Do you know the feeling when you walk into a room and something's off? Is it the lighting? The carpet? Maybe I should have picked up a different color couch... Imagine having a person to talk to that listens to you, looks at your color palette and figures it all out. Every time you came home you'd have the feeling of "yes, it looks right", every time. This is what Peg Christensen does. Winner of the Oregon Home Structure+Style Best in Design, cited in: Portland Monthly, Oregon Home, the Oregonian, HOUZZ, Pental Tile, and Pratt & Larson.... I call it the "dark arts of interior design", because it uses an entirely different part of the brain than I do, so I was honored and intrigued to talk to arguably one of the best interior designers in the Pacific Northwest. Previously as a research scientist, Peg Christensen brings a unique perspective to the construction industry and dispelled many myths of an Interior Designer's process. from her bio: "Peg grew up in Canada, and studied fine art at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Coming back to the Northwest, she earned a degree in Physical Anthropology from Portland State University. Peg has been a wildlife biologist and a zookeeper (so can handle most any construction issue!), and even studied whales and birds in the Antarctic." It was an absolute pleasure to get to know Peg and her approach to interior design. My main take away is that there isn't a list of "must haves", or "top 10 things you should do", each process is unique to the client. Peg gets to know you, uses her research mindset to methodically build a design around you. If you want to be treated like royalty and have a house that comes together... give her a call. http://ashpiercedesign.com/ www.cabercarter.com
Is your project a: "flop, botch, hash, foul-up, screw-up, washout, let-down, dead loss, dead duck, lead balloon, lemon, fail. cock-up, pig's ear, snafu, clinker, f*$%ed"? What are the common factors to unsuccessful projects? Simply put....It wasn't planned for. This is how my company does it.. Learn the five basic documents needed to get an accurate bid, and for everyone to have a good idea of the challenges ahead. In doing so... reduce 75% of the problems most construction projects have... Learn from our experience and build your toolset as a home owner when working with contractors, or contractors with owners. This is arguably the most important part of construction. If you don't listen to anything else, this episode is the most important. www.cabercarter.com
If you had a chance to talk to one of the leaders of your industry, what would you ask? This week, we sit down with the "Yoda of the Oregon construction industry", large volume home builder, Oregon Home Builders Association executive board member, and President of Legend homes, Jim Chapman. "Jim Chapman has been President of Legend Homes since 1993. He has been a member of the Oregon Home Builders Association (OHBA) Board of Directors since 1998 and was one of the Directors of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) from 1998 to 2005. He has also served on the Construction Industry Crime Prevention Program’s Board of Directors since 2006. In 2007, he served as Chair of the Land Use and Taxation Committee for the Oregon Home Builders Association." Jim Chapman has won just about every award possible in the Oregon building industry, including the coveted "Lifetime Achievement Award". If you're a builder, this is one interview you don't want to miss. What an absolute legend to talk to. Thank you Jim for taking the time to check in with us! Some major take aways: -Get more women into the industry...they're smarter than men! -The mission is needed and needs to be the focus of your organization. His mission at Legend Homes: "Be a leader in quality, value, and community, through integrity innovation and pride," -Empower people to make decisions -They created our own 10 year warranty, signed on closing, -longevity of structure... (will they do maintenance?), then health of occupants, then energy... If you happen to have a home made from Legend Homes out of the Corvallis area, you are one lucky person and have one of the best warranties in the industry, which is a builder that cares. Learn more about legend homes at: https://legendhomes.com/ www.cabercarter.com
Are you ready to build? Are you sure? What are the steps to ensure you get off to the right foot? Do you have a plan for water intrusion and material availability? Ask these questions of your contractor before you sign anything: 1- Materials, do you know what is going to be used on your home. Are they available, local and stocked? Are they weather durable and meant for the Pacific Northwest? 2- Do you know how your contractor will install your materials? Are they using best practices? 3- Do you know how long this will take to build your project? Who will be on site building your home or your remodel? 4- Is your contract built to incorporate the materials, process, schedule and agreements? 5- Do you know how your contractor will treat your home? How they will be around your children? When and where the Porta-Potty will be used? Where they will store materials? Where they will park? Who will be at your home and when? If you don't have those things figured out ahead of time, DON'T sign the construction contract!! Require each item to be spelled out on a legally binding contract. This is called the preconstruction phase of construction, and most construction companies ignore it. DON'T BE FOOLED, ASK FOR IT IN WRITING! Looking for the 5 core documents checklist or any of our standard documents? Find the download here: https://cabercarterconstruction.com/our-process Need help on your construction project? Call us at (503) 303-1473 or at info@cabercarter.com www.cabercarter.com
Welcome to our Special Mother’s Day episode. A quick reminder that this Sunday, May 9 is Mother’s Day We’ve all gone through real stressful year and I highly suggest finding every moment to celebrate and to get together in any capacity. So I've put together an expert panel of mothers to tell us what to do and I'm mixing it up a little bit of mothers jokes and of course I’ve got a very special guest at the end. Our first guest is Barbara Smith Warner otherwise known as BSW. BSW is a community advocate state legislator for Oregon and all-around bad ass. She’s one of the most witty intelligent and funny people I’ve ever known, she's also a mom to two kids and someone I’m honored to call a friend. You can find out more about the state legislature and their work at https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/ Barb Buckner Suárez is a Health Educator specializing in the transformational events of pregnancy, birth and parenting. She's been in the business for 23+ years. She's a Fellow in the Academy of Certified Childbirth Educators, and was my Mentor for Becoming Us training. She's a mother of four and I might also say she hopes to also host podcast someday soon. You can find more about Barb's teaching at https://bbsuarez.com/ So welcome to the Mother’s Day episode for the Better Built Podcast, sponsored by Caber Carter. Love you mom! www.cabercarter.com