ArtaBerryHome Improvement Blog..

Whether you’re planning a large three storey renovation or a simple extension, conducting a survey will provide you with the vital information needed to ensure your project is a success. Here we’ve outlined some of the most common surveys used in construction projects across the globe.

Property Survey
When we hear the word “survey” the thought of complicated drawings and extensive investigatory tasks immediately spring to mind. However, a property survey is a simple sketch or map of your home which presents its boundaries and other physical features.

Residential property surveys are used to show the location of the house, garage, shed, pool, fence and/or any other features on your land. This helps you plan and complete the renovation task at hand with ease. Property surveys are often required by law when the home’s ownership changes. It is therefore a good idea to enlist the help of a professional, experienced surveyor to ensure the correct information is recorded.

Measured Building Survey
Measured building surveys are ideal for larger, more extensive renovation projects as they provide a detailed, colour drawing of your floor plans, elevations and 3D models.

Depending on the task at hand, expert surveyors can use laser scanning technology to quickly and accurately produce a 3D model of any structure. Elevations will provide an outline of all your home’s external features. If required, they can show full brick-by-brick detailing when history records are needed.

Floor plans are standard in many surveys as they provide you or your building contractor with handy information such as net and gross internal areas and accurate positioning of windows, doors and any other structural elements. Detailed versions can include additional information such as power outlets, switches, lights and radiators.

Homebuyers Survey and Valuation
Homebuyer surveys should be conducted if you’re thinking of buying or selling a property. They provide a general snapshot of the home to identify which areas need work or more specific investigation. A general HSV will include tasks such as the assessment of major and minor faults, assessment and reporting of damp areas, woodworm, insulation and drainage issues, recommendations for any further surveys, and the surveyor’s valuation of the property on the open market.

Asbestos Survey
These are generally conducted on older builders before any kind of remodelling, renovation, repair or demolition project. The specialist survey ensures all property structures are asbestos free. Your surveyor will then provide you with a report which outlines a detailed notification of the investigation and findings.

Surveys provide an all over all health check for your home and reveal the property’s exact structural state. SUMO Services are professional surveyors providing a wide range of surveys to suit your property and your project. The well established company delivers top quality surveys which you and your builder can rely on.

It’s fair to say that premiums rise every year because companies that offer home or household insurance are trying to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of claims and continue to make a profit.  You might think, therefore, that insurance companies would also try to minimise their pay-outs and maximise their profits by rejecting as many claims as possible.

Actually, that’s not the case.  Insurance companies estimate how many claims they are likely to receive in a given year, based on previous years’ claims, and calculate the premiums on that basis – they are assuming that they will be paying out claims rather than rejecting them and will still be making a profit.  There are so many insurance companies out there that it’s really a buyer’s market – and a company that gets a reputation as a poor payer won’t get much repeat business from existing customers, or new customers through word-of-mouth.

However, there will be occasions when an insurance company won’t pay out for a claim against buildings or content insurance policies.  Every insurance company has standard terms and conditions and these are really worth reading before you take out a policy.  For example, a company might routinely exclude any claims due to flooding – not ideal if you live on the bank of a river.  If your claim falls under a standard exclusion clause the company won’t pay out. Similarly, if you have omitted some information or answered one of their questions incorrectly when applying for the policy, when you submit a claim the company might well discover that you haven’t given them all the facts and might refuse to pay out for that reason.  For example, if you’ve said you have mortis locks on all your doors and windows and burglars break in through the tiny window at the side of your house which has no lock, the insurers could refuse to pay out.

Some insurers will refuse to pay if any information was incorrect whilst others will only refuse to settle a claim if the faulty or missing information is pertinent or relevant to the claim.  So if you didn’t mention the small window without the lock, some companies won’t pay out even if the claim is for a broken roof, whilst others would pay out as the lock wasn’t a factor in the damage being caused. Check your policy for details of the cover provided.  If your contents insurance limit is £50,000 and your contents are actually worth £100,000, a claim for a broken shower unit that is worth £800 might only receive a pay-out of £400 to repair or replace it.

If you’re not happy with a decision made by your insurance provider about a claim, you’d need to go through their complaints procedure first, and if you’re still not happy then you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which firstly looks at the bare facts and suggests a compromise solution and then, if either party is unhappy, investigates further and provides recommendations.  If that doesn’t resolve it, the Ombudsman makes a final decision.

Besides many hidden benefits, one of the well known usefulness of insulating your home is energy saving & protection from extreme weather effects. In winter, it helps in reducing the flow of sun heat directly to your house. While in winters it didn’t allow cool air to directly affect the building. So as a result you get a warmer house in winter and a relatively cooler house in summers. I believe if the insulation of your house is done in the best way then it is sure that you will save up to 35% of your energy costs. All you need to do, is to make sure that the installer understands the process of insulation at an expert level. It is the best way to protect environment as well. The insulation of home can helps in cutting the usage of fossil fuel which destroys the process of greenhouse effect.

One the other hand if you want to cut cost of home insulation due to limited budget, I suggest that didn’t go for insulating the whole of your house. another good option is wooden blinds, by which you can reduce the extreme effects of heat & cold from outside. Moreover i suggest you to choose those portions of the house for insulation which is used quite frequently. For instance! You can ignore the laundry & store. similarly the guest room which is not regularly accommodated. You can also leave it in your insulation plan..you can buy memory foam mattress from the saved money. By doing this you can save up to 40% of your total insulation cost, you can easily save few bucks from your budget that you can later utilize for buying home accessories..

