Stone Creek Building

One of the best decisions a homeowner can make is to remodel or renovate their kitchen, whether their objective is to raise the value of their home or simply to make it a more enjoyable place to live. A property gains value in many different ways when an outdated kitchen is given new life.

Setting a budget early on, being aware of your needs, and being aware of how the money will be spent are essential for getting the most for your money. Prior to going shopping for appliances, tiling, or flooring, be aware of your own needs and remodeling objectives. After that, you can compile a wish list of desired features and start looking for a contractor.

Preferred Budget

To assist homeowners in setting an acceptable budget, the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) has provided a guideline regarding the worth of a kitchen redesign.

There are other factors to take into account when making your budget in addition to how much money you can comfortably spend. In essence, investing excessively in a home repair project can slow down the rate of return on your capital.

Budgeting between 15 and 20 percent of your home’s value is advised by the NKBA.

For instance:

• $37,000–$50,000 for a kitchen makeover on a $250,000 house
• $75,000-$100,000 kitchen makeover budget for a $500,000 property

Once you’ve decided on a budget, reduce it by at least 25%. Set aside the additional cash as a safety net to reduce the burden of unforeseen circumstances.

Costing Analysis

The following is the NKBA’s guide for a typical kitchen remodel:

• Hardware and Cabinetry: 29 percent
• 17% of installation
• 14 percent – Appliances and ventilation
• Kitchen countertops: 10%
• 7 percent of the flooring
• 5 percent of lighting
• 5 percent for the walls and ceilings
• Design changes: 4%
• Windows and doors make up 4%.
• Plumbing and faucets: 4 percent
• The remainder: 1%

Determine your priorities

Determine your precise demands and priorities once you have a rough sense of your finances and preferences.

• Is this your permanent residence, or do you have any plans to market it in the near future?
• Are you performing a straightforward update and refresh, a thorough makeover, or a high-end renovation?
• What size kitchen do you require?
• What features of your present kitchen do you like the most?
• What features of your present kitchen do you not like?
• What does your kitchen mostly do?
• You’re a future chef, right? Then you might want to spend money on a butcher-block countertop or an oven and range of professional quality.
• Do you entertain frequently? Then you could wish to plan an open area with a built-in bar and dimmable lighting.
• Do your children spend more time in the kitchen doing their homework as you assemble a quick meal? Then perhaps you might put in a built-in desk, washable surfaces, and a sturdy floor.

Renovate for Sale

You can get a return on your investment in a kitchen makeover of up to 78 percent, according to the Cost vs. Value National Report.

Find out from a realtor which improvements will boost the market value for your neighborhood if the residence is only temporary.

Installing eco-friendly faucets, lighting, and appliances, for instance, can generally increase the value of your property and the return on your investment.

Renovate for Enjoyment and Long-Term Residency

If you plan to stay in this house forever, your investment is in your quality of life. Make a space that is specifically you.

Contact Stone Creek Building for a free consultation and schedule a meeting with to discuss what you’re looking for over a cup of coffee!

Some people are turning to accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, also known as granny flats, in-law quarters, or backyard bungalows, as a solution to the country’s ongoing housing shortage.

These compact, standalone homes are often low-impact and energy-efficient. Where permitted, they can increase housing in an area with less disruption than building new apartment buildings, according to supporters.

In today’s competitive housing market, they’re receiving a fresh look. According to economists and real estate agents, the last couple of years have seen a shortage of available properties, and many of them are selling for more than their asking price.

ADUs are a trend toward smaller, more cost-effective, and energy-efficient dwellings, according to Sheri Koones, whose new book “Bigger than Tiny, Smaller than Average” (Gibbs-Smith, March 2022) has several examples.

According to Koones, who has written extensively about small homes and sustainable architecture, high ceilings, lots of natural light, built-in furnishings, and open floor layouts may make ADUs feel more livable than their modest footprints might indicate.

Scott Mooney, an architect in the Portland, Oregon, area who developed an ADU with his wife, Lauren Shumaker, a construction engineer, concurs that a little room may actually be a generous living experience.

The 624-square-foot residence has been their home for more than four years, where they also keep their dog and toddler. The larger 1950s home that originally stood on the 5,000-square-foot lot was rented out.

