Screening Contractors

When you have a project on a time line, you need to protect yourself and do everything you can to make sure things go as they should and within your budget. When investors run into problems it is usually because they don't understand what a project entails and they are not as prepared as they should be.

Here are some steps you can follow to avoid these issues right from the beginning.

Network for References - Aside from getting references from contractors (which you should always do) network with others on your power team for personal references.

Not only are you better off getting more reliable contractors, there are a lot times you can get a discount as a "referral". When you get references, check to see that the quality of work matches what you want done. Someone's idea of a "good job" may be very different from yours.

Interview Several Contractors - Bids for a project can differ dramatically from one contractor to another. Though higher bids help for negotiating purchase price, we all know paying more for work does not necessarily mean higher quality workmanship.

Some contractors will provide steeper bids based on their workload, your lack knowledge or even your pocket book. Along with checking references, make sure they are specific with how they came up with their numbers and what they will do to complete the project. If the numbers, whether too high or too low, don't add up and they can't seem to explain it, it should be a red flag to you.

Obtain License Information - Make sure they are registered, licensed and bonded with the state and provide you with copies of such. You can also check with the state Bureau of Consumer Protection or Consumer Affairs to see if any complaints, lawsuits, or judgments have been filed against them.

Communicate Clearly - Make sure you communicate what you want done and make sure they have the same understanding. If you have a difficult time communicating with a prospective contractor in the beginning; that should be a red flag to look elsewhere for help.

Additionally, while the work is being completed, it is important to meet regularly to follow up on progress, payments, and to tackle any issues before they arise.

Get Everything in Writing - I'm sure you have heard this before, and there is a good reason for it! Even if you hit it off with someone and they seem like a person you can trust, don't depend on a verbal agreement (This includes the little things).

Though I feel most people have good intentions, what one person sees as "moral and ethical" may be very different to someone else. Unfortunately, contracts with a "handshake" don't mean what they used to. There are a lot of people now who will rationalize an obligation later if they are not legally bound by a written contract. For more extensive projects it is also good to have an attorney look over anything you plan to sign to make sure your rights and assets are protected.

Utilize Payment Phases - Never pay a large down payment on any project. Some may require you put down 10% or 20% depending on the scope of work involved, however, any more than this should be a big red flag. This is one of the biggest mistakes I see people make when hiring out work. You can avoid this by arranging payment phases and including them in the terms of the agreement. Also, before making the final payment on large projects, get a completed lien release from the contractor or crew.

Overall, if you follow these steps your experience with contractors for real estate investing will be much more smooth, positive, and productive. In turn you will avoid a lot of the nightmares you hear and read about. Hopefully these guidelines will give you some added protection to help this aspect of your business, as needed, to run more smoothly!

Copyright 2007-9 Creativerealestatehelp.com

Matthew Sorensen has trained thousands of people around the country for many large organizations. He is a leading authority in risk free, creative real estate investing techniques.

You can visit his website at: http://www.creativerealestatehelp.com to receive more information on how to maximize profits safely for changing market trends.

Plywood Draft Stop In Attic

Wind Generator and Produce Electricity

An average American household consumes 920kWh of electricity a month. With the rising trend of energy cost, you are likely to pay much more for your power bills in the next few years. So why not make a home wind generator and start to produce your own electricity supply?

The idea of using wind generators to produce electricity is not a new one. Although initially only huge turbines are manufactured and run to produce electricity for industries and remote areas, there are now small generator units that are designed for the average home. Even more recently, you can make one from home easily and at a much lower cost.

Instead of spending thousands of dollars to purchase a factory produced wind generator, many average income households are learning to make one from home. This involves obtaining a set of building instructions and using simple materials to construct the wind energy system. All in all, the cost of making your own generator rings out less than $200 in most cases.

The Internet is filled with numerous websites showing you the exact steps to make the wind generator. These resources are mostly free but are geared towards individuals who are technically trained and understand technical jargons and drawings.

For the less technically-inclined person, there are professional starter kits available that will help guide you to make a home wind generator easily. Most of these manuals are well-written and include videos and pictures to make things simple for you.

