If you follow me on Twitter, you know I tweet out a lot of industry information like housing starts, mortgage rate information, real estate statistics, and much more. Sometimes you may get a bleak outlook from those tweets. Although things aren’t exactly rosy, we do have several proverbial “irons in the fire.” We’re always looking for more though. If you’d like to build a new house, a Homearama contract, or look into a remodeling project, we’re here to help.

In the meantime, we thought we’d update you on a few of the current and future projects we have going. If nothing more, this should give you hope for a brighter day. Recently, Dave Ramsey, financial author and speaker, tweeted out that hope is the one thing no one can take away from us.

We’re currently:

• Finishing a custom basement remodel in Oldham County, which includes a bathroom, fireplace, media room, family room, laundry room
• Finishing a basement in English Station which includes a media room, hobby room, family room, and bathroom
• Working on a custom room addition in Plainview—this is an all-weather type sunroom
• Preparing to start a custom contract home we’ve signed in Shelby County on a 14 acre farm
• Finishing a custom basement with a media room, family room, and bathroom in Jtown
• Finishing a custom master bathroom remodel in Jtown
• Covered deck with enclosed custom screening in Jtown
• Beginning a commercial dental office addition and renovation—with this job we had a 13 month rezoning process
• Finishing master bathroom and bedroom remodel in Douglas Hills
• Finished a custom home in Shakes Run
• We’re bidding three custom contract homes
• We’re bidding another commercial build-out

The second video shows the deck we completed for the homeowners a while back. It’s a Trex product and nicely connects to the sun room.

We’re always excited and honored to work with repeat customers. If you have a custom building or remodeling question or are thinking about starting a project, contact us. We’d love to work with you on your next building or remodeling job.

Although it’s felt like summer in Louisville for a couple of months now, we can officially say that summer is here! It’s been a busy one for us already so we thought this would be a good time update everyone on the projects we have going on.

We have a lot of current jobs in progress, several bids out, and several more projects that we’ve recently completed.

First up, here’s a list of current jobs that are keeping us busy. Hopefully it will give you an idea of the wide variety of jobs we do. Although we’re a custom home builder in Louisville, we also do small and large remodeling jobs on both residential and commercial properties.

• Basement finish—J-town area
• Screen porch—J-town area
• Sunporch and deck—Middletown/Pee Wee Valley
• Remodeling and repairs—Lake Forest
• Master bedroom remodel—Douglas Hills
• Early stages of a custom home contract—Shakes Run in Eastwood

Current bids out:

• Sun porch—Plainview
• Porch—Middletown
• Basement finish—Crestwood
• Deck—Prospect
• Custom Home on large acre tract—Shelbyville
• Custom Home on a large acre tract—Shepherdsville
• Kitchen remodel—Douglas Hills

Here are a few projects we recently completed:

• Commercial warehouse project
• Water damage repair in basement—Winchester Acres
• Window replacement/remodel—Douglas Hills

If you’re thinking about building, updating, or remodeling, I urge you to contact me to discuss how working with a registered builder and remodelor can improve your experience. You can get in touch with me here.

When a builder gets a complete set of building plans, the builder is expected to give the client a cost estimate or quote as it is commonly referred to.

When I started in the building business, the standard way of estimating a house was to take the lot cost and the cost of “lumber” which at that time encompassed windows, doors, roofing products and other related items, average these costs, use a multiplier, and cost the house. That method outgrew itself in the late 1970s.

I was fortunate to have worked for an engineer from a commercial construction background who taught me to estimate “from the ground up.” His theory was that any size project should be estimated the same way, no matter how large or small. He taught me the necessity of a solid sound estimating system. I still use the same basic format today, except the computer has quickened our methods.

Today there are so many products and choices available to the builder and buyer. It is ever the more important for a detailed estimate and a detailed scope of work or specifications. It establishes a budget that will be used throughout the building of your house or project. If a haphazard or incomplete cost estimate establishes the budget, someone will suffer financially.

I personally feel that every builder should use a detailed take-off system to cost the project. When relying on salespersons and subcontractor take offs, they are subject to that person’s interpretations of items and practices used by that person. Without a detailed take off or your own, you have no way of knowing whether that person is correct or not. When it is time to finalize your project, the salesperson may say, “You asked me to do more than I quoted. Get the quote and see what I estimated as compared to what I put in the house.” It is always the other person’s fault. A good take off of your own could have prevented this, as it would have red-flagged the difference in your estimate and theirs.

We all are much happier in the end when we have established a sound estimate. If you, our client is satisfied, we get to build that second or third house. And that keeps us in business.

We haven’t even officially reached summer and already we’re seeing temperatures in the 90s. Louisville is known for its hot, humid, and dry summers, which in turn can lead to high-cost energy bills. As a custom home builder and remodelor for more than 30 years, I’ve experienced a lot of hot Louisville summers, but have also helped many home owners save money on their energy bills. Here are some steps you can take to make sure your home is running as efficiently as possible.