The key is optimizing outdoor access, with plenty of built-ins, light, and vistas, as well as pocket doors rather than swinging doors. It resembles what you might find in an RV or a bespoke vehicle, said Mooney.

A detached garage could be converted into an ADU, or an apartment could be built over an attached garage. It could have a separate entrance and be a component of a basement. If the site is large enough, it might also be a brand-new building; prefab ADUs or designs are available for purchase.

While most of the time, these flats can’t be sold independently from a house, they can be used as guest houses or as somewhere for elderly parents or adult children to live. They may be rented out in some regions or, as with the Mooneys, serve as lodging for the owners, who then rent out the primary residence.

Stone Creek Building specializes in constructing a perfect ADU to go with your property. Learn about our building process and check out some of the projects we have done in the past, and if you like what you see, contact us for a free consultation!

In this article, we are going to go over five reasons to hire a general contractor to lead your remodeling job and leave it up to the specialists.

1. Time and money are saved.

Home remodeling tasks may be both expensive and time-consuming. Depending on the complexity of the project, you can review estimates from several professionals and choose more cost-effective products and modifications as a budget-conscious homeowner.

When it comes to the availability of the labor and those resources, you won’t have as much wiggle room. General contractors are in charge of project scheduling, ensuring that materials are ordered and jobs are executed as close to the deadline as possible.

General contractors are accustomed to timing work and supply deliveries around the needs of busy subcontractors who are likely working on many projects at the same time. A professional general contractor will keep a slush fund on hand to pay all subcontractors on time as needed. Everyone paid on time means no one leaves the job due to a lack of pay, and your project will go as planned.

2. Delegate project management to the professionals.

In addition to whatever home renovation projects you’ve started, you probably have other work and family obligations. It’s usually advisable to delegate project management to a professional, especially if you’re working on a large, multistage project.

An experienced general contractor is an expert at balancing multiple responsibilities, such as material deliveries and subcontractor recruiting. Even if it means much of your home is covered with drop cloths, this will make it much easier for you to continue your everyday life.

Of course, you’ll be kept up to date on everything at all times. Instead of engaging with all of those numerous workers and suppliers, the general contractor will be your primary point of contact, ensuring that there is no misunderstanding about the state of the project.

3. Take advantage of pre-existing collaborations

An experienced general contractor will have developed good working relationships with a wide range of subcontractors and suppliers. This is fantastic news for you as a homeowner.

For one thing, it signifies that those subcontractors and suppliers are trustworthy, as the general contractor has grown to know and trust them as a result of previous positive encounters with them. In the home renovation market, reputation is key, and everyone prefers to work with people who are recognized for fulfilling their word, from general contractors to suppliers to subcontractors.

These strong bonds may also be beneficial to your bottom line. General contractors can often receive lower pricing on supplies and labor, especially if they know they’ll need more of both in the future. When a general contractor is honest and pleasant to work with, it bodes well for the timely completion of your project.

4. Relax and unwind

A home renovation project isn’t something easy, it comes with a lot of responsibility and liability, and most of it falls on the shoulders of the general contractor. You can trust your general contractor to be licensed and insured, and you can rest assured that everyone they work with will be as well. Accidents on the job site can injure workers and cause property damage; this is why liability insurance is very important for general contractors to have, so in case anything goes bad under their roof, their employees have worker compensation.

Furthermore, an experienced general contractor understands how to adhere to all local codes and will guarantee that the subcontractors do as well. This implies that all required permissions will be obtained and that the projects will pass a future home inspection. Property owners can feel certain that the work is being done professionally and that no shortcuts are being taken that could prove to be costly or even harmful in the future.

5. Get it done right the first time.

When you complete a DIY home renovation project, you’ll feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment. However, if the project fails or remains unfinished, it will be a tremendous letdown. While it’s one thing to give DIY projects a go, it’s quite another to take on dangerous activities or those that demand more than your skill level or toolkit can manage.

It’s always advisable to hire a competent team of home remodelers to ensure that a task is done correctly. Their genuine worth stems from their years of expertise completing many of the same types of jobs, resulting in better, faster work than you could do as a novice DIYer.

