“With the installation of a girder on the 100th floor, the One World Trade Center has become the tallest building in New York”.

http://www.archdaily.com/230677/one-world-trade-center-dominates-the-nyc-skyline/

Proud moment.

Handy glass cleaning tips……

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/2239417/list?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u92&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery31

Thanks Houzz!

Discover how to place your garden forms for visual balance and eye-pleasing pattern in the landscape.

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/2167848/list?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u92&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery15

Great read…..thanks Houzz!

HomeProHub has been making big changes over the last few months and we will soon be unveiling all of them for the world to see.

One of the biggest is a nationwide roll-out of our new self-posting service!

Homeowners will be able to quickly and easily upload their own projects for local 25 point certified contractors to bid on remotely. No more salespeople and their high pressure sales tactics, no more appointments and best of all….no more stress!

Once your project is posted, contractors can bid from their office. You will then be able to review all of the competing bids at your leisure. Review their pricing and company profile and chose which one you want to invite to your home to go over the bid and decide if you would like to hire them or not.

95% of the work of finding a safe, reliable and skilled contractor is done at that point all you have to do is meet him to decide if it’s a good fit. If not, there is no obligation, just tell him your not ready and we will re-post your project for more bids. Simple, clean and easy.

Our interface takes a ground breaking approach that steps homeowners through the process so fast and so easy that if you can order products or upload family photos on line you can do this. No home improvement experience, no special measuring and best of all no special tools of any kind needed…….just a digital camera or even just a phone with a built in camera. We do the rest!

If you would like to receive a special advance announcement email as to when we will be launching this new service just send a quick email to info@homeprohub.com. Just write “update me” in the subject line or in the body of the email.

I would like to thank everyone for all of their support and feedback…..it’s been a great help!

Steve Miller

HomeProHub

Life is a gamble. There are few sure things. We take chances every day but do we really need to gamble with our home improvement dollars?

My answer to that is NO!

Even though most home improvement projects are somewhat voluntary in nature many homeowners don’t slow the process down to really hire the best contractor. I see homeowners hire contractors based on many factors like……the guy seemed so nice, we really loved the project and it just “felt” right. All of these are emotional triggers that contractors rely on and this is when the gambling starts.

My advice to you is simple. If you are currently staring at a stack of home improvement bids and trying to decide which contractor to hire do not base your decision on anything but facts. Find an unbiased opinion! I know that’s hard but hiring a fraudulent…..or, even worse……a shoddy contractor could cost you thousands of dollars.

Remember this – the contractor you hire is not going to do all the work himself. Even worse, sometimes you are dealing with a salesperson. Therefore, what does it matter how much you like the person you met during the bid phase? On the day your project starts, a whole bunch of other workers you never met are going to show up to do the actual work. You may think that this is fine because they are all reporting to the guy you met but how do you know that? I will tell you that most of the time those strangers are the ones left at your home working while the guy you met is managing your project and others from afar.

In closing, my point is this…..completely disregard everything you felt about the person you met during the bidding process and talk to homeowners that have previously hired the contractor or company you are looking to hire. Make sure you talk to homeowners that used their services in the last six months because things change fast with contractors and you may have a totally different experience than someone that hired him a few years ago. If he can’t give you phone numbers for people to call then don’t hire him! Happy customers love to share their experiences so if he can’t provide this critical step you will now officially be gambling. Good luck.

I welcome and encourage direct questions or comments. If you like you can use the form below or email me direct at steve@homeprohub.com and I would be glad to help in any way.

New windows can help you appreciate your home all over again

Most homeowners install new windows for pretty standard reasons. These reasons vary from person to person but generally they revolve around keeping the home warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Some variations include sound reduction, aesthetics, and increasing the value of the home.

Over the years, HomeProHub have helped thousands of homeowners accomplish these solutions and have found that the initial reasons they installed new windows paled in comparison to the overall increase in happiness with their home. People find that they have a renewed passion for improving their home’s appearance because they’re so much more comfortable living there. It’s almost like buying a new home.

What’s happening is that people realize the home they were living in before they replaced their windows was not very warm, cool, clean, or quiet. Once their new windows were installed, all of these wonderful and comfortable feelings came out and they discovered a newfound appreciation for their home.

Once this new appreciation surfaces, people find themselves wanting to invest more in the appearance because it’s much more rewarding. We can’t say for sure, but we imagine the reason this happens is because prior to the window upgrade (when these homeowners did just minor improvements), there was still a level of discomfort that they couldn’t quite put their finger on. These feelings tend to go away after the overall comfort level of the home goes up with installing new windows.

This would probably best relate to losing weight: Once we shed those extra pounds, shopping for new clothes is fun again!

We tell people all the time that replacing your windows is more than just “replacing your windows.” If you’re trying to decide if you should take the plunge, we say go for it – you will not regret it.

If you’ve ever had a similar experience in the past when replacing your windows, tell us about it in the comments below. We’d love to hear about it.

