A New Year, A New Name!

Dear cherished friends, fans, and clients,

If you haven’t been keeping up with us on Facebook, you may not know that we’ve changed our business name!

We are now officially Castleford Builders, and we are THRILLED with the positive responses we’ve been getting to our new name!

We also welcome aboard Jerry Coffey, master carpenter and construction supervisor. We’ve subcontracted work to Jerry for quite a long time, so many of you already know him.  Jerry is superb, and we are very fortunate to have snagged him as our full-on business partner. Now we have to keep him busy, so please keep those referrals coming!

You know what we love to do:  kitchen and bath remodels, home additions, new home construction, and commercial fit-outs. And let’s give Jerry some “built-ins” projects so he can wield his awesome carpentry skills!

We are so thankful for all of you – our wonderful, thoughtful clients and friends who made our business successful last year. Jerry, Jimi and I wish you a blessed, joyful, bountiful 2012!

Yours truly,

Alexandra “The Lady Contractor”

Happy Valentine’s Tree!

Turning a disaster into a new tradition! My Christmas tree fell over on Christmas night, and I had just gotten it decorated 4 days before.  Argh! It was quite a tangle of beads, lights and ornaments, and it was too much of a mess to rehang everything, so I packed all the ornaments away, but I couldn’t bear to take the tree itself down. I joked with my hubby that I was going to leave it up until Valentine’s Day and decorate it with paper hearts. Well, he thought that was a swell idea, and so did my friends, so here it is: My Valentine’s Tree! (Hmmm…March is coming up…is there a St. Patrick’s Tree in my future?)

P.S. If you’re wondering what’s up with my walls – we are rehabbing a 90-year-old house. The walls are the original plaster, sadly in too bad a state to rescue and repair. We are replacing the plaster with sheetrock room by room. Haven’t gotten to the family room yet.

Avoiding Bad Contractors

I posted this on Craigs List, and thought I’d share it with all my loyal blog readers, so you can be armed with the knowledge you need in order to avoid getting taken in by the ridiculous number of “contractor” scam artists that have crawled out of the woodwork lately! Please, please help me spread the word and share this with your friends:

All right, we are going to be perfectly frank here, because we are thoroughly disgusted by what we see happening to homeowners in Hampton Roads.

PLEASE be careful about whom you hire to do repairs to your home. There are a lot of unlicensed and/or uninsured “contractors” in the area who have no regard for the safety and well-being of your family and your property. They will take your money, do a half-baked job and disappear. They will show you a city license but not a contractor’s license, or they will show you someone else’s contractor’s license that’s not theirs. They will say they are insured and give you a photocopied insurance certificate when in actuality they have already canceled the policy, so you and your property are NOT protected! A lot of these guys are simply unemployed former construction laborers; they are not true businessmen, they do not have the knowledge, experience or ethics to run a business, and yet they are being let into thousands of peoples’ homes all over Hampton Roads!

There is very little legal recourse if you get ripped off. Even if you successfully sue, it will cost you thousands of dollars to do so, and the “contractor” will simply file bankruptcy and bail out, leaving you with nothing. Then they can open up shop under a new business name and start all over again!

We get calls all the time from desperate homeowners, asking us to fix a terrible situation that was caused by the rock-bottom contractor they previously used. Now they have to spend more money for us to do the job right.

You don’t have to worry about being a victim of an incompetent “contractor” if you call us first!

We are Chelsea Custom Contracting, a Virginia Class A licensed and insured contractor with 25 years experience. We do roofing, remodeling and new construction. Excellent work, fair prices that accurately reflect the quality of materials and skilled labor that we provide. We have REAL references (not fake references from family and friends) and are frequently interviewed for radio, tv, and publications because of our sterling reputation in Hampton Roads. Please call us. We are always happy to help you. Your family’s health, safety, and well-being is our number one priority.

Chelsea Custom Contracting
Owned and operated by Alexandra Whiteside “The Lady Contractor”
Call us at (757) 407-2653

Custom Home Building Featuring Modular Homes

The Lady Contractor operates a full service general contracting firm, including design, residential new construction (new home building, room additions, second storey additions), remodeling, and commercial fit-outs.

We are also an authorized builder for Excel Homes, the nation’s third largest modular home manufacturer.  The Lady Contractor is an enthusiastic proponent of modular or “systems built” housing because of the savings we can offer in terms of cost and time, and the options that are easily available and affordable for green construction (durable, sustainable, recyclable materials, improved indoor air quality, energy efficiency, lowered carbon footprint).

