Five Decades Later - House Gets a Facelift!

We've got Workers in Full Force Pounding Away!

This year, the community of Crofton, Maryland, turned 60. Our house, built in this same community, turned 50 this summer. It still has/had the original siding; just saying. Over the years, other improvements were made, but new siding was not in the plan until recently.

When our neighbor's home had a facelift last year at age 49, Wan Hong of JandHongConstruction did an amazing job; the house looked brand new! I met up with Wan in the fall, but we waited until this year to make the move for an outside reno on our place.

As his crew pounds away at removing the old siding/windows/doors and gracing the naked space with new, shiny doors and a few windows, hubby Bill and I are giddy! Thankfully, we are patient in these things because we know the eventual outcome will be well worth it. On top of that, we learned Wan has done many homes on our street and in our vicinity. Maybe I saw the construction sign on neighbor's yards, but it was not on our radar then, and I drove right past it.

Almost a year ago, we had a snafu with another contractor who was supposed to replace our gutters and downspouts, but the job never materialized. That led us to our current outfit, which seems head and shoulders above the other guy. It's kind of like kissing a few frogs before the Prince shows up!

Like my T-shirt Quilt business, I do not advertise except by others' word-of-mouth, and Wan does not advertise either. After 30 years in the industry, and he does an excellent job from what others have said about him and his work crew and ethic, he relies on that same marketing strategy. Wan told us that he would never have enough time to get into the business (or hire many crews) of many jobs should he find new customers through traditional advertising.

By doing an outstanding job with reasonable prices for the work and products needed to complete the project, his customers do his bidding. In fact, last week, I took a rental owner in my neighborhood to show off Wan's work before he even started on our house, although he had renovated my neighbor's house last year, as mentioned above.

Wan gave me this sage tip: if interested in outdoor home renovations, choose local companies. You see them in the grocery store, and your kids go to school with their kids, so it’s highly likely the workmanship and workers will be willing to go that extra mile and perform dutifully. The scuttlebutt about a contractor’s services will be positive, wanted, and admired. Wan is the perfect example of that!

We are halfway through the grind, and we are seeing the light at the end of this process. And let me tell ya, it is a process! We are crossing our fingers that our house will look just as "new" as our neighbors!

bSoleille!

Terri

Here is a photo of Wan doing his thing at the back of the house. We have been taking lots of photos to show the before and after once everything is complete!