Winter ready your home

Here we go again heading into yet another winter, is your home ready, have you done all you can to keep the cold out and the heat in.
Just taking the time to caulk all your windows and around all vents.
Will help but if you want to save money then you will need to check your foundation in the basement mack sure that the rim is insulated and plastic covered.

Using can foam to fill in large holes and spaces will help as well. You should check to make sure your attic hatch has weather stripping you can also check to see if your attic insulation is up to par it should be 18" deep.
Adding insulation can be done buy add Batts or renting blower and doing it yourself, if you hire a company they will make sure it is done right and add venting if needed.

This is a good time to have your heating system checked and serviced.
If your home is older it could be that you can look at having spray from install to fill in the cavities of your walls.
Your windows might need to be replaced if there are not thermal Payne.

Some homes might need to be stripped on the outside then you can strap the outside spray foam and and siding to get the desired insulation value.
There are many ways to make your home ready for winter these were just a few remember that the more you do to stop heat loss the more money you save and warmer you stay.

VICF Foundation

VICF foundations the only way to go with 50% faster than brick ICF and 0 to 10% waste.
the install will run much smother with metal channel attached to the footing then you install corner post and level and secure.
with VICF you install one side first then when one side is finished you can install re bar if needed and also electrical and plumbing .
finally you set in the other side and brace the corners and the wall on the inside only every 10 '.

when ordering this product it is cut to fit and goes up so fast and is stronger than block ICF so less bracing is needed
www.custom1contracting.com

well it been a week or so so since my last post just so wraped up with my website and work.

so I am building a 12 plex out of shipping containers, thats right shipping containers.

we stake them together and on top of each other then frame inside walls .

we them add a roof and clad the outside with siding .

as it turns out this way of building save about a 1/3 off the cost to build .

so check out the photos and drop me a line or coment let me konw what you think.

Word Of Mouth

We have all heard that saying so many times be for, I do not have to addvertise I go by word of mouth.
Realy do we just beleve that person or does it work ?

You could be the best contractor out there or have done a better job than someone eles but does the client go around telling everyone they know how good there renovation was or that the new deck is great.

Well what do you think, is it remotely possible to get by on just word of mouth.
I know many contractors that say they do and yet they are not always working.

I my self have had many client over the years and if just 10% of them were to recommend me to there friends or people they know, than I would be so booked up that I would have to turn work away or grow so big that I just could not handle the work load.

Word of mouth will and has managed to generate work from past renovation projects but to base your hole contracting business on it does not make good business sense.

While most client will mention your company to someone when at there house to see the work you did .
That person is not likely to write down your number.
As well if that person is not building or renovating right away than there is a good chance that you will be for gotten.

The key to all this is to keep in contact with your clients send out update about your work or deals that they might be interested in.
Even Christmas cards or if you know client birthday.
In this way you keep your name on their lips and maybe you will generate work.

rant storage containers

Well what a week started to frame in the interior walls for the building made out of shipping containers.
Talk about different stuck inside steel containers and building apartments out of them.
They do turn out not to bad , some are small but that what you gat .

Of course like all ways there is always something to mess you up and this time is no different .
The welder are on hourly so what do they care lose 2 days just from them taking there time and then when I have had enough and start moving there crap out of my way they get mad sorry about your luck .

Of course thing will come to a head Monday when I have my say with the developers more money and more control over these other trade if they can get there shit together.

The project look to be a nice one and look forward to seeing it to the end if all go’s well.
Will keep you all posted and will add pic when I get the cam to work.

So you made it through another hard winter and the days are longer the sun is hotter and the snow is almost gone.
While not quite hot enough to sun out on the deck just yet you do start thinking about the long hot summer ahead.

That is when the to do list that you put away last fall comes out and right there at the top, The deck !
You have been putting it off for to long now its time to take charge and you know your old tired deck will not make through another summer.

Where to start there are just so many choices to choose from.

Well lets start at the beginning, It’s not what you choose to build with that is important right now but how you do the job.


First you need a permit

Then you need to take the grass out that will be under the area that you are building over.

Dig down a min of 48” and install sono tubes or Bigfoot to support your deck, Note if you plan on adding a roof over your deck at some point your support pads will need to meet code and that will require a min 32”x32” pad below your sono tube.

Once you have your supports in and filled with concrete lay down landscape fabric and cover with 4” of gravel this will stop plants from growing up under your deck and stop mold from growing.

If your deck is higher than 48” then the gravel makes for a clean area for storage.

These step seem so simple but almost all deck company and home owner never do this I have been doing my deck this way since 1987 and my client appreciate it.

Now it is time to build your deck to your plan and using the material that you went with, if you follow these simply steps you will have a deck that will last and give you years of pleasure.

Had it with TV DIY shows

That’s right your sitting down again in front of the TV and there is yet another how to building show on and they are showing you what’s wrong with this job or that job.
Or they are telling you how to build this or renovate that, really !
Is this really how it is to be done? or did they really do such a bad job?

Your not a builder so how would you know they make it look real after all they are the experts.
They keep telling us how they are licensed, all that tells you is they went to school or paid for a licenses.
I can’t tell you how many licensed carpenter I have fired over the years because they just where not capable of doing the work.

You need to be real careful when watching these show they have some fact but mainly they are there to entertain you or sell a product.
We can not forget the fact that what is being built or worked on might not fit for your area, if the show is being done down in California then the way they build is not going to work up here in Canada.

The shows that really get me going is when some so call expert is out there shouting their mouth off about how every contractor out there is doing it wrong and then you see them do something wrong or just not quite right.

Or when they go down south and make a big deal for the hole world to see about helping out when disaster strikes, the helping out part is great but please all the good Canadian builder are watching this and shacking their heads.

I mean we do not frame like that putting up scaffolding everywhere and taking weeks to put up a home that could be framed in less than 13 days.
Not only that but the weather is in the high 90 and what doe’s this guy hand out tool belts that are so big and heavy that you would need to be a pack horse to carry.
One minute its look we coat the cuts with this blue stuff to protect it and the next minute you can clearly see them putting the wood together without using the end cut paint.

It this was not enough are tax dollar’s paid for the gov. to take so called expert to Europe as a adviser to a meeting on global warming and sustainable building practises, for what just Google it you will get the answer you need I think that would have saved us some money.