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Newsletter March, 2008
"The Old House Experts" |
Flourishing in a down economy
Greetings!
Despite the gloomy headlines appearing almost weekly in the Boston Globe
about the state of the housing market, there is still plenty of activity
in the old house market. Here at Landmark Services, we're expecting
2008 to be our busiest year ever. As you'll see below, we have renovations and additions happening all
over Greater Boston. We're not alone. Many other companies that do
renovations and additions are quite busy, while many new home builders
are facing slower times ahead.
Why is this happening? Well in our case, it's due to a combination of
factors. First of all, many homeowners are finding that renovating or adding on to their homes makes more sense these days than buying a new home. Second, we've placed a greater emphasis on marketing over the past few years.
Exhibiting and speaking at the Traditional Building and Residential Design and Construction shows, for example, have been good ways to increase our exposure. A good web presence has also been very important: we have a $1,000,000 project coming up for some folks who found us through the internet. And finally, being around for the past 18 years has given us a broad contact base, both with clients and architects. This year we will be doing repeat business with two couples and two more projects for friends or neighbors of past clients.
The best business practice, of course, is to be constantly on the lookout for opportunity. We consider everything from the appearance of our jobsites to the design of our job signs to be a reflection on our company. Likewise, every employee is an ambassador for Landmark Services. Most important of all to our success, has been our emphasis on creating an atmosphere of cooperation and teamwork on all of our projects, in which homeowner, architect, and Landmark are all working towards a common goal.
As always, we welcome the opportunity to look at your upcoming projects. We like to focus on renovations and additions to older homes. Here's wishing you a successful 2008!
Sincerely,
Mark Landry |
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Feature:
Our Cabinet Shop
Some people are unaware that we have our own cabinet shop, so it seemed prudent to mention it here. Kerry Kenda runs the shop, as he hes for the past five years. Prior to that, Kerry ran his own shop and was a frequent subcontractor of ours.
The benefits of having our own shop include having more control over the look of the cabinets (so we can closely match the style to the age and style of the home) and also much more control over the schedule.
We build kitchens, bath vanities, library built-ins, and just about any other kind of millwork. Please check our website for some more project photos.
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Upcoming Talks
Mark will be speaking about restoring historic homes at the Medway Historical Society
on March 18th at 7:30pm. All are welcome.
Mark will also be moderating a panel at the Residential Design and Construction show on April 3rd at 10:30. The panel is entitled "Is there a New England Style?".
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Insulation thoughts ...
We pride ourselves in making the old houses we work on much more energy efficient than they were before we worked on them. We have strong opinions on insulation materials and methods. First, we almost never use fiberglass insulation. In our opinion, it is one of the least effective materials on the market. Our choice is typically either blown-in cellulose or sprayed on foam insulations, such as Icynene. Both of these materials do a much better job at reducing air infiltration than fiberglass. And air infiltration is what leads to heat loss, ice dams, and frozen pipes.
Cellulose and Icynene are so effective because they completely fill the stud bays. Pipes, wires, or irregular sized and shaped stud bays are no challenge for either, while those same obstacles can drastically reduce the effectiveness of fiberglass.
The other important factor is where to insulate. In attics we always insulate the rafter slopes instead of the attic floor, which is standard practice for most contractors. Insulating the slopes does two important things: first, it allows for much better air sealing because you don't have to worry about tough to insulate places such as attic stairs. The fact that Icynene type products are exempt from attic venting requirements really helps, too. More importantly, insulating the slopes puts any HVAC equipment (air handlers and duct work) in conditioned space meaning that the efficiency of the heating and cooling systems will be much higher than HVAC equipment placed in unconditioned attic spaces.
Speaking of venting, we feel - as do many others- that venting of crawl spaces and attics is not recommended. Crawl space venting only brings humid summer air into the crawl space where it condenses and leads to mold and mildew growth. Attic venting which was developed to prevent ice dams is simply not needed with either cellulose or spray foam, because the superior performance of these materials prevents ice dams.
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We're working with DeGregorio Design Studio on a renovation/addition to a house in a historic district in Weston. The project will include raising the roof of the side ell to accomodate a new master suite.
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We're also starting a renovation project in on a Victorian in Winchester. Architect Dick Brown of Lexington and designer Jennifer Palumbo are coolaborating on the project with us. We'll be renovating the 3rd floor, the master suite on the 2nd floor, and upgrading the HVAC, plumbing, and wiring systems throughout the house. Plus redecoration throughout.. |
 We recently started restoring the barn at the Captain Forbes House Museum in Milton. The architect is Tom Peterman of Peterman Architects. The project has received funding from the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The work includes a new cedar roof, structural repairs, masonry, and exterior painting.
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 Another Milton project coming up for us will be the total renovation of a beautiful 3-story Federal period home. This will be a comprehensive renovation involving all new mechanical systems, a new kitchen, five new bathrooms, major structural repairs, and complete redecoration. We brought in designer Barbara Sheehan to work with us on the design and planning.
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And finally (for now) we'll be renovating and adding on to a Federal style home in Hingham. David Torrey of Menders, Torrey & Spencer is the project architect. Another comprehensive project, this will include all new mechanical systems, a new 2-story addition, a new kitchen, 3-4 new bathrooms, etc. Construction will start in a month or two. |
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Thank you for reading this newsletter. As you can probably tell, we love old houses and we love working on them! Please let us know if we can help you on your next project.
All the best,
Mark Landry
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