March 10, 2025 • 34 mins
What if the home improvements offering the biggest returns weren't the ones you expected? In this eye-opening exploration of renovation economics, we reveal which projects actually pay you back in North Carolina's unique housing market and climate.
The results might surprise you. While kitchen and bathroom remodels get all the attention, installing a new garage door delivers a staggering 194% return on investment while costing just $1,200-$2,000. Front doors similarly return nearly double their cost while dramatically enhancing curb appeal. We break down exactly why these seemingly modest upgrades pack such financial punch.
"The worst window you can buy right now is better than the best window from 15 years ago," explains Donnie, highlighting how building code improvements have transformed energy efficiency standards. This principle applies across multiple renovation categories—today's basic products often outperform premium versions from just a decade ago.
For larger investments like roofing, we dispel common misconceptions about cost (average homes typically run around $10,000, not $25,000) while explaining how modern architectural shingles with 50-year warranties not only add immediate value but can substantially reduce insurance premiums. Similarly, HVAC replacements deliver strongest returns when paired with insulation improvements, potentially cutting system size requirements and utility costs in half.
Whether you're preparing to sell or investing in your forever home, these strategic insights help you prioritize improvements that truly build wealth while enhancing your living environment. Visit thecarolinacontractor.com for more renovation guidance or to submit your specific questions to our experts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, General ContractorDonnie Blanchard.
So we had some bad weather acouple days ago there.
Donnie, How'd you do?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
in your neck of the woods man.
My phone's been ringing off thehook ever since, but I fared
well.
Not everybody in the communitydid, though.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yeah, we had a couple of houses in our neighborhood
here in Wilson that had treesdrop right through the roof.
A couple of them laid on theroof, lots of shingles around
the neighborhood and siding andstuff and pretty normal to
expect when you have 70 mile perhour gust blow through your
town.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, I think that one of the contributing factors
it's been wet and cold.
We had a few warm weeks, youknow they were spread out here
and there, but when the ground'swet and that root system, just
you know it doesn't have the dryground to hold it in place and
you get that wind coupled withthat.
It was no pun intended theperfect storm.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, snap power lines and all sorts of stuff
like that.
And what I want to also mentionis when you go through a storm
like that that we had, where itwas just a straight line winds
when the storm's over, this is achance for you to go outside
and maybe survey a few thingsabout your house.
Start with the roof and alsolook for where water stands and
(01:11):
if you've got something thatmaybe peeled siding.
But take a look at your housebecause if you go ahead and find
something, you can report itand get the insurance companies
involved.
Or if you have a roof problem,call somebody like Donnie at
Sure Top Roofing and have themcome take a look at it before it
gets worse.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Mitigate any damages, like we say Yep, that's
actually a requirement by theinsurance company.
If you have damage to yourhouse and you don't do anything
about it and just let it rain inthere, then that's kind of on
you.
So they'll pay for the initialdamage.
But any kind of damage issustained after that for
basically lack of any attentionto mitigate those damages or put
a tarp over there.
They consider that neglect.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
All right.
Well, this is the CarolinaContractor Show and we hope
everybody out there did wellwith these storms, did well, got
by through the storms anddidn't have any damage yeah, but
of course it happens and it'sgood to know your insurance
policy and know who to call.
And, as a matter of fact, we'vedone shows just on those topics
(02:06):
alone and you can find them atthe website,
thecarolinacontractorcom,download them in podcast form
and they're listed by title orsubject.
So if you want to look up theshow about insurance claims or
roof repairs or how do you knowyou have storm damage at all,
that's the place to start.
You can also check out ourstuff on the YouTube site.
We have links at the webpage tothe YouTube site where we have
(02:28):
all our shows that we starteduploading.
The very popular ask thecontractor question.
Maybe you have a question aboutsome possible damage to your
house.
You can click on that buttonand fill out the information and
Donnie answers those questions.
So now comes the introductionportion of the show.
My name's Eric Smith.
I do inside sales for HomeBuilder Supply, so I sell
building supplies to people likeDonnie, who's a general
(02:50):
contractor, owner of Sure TopRoofing, owner of Blanchard
Building Company also and, ofcourse, as you started the show
off, very busy right now becauseof those storms that went
through.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, it's one of those things where this time of
year we don't expect a windstorm, probably until about spring or
so, and you know that that'scoupled with the hailstorms and
everything.
But I will say it's nice tohave a little bit of punch on
the workload for, say, march,april, just moving into spring.
So it's, you know, it's nice tobe busy.
We I will.
(03:22):
I think I've mentioned this ona previous show at Praise Report
we're busier going into thiswinter than we have been any
winter since before the pandemic.
Roofing has slowed down a littlebit.
We put these shingles onnowadays that last for 50 years,
and so where most of the folkscoming out of the 80s, 90s and
early 2000s had a three-tab 20,25-year shingle, now we've been
(03:43):
replacing those hard and heavysince 2010.
And with that 50 year shinglethe wind rating is either I want
to say most of them are about130 mile an hour wind rating and
with GAF they have an unlimitedwind rating, meaning if you
lose a shingle from wind damage,uh, then then GAF will pay for
that.
You don't have to go to yourinsurance company and there's
never been any kind of warrantylike that.
So super strong there.
(04:04):
But I guess the downside ofthat is we've replaced so many
roofs that everybody's prettysolid for the next couple of
decades.
So you know, I don't want tosay we need a storm or we need a
hailstorm, but you know, surewouldn't hurt anything business
wise yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
You know, I just thought with that 50 year
warranty, donnie, basically youcould put on a roof or replace a
roof and your grandchildren, ifthey got into the roofing
business, would be the ones thatwould replace it the next time.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I don't know if it'll gointo the third generation or how
that's going to shake out, butyeah, and and to be honest, you
know there will be another waveum, the several advancements in
the roofing world, like algaedeterrent you know there used to
be a 10-year algae warranty andnow they've upgraded that to a
25-year.
So there's going to be a lot ofpeople who replace their roofs
for algae's sake.
(04:52):
And we call a handful of otherones vanity roofs.
This is a roof where you justmove into a new house, you don't
like the color of it and you'vegot the money to replace it.
So you know there's still a lotof those out there.
And and, and you know we feelblessed to be called upon and,
and you know, top top two orthree in our area.
So that's um, that's one ofthose deals where, as long as
(05:12):
the phone's ringing, you knowwe'll answer the call.
But but yeah, it's not like itwas.
You know, 10, 15 years ago.
We just couldn't keep up, andat least now the workload is
manageable.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know that's a perfect segue in today's show,
because if you had roof damageand you're going to have to get
repaired or, like you said, youwant to just change the roof you
want to make sure the one youget and that you invest in is
something that will pay you backin some way, whether it's
longevity or if you go to sellyour house.
And we call that return oninvestment.
And that's what today's topicis, but we're going to give it a
(05:41):
North Carolina twist.
Today's topic is, but we'regoing to give it a North
Carolina twist.
Gaf is a great example, becauseyou can hire someone who's not
certified to install a roof andthey might do a three-tab deal.
Or they're just going to doentry-level shingles.
You're not going to have awarranty on them and if they're
not certified, there's otherthings that cannot be warrantied
(06:01):
because they're not a certifiedinstaller.
So if you get a new roof andyou want a good return on that
investment, you would want toget somebody like Donnie who's
certified with SureTop.
You'd want to pick a niceshingle, like the GAFs that have
these extended warranties andguarantees.
And that's what we're going todo today is go over a bunch of
stuff when it comes torenovating or repairing inside
(06:26):
and outside of your house.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Sometimes I forget to state the obvious.
And we've done several showswith GAF and, of course, our
territory manager, ron Cook.
He's amazing, but I lose trackof the fact that it's been two
or three years.
We've been doing this for solong and people always ask me
what about those GAF shingles?
And they don't call it by theacronym GAF.
But just quick side note is GAFstands for General Analyne Film
(06:55):
and General Analyne Film ifyou're 40 years old or older,
you remember the days before theinternet when you had these
viewfinders and the viewfindershad the little disc wheel with
the pictures.
And now you can just Google apicture of a place and you can
go anywhere and see what it'slike.
But back then we had to stickour eyeballs right to the
viewfinder and click the thingin a circle just to be able to
see the sites.
And GAF bought that company andI don't know the evolution
(07:17):
process, but they eventuallyevolved into a shingle company.