If you start a project and discover you need to engage a specialist to finish it, keep in mind that it may cost them more to remedy your DIY mistakes than it would have cost you to hire them to do the task in the first place.

When it comes to home renovation tasks, time is money. Hiring a general contractor might help you save both time and money. Aside from keeping an eye on your budget as a homeowner, you can benefit from a general contractor’s previous expertise in managing and completing numerous similar projects.

While you may be unclear about how to handle all of the stages of a multistage remodeling or renovation project, an experienced general contractor has seen and done it all before. Now all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the results.

If you’re in the Portland, Oregon area, contact Stone Creek Building for custom home building and more!

Green, environmentally friendly home design is gaining popularity. When creating a home, it adheres to strict energy efficiency standards, makes use of renewable energy sources, and uses non-toxic materials. Solar panels are a critical component of achieving this aim because they enable the production of clean, sustainable electricity directly from your own roof!

So, what is green home design exactly? According to one definition, “green building practices enhance a building’s environmental performance by integrating and optimizing all aspects of construction — energy conservation, water conservation, waste management, and indoor environmental quality — while adhering to accepted best practices and technologies. Green homes can help consumers save money on utility expenses and improve their level of comfort.” More broadly, it entails improving people’s living conditions and protecting the planet’s health.

Additionally, homeowners are beginning to consider building materials while designing a green home. Wood, bamboo, clay (adobe), and straw bale are also popular choices. Each of these materials has unique environmental characteristics that contribute to its eco-friendliness. Wood is naturally insect and rot resistant; bamboo’s root system aids in erosion control; clay absorbs carbon dioxide rather than creating it, as concrete does; and straw bale is an excellent insulator.

Eco-friendly house design also does not have to be prohibitively expensive. There are numerous inexpensive “green” materials that can be used in construction. The building industry is recognizing the importance of sustainable practices, and innovation has resulted in the development of more efficient equipment that will aid in the reduction of energy usage.

If you’re interested in having a custom green home built in the Portland, Oregon area, contact Stone Creek Building to see if we can help you build the house you’re looking for!

Are you in the midst of constructing a new house and unsure of what to include in your custom home design? We’ve got the ideal guide for you! We’ve developed a list of the most popular features our clients have requested for their custom homes based on the data we’ve gathered over the last year.

Therefore, utilize our Top 9 Home Building Trends for 2022 as a guide to choose what features you should consider adding to your home.

Family Room on Two Levels

By including a two-story family room in your home build, you can add a touch of elegance and the illusion of a larger area to your home, which will undoubtedly get many comments from your guests. When paired with an open concept floor plan, the two-story family room creates an illusion of space even on a small floor plan.

Due to the number of windows that may be added to two-story family rooms, they also provide an abundance of natural light. You can either use big picture windows that span the entire first and second floors, or you can simply use large windows on the first and second floors. On most days, with all of that natural light, you won’t even need to turn on a light.

Laundry Room on the Second Floor

When all of your bedrooms are located upstairs, bringing dirty clothes, towels, bed linens, and other washables downstairs to be washed and dried may be a major burden. Following that, you must carry everything back upstairs to store it. By building a second floor laundry room, you can streamline laundry day and eliminate the need to haul heavy baskets of wash up and down the stairs.

Additionally, having a second floor laundry eliminates the need for hampers, as your dirty laundry can be placed directly into the laundry room after you change. Another advantage is that you’ll gain additional living space on the lower levels of your home that was previously occupied by your laundry room. That additional square footage can be used to build a half bath or to expand the size of your kitchen or living area.

Shower on the First Floor

While a first-floor master suite may not always be the best option, a first-floor shower most certainly is and has become a popular feature in many custom houses built in the last year. Showers on the first floor are an excellent method to quickly make your guests feel more at ease in your home while they are visiting.

Additionally, it allows for greater flexibility in your household regarding when family members must prepare.

Accent Walls in Vibrant Colors

More homeowners are preferring to incorporate dramatic accent walls into specific rooms of their custom home builds to add personality, color, and character. From bold color choices to whimsical wallpaper, elaborate millwork, and timeless brick wall accents, there are numerous ways to enhance the look of your home’s spaces.

