Archives: Home Improvement Cost Savings

Save Money – Turn Off Gas Fireplace Pilot

By Todd Fratzel on Heating, Home Improvement Cost Savings

Turn Off Gas Fireplace Pilot We’re all looking for ways to save money this winter. One sure fire way to save some money this winter is to turn off the gas fireplace pilot. The pilot flame can burn as much as $10 per month when it is left on and burning. Here’s the thing, if…

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Buy Multi-tools For Christmas

By Todd Fratzel on Home Improvement Cost Savings

Multi Tools Make Great Gifts Are you looking for a gift this Christmas season for someone that already has most every tool you can imagine? You might want to consider buying them a multi tool because they are so versatile and useful around the house and shop. The multi tools we’re talking about are the…

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Cyber Monday DIY Tool Deals

By Todd Fratzel on Home Improvement Cost Savings

Cyber Monday Deals – Home Improvement Monday November 30th is considered Cyber Monday which is the biggest online buying day of the year just after Black Friday. We wanted to be sure to point out several great deals that we found. Makita 6 Piece Cordless Combo Kit This deal is too good to be true…

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Avoiding Project Creep and Budget Overuns

By Todd Fratzel on Design, Home Improvement Cost Savings

Project Creep Equals Busted Budgets Ever heard the term Project Creep before? Project Creep is defined as a break down in the management of a construction project that loses sight of the original goals. Typically it puts a project in jeopardy by slowly growing the scope with small changes. The small changes may seem insignificant…

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Is Your House Ready For Winter?

By Todd Fratzel on Energy Conservation, Home Improvement Cost Savings, Mechanical

Pre-Winter Checklist The weather here in New England is extremely harsh in the winter so I thought it a good time to talk about a pre-winter checklist for your home. Taking some time in the Fall to prepare your home for winter weather is likely to save you money and extend the life of your…

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How To Avoid Being Scammed

By Todd Fratzel on Home Improvement Cost Savings

Avoid Home Repair Scams Every year thousands of people are scammed by dishonest contractors looking to make a quick buck. Every year I read stories in the news about scam artists who rip off home owners by selling services like roof and siding repairs and even driveway paving. Recently there was a local contractor charging…

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Top 5 Home Improvement Renovation Projects

By Todd Fratzel on Feature Story, Home Improvement Cost Savings

Home Improvement Renovations – ROI According to Remodeling Magazine, the ROI (Return On Investment) on home improvement renovation projects faired much better than overall home values for 2007-2008. While home values continue to drop the latest data shows much smaller drops in the ROI on many home improvement renovations. ROI is a very simple term…

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Refinancing Our Mortgage

By Todd Fratzel on Feature Story, Home Improvement Cost Savings

Refinancing Today is the big day to close on our new mortgage. When we built our new house 3 years ago we secured a construction loan that converted automatically to a 7 year ARM with the first 7 years fixed at 5.875%. Today I’m happy to say we’re going to refinance that loan to a…

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