Now their pie chart isexclusively roofing.
So they have a silicone lowslope division, they have TPO,
which is the white membrane thatgoes on commercial buildings,
they have, of course, shinglesand they have the strongest
warranty in the business and,most importantly, they are
American owned and operated, sothey pay taxes right here in the
(07:37):
USA.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yep, we love having Ron on and that was such a
interesting story the first timewe interviewed him years ago
and he told that and it was likewhat an almost bizarre change
of focus that an industry had togo from basically a toy to
something that everybody needsand they make the best version
of it.
All right, today's show, as Isaid the title, is ROA and NC,
(07:59):
because North Carolina is alittle different than every
other state.
You might have things that youcould do to your house inside
and out that would have anadvantage in the Northeast or
the Midwest or the Northwest.
But even though this show islistened to internationally,
we're going to focus on NorthCarolina and the reason this
works out is we've got weatherconditions that are pretty
(08:19):
unique Humid in the summer, aswe have snow one day and 70
degrees two days later, and thenice and then sunshine, and then
a big storm rolls through withalmost well, not almost no rain,
less rain than it was, just alot of wind, and next week
they're talking about flirtingwith the mid-70s, maybe even hit
(08:40):
80 degrees.
That's north carolina.
So those are things you want toconsider, especially if you're
putting on a roof.
Some of the other things aboutROA in NC is your market or
where your house is can have abig effect on your price.
So your neck of the woodsyou're kind of like in between a
couple of hot spots that carryRale Triangle area and you can
(09:03):
head Greensboro.
I'm in a growing but lesserarea that is affected by house
prices in Wilson, north Carolina.
But if you make it to the beach, prices go up Charlotte, prices
go up Asheville.
So some of these investmentsthat you make will have a
different price point because ofwhere you live.
But we're going to try to get abasic idea of where you're
(09:24):
sitting if you want.
But we're going to try to get abasic idea of where you're
sitting if you want to make someinvestments in your house and
get a higher ROI.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, the middle third of the state is a hotbed
for real estate right now and Ithink a lot of the driving
factors is the fact that theinventory is still short and you
can't find small houses.
Starter houses are hard to comeby.
And if you have one of thoseand you can't find small houses,
you know starter houses arehard to come by and if you have
one of those and you're you'retrying to sell, you want to get
the max ROI out of that.
I would say that, um, you knowthe front elevation and when we
(09:52):
did the TV show, you know theyhammered home the word curb
appeal.
It it it mildly drove me crazy,but anyway, it's a real thing.
And, uh, curb appeal, curbappeal, curb appeal, curb appeal
.
But the thing you can do andwe'll get into a couple of
things down the list here, butone of the big things we replace
the roof on everything.
And if you have just a plainranch house and it just doesn't
(10:14):
have a lot of shape, all youhave is two roof slopes and a
gutter line up top.
If you're going to replace thatroof, one thing that we got a
big ROI on is we and of courseSureTop did all the roof work.
So my guys are experiencedframers and we can pretty much
do a small house in one daywhere we strip the old roof and
we would build a gable or adormer on the front of the house
(10:34):
just to break up the roof line.
And it's not a lot to it, youknow it's $500 worth of wood,
$500 worth of labor and ofcourse you have to put siding
and and trim out the boxing andeverything.
But you're not talking a $1,500change to completely, to
completely make the front ofthat house or the front
elevation look different.
So I would say, from anexterior standpoint, that was
(10:55):
one of the big punches that wedid to get the most money for
the house.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
A lot of people think when you're doing a show on
return on investment, it meansyou're selling your house.
Many cases it is, but itdoesn't mean you are going to
sell your house just becauseyou're putting in something that
has a high ROI.
Why wouldn't you want to putsomething in that has a good
return, even if it's yourforever home?
So things like this doesn'tnecessarily pertain to selling a
(11:19):
house.
Sometimes you just want yourhouse to look kick ass in the
neighborhood and that's whyyou're going to make these
changes.
So let's start off with onethat always surprises us and I
researched multiple places andit always comes out number one
and it's garage doors.
Almost double what you spend.
You get 194% return oninvestment with a garage door
(11:41):
and it's not as expensive aspeople think $1,200 to $2,000.
And, by the way, anything cango to the moon if you want to
pay it.
They'll sprinkle gold on it ifyou want, but that's not a big
investment to get such a huge.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
ROI, yeah, and a lot of times I would say, especially
if you bought a productionbuilt home.
A lot of those garage doorsaren't insulated.
So if you have a south facinghome, your garage is probably
sweltering in the summertime.
So just getting a new insulatedgarage door for under two grand
is a good selling point.
And side note, there I want tosay that a real estate agent is
(12:20):
the person to tell you a localreal estate agent that is.
So find somebody trustworthyand local and they'll tell you
If you're going to spend moneyon a house and say, hey, we're
thinking about selling, but notright now.
Maybe next year go ahead and getin cahoots with that real
estate agent, because every dimeyou spend they'll be able to
tell you on their end how theysize that house up for market
(12:40):
value and we're going to have areal.
I'm actually building a housefor a real estate agent now and
she's she's wonderful, shemanages a family life and and
it's just a killer at realestate and I've sent several
people her way and everybodyjust raves about her.
So I thought it would be wisefor us to have her on the show
just to share some insights.
But that'll be sometime in thenext couple of weeks.
But yeah, every point we'regoing to make today if you're
(13:02):
thinking about doing thisyourself, check with that real
estate agent, because that can'thurt a thing.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
The other reason to think about why a garage door is
so impactful from the curbsideview is because it's usually
minimum one car garage.
A lot of them are two, soyou've got something that is
eight to 10 feet high goesacross the front of your house.
If it looks nice and shiny andnew and top of the line, it's
going to affect that view.
(13:26):
The other thing if you don'thave a garage, especially when
you pull up to a curb, peoplemight not realize it.
But if they're honest, thefirst thing they look at is that
front door, and especially ifit's an ugly color, if it's like
canary yellow.
I don't know what is wrong withpeople, but the canary yellow
door's got to go.
That's a preference.
I have the very cliche barn redfront door, but anyways, a
(13:50):
strong looking, nicelymaintained, nice hardware on a
front door.
You can notice that all the wayfrom the street.
The thing is we talked aboutthis on last week's show.
People don't understand doorsaren't necessarily the easiest
things to order or replace andthe return on the investment is
(14:11):
really high up, almost double.
But the thing is you got toknow what you're ordering and
the sky's the limit.
It's not as easy as just buyinga slab and putting it on.
It might be, but you need toprepare for it.
But the options for doors arealmost unlimited.
It's amazing how I see it in myside of the business.
(14:31):
I'm sure you do too.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Oh yeah, you probably know more than I do because I
get one of these per house andyou probably see these roll out
the door every single day.
Yeah, doors can go to the moon.
I mean literally you, you canspend and we talked about this
off the air but you can spend 10, 20 grand pretty easy if you
want all the bells and whistlesand um, uh, one thing that we
always knock the big box doors.
(14:52):
But this is about the only areawhere, if you need a reasonable
front door, uh, the energy codedictates the minimum energy
requirement for that.
So a lot of times ThermaTru,for instance you know what they
can sell to you guys atHomeBuilder Supply, lowe's has a
much different contract becausethey do so much volume with
them that you know you can get adecent looking front door for
less than a grand, whereas theseries that goes to the building
(15:16):
supply companies you knowyou're looking at, you know two,
three thousand dollars andthat's still not bad.
I mean, if you get into thereal wood versus fiberglass, um,
I would say that you knowyou're you're upwards of $5,000
when I do a new house and ifit's over three, 4,000 square
feet, I put five grand on therefor a front door allowance and
that that seems to cover it.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I think that's a very good price point to put on it,
um, but I'm going to have todisagree with you here, donnie
Um, check with your, your homesupplier, your independent place
, because I'll tell you rightnow I can.
I have more options, I can getyou for a door, I can spend more
time helping you decide whatyou want and I dang well
guarantee I'll be close on thatprice point, but I'm still going
(15:59):
to get you, in my opinion, abetter door.
I'm going to get you betterentry door locks and deadbolts
than you're just going to get ifyou walk in there.
It's nothing against the bigbox doors, but they work on
volume.
They're not going to spend timewith you to pick out the locks
you want or the handle orsomething like that.