Feature walls and accent walls allow you to experiment with color without overwhelming the space; they may also give visual appeal to a room that may feel too large and provide a focal point for the space.

Ceilings with Statements

Another excellent method to enrich your new home’s rooms with character is to incorporate a spectacular ceiling. One of the most popular approaches is to include wood beams into your living room’s ceiling. Homeowners are choosing salvaged timber for a rustic look or manufactured wood beams for a more modern appearance.

Additionally, some homeowners have added flair to their ceilings by using millwork, a distinctive paint color, and even wallpaper.

Vinyl Plank Flooring

Vinyl flooring is a fairly popular choice among new construction homeowners. Vinyl flooring are more durable than their wood counterparts, especially if you have a growing family with small children or family pets. Additionally, vinyl floors are more waterproof, easier to clean, and more affordable than hardwood floors.

Luxury vinyl floorboards are now available in a range of colors and finishes; several are designed to resemble hardwood floorboards and, when combined with the extra texture on the finish, can easily trick the eye into believing they are genuine hardwood flooring.

Office Space in the Home

The year 2020 brought about numerous changes to our lives and houses; it also altered our outlook on employment, since many individuals were obliged to work from home. Everyone quickly recognized that working from home might easily become a permanent situation. This is why, over the last year, home office spaces have become a very common request from custom home buyers.

These office areas are frequently added to the first floor, with some homeowners asking built-in custom wall units and workstation layouts to completely tailor the space to their unique needs.

Two-Tone Kitchens

Two-tone kitchens have become a popular feature in new custom house construction over the last couple of years, and the trend is continuing. The kitchen is the space in your home that will be used the most, so why not give it a bit extra style?

The simplest two-tone kitchen design is one in which the island cabinet color contrasts with the other cabinets. In certain instances, the homeowner can experiment with color, painting half of the cabinets a bold shade and the other half a matching shade.

Additionally, you can combine painted cabinets with finished wood cabinets to create a totally unique kitchen environment.

Backyard Recreation Area

Many homeowners are also on the lookout for homes with adequate space for a backyard they can truly call their own. Some custom homeowners budget for a secondary living area in their backyard by installing a patio, built-in grill, and a custom fire pit, among other features that fully personalize their outdoor space.

With Stone Creek Building, You May Create The Custom Home Of Your Dream

Are you prepared to design and construct your bespoke dream home? With a reputable and skilled builder like Stone Creek Building on your side, you can rest confident that every step of the process will be as seamless and stress-free as possible due to their decades of experience in the industry.

Contact Stone Creek Building professionals at 503.496.7612 or using the contact form to get started on your home building journey today.

Undertaking a home renovation can be an excellent way to save money on the purchase price of a property and create a unique environment that can serve as a source of pride. However, for the majority of individuals, even in the smallest of instances, a house renovation is a big task.

Meeting with architects and contractors, evaluating numerous proposals, selecting materials, and budgeting are all time-consuming tasks that frequently fall outside the skill range of the average homeowner. Renovations can be costly and disruptive after these ideas and decisions are made, regardless of whether everything goes according to plan. Even modest renovations are becoming more difficult than ever.

Planning a house remodel in 2022 adds additional complications, such as supply chain delays, inflation, and a tradesperson shortage. Three points to consider ensuring that your home remodeling experience is as positive and effective as possible:

Renovations require forethought, patience, and financial resources.

“To refurbish,” interior designer Jamie Drake, co-principal of New York-based interior design firm Drake/Anderson, says, “three things are required: forethought, time, and capital.” Though these three items have always been required to do any size remodeling, it appears that you may require more of all three than you anticipated.

Consideration: Consideration “means generating a set of renovation proposals and presenting them to building management (or the homeowners association) for approval,” Drake adds. This may include obtaining permits from the city or county, or, as Drake observes, from the New York City Department of Buildings.

Planning ahead is critical in today’s climate. “Previously, a contractor could order materials on an as-needed basis,” explains Tanya Koul Strausbaugh, a RE/Max Select agent and founder of Common Ground Investments, a Pittsburgh-based redevelopment and leasing company. “Nowaday, due to supply chain delays and rising material costs, anyone renovating should defer starting the job until all materials are on site. You should anticipate supply delays, and it is preferable to resolve them prior to the start of demolition. Before the project begins, have the foreman check off each item, down to the last nail. You don’t want your kitchen to be completely finished but with a gaping hole between cabinets and counters while you wait for your oven.”