THIS is 21^st century systems built modular home construction, and it is superb:

 

As you can see, modular homes are NOT manufactured homes or “trailers.” Modular homes are real houses built to meet, and frankly, often exceed, the same standards and codes as site-built construction. You have real floor joists, insulation and drywall. Your modular home has to pass all the same city inspections as if I were building it on site. You cannot tell the difference between an off-site built (modular) home and a site-built home, because they are the same thing, just built in two difference places!

Excel modular homes are comprised of three-dimensional sections (modules) that are assembled in climate-controlled factories and then transported to the home site, where the final finishing occurs. This factory construction process allows for a controlled environment with close supervision, resulting in a consistently higher quality home and faster build.

Imagine, while The Lady Contractor is clearing your land and building your foundation, the rest of your home is being built at the same time! You can’t do that with standard on-site construction!

A fellow contractor used this analogy, and I love it:  When you buy a new car, you want it built in a factory, right? You wouldn’t want a pile of parts delivered to your driveway and then put together outside! So, why are we still building our homes outside, with rain, heat, cold, snow, ice, and mud compromising the construction materials and creating tons of work delays?  We should be building our homes the way we build our cars – in highly controlled factory conditions with a strict quality assurance program and dozens of inspections (in addition to the mere handful of inspections required by the city) throughout the construction process.

Excel is equipped  with 5 million square feet of capacity.  This enables The Lady Contractor to offer you our home building services year-round, protecting materials from the harmful effects and delays of outside weather.

When you build an Excel Home with  The Lady Contractor, you can be confident the product you are getting is built with quality, craftsmanship and durability. For more info, call us at 757-407-2653 or e-mail Alexandra@theladycontractor.com.

P.S. The “Boys Hope/Girls Hope” home in Baltimore, Maryland is an Excel modular home specially designed and built for Extreme Makeover.  Check out the slide show here!

The Truth About Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL’s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s just dive right in to some facts about CFL’s:

According to ENERGYSTAR.gov, an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL bulb:

• Can save up to $40 in electrical costs over its lifetime.
• Uses 75 percent less energy than a standard bulb and lasts 6 times longer.
• Produces 75 percent less heat than a standard bulb, and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling.

Have you ever noticed how much heat your standard light bulbs are giving off?  Isn’t it crazy that with incandescents you’re paying for electricity for high-energy usage bulbs AND you’re paying for additional electricity for making your HVAC system work harder? It’s time to change those bulbs!

BEWARE! The quality of CFL’s varies by brand. You definitely want to pay a little more for brand name, ENERGY STAR certified bulbs, and you’ll get your money’s worth in longevity and energy savings.

By the way, CFL’s  should not be turned on and off within short time periods (3 minutes or less), as the resulting electrical surges will shorten the lifespan of the bulb. If you are leaving a room for only a few minutes and then coming back, leave the light on.  CFL’s are also more energy efficient when they operate for 2 hours or more at a time.

Are  you ready to run out and buy a bunch of CFL’s right now? (I hope so!) Before you do, make sure you get the right type of bulb for the right job. You want to consider wattage, indoor/outdoor use, and color balance.  Check out the Buying Guide at the ENERGYSTAR.gov web site.

P.S. I changed all of the bulbs in my home to CFL’s 3 years ago. I noted an immediate decrease in my electric bill, about 6 dollars per month. That’s $216 I didn’t have to pay the electric company over the past three years! Well worth my initial 30-dollar investment in CFL’s to light my whole home!

Stage Your Home – Even If You Aren’t Selling!

Home staging is a great marketing strategy , but you can enjoy the results of a nicely staged home for yourself, even if you aren’t planning to sell. The same staging techniques that create appeal for prospective buyers can also be used to give your home a fresh look that you can enjoy, and it’s a great way to show off your home to guests during the fast approaching holiday season!

 Professional home staging goes beyond cleaning, tidying, and decluttering.  Staging also involves rearranging furniture, art, accessories, arrangement of items on bookshelves and in china cabinets, and giving rooms a cozy, pulled-together look with the way colors, fabrics, rugs, window treatments, etc. are combined. Professional stagers have the interior design training necessary to create balanced, functional, aesthetically pleasing spaces.

Subtle faux finishing painting technique and the right accessories make this bathroom sparkle with glamour - for a much lower price tag than a full remodel!

Staging can save you tons of money because while you might think that you need to buy new stuff to create a new look, a professional stager can look at the items you already own with a fresh perspective.  Chances are, you actually already have plenty of furniture and accessories to make your home look great. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a new sofa, a couple of hours of furniture arranging time with a stager could give you amazing results! Ditto for bathrooms and kitchens, where a professional color consultation and fresh coat of paint can totally transform the area without spending thousands on remodeling.