So, whether it's fiberglass,which is very common, solid core
(16:19):
wood, which is expensive butnice we talked about it too off
the show, off the air.
Steel doors not very common asan entry or even a side door,
but sometimes back Attachedsheds to the house, tool sheds
in the yard, they tend to usesteel doors.
You can get them for a reallygood price and they're usually
paintable, sometimes stainable.
(16:40):
They look great.
But um 1500 to 2,500 to get adoor.
If you're doing a pre-hung, ifyou're going to get an installer
you know is Donnie would beable to pull a door out and put
a new one in pretty easily.
If, even if it's a pre-hung Umyeah, it's an important
investment to get it right andmake sure you have a door that
(17:00):
fits the look of your house andthere's a high quality door that
will last, you know, 20, 30years.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah, I do agree with that part.
There's a lot of value inhaving somebody that knows what
they're looking at, because mostof these folks are picking out
that door one time for the next10, 20 years, and so having
somebody like yourself thatknows you know the manufacturer
pros and cons of that, there isvalue there, even if it's a tick
more.
So right after I said that, Icould just feel Bill and Julie
those are my inside and outsidesales reps.
(17:27):
They listen to every singleshow.
So, forgive me, you guys, I'mstill sending them your way.
Great.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Okay, I've not done this, wouldn't mind doing it.
Everybody thinks about doingstuff with their kitchen and
we're not talking the fulloverhaul.
We're not talking about pullingyour existing cabinets down and
replacing them with new.
Sometimes you just want tomaybe sand them, prime them and
repaint them, put new hardware,modify the sink, something like
(17:53):
that.
A kitchen is a big deal.
I'm not saying it's not as bigin other parts of the country,
but I think in North Carolina itis the gathering place.
If mom is in the kitchencooking, the kids and the
husband, and when it's holidays,everybody's there in the
kitchen area.
So it's a pretty importantplace.
You want to do it right.
I don't have experience to talkabout this.
(18:13):
What advice would you givesomebody investing in a kitchen
upgrade to get a good ROI,donnie?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, solid surface countertops seem to be the big
favorite in a kitchen these daysand I would say the average
house is going to be around$5,000 to take the old
countertops out, put new solidsurface in and of course you're
going to want to get abacksplash that goes with those
cabinets.
So that usually runs a couplethousand dollars.
And if you wanted to do a mildmakeover you know the cabinet
doors are an option you can buyall new cabinet doors with a
(18:43):
different, like a shaker styleseems to be what everybody wants
these days and I'd say thecheapest thing is the new
hardware.
So, uh, if you wanted to gokitchen remodel under 10 grand
and DIY, then you can call thethe stone um fabricators
yourself or the quartzfabricators yourself and, you
know, find a tile guy and thenlots of, lots of hardwood stores
(19:05):
.
So we've got a hardwood storelocally and they actually make
cabinet doors so you canoutsource those.
Of course you'll need to comeup with a size and there's a
little responsibility for thehomeowner in terms of that and
making sure the hinges arecompatible or or whether or not
you need new hinges.
But that, and then the hardwareyou're talking tile and solid
surface countertop subcontractorand the rest of it is DIY.
(19:25):
So if you feel frisky enough totake that on, then you can get
out under 10 grand that way.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Feeling frisky doing the kitchen work.
So I do want to mention thehardware.
We think that it's a small cost.
Keep your hardware if you likeit, because you can always
repaint it or clean it up.
But think of the normal kitchen.
You go, oh, we'll just buy newhardware.
How much could it cost?
Oh, it's only $5 a hinge.
And then you remember you have22 cabinet doors.
(19:53):
Each one has two hinges.
Now all of a sudden you're at50 hinges, you're at 22 handles.
You might have closers that youwant to get the fancier stuff.
You can drop a thousand dollarson hardware for the kitchen,
cabinets and drawers and stuff,real easy.
So maybe think about keeping itif you like it and it's in good
shape, and hit it with a glossyblack paint or and seal it or
(20:17):
whatever.
But don't just toss out thathardware for your kitchen.
Agreed Good point.
Back to the outside.
This is an obvious thing.
First of all, we still getpeople that come in my store
with a piece of siding and go doyou sell this?
And I say we don't sellMasonite and people who know
what it is.
It's basically cardboard onyour house.
(20:37):
But when you redo siding onyour house it makes it look like
it's almost, especially withnew windows, a new build.
Overnight, all of a sudden youhave this brand new look of
beautiful siding.
There's a lot of choices in thereturn on it.
You usually will get what youput into it back if you sell
your house.
But it can depend on what youuse.
(20:59):
You know vinyl siding versusfiber cement, which a hardy
plank that I'm not as familiarwith that you might be.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, I think one of the attractive options about
vinyl is the price and of courseyou can go over.
If you have a Masonite sidingon your house you can usually go
over top of that Masonite.
If your house is older andpoorly insulated, then it gives
you the option to add thatinsulation, the, the um, but
with the accordion styleinsulate, you know, wafer
insulation board, you can add around of that in a half a day
(21:27):
and probably a you know thousand, couple thousand dollars,
depending on the size of thehouse, and then just put the
insulation right over that.
So I agree with what you said,that the combo of that and the
windows, you would tell animmediate difference on your
utilities.
So, um, if you do go with thefiber cement or the Hardy is
what everybody calls, there's acouple of other brands called
Allura and Nichiha.
James Hardy basically made aname for fiber cement siding.
(21:50):
But if you get with yourbuilding supply folks, or just
call around, usually the Alluraand the Nichiha Allura
especially seems to be quite abit cheaper and it's the same
exact product.
They don't have as many options.
But if you're just going withthe regular lap siding or the
four by eight, four by 10 panelsand doing the board and batten.
They have all that as well.
They don't have all thepre-painted options.
(22:10):
So I'm still a fan of JamesHardy.
It's a really good product,good warranty.
But the fiber cement means youhave to pretty much take off
everything that's there if yougo that route, and the only
kicker with that is you have topaint it.
So it does have to bemaintained.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
And this is Carolina Contractor Show and we're doing
ROI in NC, kind of focusing onthe Carolinas when it comes to
doing renovations to your houseor doing upgrades, whether you
intend to sell it or not, roabeing return on your investment.
And you mentioned windows.
So let's just go ahead and talkabout windows.
So let's just go ahead and talkabout windows Very pricey thing
.
We're not talking aboutreplacing one window, but we do
(22:44):
like to mention nothing wrongwith the high-end name brand
windows that you seeadvertisements for.
They make a beautiful product.
They make a expensive product.
But a new window, vinyl windowtoday, your silver line or
Jeldwin or whatever, is going tobe more efficient and better
than a high-end window that wasinstalled five, ten years ago.
(23:07):
So you don't have to spend ahundred thousand dollars on
windows, unless you want to,which is perfectly fine.
But the thing is is you got tobudget the cost because it seems
shocking.
You know, get an 85% return onnew windows for your house, but
10 windows installed can put youback, you know, $4,000.
(23:28):
That's a pretty good deal.
That's a deal I can get.
Yeah, I can get a basic 2852, asingle hung vinyl window by
itself about 300 bucks Just withthe low E.
We're not going anything toofancy.
Maybe no grids in it oranything but install, take some
talent, do it right to make itefficient.
So if you really and they lookbeautiful, and I don't like
(23:51):
screens if you have new windowswith nice, beautiful, clean
glass, do not put a gray screenin front of it and and uglify it
.
Yeah, I hate a screen.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
No, I mean several options there.
If you're going to do thesiding replacement, then that
leaves you the.
That leaves you open to do newconstruction windows which have
a flange all the way around, butthat has to go up under the
siding.
So if you're taking the sidingoff, that's a perfect time to do
a new construction window whenthat should save you a little
bit of money.
If you do a replacement window,really what the big expense
there is to labor because theyhave to cut those old windows
(24:22):
out, fit the replacement windowsin that same size hole, and
what they do to make up for thedifference if it's not a perfect
, perfect fit is they usuallyadd or they leave the existing
brick mold that is the exteriortrim of that.
And when they put that brandnew window in they have to bend
the trim coil or the aluminumtrim coil to fit around that
brick mold to make everythinglook nice and new.
So it's just a big time extrastep and with the replacement
(24:45):
window they're harder to seal.
When we talk about doing thefoam around there, you know
there's just a few either you'regoing to leave the trim on the
outside or the inside and itjust makes it kind of tough for
that low expansion spray foam togo in place.