Patience: is required more than ever before due to supply chain delays and manpower shortages. “Material delivery and approval processes are currently slower than they were previously, as building departments across the country are approving projects twice as quickly as they were pre-pandemic,” Drake explains. “And the contractor you may want is almost certainly booked solid, so you’ll have to wait in line. Additionally, the supply chain difficulties that we have all been reading about are not fictitious. Everything is facing delays, from framing to sheetrock to appliances.”

Luckily, Stone Creek Building is extremely fast at responding to their clients and takes every inquiry serious.

Strausbaugh continues, “If you did a bathroom five years ago or a kitchen two years ago, it could take three to five times as long to complete.”

In many circumstances, patience necessitates flexibility. “Renovating today is a little different than it was in the past,” says Alexander Chingas of Coldwell Banker Realty’s Bross Chingas Bross Team in Connecticut. “An intriguing element to consider is the delay in acquiring construction permits and the necessary sign-offs from building department authorities as work continues on larger projects.” This has simply served to lengthen already lengthy timelines.

Cash: You’ll also require more cash than you anticipated, owing to delays and inflation. “Prices have increased across the board,” Drake notes. “The top contractors are in high demand, and their rates reflect their ability to pick and choose the projects that interest them the most. The cost of raw materials has increased, as have the prices of appliances.”

Strausbaugh notes, “In our market in Pittsburgh, what used to take eight weeks now takes 19 or 20 weeks.”

Strausbaugh says nine semicustom doors for the interior of a building she restored a few months ago took 20 weeks to come from Ohio, rather than the typical five. “And three of the doors were sized incorrectly,” she continues. “While the normal error rate on this type of order is 2%, this 30% error rate appears to be closer to the ‘new normal’ in today’s construction industry.”

Additionally, the bottom line is impacted. “In New York City, for example, $800 to $1,000 per square foot was once considered a decent rate for a high-end remodel,” Drake explains. “Nowaday, we sometimes see prices of up to $1,500 to $1,600 per square foot.”

The Price Difference Between Renovated and Unrenovated Homes Continues to Grow

Properties that have been renovated typically sell for more than those that require extensive work. Buyers will pay a premium for a “bring your toothbrush” house and will expect a discount if the property requires thousands of dollars in updates. However, with today’s supply chain delays, a shortage of competent labor, and rising material costs, that gap has grown wider.

“There is no doubt that we have witnessed a trend toward properties that deliver immediate gratification,” Chingas says. “Recently constructed homes or those that have been renovated to appeal to today’s consumers are attracting the most interest and selling the quickest.”

If you’re in the Portland, Oregon, area and are looking to start renovations for your home to increase the price or just make it more appealing to you, contact Stone Creek Building to see if we can help you get your dream home or make you some extra money when selling!

For Builders: Construction Costs Should Decrease

The majority of residential developers and homebuilders spent the first half of 2021 wringing their hands and wondering when the supply chain will resume normally. According to this source, “a significant factor in the low inventory in the new construction segment was the high cost of production.” There was (also) a problem with inflation, albeit a temporary one, harming the industrial industry. This has resulted in an increase in the cost of construction materials for homes and even automobiles. Lumber costs alone added almost $36,000 to the cost of new homes. In the 2022 real estate market, supply chain bottlenecks will be resolved as a result of ongoing economic expansion, and many businesses will refill their shelves.”

Finally, there was news in December that supply chain concerns are easing. “Port congestion in epic proportions is easing. Shipping costs are declining from record highs. Deliveries have sped up slightly. Businesses continue to face an alarming scarcity of truck drivers. Critical components, like as computer chips, continue to be in short supply. And the Omicron variety threatens to exacerbate supply chain constraints. Nonetheless, there is evidence that bottlenecks are unclogging.”

