Month: August 2023

How to Hire a General Contractor or Renovator for Residential Construction Projects
Under Construction

How to Hire a General Contractor or Renovator for Residential Construction Projects

- by Sergio Torian

In the last 10-15 years, the industry of Residential General Contractors has taken a beating by the media. Television, maganizes and articles have waged war on the image, credibility and trust of General Contractors. This is something that as a Home Owner, you must first be aware of.

15 Years ago, there were 3 shows that dealt with residential construction:

-This Old House
-The New Yankee Work Shop
-Bob Villa’s Home again

These 3 shows gave Home Owners an “inside” look into construction techniques and methods, offering plenty of advice, knowledge and wisdom. I suppose they had a loyal following amongst hobbyists, contractors and weekend warriors. But it didn’t appeal much to the general masses. After all, not everyone is interested in learning how to cut Crown Moulding or how to select the best router bits.

Along came a show on HGTV called Holmes on Homes. The entire premise of the show was to unearth the misdeeds of shabby, unethical and unprofessional contractors while at the same time portraying the Home Owners as the innocent victims in a “deal gone bad”. Along comes our saviour, Mr. Holmes, to save the day and right the wrongs.

THE PROBLEM – Are there unqualified, unprofessional and unethical contractors out yet? YOU BET! At the same time, one could ask…are there unqualified, unprofessional and unethical Lawyers? Doctors? Police Officers? Real Estate Agents? Mortgage Brokers? Accountants? And so on? YOU BET there are! Every industry has the good, the bad, the mediocre, the excellent and …

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Practical Benefits of Using Garden Lights
Inchin Bamboo Garden

Practical Benefits of Using Garden Lights

- by Sergio Torian

Garden lights offer the ability to illuminate your garden and garden decor in an almost magical way, creating faux shadows, elegant backdrops, all the while highlighting the best parts of the garden for all to see.

Beyond this wonderful use of garden lighting, there are actually a few practical reasons to consider using them, even if you aren’t the garden type or consider yourself artistically inclined to set up such a thing.

What practical reasons am I talking about?

Safety! I mean this in two ways.

First, safety in the sense of providing light in areas where it might be dangerous or risky to move about if there were no light. This includes obviously the garden but also areas where garden lighting accessories or outdoor lighting accessories have become extremely useful; namely, stair lighting! Attaching solar powered stair lights is a brilliant idea. And even just having walkways and pathways in the yard lit up is going to make it easier and safer to walk around.

The other type of safety that garden lights provide is a deterrent for theft and burglary. Simply put, if your yard and things are lit up then you are less likely to find yourself the victim of a thief, who would just as well find it easier to move on to the next house that is shield in darkness. Of course, garden lighting is not a security plan in and of itself, but knowing that it acts a potential deterrent is a nice perk …

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