The advancement in lifestyle, continuous rise in population & the domination of industrialization, now it is very necessary to take care of nature while constructing buildings, manufacturing furniture & home appliances. Eco or green concept is therefore considered as the future of modern architecture. with materials and manufacturing techniques of green design, The buildings are respectful of nature that surrounds them.But however, Eco building was erected into a business world where French manufacturers have to catch up , compared to the situation in Germany or Austria. Among these economic considerations, it is not just about competition and turnover. The eco-construction sector is developing in light of the demand for more and more important, weather individuals or private companies, everyone is now more aware of the ecological argument.

Without any doubt it is our primary responsibility to preserve the environment, so therefore customers related to the products of home improvement & construction becomes more demanding & knowledgeable. from installing a rain water collector in garden and put up with its housing lambda with sorting and compost. Green Building is construction of a new genus.

So if you are more concerned about making your home a Eco friendly house. you can get the services of Eco friendly home contractors. just give it a try & find out ways where you can improve your house. I believe a general assessment will not cost you more. but you will get a wonderful idea in return. this is just a step before equip your house with various renewable energy equipments like wind, solar thermal, geothermal, wood heating, bio- gas,water & so forth.

Selling a house at good price is not always an easy task, especially in a scenario when your house is situated in newly developed housing society or in the hustle bustle of old city with an old building.. But however there are several ways that can help you to increase the market value of your house & made it sell quickly. By investing a little money on beautification of your house, it can sell with a good market value, you have to make sure that your home is well presentable, stands out from the crowd and doesn’t turn off potential buyers from buying it quickly at good price.

Try to give your house a modern & fresh look, for this i advise to minimize the number of personal items, Like bunch of family pictures on walls and old gadgets, things like those may have the opposite effect on potential home buyers. Too many knick-knacks and pictures may make it seem busy and cluttered, and divert them to really see your home. Unique architectural features and spacious. There is also a fact that too many items in a room make the room look smaller, so the less personal items to keep close to you, the more space will give a fresh impression. As soon as you sold your house, you must have to move to other residence soon, so go ahead and box them and put them in storage before it destroys the presentation of your house.

Paint is also an important element that can effects the sale of your house, Consider painting the walls in neutral colors like beige or taupe to create a blank canvas for potential buyers. While color may reflect your personal tastes, it may not be the same as some of the buyers that the house walk through your house. Neutral colors will broaden the potential buyers, while brightening your home simultaneously. Do all maintenance work that is required, If there are problems regarding electrification & plumbing in your home, make it fixed before showing it to customers. this is quite fact that most buyers will estimate the cost of repairs first, that can result in lower the price that they are willing to pay. How awkward it looks when potential buyers visit the house and see the stains on the ceiling leaks or peeling paint, by the estimate of future work, the maintenance and repair work are the can be the reason is likely the reasons of low sale ratio. Beautiful kitchen and clean bathroom will help make your home stand out from the rest of the market. The kitchen and bathroom are two rooms that can sell the house costs you incur on the front end sprucing your home will be cheaper than the profits you could lose by having to lower the purchase price for meet demand.

Most importantly, Use several ways to reach potential buyers, for example, majority of people use the Internet for everything these days. Try using You Tube & other social medias to market your house. All you need is the knowledge of Property Management. You can do it yourself, be sure to include lots of pictures that describes the unique features of your home. Once the list, e-mail the link to your friends and ask them to forward it to their network of contacts. In some cases, the house can be sold even before it hits the market by simply looking for a friend of a friend who is looking for a house.

For achieving best results if you want to sell your house via internet. It is better to find a professional who will be able to film and upload your video using the best techniques and technology. try to do word of mouth marketing, this is a very effective way to sell your house. request your friends to discus your house sale with their friends. The more people knows about your house for sale, the greater the chances of getting the money you want for your home.

Summer is a wonderful season! Most of the folks might agree with me at the point that long days provide you lots of time to enjoy your favorite activities at home (& outdoor too). No matter who are you, a school going kid or just a housewife. To get the best excitement & fun of summer I always suggest going for an exclusive summer renovation plan at your home. Summer makeover is all about bringing a fresh look to the interior of the house. & off course! Making your home more comfortable, by adding climate control, cooling system, swimming pools renovation, applying fresh colors themes on walls & adding other summer accessories. Here are few tips you can follow to get better results in making your house more beautiful in summers. People from relatively hotter places across the world also check these tips for giving their house with a fresh look.

The first thing you can start with is the color theme of your house, specially the colors of walls at your bedroom & drawing room. if you feel that it is giving a dull impression, Try out different light & bright colors like white, sky blue, baby pink, light green.. However! to give a sparkle and bright effect to your room. I always suggest white in the summers. You can also use colorful custom wallpapers if you are intended to make something exclusive in your bedroom. moreover try adding the furniture in contrast with the walls color.

Give a little attention to flooring also. Check the tiles at bathrooms & kitchen. Replace broken tiles or if your budget allows, renew the old tiles with fresh tiles. Moreover if the floor is wooden or bamboo. Polish it. Don’t opt for carpeting flooring in summers. It creates heats & dust so I didn’t suggest it for summers. add a couple of indoor plants..

The garden: Yes this is the place where you are expected to spend a part of your day. Try adding some new plants in the gardens. Buy a set of elegant garden furniture if you find the old one rusty. Make proper arrangements for watering the plants. Specially the garden grass, which is surely the center of attraction in summers.

Decorate the terrace with fresh money plants; you will feel a more refreshing day while gazing outside from the terrace of your house. Add windows Blinds for a gentle & fresh wake-up. Probably a green one will work more efficient. Moreover a home insulation works better to make your house cooler in summers. Cleaning up the swimming pools & renewing bathtub & showers (if necessary) are another important element of home makeover in summer.