Archives for February 2013

House Painting Costs By Joe Szabo, Scottsdale Real Estate Team Arizona

February 25, 2013 szabogroup

By Joe Szabo, Scottsdale Real Estate Team

In the Scottsdale area, the cost to paint your home by a Scottsdale painting contractor will range from $.090 – $1.95. This is the general range you should look at paying and is based on a PER SQUARE FOOT basis. Of course, you should always get several bids since some painting contractors will charge you more just because you live in Scottsdale. Also, home decorators will typically be above the $2 per square foot fee since they may pad the bill from the painting contractor in order to make more money for themselves.

WHY DO HOUSE PAINTING COSTS VARY

House Painting costs are not hard to figure out. The Painting Materials and the profit margin of the Painting Company are the two biggest factors in setting the price of painting a home. This is because labor costs are generally the same in the Valley for all contractors. Plus, a contractor which does not have a license will normally be at the lower end of the pricing scale.

WHY THE BEST DEAL IS NOT THE BEST

Like they say, you get what you pay for! I know a customer that went with the lowest bid and now has to have his home painted again after only 3 years. The client did not realize that the painter watered down the paint and used less material then was actually required for his painting job. Since having his home painted, the color has faded dramatically and then contacted us to have his home repainted.

GET YOUR PAINT QUOTE IN WRITING

Always get your house painting costs in Writing. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER have your home painted without a written agreement. And make sure you read the fine print and what the Painting Warranty covers! YES, reputable painting contractors all provide a Painting Warranty with their work.

Please note that this Scottsdale Real Estate Blog is for informational purposes and not intended to take the place of a licensed Scottsdale Real Estate Agent. The Szabo Group offers first class real estate services to clients in the Scottsdale Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area in the buying and selling of Luxury homes in Arizona. Award winning Realtors and Re/MAX top producers and best real estate agent for Luxury Homes in Scottsdale, The Szabo group delivers experience, knowledge, dedication and proven results. Contact Joe Szabo at 480.688.2020, [email protected] or visit www.scottsdalerealestateteam.com to find out more about Scottsdale Homes for Sale and Estates for Sale in Scottsdale and to search the Scottsdale MLS for Scottsdale Home Listings.

Crown Moulding in Scottsdale By Joe Szabo, Scottsdale Real Estate Team Arizona

February 18, 2013 szabogroup

By Joe Szabo, Scottsdale Real Estate Team

Heritage Crown offers a full line of moulding products installed to perfection by our professional craftsman. Heritage Crown and Millworks does crown moulding in Phoenix and offers a complete package from expert design consultation through installation and finally to the finish of the product. You don’t need to contract a designer, then a trim carpenter, then a painter. Heritage Crown is your one- stop shop. All the work is completed in one trip, seamlessly and without complications.

Because you deserve the finest, Heritage Crown maintains the highest standard of quality. Our reputation has been built satisfying one customer at a time and making them so excited about the work we’ve done that they can’t help but share us with their friends. Heritage Crown will come to your home, measure the areas that you are considering, design a moulding package that will look great and fit your budget.

Heritage Crown has everything for your crown moulding, baseboard replacement, coffered ceilings, wainscoting, casings, chair rail, mantels, and mirror frame needs. Whether it’s a traditional, modern, contemporary, rustic or Tuscan design– or anything in between–we can design the perfect solution for you. At our design consultation, we will look at samples and pictures of jobs we have done as well as take in your ideas and feedback. Give us a picture from your favorite architectural magazine and we will match that look for you. We do trim work and crown moulding in Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, Scottsdale, Ahwatukee and surrounding Arizona cities.

Carpet Cleaning Scottsdale Floor Rugs By Joe Szabo, Scottsdale Real Estate Team Arizona

February 11, 2013 szabogroup

joe szabo scottsdale real estate for sale

By Joe Szabo, Scottsdale Real Estate Team

Here’s a common scenario that most of us have experienced before. It’s a big night; you’re going out to a happening place with someone special. You’ve been waiting for this night since forever, and that’s why you wanted everything to be perfect, with your perfect dress and your perfect shoes. However, as you look at your reflection on the mirror, expecting to see the fairest of them all, you notice something missing. You need an accent piece of jewelry to complete your look.

This can happen when buying houses, as well. Sometimes, there’s something missing that would complete an otherwise perfect home. Usually, the right floor rugs are just what our homes need. Floor rugs have important functions in homes and shelters since the earliest civilizations. Europeans were marveling at Persian rugs’ magnificence since the 17th century, when the rugs were brought to Western Europe.

A Russian archeologist discovered the oldest surviving floor rug known to man. They were excavating a Siberian burial site in 1949 when they found it. “Pazyryk”, as it was known, was made around the 5th century BC. Many experts admired its extraordinary work. Don’t be an impulsive buyer, determine first what type of floor rugs you need. You can use these rugs in one or more ways. Floor rugs with intricate designs and bold colors can be the center of attention of the whole room.