One thing that I'm a fan ofwe've done this on several
houses are sash replacement kits, and they're a bit cheaper,
especially if you have brick todo a replacement window and the
brick is just there's a lot toit Pretty labor intensive, and
(25:09):
if it's just a sash replacementkit it's really impressive how
the springs and everything pushall the seals in place.
So it is a situation where youknow you just don't have as much
of tear out and put back andyou can do a labor wise.
You can do a sash replacementkit on a whole house in about a
day.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And if you want to know what sashes your window
would use, open up your window.
There should be a stickersomewhere on the frame that
tells you the make model lossinformation.
You call a supplier and theyshould be able to find out if
you can do it.
Older windows are harder,harder to do that sash
replacement.
But yeah, you're right, youmight have to do some painting
around the frame of that, butthe sash will make those windows
(25:49):
pop.
Also, if you did siding firstand you didn't do your windows
at that time and you just heardDonnie say you know it's an
extra step or two to put windowsin after that point, don't let
that discourage you.
The return on that investmentis still going to be huge.
It doesn't make it costprohibitive.
So hey, if you did new sidingfive years ago and you're now
(26:10):
going, man, I should have gottenwindows.
Go ahead and get the windows,because it definitely helps your
pocketbook when you get thoseinstalled properly by a pro.
No, doubt.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I agree 100,000%.
What you said earlier probablythe most important thing of the
whole window segment is that theworst window you can buy right
now at the discount buildersupply is better than the best
window you could buy 10, 15years ago, because the energy
code dictate they couldn't evensell the window if it wouldn't
pass code.
So the energy code dictateswhat these windows have to meet
in terms of an R value.
(26:40):
They all have to have the argongas between the panes and they
have to have the low E coating,which is like an invisible tint
on the outside of the glass.
So basically, I don't think youneed to break the bank on it
and shop around.
Shop around.
Don't take the windowreplacement flyer out of the
mailbox and just bite on that,because a lot of times I see
them charge folks upwards of$20,000, $30,000 and that's just
(27:02):
highway robbery.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Yeah, you definitely go local and even at our place
we have some people.
All they do is windowinstallment and they're so much
better and because it's all thatthey do, they're very good at
it.
We talked a little bit aboutroofs and how important that is.
It's obviously a big return onyour investment 60, 80%.
It also can lower yourinsurance premiums.
Your mileage may vary, but I'vesaid before, if you get a new
(27:25):
roof, the first thing you do isyou don't call your mom and say,
hey, we got a new roof, checkit out.
You call your insurance companyand say I have a brand new roof
on with a 50-year warranty.
It's a GAF.
It was installed by a certifiedinstaller.
Is that going to help?
My insurance and insurancecompanies love to hear that.
So that's a secondary paybackyou don't even think about when
you do it.
(27:46):
People are scared and you cantalk about this a little bit,
Donnie that roofs are going tobe $20,000.
You got a 2,200 square foothouse, maybe just a couple
different sections of roofing,and you want to get it done and
they're like, no, it's going tocost me 20, $25,000.
And you can kind of put a lotof people at ease right.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah, I'd say the average roof is probably 10,000
on a regular house and that'sfunny that you said that I get
that call a lot.
I've got a 2,200 square foothouse and how much you reckon a
roof will cost?
On that I said well, the roofsquare footage is different than
the house square footage everysingle time.
So I can't answer that over thephone but we will be glad to
come out and check you out.
I think the rule of thumb isthat a brand-new roof adds 7% to
(28:29):
the value of the house.
So if you have a $200,000 house, that is going to add $14,000
to the value of your house andI'll go ahead and tell you a
$200,000 house doesn't call fora $14,000 roof.
I'd say a roof replacement isgoing to add about double, and
(28:50):
so it's definitely up there withthe other things you mentioned
before.
But yeah, I mean, of course I'mpartial because I own SureTop,
but at the same time the numbersjust don't lie.
And if you're going to sell oreven if you're just going to
pull in that driveway every dayafter work, it does feel good to
see a nice new roof on theplace, and with all these high
definition shingle options theyhave now.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
I mean, you just can't go wrong, it is beautiful
and the color options and thingslike that, and it's.
It's just a, like you said,it's a beautiful thing to look
at a brand new roof and ifyou've got new windows in there
too and things like that, itjust you.
Then you don't want to sellyour house when you get a new
roof because it looks good, youwant to stay there.
A couple more things we want todo about ROI and NC bathroom
(29:28):
spruce ups.
These don't have to be the fullbathrooms.
It could be a half bath thatyou have, you know, downstairs,
but I guess this guy could bethe limit.
But you know, people think yougot to spend $20,000 on a
bathroom, but you could do itfor only a few thousand dollars.
I guess it just depends on howfar you want to go to spruce it
(29:48):
up to get a good ROI.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, I mean, especially if the cabinet
already looks nice.
If you want a new vanitycabinet, I mean you can find
those all day long at some ofthe wholesale or the discount
stores.
They have, you know, overagesor items that are marked way
down so you can get a nicelooking vanity cabinet, new sink
and everything for what?
$300?
The fixture allowance I wouldsay $150 for a new faucet or
just for easy math, just $200for a new faucet.
(30:12):
The vanity cabinet light $200for that.
A new toilet, a good toilet,$300.
And then, if you wanted to puta new floor in there, the LVP
now is re-engineered so that thecore is waterproof and LVP goes
in bathrooms every single dayin my line of work.
So I mean new floor, newfixtures, new vanity cabinet,
lights and even a new mirror.
(30:32):
You can still get out under$2,000.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
You know, every time you say LVP luxury vinyl plank
when you say LVP, it doesn'tmatter if my wife's in the same
room or the other end of thehouse.
I can hear her go.
I mean, that's her thing.
We won't do that in the future,but it's amazing.
There's nothing you can dreamof when it comes to LVP that
there's probably not the color,design or install feature
(30:56):
available to do it.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
The sky is the limit on making that change and if you
look at the comparison betweenthat and hardwood, it beats
hardwood in every singlecategory it's burnproof,
scratchproof, waterproof andcheaper.
So I mean we do that analogyabout there's good, quick and
cheap.
You can pick any two, but youcan't have all three.
I think LVP might be the onlyproduct in the construction
industry that knocks that oneout of the park.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Yeah, All right, let's hit one more thing of a
good ROI in North Carolina andthat would be it seems like a no
brainer heating cooling system,especially the heat pump, is.
You're going to get a return onthat investment for two reasons
.
One, it's because it's going torun more efficiently and if
it's installed correctly, it'sgoing to keep you warm when you
want it at a lower temperatureand keep you cool when you want
(31:40):
it cool, but set at a highertemperature.
Efficiency is so important.
People balk at it because, ofcourse, the cost is high.
It's only going to go up.
You're talking 10 to 20 grand.
But if you have a servicecontract and have someone
maintain it and take care of it,they also can last noticeably
longer.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
So you will get a good ROI on that, yeah, we
always preach that the roofingand the HVAC are the two big
ticket items on your house thatare guaranteed to wear out.
So you're going to have toreplace them.
You know, like you justmentioned, maintenance is a key.
A service contract iseverything, because you can get
an extra five to 10 years out ofboth of those items.
But I would, if I had to give atip to anyone that's going to
replace their heating and air.
(32:19):
Address your insulation first,and just to give an example of
why I say that the rule of thumbon a new build is that a
heating and air unit is sizedfor 600 square feet per ton.
If you have traditionalinsulation, if you have spray
foam insulation, you can getupwards of 1000 square feet per
ton.
So just having a betterinsulation package, you can have
(32:41):
almost half of the heating andair capacity and it'll still do
the same thing.
And plus, you know, lessheating and air takes a lot less
energy usage.
So you're cutting yourutilities in half just by
putting a little bit of aninvestment into some spray foam
or just a better insulationpackage throughout the house.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
We've done whole shows on the spray foam
insulation, how far it's comeand how incredibly effective it
is.
One of the guys talking aboutit said you know, in peak summer
and those humid North Carolinasummers your AC is running
nonstop.
And when he did the foaminsulation of his own house he
was talking about it would run20 minutes versus running for 24
(33:19):
hours, 20 minutes out of anhour it might run just because a
foam insulation is so efficient.
Again, go to the website,thecarolinacontractorcom, and
you can search up that showwhere we talk about it.
