(MoneyWatch) Expecting to recoup most of the money you poured into home improvements when it comes time to sell? Think again.

In fact, some projects can actually reduce the value of your home. And you may be surprised by how innocuous these value-damaging, home improvement projects are. If you want to make smart upgrades to your home, keep in mind that even the projects that offer the best return on investment don't often fully recover the cost within a year of sale.

According to Remodeling Magazine's latest cost versus value survey, even the projects that offer the biggest bang for the buck -- installing a steel front door, adding a wooden deck and making minor kitchen remodels -- won't add more than 85 percent of the cost of doing the remodel to the value of the home if you sell within the first year of completing the work.

The lesson? Make such improvements for yourself or your family to enjoy. Above all, avoid the five following improvements, especially if you're hoping to sell soon. They simply won't add any value to your home, at least not enough to pay back the cost of the project itself.

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5 home improvement projects that don't pay off

GreenStar is a residential building standards and certification program available in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. This program certifies homes via an objective, third-party verification system that assures consumers that their remodeling project meets the program requirements and is constructed as designed.

NARIs Green Certified Professional (GCP) certification prep program High-Performance Remodeling has incorporated GreenStar training, and GreenStar will now award points toward its project certifications for those who have earned a NARI GCP.

NARIs High-Performance Remodeling course and GCP certification provides remodelers the technical tools needed to build GreenStar certified projects, said Dan Taddei, NARI director of education and certification. The industry has been looking for a way to recognize projects such as additions or kitchen and bath remodels as being remodeled green GreenStar does it. GreenStar marks a new era for remodelers across the country, said Michael Anschel, GreenStars director of development. Now there is finally a comprehensive, robust, legitimate green remodeling tool that anyone can use. The debate over what constitutes green is over. Remodelers can certify everything from a bathroom, kitchen or even windows and siding replacement all the way to a whole home remodel and offer something unique and valuable to their clients.

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NARI and GreenStar Form Alliance

The uptick in the Fresno housing market is helping to revive another sector of the wounded industry home remodeling.

Building permits for home additions, alterations and repairs were up 28% in July compared with the same time a year ago, according to the city of Fresno building department. From February through July of this year, permits in Fresno are up 15% over the same period last year. Visalia reports a similar increase over the same period.

A combination of homeowner confidence in the economy and the desire to modernize, retrofit or customize is driving the number of remodeling jobs up to a level not seen in at least five years, contractors say.

The demand even has homebuilders like De Young Properties creating new companies to specialize in renovation work.

"I think we've seen the light and it's shining right now," said Ken Dye, chief executive officer and president of Nelson Dye Remodeling Specialists in Fresno. "We're hoping it doesn't fade."

Kitchen and bathroom remodels remain popular, followed by energy-saving upgrades such as replacing old heating and cooling equipment and solar panels. Then come the wants: custom closets, garage storage or home offices.

Dye, whose family has owned and operated the company for 57 years, is relieved to see business picking up. Like homebuilders, renovation companies saw business sliced in half during the recession. The road to recovery since then has been a tough one.

Between 2009 and 2011, the company only had about half the work it normally sees, Dye said. That changed in 2012 when the economy slowly started improving. This year, the work has more than doubled.

"We're doing much better this year," said Dye, whose company specializes in kitchen and bathroom remodels. "It seems like people are starting to spend money."

Custom Drywall Service in Fresno slipped into the dumps in 2008 when new homebuilding came to a standstill. Back then, 80% of the company's work was in new construction. The other 20% was in renovations.

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Fresno sees boom in building projects as homeowners gain confidence

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Taking advantage of Silicon Valley's robust economy, affluent techies are building or remodeling homes, transforming parts of the area's older housing stock and fueling a boom for Bay Area architects and interior designers.

"The problem is finding time to sleep," said architect Roger Kohler, of Palo Alto, whose firm has more than 20 projects in construction or just completed in Los Altos, Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton.

The tech workers range from midlevel engineers at startups or at tech giants like Apple (AAPL), Facebook and Google (GOOG) to older CEOs or founders selling their companies. Some are doing relatively straightforward, if pricey, remodels, while others are leveling old homes and building new ones with basement game rooms, large garages and the latest in high-tech features.

Catherine Jhung, a vice president at Cleantech.com, and her husband, Brian Buchholz, who works at Google, are including "a lot of the new technologies for green building" in the San Carlos Craftsman-style home they will soon break ground on. The existing home -- which they bought seven years ago -- was torn down. Construction bids are coming in at $270 to $285 a square foot, or about $900,000.

"We're doing a lot to make it look lived in," Jhung said. That includes tongue-and-groove wall paneling, ceiling paneling and vintage-looking fixtures.

The new home will be wired for plug-in electric cars and solar panels, and have the latest in energy-efficient windows, a smart thermostat, top-of-the-line insulation and solar-powered skylights.

'Floodgates opened'

San Jose architect Eugene Sakai, who designed the San Carlos home, said surging demand has the architects, contractors and interior designers who survived the recession "super busy."

"The valley's money machine never stopped running, but people were socking it away. When the economy came back the floodgates opened with pent-up demand for projects."

He estimated 80 percent of his clients are in tech or have profited from investing in tech stocks. "We're definitely benefiting from the tech economy."

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Silicon Valley techies spur home building and remodeling boom

Arch11 co-founder E.J. Meade

Since its founding in 1993, Arch11, a Boulder-based architecture outfit, has compiled a portfolio of projects ranging from heirloom homes to high schools.

Recently, Arch11 has stepped up its restaurant design practice with work on eateries such as Oak at Fourteenth and Fate Brewing Co. in Boulder and Ignite! in Denver, and also has several other restaurant projects on the boards

The Camera conducted an interview via e-mail with co-founder E.J. Meade about these latest efforts.