Everything Screams “Buy Now!” for Buyers

Pummeled by record-breaking property prices and bidding wars, many potential home buyers hunkered down and hoarded their money in 2021. They were waiting for the inevitable reorganization of the supply/demand equation. Even first-time buyers will undoubtedly pounce in the coming year, ready with larger incomes and stimulus resources in the bank. If both new and existing housing inventories increase, this could result in robust demand.

Many experts believe that by 2022, “these buyers will re-enter the market in droves.” While prices may remain elevated in 2022, they are unlikely to appreciate at the staggering rates seen in 2020 and 2021.”

Increased Mortgage Interest Rates May Suppress Demand

In December 2020, the mortgage interest rate was 2.66 percent; one year later, it is 2.75 percent. While this indicates minimal change year over year, home financial experts anticipate an increase in that rate in 2022, although it will remain lower than rates just a few years ago, which will decrease demand for new mortgages slightly.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate will grow to 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Freddie Mac. As long as the price-inventory dilemma persists, this would have a stabilizing effect on price growth. According to Freddie Mac, home prices will increase to 4.4 percent in 2022, while new and existing home sales will reach 7.1 million in 2021 before declining to 6.7 million in 2022.”

This scarcity of land – or, more precisely, residential construction lots – will be a trend that homebuyers and builders will have to contend with in the coming year. According to a recent poll conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), “76 percent of builders said that the overall availability of developed lots in their communities was limited to extremely limited.” This is an all-time high — by a significant margin — since the NAHB began collecting data in the 1990s. The previous high was 65%, set in 2018.

“In response to questions in the September 2021 NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) survey, 46% of single-family builders described the availability of lots merely as low, while 30% described it as extremely low, for a total of 76 percent of builders reporting some form of supply difficulty.”

Homebuyers Will Be More Afraid of Making a Mistake When It Comes to Closing the Deal

Several of the variables mentioned above caused homebuyers to lose their bearings and go a bit insane. When homes are on the market for less than a week and the supply chain holds construction supplies, appliances, and even furniture on a boat someplace offshore, home purchasers become panicked and make poor decisions.

A Wall Street Journal story provides one example of this. “In such a fast-paced market, purchasers frequently ignore established precautions in order to commit to one of the largest purchases of their lives. Numerous buyers have sacrificed their right to terminate a contract due to a low appraisal or unfavorable inspection in order to increase their offers’ competitiveness in a bidding war.”

In 2022, as inventory increases, house buyers will spend more time weighing the pros and disadvantages of purchasing an older/existing property. Additionally, as a result of the flexibility afforded by working from home, some individuals will choose to abandon their previous urban residence in favor of a lower-cost, more peaceful smaller neighborhood.

Property Values Will Remain High… Or not?

Zillow, a highly recognized real estate brokerage business, was widely believed to be bullish on property values remaining high for the foreseeable future. According to this article, “Zillow’s market estimate indicates that house prices in the United States will have increased 11.8 percent by April 2022. Zillow Economic Research forecasts that yearly home value growth will reach 13.5 percent in mid-2021 and will reach 10.5 percent by the end of 2021. According to Zillow, sales volume will continue to rise in the coming year, hitting 6.9 million in 2021, the highest level since 2005.”

Recent developments cast doubt on the messenger’s wisdom – Zillow. As noted in this news source, “Real estate firm Zillow Group Inc. is abandoning the home-flipping market, stating Tuesday that its algorithmic strategy for fast buying and selling homes does not perform as expected.” The firm’s decision to discontinue its technology-enabled home-flipping business, dubbed ‘iBuying,’ comes on the heels of Zillow’s statement two weeks ago that it would suspend all new property acquisitions for the remainder of the year.”

If Zillow, despite its technical prowess and billions of dollars invested in residential properties, is unable to reliably forecast the future worth of homes, real estate brokers and their clients should tread carefully when seeking “expert” advise on projected property assessments.

With any luck, 2022 will be a fantastic year for homebuilders and purchasers. However, inflationary pressures, new COVID variations, or other market upheavals may alter everything. As is customary, caveat emptor. “Let the purchaser use caution.”

In 2022, are you planning to build or renovate a home? Consult the professionals at Stone Creek Building for environmentally friendly and low-maintenance custom homes, as well as a comprehensive range of home improvement services.