Bogus ads are nothing new, whether it's for cola or replacement windows.

Just about everyday we’re exposed to ten or more advertisements regarding residential replacement windows. That’s about 70 per week! We’ll grant that because we’re in this industry that our radars are up, which causes us to have more awareness than the average person. Most folks may not even notice all these ads, but trust us when we say they’re out there.

You may think that these ads are a valuable resource for finding and hiring a window replacement contractor, but nothing could be further from the truth. While a tiny fraction of companies out there do run honest and straightforward ads, the reality is that the majority of them don’t.

The problems we have with the ads that we see and hear are not so much the ads themselves (as obviously companies need to advertise to survive), but it’s the lack of real messaging. Our belief is that homeowners don’t even hear the B.S. that’s being repeated over and over. Nobody can convince us that intelligent people are swayed by useless crap like, “Changing the home improvement industry one window at a time.”

Come on! Give us a break! What does that even mean? We’ll tell you what it means.

Nothing!

These companies shouldn’t even bother saying these useless clichés. Our moms used to say that if you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all. Well we say if you don’t have anything intelligent or beneficial to say then don’t say anything.

All this garbage that is being recycled in ads over and over is not helping homeowners at all. They don’t even hear it. We know this because it happens here at HomeProHub with our advertising. People call and ask us to come out and fix their broken glass because the lawn mower just threw a rock through it. Why did they call us? Not only do we not replace glass or even windows, but also we’re not even contractors or window dealers. We are a home improvement consulting firm and the homeowner would have realized this if they had stopped for half a second to read about our business. That’s not what people do anymore because they’re conditioned to skip all the useless marketing noise and just call or email a company even if it’s the wrong company. We ask people all the time why they are calling us for broken glass and they say because they just saw the ad and called. They never read a word of the ad; they saw a picture of a window and a phone number so they called.

We can’t say we blame them. None of the empty, never-ending promises of “customers come first” and “commitment to customer service” means anything anymore so information that could actually help a homeowner gets glossed over. Information like, you know, what the company actually does.

That’s enough about the problem. How about a solution? We know what we want to hear in a replacement window ad:

“Hello everyone. My name is Steve Miller and I own Miller’s Window World in San Jose. My marketing budget is small and this ad is costing me a fortune, but I want to introduce myself because I would like an opportunity to earn your business and not to trick you into thinking I’m something I’m not. I want to earn your business. My phone number is_______ and my website is_______. I hope to hear form you soon!”

This will never happen, but this ad would work on us. It’s simple, clean, and easy. We know the guy is there and now all we need to do is contact him.

The point of all this is simple. The really good contractors don’t advertise. They survive solely on repeat and referral business. They don’t need to advertise. Those are the guys you want to hire. Those outrageous ads with all the outrageous claims are coming from the contractors and home improvement companies that can’t survive on repeat and referral business so why would you want to hire them? We know we wouldn’t.

Our next blog will focus on the crazy pricing you see in these crazy ads. Until then we would love to hear your take on the ads you see and hear in your town. Post a reply below and tell us about them!

To DIY or not to DIY: That is the question

If you’re anything like us, you may be a fan of the HGTV show Disaster DIY. The reason why the show is immensely popular and continues to have folks on it that need help week after week is because homeowners tend to bite off more than they can chew when it comes to do-it-yourself (DIY) projects.

You may be in the middle of a “To DIY or not to DIY” decision as we speak. Which decision should you go with, that is the question?

Today you’ll get a little unbiased advice from HomeProHub to assist you in making this important choice.

DIY Or No DIY?

Our take is that all homeowners should hire HomeProHub for every home improvement project. Ever.

OK, we’re joking! But if you’re currently stuck between choosing to do a DIY project and not doing one, we would suggest you gauge the difficulty of the project itself and not your own skill level. There are certainly a lot of smart homeowners who can watch videos, read and study written materials, go to Home Depot for advice, and seek help from additional resources. But at a certain point, regardless of how smart you are, the patience you posses, or the time you have, you begin to realize that perhaps you shouldn’t have tackled this project.

Let’s use a kitchen remodel for example. Yes you might be able to get it done, but is it going to look good? There’s a certain skill level that can take decades to attain in any trade. Is it feasible to think you can learn twenty years worth of skills in just a few weeks?

Maybe you can. Should you? Probably not. Even if you get through the project, it may not look all that professional.

Quick note: Something like a simple flooring or wallpaper job (a task that can be knocked out in a weekend) is certainly a DIY option. If it’s going to take you longer than this, however, you may want to reconsider. This is especially true when it comes to structural projects like roofing, siding, windows, and doors. A sound piece of advice is that if your project requires a permit then you should really stop and think if you should be the one doing it. Just imagine if you try to tackle a roofing job and it goes awry. If your home is exposed and it happens to rain, your home is now unlivable and susceptible to incredible amounts of damage.