And we also have previous showstalking about ROI.
So if none of these specificitems were interesting to you,
the other shows will have that.
(33:40):
And again, websites up therewith the links to our social
media, the links to the YouTubepage and, again, if you have a
question about the show, acomment, show idea, guest
suggestion please click on, askthe contractor and send that
information there.
And, like Donnie said, we'lltalk houses more in the near
future.
We'll have a real, bonafidereal estate agent on to talk
(34:00):
about buying houses in thismarket.
So be sure to tune in for thatshow.
We appreciate you tuning intoday and listening to the
Carolina Contractor Show.
Thanks everybody.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show.
Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, General ContractorDonnie Blanchard.
So we had some bad weather acouple days ago there.
Donnie, How'd you do?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
in your neck of the woods man.
My phone's been ringing off thehook ever since, but I fared
well.
Not everybody in the communitydid, though.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yeah, we had a couple of houses in our neighborhood
here in Wilson that had treesdrop right through the roof.
A couple of them laid on theroof, lots of shingles around
the neighborhood and siding andstuff and pretty normal to
expect when you have 70 mile perhour gust blow through your
town.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, I think that one of the contributing factors
it's been wet and cold.
We had a few warm weeks, youknow they were spread out here
and there, but when the ground'swet and that root system, just
you know it doesn't have the dryground to hold it in place and
you get that wind coupled withthat.
It was no pun intended theperfect storm.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, snap power lines and all sorts of stuff
like that.
And what I want to also mentionis when you go through a storm
like that that we had, where itwas just a straight line winds
when the storm's over, this is achance for you to go outside
and maybe survey a few thingsabout your house.
Start with the roof and alsolook for where water stands and
(01:11):
if you've got something thatmaybe peeled siding.
But take a look at your housebecause if you go ahead and find
something, you can report itand get the insurance companies
involved.
Or if you have a roof problem,call somebody like Donnie at
Sure Top Roofing and have themcome take a look at it before it
gets worse.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Mitigate any damages, like we say Yep, that's
actually a requirement by theinsurance company.
If you have damage to yourhouse and you don't do anything
about it and just let it rain inthere, then that's kind of on
you.
So they'll pay for the initialdamage.
But any kind of damage issustained after that for
basically lack of any attentionto mitigate those damages or put
a tarp over there.
They consider that neglect.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
All right.
Well, this is the CarolinaContractor Show and we hope
everybody out there did wellwith these storms, did well, got
by through the storms anddidn't have any damage yeah, but
of course it happens and it'sgood to know your insurance
policy and know who to call.
And, as a matter of fact, we'vedone shows just on those topics
(02:06):
alone and you can find them atthe website,
thecarolinacontractorcom,download them in podcast form
and they're listed by title orsubject.
So if you want to look up theshow about insurance claims or
roof repairs or how do you knowyou have storm damage at all,
that's the place to start.
You can also check out ourstuff on the YouTube site.
We have links at the webpage tothe YouTube site where we have
(02:28):
all our shows that we starteduploading.
The very popular ask thecontractor question.
Maybe you have a question aboutsome possible damage to your
house.
You can click on that buttonand fill out the information and
Donnie answers those questions.
So now comes the introductionportion of the show.
My name's Eric Smith.
I do inside sales for HomeBuilder Supply, so I sell
building supplies to people likeDonnie, who's a general
(02:50):
contractor, owner of Sure TopRoofing, owner of Blanchard
Building Company also and, ofcourse, as you started the show
off, very busy right now becauseof those storms that went
through.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, it's one of those things where this time of
year we don't expect a windstorm, probably until about spring or
so, and you know that that'scoupled with the hailstorms and
everything.
But I will say it's nice tohave a little bit of punch on
the workload for, say, march,april, just moving into spring.
So it's, you know, it's nice tobe busy.
We I will.
(03:22):
I think I've mentioned this ona previous show at Praise Report
we're busier going into thiswinter than we have been any
winter since before the pandemic.
Roofing has slowed down a littlebit.
We put these shingles onnowadays that last for 50 years,
and so where most of the folkscoming out of the 80s, 90s and
early 2000s had a three-tab 20,25-year shingle, now we've been
(03:43):
replacing those hard and heavysince 2010.
And with that 50 year shinglethe wind rating is either I want
to say most of them are about130 mile an hour wind rating and
with GAF they have an unlimitedwind rating, meaning if you
lose a shingle from wind damage,uh, then then GAF will pay for
that.
You don't have to go to yourinsurance company and there's
never been any kind of warrantylike that.
So super strong there.
(04:04):
But I guess the downside ofthat is we've replaced so many
roofs that everybody's prettysolid for the next couple of
decades.
So you know, I don't want tosay we need a storm or we need a
hailstorm, but you know, surewouldn't hurt anything business
wise yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
You know, I just thought with that 50 year
warranty, donnie, basically youcould put on a roof or replace a
roof and your grandchildren, ifthey got into the roofing
business, would be the ones thatwould replace it the next time.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I don't know if it'll gointo the third generation or how
that's going to shake out, butyeah, and and to be honest, you
know there will be another waveum, the several advancements in
the roofing world, like algaedeterrent you know there used to
be a 10-year algae warranty andnow they've upgraded that to a
25-year.
So there's going to be a lot ofpeople who replace their roofs
for algae's sake.
(04:52):
And we call a handful of otherones vanity roofs.
This is a roof where you justmove into a new house, you don't
like the color of it and you'vegot the money to replace it.
So you know there's still a lotof those out there.
And and, and you know we feelblessed to be called upon and,
and you know, top top two orthree in our area.
So that's um, that's one ofthose deals where, as long as
(05:12):
the phone's ringing, you knowwe'll answer the call.
But but yeah, it's not like itwas.
You know, 10, 15 years ago.
We just couldn't keep up, andat least now the workload is
manageable.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know that's a perfect segue in today's show,
because if you had roof damageand you're going to have to get
repaired or, like you said, youwant to just change the roof you
want to make sure the one youget and that you invest in is
something that will pay you backin some way, whether it's
longevity or if you go to sellyour house.
And we call that return oninvestment.
And that's what today's topicis, but we're going to give it a
(05:41):
North Carolina twist.
Today's topic is, but we'regoing to give it a North
Carolina twist.
Gaf is a great example, becauseyou can hire someone who's not
certified to install a roof andthey might do a three-tab deal.
Or they're just going to doentry-level shingles.
You're not going to have awarranty on them and if they're
not certified, there's otherthings that cannot be warrantied
(06:01):
because they're not a certifiedinstaller.
So if you get a new roof andyou want a good return on that
investment, you would want toget somebody like Donnie who's
certified with SureTop.
You'd want to pick a niceshingle, like the GAFs that have
these extended warranties andguarantees.
And that's what we're going todo today is go over a bunch of
stuff when it comes torenovating or repairing inside
(06:26):
and outside of your house.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Sometimes I forget to state the obvious.
And we've done several showswith GAF and, of course, our
territory manager, ron Cook.
He's amazing, but I lose trackof the fact that it's been two
or three years.
We've been doing this for solong and people always ask me
what about those GAF shingles?
And they don't call it by theacronym GAF.
But just quick side note is GAFstands for General Analyne Film
(06:55):
and General Analyne Film ifyou're 40 years old or older,
you remember the days before theinternet when you had these
viewfinders and the viewfindershad the little disc wheel with
the pictures.
And now you can just Google apicture of a place and you can
go anywhere and see what it'slike.
But back then we had to stickour eyeballs right to the
viewfinder and click the thingin a circle just to be able to
see the sites.
And GAF bought that company andI don't know the evolution
(07:17):
process, but they eventuallyevolved into a shingle company.
Now their pie chart isexclusively roofing.
So they have a silicone lowslope division, they have TPO,
which is the white membrane thatgoes on commercial buildings,
they have, of course, shinglesand they have the strongest
warranty in the business and,most importantly, they are
American owned and operated, sothey pay taxes right here in the
(07:37):
USA.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yep, we love having Ron on and that was such a
interesting story the first timewe interviewed him years ago
and he told that and it was likewhat an almost bizarre change
of focus that an industry had togo from basically a toy to
something that everybody needsand they make the best version
of it.
All right, today's show, as Isaid the title, is ROA and NC,
(07:59):
because North Carolina is alittle different than every
other state.