• If you live in an older home, you could have leaky windows and doors which literally allow hot air in and makes it hard to keep rooms cool. Sealing or caulking around windows or doors could be an easy fix to ensure no air gets in or out. If you’re ready for a more expensive investment, consider replacing your windows altogether. If you’re thinking about remodeling your house or are in the middle of a remodel, don’t forget about upgrading your windows.
• For newer homes, a less extreme fix is to simply keep your blinds and curtains closed during the day when your home is in direct sunlight. Also, keep ceiling fans running when you’re at home so cooler air is circulating.
• Grill out and avoid using the oven when weather is extreme. This will keep your kitchen cool and prevent the furnace from running on overdrive.

Remember, with the furnace running as much as it does, don’t forget to replace your air filter every month! If you would like to speak to me about a remodel or other creative ways to save money on energy bills, contact me today.

If you need some remodeling work done inside your house or out, we can help. Just contact us to get the process stared.

P.L. Lyons does commercial new construction and commercial remodeling in and around Louisville, KY. Although our mainstay is residential custom building and remodeling, we know our way around a commercial code book, too. If you have a commercial or residential project you’d like to talk to us about, we encourage you to contact us through our website or give us a call at 502.244.0114.

When you’re in the market for a contractor, builder, or remodeler, you want to make sure you choose someone reliable and trustworthy. We’ve all heard about the horror stories of homeowners forking out big money up-front for a project and the next thing they know their contractor skips town.

While scenarios like that do happen, if you do your research, ask the right questions, and choose a qualified, registered builder, you should be just fine. That’s one reason why I wanted to write this post. I want to go ahead and answer some of those questions for you so you can get to know me a little better.

• My name is Perry Lyons and I’ve been building homes in Louisville for 37 years.
• Our business focuses exclusively on custom projects, meaning we listen carefully to your needs and work hard to accomplish your vision.
• We’ve never cut corners and we never will.
• I’m on the Board of Directors for the Home Builders Association of Louisville (HBAL)
• I’m also the Chairman for the Codes and Standards Committee.
• I teach the advanced estimating and specifications writing classes at the Home Builders Association of Louisville.
• My office is located in the oldest building on Main Street in Middletown.
• I live in Anchorage in one of many homes we built there.
• I’ve completed custom projects in many prestigious neighborhoods in Louisville including Fox Run, Glen Lakes Section II, Lake Forest, Douglas Hills, Plainview, Briar Hill Estates, Grand Lakes, and many others.

Would you like to learn more and see some of my custom building and remodeling work around Louisville? Contact me and let’s start a conversation. You can also follow along on Twitter and Facebook.

We’ve all heard that kitchens and baths are what sell homes. It’s true. These rooms are usually the hardest and most expensive rooms to renovate, so a lot of the time, buyers are looking for homes with updated kitchens and bathrooms.

As a custom home builder and remodeler, I wanted to talk exclusively about bathrooms today, because we get this question a lot: “How much it costs to update a bathroom.”
The short answer is, “It depends.”

The cost for a bathroom remodel can vary significantly depending on the bath and the house itself. You can spend as little as $1,500 on a repair/remodel on a full bath, or as much as $45,000. When you’re trying to sell your home, sometimes it is better just to give the bath a face lift, rather than spend a lot of time and money on a complete remodel.

Listed below are nine helpful tips to give your bathroom an updated look on a budget:

1. Thoroughly clean and remove any discolored caulk and grout around the tub, shower, and the floor around the base of the commode.
2. Replace grout with a tub and tile caulk that is available at your local hardware and or home improvement store.
3. Remove any discoloration in the commode bowl. There are many products you can use to help with this process, again they are available at your local hardware or home improvement store.
4. A fresh coat of paint always makes the bath look newer.
5. Make sure all the towel bars are secure and in good shape. Replace these if they are worn and outdated.
6. If you have a window in the bath, change the window treatments, giving the bath an updated look.
7. Install new light bulbs in the light fixtures and clean the fixtures to lighten and brighten the room.
8. Clean the faucets and shower parts and restore to a shiny, newer look.
9. And finally, CLEAN the bath thoroughly so it will show well.

If there are other problems that need professional attention, call a local remodeler or builder. They can make necessary repairs without always doing a complete remodel. Share with them your budget so they can best advise you as to how much they can do to help spruce up your bath to help sell your house.

After the planning process and the finalizing of the quote, we started and finished this project in about five weeks. Some of our product had to be ordered from the factory so we would have no seams in the porch floor. This cost us a little time, but the end product was worth it.

Our homeowners were very satisfied with the porch when completed. They now enjoy the sunshine much more, as the “rays” don’t bake them and the rain doesn’t soak them when enjoying the outdoors.

Below is a sneak peek of the before and after. Visit our Flicker page for everything in between. If you’re thinking about adding on to your house or just adding on a porch, get in touch with us. We’d love to start a conversation about how we could help.