 One of my previous clients insisted she had no knick-knacks or artwork that would go together. But in scouring her home, I found she had lovely violet-colored glass items ranging from vases to bowls, wine glasses and paperweights.  She also had two paintings in separate rooms with an abstract style floral motif with strong accents of violet. When hung on the wall on each side of her mantel, with the glass items arranged on the mantel itself, the effect was stunning!

Don’t wait until your home is up for sale to make it look its best.  Treat yourself to a home makeover for autumn and love the space you live in!

The Lady Contractor’s company, Chelsea Custom Contracting, provides superior home staging, painting, remodeling and new home construction services throughout Hampton Roads. Contact us at (757) 407-2653 for a consultation.

Hurricane Cleanup and Repairs!

Just a quick post to let all my valued readers and clients know that my company is available with multiple crews to do home AND office building repairs post-hurricane.

We can also assist  you with debris cleanup and removal.

We are a Class A contracting firm, fully insured, including Worker’s Comp, serving the Hampton Roads Virginia area (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News).

Please call me at 407-2653. We are happy to work with insurance claims, and we accept all major credit cards.

Best wishes to all,

Alexandra Whiteside “The Lady Contractor”

Residential and Commercial Building, Remodeling and Repairs

Are You Doing Too Much?

I have not posted an updated blog article in a couple of months. I’ve been spending some time rehabbing the 90-year-old home I just bought, that I am currently living in. Had to make it a top priority since I prefer my living quarters to be…livable!

Do you feel like you’re being pulled in too many directions at the same time? Not enough time and energy, and way too many obligations? This is not a healthy state to be in, physically or mentally.

Think about the things you are doing that are consuming your time but aren’t crucial to your survival. Which of these non-critical things can you take a temporary hiatus from, to give yourself some breathing room?

For me, I determined that it was important to continue working for my coaching and contracting companies, since those are my source of income, and it was important to spend time on home repairs, since that’s my shelter. My blog, which I love dearly but is not critical to my survival, had to take a back seat temporarily so I could maintain a healthy life-work balance.

Now I have time available once again to do some blogging, and I can do it with an enthusiastic, joyful heart, rather than feeling burned out.

What can you do right now to simplify your life, reduce your stress, and give yourself room to feel joy and peace?

Think about it and take action. That action might mean deciding to be inactive in some capacity for a bit. That’s OK!

Take care of yourself first, so you can be healthy enough in mind and body to take care of others.

“Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.” – Buddha

How To Decorate Without All That Anxiety!

My sister and her husband are buying a new home, and my sister is a bit stressed out over all the decisions to be made: paint colors, carpet, tile, furniture.

Chances are, you’ve been in the same situation – bombarded by decorating magazines, home and garden shows,  and an overabundance of information on the internet. (The irony that I am adding to said abundance with this article is not lost on me!)

There are so many choices, and so many RULES! Which colors go together? Which ones don’t? Is nylon carpet “better” than polyester? (Answer: It depends!) Can you mix black wooden living room furniture with brown dining furniture?

If you feel like tearing your hair out, it’s totally understandable!

Here’s my advice for making the decorating process more fun and less stressful:

1. FORGET THE RULES!!! When I was in design school, the first thing I learned was all the rules. The next thing I learned was how to break all the rules. Great designers break the rules. Unimaginative designers who just want to “play it safe” follow the rules. So – be a great designer!  When it comes to colors, patterns, styles, etc., the most important thing is that YOU like it. It’s YOUR house, being viewed by YOUR eyes. So it doesn’t matter whether your neighbor likes your decorating scheme. It doesn’t matter if your room doesn’t look like the cover of a magazine. Be brave, be free, be true to yourself! Do YOU like it? Are YOU comfortable in it? Can YOU function in it the way YOU want to? If your answers are yes, yes, and yes, then you’ve done it right!

 2. Do research, but  not in the wrong places. So, what’s the wrong place to do research?  Public chat rooms or “answers” sites where people post questions and anyone on the planet can post an answer. DO NOT rely on opinions from total strangers who are unskilled or inexperienced with the product and have their own agenda to promote.  Chat rooms can be entertaining, but for serious research, ask an expert.  If you’re choosing carpet, for example, research the properties of nylon versus polyester, ask a couple of flooring experts for their opinion on the specific carpet that you are considering, find out what the stain resistant qualities and warranty are, and you’re pretty much ready to make a decision. 

