Friday, February 22, 2008

Buying Deck from a reputable deck contractor or builder in Maryland

You have been wanting to put on a deck to the back of your house or update your existing deck for years and when you finally decide to take the next step, the real estate market bubble burst. You see your neighbors' home being foreclosed and for sell signs every where you go. If you are like some of the new home buyers that got into the market when it was at its peak a couple of years ago, you are probably sitting on a what you call "UPSIDE DOWN MORTGAGE" house. Notice I call it "house" not a "home". The difference between the two is a house is an investment while a home is a place made comfortable by you and your family to live in. Those who bought houses to flip and make a profit as merely a vehicle for giving them that next big check, but whose who bought their house and made into a home view it as a place where memories are built and remembered. For those who have bought their house to live in and make into a home, you probably said to yourself,"home values go up and down and as long as we are living in it and making it our place of comfort, it's value is never gone until it is sold." That is so true... For those who bought their house to make into a home, you are in for a treat. With home construction at an all time low and home improvement for many households put on the back burner, you can get your home improvement done by the best of crew and at the best price ever. Home improvement contractors that have been around for years will survive the downturn, but those that are green to the types of work you want to get done probably are out of business or on their way out of business. This provide you with the best pick for a company. Second, with amount of work slow down, only the best of crews will remain on the payroll. This is true with many company and is definitely true with Probuilt Deck and Fence - see www.probuiltdeck.com. This company survived the last recession and will survive this recession as well. It has restructured itself to run leaner to suit the current economic condition. Probuilt realized that the key to success is to maintain your high level of standards, minimize overhead without sacrificing quality, and continue to stay on top of the game with new technologies and best practices. Probuiltdeck relies heavily on referrals and it is their past customers that help it through past recession and and will do so during this recession and many future recessions to come. Their stubbornness to resist the temptation of cutting back on quality or on materials will help carry their good name forward while others who attempted to cheat the system to incresae their profit margin per job will find that they will have difficulty going forward after the recession is over. Probuilt Deck and Fence CEO said to me that if he would rather lock up the business for the winter than to cut into quality and longevity just to make a buck. Luckily, so far we have not had to do that. We continue to have plenty of business for the crews we kept and look at this time as an opportunity to learn new skills, research new products, and restructure. Over the past 6 years I have been with the company, I find all employees there worked really hard and really take pride in their contribution to the company and to the people they serve. The slow down in the economy provide them with a unique opportunity to spend more quality time with their children, take family vacations, and put some needed attention to themselves so that when the economy turns around, all of us can be fresh and ready.

Back to discussing why it's a good time to work on that home improvement project. If you are in need of a deck builder or deck contractor in MD, you have only a few good choices. One of the choices is Probuilt Deck and Fence. Why? Because Probuilt is time tested and has served the state of Maryland since 1991. That is 17 strong years of custom designed decks. Sure they do other things, but they do an excellent deck design and construction. You can not find anyone better. During their early years, they were asked by their customers if they would consider doing other things like fences, patios, and sunrooms. Little did they know, once they started doing those things, they were highly praised and was very good at that as well. Sure, there will always be people that are better at roofing and basements, and plumbing; but Probuilt Deck and Fence have proven time and time again they are very good at what they do for our door home improvements. Improvements such as decks, fences, gazebos, sunrooms, screen porches, brick paver patios, flag stones, and replacement windows.

I digressed again... yes, while you are staying put and making your mortgage payments, you would want to take that next step and complete the projects you have always been wanting to get done. Make your home more comfortable and enjoyable to live in for a few years then by the time you are ready to move on or refinance, you will have the added equity that you don not have today. Like buying the S&P 500 Funds... yes, it has been down lately, but history has shown that those who kept their S&P 500 funds in the past 30 years have out performed the market in the long run. I am not an expert at the stock market, but I know that I should always take any lemon and make it into lemonade, because being positive in a pessimistic time is very important.

So if you plan to stay in your home and want to take advantage of this time to get work done, check out www.probuiltdeck.com and give them a call for a free estimate. You never know what you can afford to buy until you take that first step. A journey of a thousand mile starts with taking the first step. You have nothing to lose by discussing your needs with them.

NEXT BLOG - I have been asked by people on how to maintain their deck and how to clean composite decking (yes, composite decking) to get rid of stains from years of use and neglect. There are many sources people can go to for that, but I probably will write a blog about that next time...

Keyword: deck, builder, contractor, home improvement, maryland, md, vinyl, procell, azek, fence, sunroom, patio room, HGTV, brick paver patio, flagstone, windows, siding, roofing,