Home Depot, Lowe’s, and HGTV all make homeowners think they can do more than they actually can. They also make us feel like we should complete every project on our own. But that’s not always the case. If you’re wondering if you should DIY or not DIY, leave a comment below, share with us your pending project, and we’ll get right back to you with free, unbiased advice.

Scammers are around every corner

Why do fraudulent contractors still run wild in the streets? With all the resources and tools to do background checks and investigative research, why are homeowners still getting ripped off?

The answer is simple: The reason fraudulent contractors can’t be stopped is because there are just too many of them. They’re also incredibly difficult to detect. Heck, sometimes contractors are even scammed by other contractors!

Shady contractors are mobile. Oftentimes once it’s apparent they are good-for-nothing people it’s just too late. They are long gone.

The Horror!

If you were to line up dozens of contractors side by side, nobody – including the other contractors in that lineup – would be able to decipher the honest from the dishonest. They all appear the same on the surface. Therefore, homeowners trying to detect fraudulent contractors on their own are fighting a losing battle. Even the authorities can’t stop these scammers. They would have by now if they could, but for over fifty years the scams and shenanigans have gotten worse.

It’s Not Just You. It’s Me.

One of the more surprising stories that HomeProHub has read is about a contractor that got burned by a fellow contractor. The honest fellow was a roofing contractor who hired a remodeling contractor to build an additional room to his home. Turns out he was not a reliable remodeler and took the honest roofer for thousands of dollars.

If contractors are scamming other contractors, what chance does the average homeowner have?

It Happens To The Best Of Us

If you haven’t watched Holmes on Homes, we can’t recommend it enough. The homeowners on there are intelligent, smart, and well-spoken folks who just happened to get taken advantage of by awful contractors. Almost all of the time it’s because the homeowners fell prey to the contractor’s charm. They fell and eventually hired “the nice guy.”

Even the smartest of homeowners are doing themselves a disservice by going with the nice guy. One of the biggest ways to fight contractor fraud is to set aside your feelings and emotions. Simply hire based upon facts. In fact, click here to find out the essential facts that you need to know from your contractor before you ever consider hiring him.

How Low Can You Go?

Aside from hiring the nice guy, oftentimes folks get scammed when they are lured into a bad agreement because of a low price. If all of a sudden a contractor shows up at your door and says he can do a particular project at 50% the standard market price, it’s probably because you’re about to get scammed. Typically these guys will perform such shoddy work that you’ll end up having to do the entire project all over again, thus tripling the price. When you then try to track down these shady guys, it’s too late. Most of them spend only a few months in a particular city before conducting their scam, collecting the money, and driving off to a new town to repeat the process.

HomeProHub doesn’t believe that fraudulent contractors will ever be stopped. What we do think is that utilizing a third-party contractor locating service, such as ours, will ensure that homeowners are connected with only pre-certified professionals. Imagine the peace of mind in knowing that the contractors you’ll be working with are honest and reliable craftsman.

Are you sure you're ready to sign that contract just yet?

If you’re a homeowner, there’s pretty much nothing worse than realizing you’re knee deep in a contractor scam. When the reality of the situation finally sinks in, you’ll probably wonder where you went wrong and what you could have done to prevent it.

That’s why today you’re going to learn the twenty-five steps you need to take before ever signing a contract placed before you. Unless you’ve confirmed the following twenty-five points, you will be placing yourself in great danger.

Twenty-Five Reasons Not To Sign That Contract

Before you sign your John Hancock to that contract, have you done the following?

1. A professional verification of his state contractor’s license?
2. A full investigation of his state contractor’s license?
3. Verified a minimum liability insurance of $1,000,000?
4. Warranty analyses to confirm minimum legal requirements?
5. Full investigation into the track record of subcontractor use?
6. Confirmed company’s compliance regarding state law detailing legal payment terms?
7. Lien check?
8. Judgment check?
9. Bankruptcy check?
10. State felony and misdemeanor criminal history check?
11. Federal criminal history check?
12. Sexual offender check?
13. Government sanctioned watch-list check?
14. Verified state driving record?
15. Conducted a Better Business Bureau check?
16. Conducted a Diamond Certification check?
17. Ensure he is EPA lead certified?
18. Confirmed Angie’s List history report?
19. Verified company’s ability to be bonded?
20. Workman’s comp check?
21. Conducted an in-person inspection of their facilities?
22. Performed an in-depth investigation of past insurance claims?
23. Talked to former customers?
24. Confirmed their craftsmanship?
25. Been interviewed by a professional third-party company, like HomeProHub, to receive unbiased advice regarding your project?

The reason these twenty-five steps are so important is so you get a fair price, make sure the project is done right, and avoid any and all contractor scams.

As you can see, however, these checks and balances take a lot of time and effort. Let HomeProHub do all the work for you. It’s totally free and you can be confident that you’re receiving unbiased and helpful advice at all times. Contact us by clicking here or call us at 866.455.3998.

We’re excited to help you with your next home improvement project!