 3. Be prepared for the fact that things may take longer and cost more than you anticipate, and that problems will crop up. Perfection rarely exists in this world, especially in the design world, where the perfect carpet gets discontinued the day before you order it, your dining table is on backorder for 9 weeks,  and two defective doors on your new kitchen cabinets need to be sent back to the manufacturer for replacement. If you expect perfection, you are going to be super-stressed out when it doesn’t happen. And believe me, with a quarter-century of experience in this business, I can tell you without the shadow of a doubt, perfection does NOT happen. It doesn’t.  Sorry. Wish it did (really!), but it doesn’t.  So, expect that there will be problems, hiccups, and even some disappointments, and you’ll be prepared to roll with the punches  and keep moving forward without your blood pressure skyrocketing.  (Important Note: Stroke level blood pressure will NOT make your dining table arrive any sooner. It will NOT make the carpet manufacturer start up their looms and run off a roll of that discontinued color just for you. It might land you in the hospital, though.  You don’t want to spend your money on a hospital bill for a stroke, right? You want that money for more decorating!  So think happy thoughts. You’ll get through this. Just breathe. Breathing is an important component of the design process!)

 4. Be willing to wait. If you can’t find the right furniture set, the right curtains, the right bedspread, wait a couple of months. New lines come out all the time. You don’t have to settle for something that you are less than happy with. You don’t have to have your whole house perfect and complete right now.  Just wait for the new season of merchandise to be rolled out, and try again.  One of my clients had an empty dining room for nearly two years, until we finally found a table set that they were totally in love with. That was three years ago. They still love their set – it was worth the wait!

 5. Using a professional designer/decorator isn’t a bad idea, either (hint, hint)! We’re here to help you weed through that information overload, make sure you are properly informed, give you our professional advice, be your cheerleader,  talk you down off the ledge, and go to bat for you – and that will go a long way towards lowering your stress levels!

 About me: I am Alexandra Whiteside, CPC, “The Lady Contractor.”  I’m an interior designer, Virginia Class A general contractor, and certified life coach specializing in creating joyful residential environments.  I own and operate  Chelsea Custom Contracting & Chelsea Design Studio.  Feel free to call me for design advice, remodeling, and personal/professional development coaching! Long distance clients are welcome!  757 407-2653

Business Advice from The Lady Contractor

I initially wrote this article last year for a local networking magazine. I want to share this with my prospective clients to give you an idea of who I am as a human being, and I hope other contractors and small business owners find it helpful as well!

When I moved back to Virginia Beach after living in Cincinnati for 13 years, I was just another start-up remodeling company in Hampton Roads. Today, Chelsea Custom Contracting is a thriving design-build contracting firm.  I am thriving despite immense competition, and  I am thriving despite the severe economic downturn.  I am thriving because I consistently employ three strategies to build my reputation, gain referrals, and make my clients extraordinarily happy.

First and foremost is community involvement. I was raised with a strong foundation of faith and a belief that I have a duty to be loving and generous. This is, in essence, my primary “job” as a human being.  I participate in charity events throughout the year, such as hosting food drives for the Northeastern Virginia Food Bank, and participating in the Virginia Beach Task Force on Aging. While none of these activities directly gain me any business, my involvement in the community is the most critical component of building my reputation.  I want you to know me as a person who truly cares, as the neighbor you can turn to and trust. Only then can I expect you to be willing to trust me as a business owner.

Second, I participate in networking. After making initial contacts at networking events,  I follow up and establish long-term relationships, with the goal in mind of “what can I do to help you?” I truly enjoy helping fellow businesses to become more successful. Of course, the major benefit of networking is that these businesses in turn refer business to me. I owe much of my company’s success to the generous efforts of my networking associates.

Third is my client care policy.  I believe in educating, not selling. I want my clients to make well-informed decisions, so I carefully educate them about product options and construction techniques. By taking the time to educate my clients, I establish the quality and value of my service without employing a sales pitch.  My clients quickly realize that I have a true concern for their health, safety and well-being. It is a privilege every time my contracting company is chosen to make a lasting and beneficial difference in someone’s life.  I demonstrate my gratitude by showing concern for my clients from the initial consultation, through the construction process and in follow-up after the project is finished. Every client gets the five-star treatment from my company, and this results in plenty of word-of-mouth referrals that keep me busy.

Fifty percent of new businesses fail within the first five years. However, any business that constantly gives to the community, helps to promote other businesses, and treats their clients with great care and respect, has a much better chance to not just survive but thrive.

Alexandra Whiteside “The Lady Contractor”
Chelsea Custom Contracting
Serving all of Hampton Roads
Ph 757 407-2653
E-mail: Alexandra@theladycontractor.com
Web Site:        www.theladycontractor.com