the way, both to advance personally and, of course, in business.

Very often it felt like that the spirit of giving which is so prevalent during the Christmas season was extended to me during the year. I hope I will be able to give some back in 2015.

Merry Christmas, Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays to all!

Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

To view our Season’s Greetings e-card, please click on the following link: http://tinyurl.com/happynewyear-wobuilt

What to Do When You Outgrow Your Home?

Collage: An Addition Creates a Home That Is More Than The Sum of Its Parts
Image Credit: MS Office ClipArt: Additions, Extensions, Homes
 @ wobuilt.com

When you outgrow a house or it doesn’t work for you anymore. - What do you do?

Well, you could go two routes – one is to throw the towel and look for another house or you can renovate/ extent the old one. Just like on Love It or List It which I quite like watching. I am usually not a great fan of renovation shows, but this one is at least shows some of the realities of renovation. But this is still TV.

In real life we can offer something that is BETTER than shown on TV. Part of the issue with renovations is that most times there is not enough planning and investigation done beforehand. Decisions are made with incomplete or assumed facts and this leads inevitably to disaster. When doing renovations and when with buying houses.What is the key – planning and risk minimization.

Feasibility Study of Your House - to Make an Informed Decision

So the decision “to love it or list it” starts with a feasibility study of the old house. What is possible, what will it will cost, what are the risks, even doing investigative explorations for possible problems down the line, what is the process. There are a lot of memories in your old house, your friends, neighbours and social networks are usually close by and your kids’ school is nearby. Doesn’t that house deserve a fair shot to see what is possible?

With our Roadmap to Your Renovation we look at your lifestyle, the house, your wish list, your tolerance level, your renovation knowledge and comfort level, the design possibility, costs, financing, contractor concerns and many more planning issues.

If You Do still Want to Buy a  a New House

If after this you still want to leave and look for a new house we will start planning for that – from arranging your mortgage to realtor services to renovations. And we do this through our Casavant Corporation partners (a one stop shop for home buying). More about this option in a later article.

If your home deserves a makeover

The feasibility study is a factual and unemotional tool for you to make an informed decision. And unlike in Love it or List It you do not have to do the renovations to make the decision. A feasibility study is a lot less expensive than a major renovation and, if a renovation is a go, it can mitigate a lot of risks during the construction phase.

Let’s say you would like to do a second storey addition. 

Here is the planning process you need to do:

1)    Determine what your needs versus wants are.
They are usually different from each other. Your needs are determined from your life style or a change in life style. Let’s say you would like to have another bedroom, but your kids are flying the nest soon. Do you really need the bedroom or could you use the extra space for something else? Maybe you don’t need to extend, only to rearrange. 

2)    Determine the possibilities and options.
a.    Know the implications on
i.    Costs
ii.    Finances
iii.    Timelines
iv.    Disruptions
v.    Obligations
vi.    Risks/Risk Mitigation

b.    Decide on a preferred option.

3)    Investigate the construction feasibility for your preferred design. Only then start the detailed design.
4)    Design the option
5)    Investigate and decide on the contractors.

We can help through all of this through our Roadmap for your Renovation packages.

If you want to talk to us about doing a feasibility study, please call us on 416-402-2679 for more information or, if ready, book your 'Roadmap for your Renovation Assessment' Now!

 Click here to book

We would be happy to help.

Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

An Interesting Read:
@wobuilt: How do you budget for a home #renovation? @TDNews_Canada has #RenoTips for you! http://td.mediaroom.com/2015-05-07-to-renovate-or-not-to-renovate … #infographics

How do you budget for a home #renovation? @TDNews_Canada has #RenoTips for you! http://t.co/pBEqQdfkHX #infographics pic.twitter.com/w3eooCZK2V

— Wo-Built Inc (@wobuilt) May 7, 2015