You might have things that youcould do to your house inside
and out that would have anadvantage in the Northeast or
the Midwest or the Northwest.
But even though this show islistened to internationally,
we're going to focus on NorthCarolina and the reason this
works out is we've got weatherconditions that are pretty
(08:19):
unique Humid in the summer, aswe have snow one day and 70
degrees two days later, and thenice and then sunshine, and then
a big storm rolls through withalmost well, not almost no rain,
less rain than it was, just alot of wind, and next week
they're talking about flirtingwith the mid-70s, maybe even hit
(08:40):
80 degrees.
That's north carolina.
So those are things you want toconsider, especially if you're
putting on a roof.
Some of the other things aboutROA in NC is your market or
where your house is can have abig effect on your price.
So your neck of the woodsyou're kind of like in between a
couple of hot spots that carryRale Triangle area and you can
(09:03):
head Greensboro.
I'm in a growing but lesserarea that is affected by house
prices in Wilson, north Carolina.
But if you make it to the beach, prices go up Charlotte, prices
go up Asheville.
So some of these investmentsthat you make will have a
different price point because ofwhere you live.
But we're going to try to get abasic idea of where you're
(09:24):
sitting if you want.
But we're going to try to get abasic idea of where you're
sitting if you want to make someinvestments in your house and
get a higher ROI.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, the middle third of the state is a hotbed
for real estate right now and Ithink a lot of the driving
factors is the fact that theinventory is still short and you
can't find small houses.
Starter houses are hard to comeby.
And if you have one of thoseand you can't find small houses,
you know starter houses arehard to come by and if you have
one of those and you're you'retrying to sell, you want to get
the max ROI out of that.
I would say that, um, you knowthe front elevation and when we
(09:52):
did the TV show, you know theyhammered home the word curb
appeal.
It it it mildly drove me crazy,but anyway, it's a real thing.
And, uh, curb appeal, curbappeal, curb appeal, curb appeal
.
But the thing you can do andwe'll get into a couple of
things down the list here, butone of the big things we replace
the roof on everything.
And if you have just a plainranch house and it just doesn't
(10:14):
have a lot of shape, all youhave is two roof slopes and a
gutter line up top.
If you're going to replace thatroof, one thing that we got a
big ROI on is we and of courseSureTop did all the roof work.
So my guys are experiencedframers and we can pretty much
do a small house in one daywhere we strip the old roof and
we would build a gable or adormer on the front of the house
(10:34):
just to break up the roof line.
And it's not a lot to it, youknow it's $500 worth of wood,
$500 worth of labor and ofcourse you have to put siding
and and trim out the boxing andeverything.
But you're not talking a $1,500change to completely, to
completely make the front ofthat house or the front
elevation look different.
So I would say, from anexterior standpoint, that was
(10:55):
one of the big punches that wedid to get the most money for
the house.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
A lot of people think when you're doing a show on
return on investment, it meansyou're selling your house.
Many cases it is, but itdoesn't mean you are going to
sell your house just becauseyou're putting in something that
has a high ROI.
Why wouldn't you want to putsomething in that has a good
return, even if it's yourforever home?
So things like this doesn'tnecessarily pertain to selling a
(11:19):
house.
Sometimes you just want yourhouse to look kick ass in the
neighborhood and that's whyyou're going to make these
changes.
So let's start off with onethat always surprises us and I
researched multiple places andit always comes out number one
and it's garage doors.
Almost double what you spend.
You get 194% return oninvestment with a garage door
(11:41):
and it's not as expensive aspeople think $1,200 to $2,000.
And, by the way, anything cango to the moon if you want to
pay it.
They'll sprinkle gold on it ifyou want, but that's not a big
investment to get such a huge.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
ROI, yeah, and a lot of times I would say, especially
if you bought a productionbuilt home.
A lot of those garage doorsaren't insulated.
So if you have a south facinghome, your garage is probably
sweltering in the summertime.
So just getting a new insulatedgarage door for under two grand
is a good selling point.
And side note, there I want tosay that a real estate agent is
(12:20):
the person to tell you a localreal estate agent that is.
So find somebody trustworthyand local and they'll tell you
If you're going to spend moneyon a house and say, hey, we're
thinking about selling, but notright now.
Maybe next year go ahead and getin cahoots with that real
estate agent, because every dimeyou spend they'll be able to
tell you on their end how theysize that house up for market
(12:40):
value and we're going to have areal.
I'm actually building a housefor a real estate agent now and
she's she's wonderful, shemanages a family life and and
it's just a killer at realestate and I've sent several
people her way and everybodyjust raves about her.
So I thought it would be wisefor us to have her on the show
just to share some insights.
But that'll be sometime in thenext couple of weeks.
But yeah, every point we'regoing to make today if you're
(13:02):
thinking about doing thisyourself, check with that real
estate agent, because that can'thurt a thing.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
The other reason to think about why a garage door is
so impactful from the curbsideview is because it's usually
minimum one car garage.
A lot of them are two, soyou've got something that is
eight to 10 feet high goesacross the front of your house.
If it looks nice and shiny andnew and top of the line, it's
going to affect that view.
(13:26):
The other thing if you don'thave a garage, especially when
you pull up to a curb, peoplemight not realize it.
But if they're honest, thefirst thing they look at is that
front door, and especially ifit's an ugly color, if it's like
canary yellow.
I don't know what is wrong withpeople, but the canary yellow
door's got to go.
That's a preference.
I have the very cliche barn redfront door, but anyways, a
(13:50):
strong looking, nicelymaintained, nice hardware on a
front door.
You can notice that all the wayfrom the street.
The thing is we talked aboutthis on last week's show.
People don't understand doorsaren't necessarily the easiest
things to order or replace andthe return on the investment is
(14:11):
really high up, almost double.
But the thing is you got toknow what you're ordering and
the sky's the limit.
It's not as easy as just buyinga slab and putting it on.
It might be, but you need toprepare for it.
But the options for doors arealmost unlimited.
It's amazing how I see it in myside of the business.
(14:31):
I'm sure you do too.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Oh yeah, you probably know more than I do because I
get one of these per house andyou probably see these roll out
the door every single day.
Yeah, doors can go to the moon.
I mean literally you, you canspend and we talked about this
off the air but you can spend 10, 20 grand pretty easy if you
want all the bells and whistlesand um, uh, one thing that we
always knock the big box doors.
(14:52):
But this is about the only areawhere, if you need a reasonable
front door, uh, the energy codedictates the minimum energy
requirement for that.
So a lot of times ThermaTru,for instance you know what they
can sell to you guys atHomeBuilder Supply, lowe's has a
much different contract becausethey do so much volume with
them that you know you can get adecent looking front door for
less than a grand, whereas theseries that goes to the building
(15:16):
supply companies you knowyou're looking at, you know two,
three thousand dollars andthat's still not bad.
I mean, if you get into thereal wood versus fiberglass, um,
I would say that you knowyou're you're upwards of $5,000
when I do a new house and ifit's over three, 4,000 square
feet, I put five grand on therefor a front door allowance and
that that seems to cover it.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I think that's a very good price point to put on it,
um, but I'm going to have todisagree with you here, donnie
Um, check with your, your homesupplier, your independent place
, because I'll tell you rightnow I can.
I have more options, I can getyou for a door, I can spend more
time helping you decide whatyou want and I dang well
guarantee I'll be close on thatprice point, but I'm still going
(15:59):
to get you, in my opinion, abetter door.
I'm going to get you betterentry door locks and deadbolts
than you're just going to get ifyou walk in there.
It's nothing against the bigbox doors, but they work on
volume.
They're not going to spend timewith you to pick out the locks
you want or the handle orsomething like that.
So, whether it's fiberglass,which is very common, solid core
(16:19):
wood, which is expensive butnice we talked about it too off
the show, off the air.
Steel doors not very common asan entry or even a side door,
but sometimes back Attachedsheds to the house, tool sheds
in the yard, they tend to usesteel doors.
You can get them for a reallygood price and they're usually
paintable, sometimes stainable.
(16:40):
They look great.
But um 1500 to 2,500 to get adoor.
If you're doing a pre-hung, ifyou're going to get an installer
you know is Donnie would beable to pull a door out and put
a new one in pretty easily.
If, even if it's a pre-hung Umyeah, it's an important
investment to get it right andmake sure you have a door that
(17:00):
fits the look of your house andthere's a high quality door that
will last, you know, 20, 30years.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah, I do agree with that part.
