Every homeowner understands that they will face home improvement services that require replacement product investments at some time during their homeownership.
One of downsides of owning a house is that it requires routine maintenance and home improvement services to extend the life expectancy.
This is just a matter of time if you are buying a new constructed house or an existing home. In the case of an existing home the process begins when your house inspector assesses the home you have placed into escrow.
You either are willingly or unwillingly made aware that the home inspector has put you on notice of the age and general condition of the air conditioning system, roof and appliances as well as other possible issues.
Even new houses will experience required home investments in the coming years. The only question is when will the unexpected expense or investment of home improvement services.
Read about the high value Houston home improvement services and replacement products
Homeownership is filled with planned as well as unexpected expenses and investments. We will discuss the factors that are associated with the selection and decision making of the major home improvement services and replacement products in Houston.
5 Factors of Major Home Improvement Replacement Products
There are many factors that go into making decisions about home improvement services and replacement products.
The home improvement services company is by far the most important consideration concerning capabilities and trustworthiness.
If the home improvement contractor company does not prove to be worthy of your business, move on.
For it does not matter how good the other factors are, if you cannot trust a company’s business practices your experience is likely to end in disappointment or worse.
The other important principal factors are the product, installation, service and warranty. It is having a well-informed understanding of these factors that make for an educated decision.
The product knowledge is key discerning the differences in competing products. The installation often dictates the success of the overall performance and durability of the system.
It is a good idea to compare comparable products at different price points for your suitability needs.
They are both backed and enhanced by the reliability of the product service and warranty.
Replacement Products
Replacement product selection and the purchasing process begins with product knowledge and reliable information.
Understanding the chooses of available products provides the foundation for an informed decision.
Reading the technical data sheet and reviewing the product specifications will lead you to the clarity of differentiating comparable products.
The pricing of products does not always reflect its perceived value. Typically, there is a large price difference between cost effective products designed to meet homeowners’ budgets and higher end replacement products intended to provide the greatest service life.
This is not always readily visible to an owner without thorough investigation. Proper research will lead to making an intelligent cost / value relationship determination for the right product purchase for you.
Home Improvement Service Installation
The key to any replacement product installation performance and product service life is if the product has been installed per the manufacture’s specifications.
Improper installation leads to product manufactures declining most warranty claims. Many manufactures will develop installation certification programs for products to assist in the marketing and reduction of installation failures.
Replacement product installation for home improvement service is an essential service element that is important to most owners.
The installation contributes to the overall experience of a replacement product. A good installation experience can also be minimized by an unwelcome event that occurs during the installation process.
The general appearance of the workers or unprofessional conduct witnessed by the owner can leave an undesirable lasting impression that can spoil the entire new product experience.
Home Improvement Services
The improvement service factor can often be overlooked in making an informed decision regarding your selection of a replacement product contractor.
That is until you actual need it. Service expectations should be established early in the purchase process.
This responsibility for the ultimately test lies with the homeowner to ask the necessary questions during vetting their product replacement contractor.
Although most homeowners consider service to be an essential part of any home contracting product installation, service also means a greater amount of customer attention during the pre-construction, construction and post product replacement process.
The price is also reflected in these additional product and contractor services. Once again, the homeowner must see the cost to value relationship reflected in the price for these services.
Home Improvement Services Warranty
A home replacement product warranty is greatly overlooked when homeowners are evaluating home product replacements.
If the warranty is ignored during the product purchasing process, it can lead to early failure of an inferior product and additional cost to repair or replace it.
Nothing replaces the reading of the product warranty prior to purchasing.
Warranties can add value even when not being used for defects in product replacements.
Higher end products offer transferable warranties with their products. The warranty can be transferred with the property title transaction.
Don’t be misled by terms such as lifetime warranty or limited lifetime warranty. These warranties are usually loosely written and will expire in 7 years in Texas.
This is due to the rules of statute of limitations in the absence of a stated term. No warranty is the same and requires careful examination prior to purchasing your product or service.
Major Home Replacement Products
The big ticket major home replacement products that most frequently will require replacement mid way through the life of the mortgage are the roof shingles, doors and windows, HVAC equipment and flooring.
These products are required to be in fit and top operational condition to realize the fair market value of your home.
These items also have the best return on investment when it comes to selling your home.
The cost / value relationship is the heart of the financial decision-making process when accessing the replacement product buying decision.
The cost / value product replacement relationship is defined as the actual price you pay for a product or service compared to what you perceive the actual market value to be. The higher the perceived value the higher price an owner is willing to pay.
Roofing Shingles
Replacing the roof shingles is a very common home product for a roof replacement. The published warranties range from 20 years to 50 years, depending on the manufacture.
That does not mean that your roof shingles service life is guaranteed to last that long, but rather provides a general guideline of a period you can expect to replace it.
Most roof shingle manufactures limit the liability to a prorated replacement cost on the shingles and disallow installation errors.
It is best to get a warranty in writing from an installation roofing contractor that has an independently published good reputation and an extended history of being in business.
By allowing the roofing contractor to provide the roofing materials the owner can request the warranty on the entire roof system.
This can limit the homeowner getting caught in the middle if there are problems with the roof down the road, provided the owner has done their diligence on the contractor to verify they will be around sometime in the future.
Replacement Windows & Doors
Replacement window and doors have one of the best returns on investment. This is due to some well-known facts.
First up to 75% of the homes air conditioning is lost through the home’s windows and doors.
Secondly, the right doors and windows can reduce your energy bill by 20% – 45%.
There are 3 factors that should be considered when purchasing windows and doors. They are the appearance, performance and durability.
The appearance is generally evaluated by the gold standard in homes, wood windows. Aluminum would be the other end of that spectrum.
The second factor is performance. Performance is measured by how secure the window is from break-ins and how well does it keep the weather sealed out.
Durability measures how well the replacement windows and doors hold up over the long run and eliminate required maintenance.
HVAC Equipment
Most quality air condensers and coils have a 10 year warranty and a typical service life of about 15 years, depending on the frequency of the daily cycle times.
Furnaces have a longer life expectancy due to the lesser demand in Houston.
So, it is not uncommon to only be required to change a furnace every 15 to 20 years.
Every several years the HVAC International Code upgrades the requirements for air conditioning efficiency. These standards are measured in SEER’s.
It is common that when it’s time to replace the condenser that you will likely be required to replace the coil as well.
It makes sense at those point to replace the entire system to reduce future replacement installation cost.
Flooring
Most often the only flooring that actually requires to be replaced is carpet. Flooring for the most part is a discretionary replacement item.
Flooring does not have a good return on investment.
Most owners will either replace carpeted rooms with some form of hard surface flooring such as tile, wood or stone.
Flooring is a very popular replacement item with most homeowners.