But there are many skeptics who question whether such kits can really help you make a wind generator from home. Thousands of people around the world have already made their wind-electricity units just by using a DIY kit and are already producing their own electricity.

Now if that is not enough proof that you can make a home wind generator with the help of a DIY kit, then you sure are missing out on a pot of gold.

Home wind generators are meant to help you save money, so start saving today! Get the most popular wind power kit and be the first in your neighborhood to learn how to make a home wind generator.

Who knows, you might turn out to be the wind energy expert in your town someday!

Window Corner On Exterior Wall

Black Mold Removal And Small Bathroom Remodeling: How To Keep It Out

Black mold is a fungus that spreads relentlessly in your bathroom

Very few bathrooms escape the dreaded black mold fungus. Sooner or later it finds a nice damp corner of your shower or your walls and begins to grow. Slowly at first then before you know it it's all over your beautiful bathroom. Black mold is notoriously difficult to get rid of and control but a cure is possible. I reveal the secret below.

How to spot black mold in your bathroom

Well it's difficult to miss it. It's a black blight, which starts in corners and cracks then grows along joins and seals. The bigger it gets the faster it grows It loves to follow the lines of silicon sealer and grout between ceramic tiles. It seems to get inside the silicon sealer even the fungal resistant kind. It can turn your lovely bathroom into a dirty pit if you don't do something about it quickly.

General measures to keep black mold out of your small bathroom

There are some common sense things that you can do to slow down the march of the black mold in your bathroom. Black mold thrives on moisture so keep your bathroom well ventilated. Open windows and doors after use and wipe down surfaces to encourage them to dry faster.

Wiping down all ceramic surfaces with a dilute solution of bleach every few days will also help to slow down the growth of the fungus.

Traditional remedy for black mold in the bathroom

The traditional cure for black mold has been to cut out the affected areas of sealer and grout and any bits of wall covering that is contaminated. Wash the whole place down with a dilute solution of bleach and then re tile, re grout and re seal. This cures the problem for a while but sooner or later, usually only a few months or weeks later, the black mold returns.

This is a very frustrating cycle to be riding on because you have to keep doing it. Many people eventually just give up and the black mold takes over.

The secret that can banish black mold from your small bathroom

Black mold in my small bathroom had been defeating my efforts to keep it under control and finally I decided to remodel the whole bathroom which I thought would get rid of it forever. Was I wrong! I managed to keep it out for a few short months but somehow it found it's way in again.

I cut out and replaced the contaminated silicon sealer but this only slowed it down. Then someone told me about a product called 'Mold and Mildew Remover'. You simply spray it onto the affected areas then leave it for 3-5 minutes before rinsing it off. This sounded too good to be true but I thought that I would give it a try anyway.

The person that told me about the product also told me that the secret was to be patient with it and not expect to see instant results from just one spraying so I set about treating the affected areas of my little bathroom 2-3 times a week and watched what happened. After the first month I dropped the treatment to 2-3 times a month.

The results were nothing short of amazing and fantastic. I thought that I saw an improvement after the first week and after the second week I was convinced that the black mold was at least not growing any more. After a month the patches of black mold were definitely smaller than they had been and after 6 months they are nowhere to be seen. They have completely vanished and I'm so very pleased with it.

Get the full story of how I beat the black mold in my small bathroom in the article Small Bathroom Black Mold Removal

How to fit a shower into a very small bathroom Small Bathroom Shower at http://www.bathroomsremodeling.this-info.com Steve Gee

Home Tips - Stair Lighting Problems

Walking up and down the stairs in the dark could become a safety issue. If the stairs in the house are not that old, there should be a light switch at the top and a light switch at the bottom of the stairway. This is a three way switch and is designed to allow you to turn the stair lighting on as you walk up the stairs and then turn the stair lighting off, once you've safely reached the top of the stairway. And vice versa as she walked down the stairs.

If you don't have a light switch, there are motion sensor lights that are battery operated and can be installed easily in the stairway. These lights can provide you with peace of mind, while protecting your family from accidents.