There's a lot of value inhaving somebody that knows what
they're looking at, because mostof these folks are picking out
that door one time for the next10, 20 years, and so having
somebody like yourself thatknows you know the manufacturer
pros and cons of that, there isvalue there, even if it's a tick
more.
So right after I said that, Icould just feel Bill and Julie
those are my inside and outsidesales reps.
(17:27):
They listen to every singleshow.
So, forgive me, you guys, I'mstill sending them your way.
Great.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Okay, I've not done this, wouldn't mind doing it.
Everybody thinks about doingstuff with their kitchen and
we're not talking the fulloverhaul.
We're not talking about pullingyour existing cabinets down and
replacing them with new.
Sometimes you just want tomaybe sand them, prime them and
repaint them, put new hardware,modify the sink, something like
(17:53):
that.
A kitchen is a big deal.
I'm not saying it's not as bigin other parts of the country,
but I think in North Carolina itis the gathering place.
If mom is in the kitchencooking, the kids and the
husband, and when it's holidays,everybody's there in the
kitchen area.
So it's a pretty importantplace.
You want to do it right.
I don't have experience to talkabout this.
(18:13):
What advice would you givesomebody investing in a kitchen
upgrade to get a good ROI,donnie?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, solid surface countertops seem to be the big
favorite in a kitchen these daysand I would say the average
house is going to be around$5,000 to take the old
countertops out, put new solidsurface in and of course you're
going to want to get abacksplash that goes with those
cabinets.
So that usually runs a couplethousand dollars.
And if you wanted to do a mildmakeover you know the cabinet
doors are an option you can buyall new cabinet doors with a
(18:43):
different, like a shaker styleseems to be what everybody wants
these days and I'd say thecheapest thing is the new
hardware.
So, uh, if you wanted to gokitchen remodel under 10 grand
and DIY, then you can call thethe stone um fabricators
yourself or the quartzfabricators yourself and, you
know, find a tile guy and thenlots of, lots of hardwood stores
(19:05):
.
So we've got a hardwood storelocally and they actually make
cabinet doors so you canoutsource those.
Of course you'll need to comeup with a size and there's a
little responsibility for thehomeowner in terms of that and
making sure the hinges arecompatible or or whether or not
you need new hinges.
But that, and then the hardwareyou're talking tile and solid
surface countertop subcontractorand the rest of it is DIY.
(19:25):
So if you feel frisky enough totake that on, then you can get
out under 10 grand that way.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Feeling frisky doing the kitchen work.
So I do want to mention thehardware.
We think that it's a small cost.
Keep your hardware if you likeit, because you can always
repaint it or clean it up.
But think of the normal kitchen.
You go, oh, we'll just buy newhardware.
How much could it cost?
Oh, it's only $5 a hinge.
And then you remember you have22 cabinet doors.
(19:53):
Each one has two hinges.
Now all of a sudden you're at50 hinges, you're at 22 handles.
You might have closers that youwant to get the fancier stuff.
You can drop a thousand dollarson hardware for the kitchen,
cabinets and drawers and stuff,real easy.
So maybe think about keeping itif you like it and it's in good
shape, and hit it with a glossyblack paint or and seal it or
(20:17):
whatever.
But don't just toss out thathardware for your kitchen.
Agreed Good point.
Back to the outside.
This is an obvious thing.
First of all, we still getpeople that come in my store
with a piece of siding and go doyou sell this?
And I say we don't sellMasonite and people who know
what it is.
It's basically cardboard onyour house.
(20:37):
But when you redo siding onyour house it makes it look like
it's almost, especially withnew windows, a new build.
Overnight, all of a sudden youhave this brand new look of
beautiful siding.
There's a lot of choices in thereturn on it.
You usually will get what youput into it back if you sell
your house.
But it can depend on what youuse.
(20:59):
You know vinyl siding versusfiber cement, which a hardy
plank that I'm not as familiarwith that you might be.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, I think one of the attractive options about
vinyl is the price and of courseyou can go over.
If you have a Masonite sidingon your house you can usually go
over top of that Masonite.
If your house is older andpoorly insulated, then it gives
you the option to add thatinsulation, the, the um, but
with the accordion styleinsulate, you know, wafer
insulation board, you can add around of that in a half a day
(21:27):
and probably a you know thousand, couple thousand dollars,
depending on the size of thehouse, and then just put the
insulation right over that.
So I agree with what you said,that the combo of that and the
windows, you would tell animmediate difference on your
utilities.
So, um, if you do go with thefiber cement or the Hardy is
what everybody calls, there's acouple of other brands called
Allura and Nichiha.
James Hardy basically made aname for fiber cement siding.
(21:50):
But if you get with yourbuilding supply folks, or just
call around, usually the Alluraand the Nichiha Allura
especially seems to be quite abit cheaper and it's the same
exact product.
They don't have as many options.
But if you're just going withthe regular lap siding or the
four by eight, four by 10 panelsand doing the board and batten.
They have all that as well.
They don't have all thepre-painted options.
(22:10):
So I'm still a fan of JamesHardy.
It's a really good product,good warranty.
But the fiber cement means youhave to pretty much take off
everything that's there if yougo that route, and the only
kicker with that is you have topaint it.
So it does have to bemaintained.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
And this is Carolina Contractor Show and we're doing
ROI in NC, kind of focusing onthe Carolinas when it comes to
doing renovations to your houseor doing upgrades, whether you
intend to sell it or not, roabeing return on your investment.
And you mentioned windows.
So let's just go ahead and talkabout windows.
So let's just go ahead and talkabout windows Very pricey thing
.
We're not talking aboutreplacing one window, but we do
(22:44):
like to mention nothing wrongwith the high-end name brand
windows that you seeadvertisements for.
They make a beautiful product.
They make a expensive product.
But a new window, vinyl windowtoday, your silver line or
Jeldwin or whatever, is going tobe more efficient and better
than a high-end window that wasinstalled five, ten years ago.
(23:07):
So you don't have to spend ahundred thousand dollars on
windows, unless you want to,which is perfectly fine.
But the thing is is you got tobudget the cost because it seems
shocking.
You know, get an 85% return onnew windows for your house, but
10 windows installed can put youback, you know, $4,000.
(23:28):
That's a pretty good deal.
That's a deal I can get.
Yeah, I can get a basic 2852, asingle hung vinyl window by
itself about 300 bucks Just withthe low E.
We're not going anything toofancy.
Maybe no grids in it oranything but install, take some
talent, do it right to make itefficient.
So if you really and they lookbeautiful, and I don't like
(23:51):
screens if you have new windowswith nice, beautiful, clean
glass, do not put a gray screenin front of it and and uglify it
.
Yeah, I hate a screen.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
No, I mean several options there.
If you're going to do thesiding replacement, then that
leaves you the.
That leaves you open to do newconstruction windows which have
a flange all the way around, butthat has to go up under the
siding.
So if you're taking the sidingoff, that's a perfect time to do
a new construction window whenthat should save you a little
bit of money.
If you do a replacement window,really what the big expense
there is to labor because theyhave to cut those old windows
(24:22):
out, fit the replacement windowsin that same size hole, and
what they do to make up for thedifference if it's not a perfect
, perfect fit is they usuallyadd or they leave the existing
brick mold that is the exteriortrim of that.
And when they put that brandnew window in they have to bend
the trim coil or the aluminumtrim coil to fit around that
brick mold to make everythinglook nice and new.
So it's just a big time extrastep and with the replacement
(24:45):
window they're harder to seal.
When we talk about doing thefoam around there, you know
there's just a few either you'regoing to leave the trim on the
outside or the inside and itjust makes it kind of tough for
that low expansion spray foam togo in place.
One thing that I'm a fan ofwe've done this on several
houses are sash replacement kits, and they're a bit cheaper,
especially if you have brick todo a replacement window and the
brick is just there's a lot toit Pretty labor intensive, and
(25:09):
if it's just a sash replacementkit it's really impressive how
the springs and everything pushall the seals in place.
So it is a situation where youknow you just don't have as much
of tear out and put back andyou can do a labor wise.
You can do a sash replacementkit on a whole house in about a
day.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And if you want to know what sashes your window
would use, open up your window.
There should be a stickersomewhere on the frame that
tells you the make model lossinformation.