In parts of the house where people walk the most, they can put floor rugs, also known as rug runners, to protect the floor surface from constant wear and tear. If you have floor rugs with intricate details and designs, don’t use it in a room that is already busy with other decorations. It’s only natural for floor rugs to accumulate dirt and stains because they’re used everyday.

When vacuuming, go over the whole area of the rug. Look for fading areas of rugs that people usually walk on, then rotate the rugs around to minimize these fading. Be cautious of liquids like coffee, wine, colas, and milk that may be spilled on the rug, as these will stain the rug. People have devised different methods of spot cleaning rugs. Take your floor rugs to professional cleaners, but be sure that it will be practical for the type of rug you wanted cleaned. Most of today’s homes will have an area that looks plain, and floor rugs are usually the solution for these predicament.

Floor rugs can be one of the most important home decorations for your house, much like how royal kings and queens used them in their lavish palaces; and it can also be used for practical reasons, the way nomads did. There are many floor rugs in the market with different colors, design, pattern, and sizes, and it’s your responsibility to know which ones will look the best in your rooms.

Wood Floors Lend Organic Charm By Joe Szabo, Scottsdale Real Estate Team Arizona

February 4, 2013 szabogroup

Joe Szabo scottsdale real estate for sale

By Joe Szabo, Scottsdale Real Estate Team

Striving to find a flooring product that would appear more hand-crafted and worn than engineered, Rosensteel chose reclaimed Australian jarrah. Malouf tapped Paul Newman, president of Phoenix-based Premiere Wood Floors and a 21-year veteran of the flooring industry, to install the 1,500 square feet of solid unfinished wood flooring. The ¾-inch thick, 3-inch-wide flooring came in random lengths up to 12 feet; in its previous life it served as flooring joists. Newman says the 12-foot-long pieces were difficult to work with at times—in general, he says, reclaimed jobs can be more difficult because the product is usually longer—but were worth the trouble because of the jarrah’s unique variety and color.

“With reclaimed flooring, there is no duplicating,” Newman says. “We can have [similar floors], but—depending on where exactly this wood came from, whether it was exposed or inside, how old it is, how it was cared for—every reclaimed job is unique.”

To accommodate jarrah’s exceptional density, Newman allowed the material to acclimate in the Carpenter’s home for about one month. In Scottsdale, material typically should have a 6 to 7 percent moisture content, Newman says, and it is rarely near this level upon entering a job site. After installing and sanding the jarrah, Newman’s crew finished the floor with a water-based finish. It took a crew of three workers about three weeks to complete the project.

As any wood flooring contractor knows, moisture is one of the biggest hurdles when installing a wood floor. This house had both extremes: Scottsdale’s arid environment and a water feature adjacent to the floors. Carpenter knew she wanted a water feature in her house since day one. She remembered one in a house from when she was young. “I said to myself, ‘Oh, my God, that would be my dream,'” she recalls.

Not only does the water feature fulfill one of Carpenter’s dreams, but it also gives the home’s driveway, walkway and foyer beautiful continuity. The water originates from scuppers in pools that wrap around the front of the home and converge next to the walkway to the front door. Fire bowls—another request of Carpenter’s—sit between the scuppers, providing a primordial contrast of fire and water. Two times a day the scuppers erupt and send fresh water racing toward the front door. Just as people pass from the outside in, the water flows inside to narrow channels flanking the jarrah entryway. The jarrah has an overhang of two inches; it feels as if one is actually treading another bridge in the home’s foyer as water flows alongside. Carpenter likens it to the sound produced by a small waterfall.

“We penetrated what is normally a very rigid boundary,” Bacon says, “and we did that with the continuity of water. When you approach that front door there is water on both sides, and when you go through that front door there is water on both sides.” As the water goes underneath the front door, it passes through a very fine filter, lessening any chance of bugs or snakes entering the home. To ensure the water is clear, it is treated much like pool water. For safety, the channels are narrow and only about a foot deep. For the wood floor’s protection, a vapor barrier designed for basement walls lines the concrete pools so moisture cannot seep into the concrete and then into the floor. For additional protection, Newman added extra finish around the edges of the jarrah near the water.

This continuity between outside and in is always important in design and architecture, but one could argue it’s even more important in Arizona because of its wide open spaces, deserts and mountains that provide breathtaking views and a great environment for entertaining outdoors. “Everything in Arizona is about the outdoor lifestyle, so the materials really have to flow inside and outside—that’s just how we live out here,” Rosensteel says. “We like to have spaces where all the doors open up. When you entertain, people are moving inside and outside, so you like to have that experience of the materials just continuing through, and that’s how we approached the house.”

With tactful precision, Bacon made the Carpenter’s dreams come true, and “he got into our heads deeper than we realized he would need to be,” Carpenter says. “There isn’t a day that I drive up to my home and I don’t—honest to God—say to my husband, ‘This is the most magnificent home around.'”