Stairway accidents are nothing to joke about, I lived in a two-story house with four other people and was the last one to fall down the stairway. None of us got seriously injured and the stairway was built to meet local building codes and was inspected by a building and safety inspector. The stairs were built correctly and the stair lighting was no problem, but people still fell down the stairway and it always happens in the evening.

During the day time there were two windows that let plenty of light into the stairway and in the evening the stairway became quite dark, rarely was the stair lightning ever turned on. This could have been outright laziness but nevertheless, it was rarely used and eventually became a safety issue.

Lighting your stairway might not end all of your problems but it can and some of your problems. There are plenty of stair lighting systems available on the market today and some of the battery operated stair lighting systems can be installed by most homeowners.

Think safety always and do your best to solve your stair lighting problems as soon as possible to prevent injuries or accidents.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your looking for some more building stairs or home building ideas.

Roof Repairs

Do I Need a Home Inspection? - Real Estate Advice

Most home inspections today run between $300 to over $1000 and sometimes you don't really get your moneys worth. There are home inspection companies that guarantee, any problems that they miss will be repaired at their expense over a desired period of time, usually a year. It seems like, most home inspection companies are just inspecting the property and have no guarantees or liability from their inspection.

It's not a good idea to buy or sell a home without getting a home inspection from a licensed home inspector. This is like having a second opinion from someone who is usually skilled in the process. I would like to point something out to unsuspecting, potential home buyers and sellers. Sometimes a home inspection company will get a little behind in their work and need to hire other home inspectors if these home inspectors don't have any experience in the construction business or have never inspected a home before. In other words there fresh out of home inspector school. You might not get a good home inspection.

You can always ask the question, how long have you been in business?... How long have you been a home inspector?... have you ever worked in the construction business or have any skills in home building and remodeling. If the answers to these questions are satisfactory, it doesn't mean, that they're telling the truth and being sincere and could lead to problems later if they are lying to you.

Let me rephrase the question now, "Do I Need a Home Inspection" from an unqualified home inspector? Absolutely not. But how can you really tell the difference and is the report going to be worth the money that you paid for it.

What would you say, if I had the solution to your problem. How about a pre-home inspection, using a home buyers checklist? What if I could give you a check list with questions, that you could ask your home inspector? Some of these questions are not going to be part a regular inspection but should always be asked and make sure you get the answers to them, before purchasing the property.

Would you be interested now? What if I told you, for under $20, you could purchase a home buyers checklist, now for the tough question, this checklist could save you thousands of dollars and prevent you from purchasing a home with major construction problems or defects, and can be used on every house you look at.

Don't buy a home without purchasing a professional home inspection checklist. These lists of questions can save you some serious headaches and stress in the future.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home buyers guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping

If your looking for some more home inspection or home building ideas

Childhood Religious Control

Patio and Wall Fountains Suit Any Size of Patio

Whatever the size of your patio, you can enhance the ambiance by adding one or more fountains. A fountain is one of those outdoor water features that will really allow you to enjoy the sounds of nature as you enjoy your morning coffee or have a drink with friends. The stream of water through the air also has a cooling effect on the hot air of the summer. You can have one that sits on the deck or the table or a fountain that attaches to the wall.

When choosing wall fountains you do need to consider the decor of your outdoor living space. You need to look at the exterior design of your home and the materials from which your patio is made. For example, a fountain made of brick would look out of place on a wooden patio and vice versa. You would make it a focal point of the patio, but for the wrong reasons. Precast concrete and reconstituted stone are the best choices for fountains that would work well on any patio.

Patio fountains come in all types of designs - animals, children, classical, mythical creatures, angels - the list goes on and on. Whatever design you choose, you will need to have a submersible pump installed to keep the water flowing continuously through the fountain so that it pours out into the basin and then goes back to the top again.

If you have an empty corner to fill on your patio, then choosing one of the many resin wall fountains available will help you complete the decor. If you have a patio made of wood, it is very easy to build your own fountain using two different sizes of whiskey barrels or even large flower pots.