You call a supplier and theyshould be able to find out if
you can do it.
Older windows are harder,harder to do that sash
replacement.
But yeah, you're right, youmight have to do some painting
around the frame of that, butthe sash will make those windows
(25:49):
pop.
Also, if you did siding firstand you didn't do your windows
at that time and you just heardDonnie say you know it's an
extra step or two to put windowsin after that point, don't let
that discourage you.
The return on that investmentis still going to be huge.
It doesn't make it costprohibitive.
So hey, if you did new sidingfive years ago and you're now
(26:10):
going, man, I should have gottenwindows.
Go ahead and get the windows,because it definitely helps your
pocketbook when you get thoseinstalled properly by a pro.
No, doubt.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I agree 100,000%.
What you said earlier probablythe most important thing of the
whole window segment is that theworst window you can buy right
now at the discount buildersupply is better than the best
window you could buy 10, 15years ago, because the energy
code dictate they couldn't evensell the window if it wouldn't
pass code.
So the energy code dictateswhat these windows have to meet
in terms of an R value.
(26:40):
They all have to have the argongas between the panes and they
have to have the low E coating,which is like an invisible tint
on the outside of the glass.
So basically, I don't think youneed to break the bank on it
and shop around.
Shop around.
Don't take the windowreplacement flyer out of the
mailbox and just bite on that,because a lot of times I see
them charge folks upwards of$20,000, $30,000 and that's just
(27:02):
highway robbery.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Yeah, you definitely go local and even at our place
we have some people.
All they do is windowinstallment and they're so much
better and because it's all thatthey do, they're very good at
it.
We talked a little bit aboutroofs and how important that is.
It's obviously a big return onyour investment 60, 80%.
It also can lower yourinsurance premiums.
Your mileage may vary, but I'vesaid before, if you get a new
(27:25):
roof, the first thing you do isyou don't call your mom and say,
hey, we got a new roof, checkit out.
You call your insurance companyand say I have a brand new roof
on with a 50-year warranty.
It's a GAF.
It was installed by a certifiedinstaller.
Is that going to help?
My insurance and insurancecompanies love to hear that.
So that's a secondary paybackyou don't even think about when
you do it.
(27:46):
People are scared and you cantalk about this a little bit,
Donnie that roofs are going tobe $20,000.
You got a 2,200 square foothouse, maybe just a couple
different sections of roofing,and you want to get it done and
they're like, no, it's going tocost me 20, $25,000.
And you can kind of put a lotof people at ease right.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah, I'd say the average roof is probably 10,000
on a regular house and that'sfunny that you said that I get
that call a lot.
I've got a 2,200 square foothouse and how much you reckon a
roof will cost?
On that I said well, the roofsquare footage is different than
the house square footage everysingle time.
So I can't answer that over thephone but we will be glad to
come out and check you out.
I think the rule of thumb isthat a brand-new roof adds 7% to
(28:29):
the value of the house.
So if you have a $200,000 house, that is going to add $14,000
to the value of your house andI'll go ahead and tell you a
$200,000 house doesn't call fora $14,000 roof.
I'd say a roof replacement isgoing to add about double, and
(28:50):
so it's definitely up there withthe other things you mentioned
before.
But yeah, I mean, of course I'mpartial because I own SureTop,
but at the same time the numbersjust don't lie.
And if you're going to sell oreven if you're just going to
pull in that driveway every dayafter work, it does feel good to
see a nice new roof on theplace, and with all these high
definition shingle options theyhave now.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
I mean, you just can't go wrong, it is beautiful
and the color options and thingslike that, and it's.
It's just a, like you said,it's a beautiful thing to look
at a brand new roof and ifyou've got new windows in there
too and things like that, itjust you.
Then you don't want to sellyour house when you get a new
roof because it looks good, youwant to stay there.
A couple more things we want todo about ROI and NC bathroom
(29:28):
spruce ups.
These don't have to be the fullbathrooms.
It could be a half bath thatyou have, you know, downstairs,
but I guess this guy could bethe limit.
But you know, people think yougot to spend $20,000 on a
bathroom, but you could do itfor only a few thousand dollars.
I guess it just depends on howfar you want to go to spruce it
(29:48):
up to get a good ROI.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, I mean, especially if the cabinet
already looks nice.
If you want a new vanitycabinet, I mean you can find
those all day long at some ofthe wholesale or the discount
stores.
They have, you know, overagesor items that are marked way
down so you can get a nicelooking vanity cabinet, new sink
and everything for what?
$300?
The fixture allowance I wouldsay $150 for a new faucet or
just for easy math, just $200for a new faucet.
(30:12):
The vanity cabinet light $200for that.
A new toilet, a good toilet,$300.
And then, if you wanted to puta new floor in there, the LVP
now is re-engineered so that thecore is waterproof and LVP goes
in bathrooms every single dayin my line of work.
So I mean new floor, newfixtures, new vanity cabinet,
lights and even a new mirror.
(30:32):
You can still get out under$2,000.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
You know, every time you say LVP luxury vinyl plank
when you say LVP, it doesn'tmatter if my wife's in the same
room or the other end of thehouse.
I can hear her go.
I mean, that's her thing.
We won't do that in the future,but it's amazing.
There's nothing you can dreamof when it comes to LVP that
there's probably not the color,design or install feature
(30:56):
available to do it.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
The sky is the limit on making that change and if you
look at the comparison betweenthat and hardwood, it beats
hardwood in every singlecategory it's burnproof,
scratchproof, waterproof andcheaper.
So I mean we do that analogyabout there's good, quick and
cheap.
You can pick any two, but youcan't have all three.
I think LVP might be the onlyproduct in the construction
industry that knocks that oneout of the park.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Yeah, All right, let's hit one more thing of a
good ROI in North Carolina andthat would be it seems like a no
brainer heating cooling system,especially the heat pump, is.
You're going to get a return onthat investment for two reasons
.
One, it's because it's going torun more efficiently and if
it's installed correctly, it'sgoing to keep you warm when you
want it at a lower temperatureand keep you cool when you want
(31:40):
it cool, but set at a highertemperature.
Efficiency is so important.
People balk at it because, ofcourse, the cost is high.
It's only going to go up.
You're talking 10 to 20 grand.
But if you have a servicecontract and have someone
maintain it and take care of it,they also can last noticeably
longer.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
So you will get a good ROI on that, yeah, we
always preach that the roofingand the HVAC are the two big
ticket items on your house thatare guaranteed to wear out.
So you're going to have toreplace them.
You know, like you justmentioned, maintenance is a key.
A service contract iseverything, because you can get
an extra five to 10 years out ofboth of those items.
But I would, if I had to give atip to anyone that's going to
replace their heating and air.
(32:19):
Address your insulation first,and just to give an example of
why I say that the rule of thumbon a new build is that a
heating and air unit is sizedfor 600 square feet per ton.
If you have traditionalinsulation, if you have spray
foam insulation, you can getupwards of 1000 square feet per
ton.
So just having a betterinsulation package, you can have
(32:41):
almost half of the heating andair capacity and it'll still do
the same thing.
And plus, you know, lessheating and air takes a lot less
energy usage.
So you're cutting yourutilities in half just by
putting a little bit of aninvestment into some spray foam
or just a better insulationpackage throughout the house.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
We've done whole shows on the spray foam
insulation, how far it's comeand how incredibly effective it
is.
One of the guys talking aboutit said you know, in peak summer
and those humid North Carolinasummers your AC is running
nonstop.
And when he did the foaminsulation of his own house he
was talking about it would run20 minutes versus running for 24
(33:19):
hours, 20 minutes out of anhour it might run just because a
foam insulation is so efficient.
Again, go to the website,thecarolinacontractorcom, and
you can search up that showwhere we talk about it.
And we also have previous showstalking about ROI.
So if none of these specificitems were interesting to you,
the other shows will have that.
(33:40):
And again, websites up therewith the links to our social
media, the links to the YouTubepage and, again, if you have a
question about the show, acomment, show idea, guest
suggestion please click on, askthe contractor and send that
information there.
And, like Donnie said, we'lltalk houses more in the near
future.
We'll have a real, bonafidereal estate agent on to talk
(34:00):
about buying houses in thismarket.
So be sure to tune in for thatshow.
We appreciate you tuning intoday and listening to the
Carolina Contractor Show.
Thanks everybody.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina Contractor Show.
Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.
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