You simply make a pool for the water from the larger one and use the smaller one as the point from which the water pours. You can place the submersible pump inside the upper barrel and have a connecting pipe to bring the water from the pool into the pump, from which it pours out continuously.

Patio fountains are small, which means they are portable. You can move it around on the patio or even have it sitting on the top of a table. This flexibility in being able to change the position means you can change the look of your patio whenever you wish. Many of the modern designs are solar powered so that you don't have to depend on the light on the patio to be able to enjoy the sight of the fountain along with the sounds at night.

This eliminates the need to have the wall mounted fountain close to an electrical outlet when you want to have it illuminated at night. The solar panel can be quite a distance away from the fountain and this adds to its portability. Thus you can enjoy its beauty even if you have it placed in a shady area of the patio.

You can use patio fountains to turn this area of your outdoor living space into an oasis. Even if you live in an apartment, you can have a fountain on the patio to make this area a place of tranquility. These blend in with the decor and the sounds of the trickling water blend with nature, as well as the natural materials used in the construction of both the fountain and the patio.

Allison Ryan is a freelance marketing writer from San Diego, CA. Specializing in home improvement and landscaping, Allison enjoys collecting wall fountains. For the perfect wall mounted fountain for your home, visit http://www.garden-fountains.com/.

Structural Framing Beams

When We Choose Misery Over Happiness

I am not one to feel sorry for most people. They seem to have a unique ability to cause themselves the most damage during certain parts of their lives. I have met some pretty self destructive people in my life. Being raised by a mother that lived in misery and love.

My mother had a difficult childhood. It seemed as if every corner she turned there was a obstacle either right in front of here or waiting just around the corner. Her father died when she was 12 year old. He was a farm laborer and didn't make much money. In other words they were poor...... She got sent to live with a few foster families and according to her she was molested by one of the fathers she lived with.

Soon her older sister invited her to live with her. My aunt was married to the owner of a pottery business and had 2 children about 10 years younger than my mother. My aunt soon realized she had a live in baby sitter that allowed her to stay out drinking most of the day.

My Uncle was what you would call a drunk back then, now we call these people alcoholics. Well any way I think you are starting to get a picture of my mothers life up to this point. It is probably safe to assume that this isn't the ideal life for a young woman.

The next event to happen in my moms life was for my uncle to fall in the shower one night after tying one on that night. He died soon after but my aunt seemed to make a another good choice and ended up marring the owner of the bar that they spent most of their time in.
The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. Allan K. Chalmers

By this time my mom was in High School and met my future father. It wasn't exactly a marriage made in heaven. My dad was always an easy going man. He seemed to let most stuff go in one ear and out the other.

As you guessed it they had a few children. Nice one Dad and Mom. According to the books I have read on Angelic beings. People that believe in the after life and angels. They tell me I had a choice and was able to choose my parents....... What was I thinking...... I should have choose someone with some money and a couple of parents that were deeply in love .

How did I end up here in this situation.

I ended up loving my parents like most of us. They seemed to be doing the best that they could possibly do raising me, my bother and my sister. My mom and dad ended up getting a divorce and I went to live with my father.

My Father is remarried to a wonderful woman that seems to bring him a lot of happiness.
I haven't seen my mother for a while now. She lives with a life of excuses and misery. Her childhood was not the greatest but that doesn't give her the right to bring misery into other peoples lives. She has made a conscious choice to live what seems to be a painful life. Maybe her choices in life have made me choose happiness over misery.

I have always wondered what it is that motivates someone to live a life of true unhappiness when it takes the same amount of energy to live a life of joy. Life is meant to be full of joy and happiness so start today by making the right choices to live a fulfilling life of happiness.

If you are reading this and can't make up your mind what kind of life you truly want to live visit me at http://live.spiritualideas.com/ . Change your thinking and change your life.

Greg Vanden Berge will help you create a new approach to life and discover talents you never knew you had. We can help you get the most out of yourself all the time. Start developing your innate strengths and abilities to start enriching your life TODAY !

Healing With Your Mind