The following has been edited for clarity and space.

1. What types of projects make up the current mix of your business, and how has this changed in recent years?

Our current project mix is about half commercial work and half high-end residential. In the past, our workload was heavily residential, but we are trying to be more discerning. We like the intimacy and level of detail that a house brings, but we are more selective in choosing those projects that will challenge us, allow for a level of investigation and innovation.

The commercial work we have in the studio is really great. We are completing a corporate headquarters for Pearl Izumi, an infill building in downtown Boulder (that) will be the city's first commercial building using a ground loop heating and cooling system, and a flagship store for Christy Sports, both of which fit their brands and pull architecture from just "building" to something more dynamic and specific to each of the users.

We also have several really good houses in the studio. They range from 2,000 (square feet) to 6000 (square feet), but each is a unique investigation into form and site.

2. Did restaurants previously have this much of a play in Arch11's portfolio?

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5 QUESTIONS with Arch11 co-founder E.J. Meade

SEATTLE, Sept. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --More than half (52 percent) of homeowners plan to make a home improvement or addition this fall, according to the Zillow Digs Fall Home Improvement Trend and Spending Survey[i], compared with 60 percent in the summer; homeowners plan to spend $1,000, which is $200 less than during the summer.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130905/SF74573)

While the percentage of homeowners planning remodels for nearly every room fell from the summer survey, homeowners will continue to focus on home office or playroom remodels in the fall.

"Fall is a perfect transition time from outdoor to indoor activities, which is resonating in home improvement plans and trends. Parents are sprucing up indoor play areas to keep the kids active and occupied, while looking for ways to update their own workspaces for the season ahead as workdays are shortened by kid pick-up and drop-off duty," noted Cynthia Nowak, Zillow Digs trend expert.

Double-duty home officesAs the line between work and home continues to blur, homeowners are looking for quiet and clean spaces where they can wrap up leftover projects from the office or work from home during those rainy fall days. Six percent of homeowners said they would work on their home offices this fall, compared with 4 percent during the summer[ii].

In addition to the survey, members of the recently formed Zillow Digs Board of Designers, which provides Zillow Digs users insight into unique and current trends in home design, shared their experiences and advice on fall remodels. For home offices, the majority are designing home office spaces for dual purposes, whether adding a daybed for napping, a desk doubling as a guest bedroom nightstand or a mini kitchen for the home office coffee pot.

Kerrie Kelly of Kerrie Kelly Design Lab in Sacramento, Calif., recommends: "If your guest room must do double duty, look for furniture that keeps the room from being too businesslike, such as an office armoire, chests, cabinets, side tables and creative storage solutions that look pretty, too. A good- looking, uncluttered space is the best remedy for the chaos of a typical office. We find many people requesting a Murphy bed situation to provide a multi-functional space."

Mara Miller of Carrier and Company Interiors Ltd. in New York City says: "As laptops and tablets become more popular we're free to use more vintage furnishings than desks customized to contain a computer. For serious home offices, we're also installing a lot of coffee bars to reduce trips to the kitchen and grazing while working from home."

Active playrooms for fallIndoor play doesn't have to just mean puzzles and tea parties. Families want play spaces that keep the little ones climbing, sliding, swinging and jumping as well as nearby areas for adults to stay active such as a workout area or pool table, according to the majority of Zillow Digs Board of Designers. Three percent of homeowners said they would work on playrooms this fall, compared with 2 percent during the summer[iii].

For playrooms, the designers generally advise creating gender-neutral spaces that everyone can enjoy, with durable, eco-friendly materials such as carpet tiles and no-VOC paint.

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52 Percent of Homeowners Plan Fall Home Improvement Projects

Jon Bois, SBNation Posted: Tuesday, September 3, 2013, 10:42 AM

If you watched 24, and you knew what was good for you, you stopped watching after the fifth of its eight seasons.

It was always a fundamentally silly collection of Tom Clancyan pulp for the American Idol set, but it at least answered each of its dumbly implausible twists with an underpinning of logic that tried to keep our suspensions of disbelief in place. The first lady just got stabbed in the stomach by a computer hacker in a dusty old warehouse, but the president is being removed from office by due process of the 25th Amendment. There is literally a fortress full of dozens of terrorists with automatic rifles in a nameless Los Angeles suburb, but when Jack Bauer infiltrates it and kills every last one of them, he does so with a realistic number of rounds in his clip, because junior, this ain't some kind of fairy tale.

The tail end of 24's run is a fascinating exhibit of what happens when a show's writers are transparently, and without question, completely out of any ideas, never mind new ones ... and then proceed to write 72 more hourlong episodes.

That Bauer had already kidnapped Logan a few seasons earlier should tell you how completely out of ideas they were. It was perhaps the dumbest show in the history of dramatic television.

Predictably, though, I'm going to sit here and try to tell you that these seasons were miracles. It's like when your dad remodels the kitchen and he gives 8-year-old you a tack hammer and handful of nails to bang into some scrap wood, because he knows that's really all you want to do. So, I hope, is the 2013 season of the Louisville Cardinals.

In Saturday's opener, the Cardinals threw for 416 yards, ran for 199 more, and stomped the Ohio Bobcats 49-7. Meanwhile, six of Louisville's 2013 opponents lost their openers, three of which were complete blowouts. Of the 10 FBS teams left on the schedule, seven finished last season with losing records, and six of those were in not particularly great conferences.

I want to make clear that I am not guaranteeing, nor necessarily even predicting, an undefeated season. Rutgers or Cincinnati could beat Louisville, as they very nearly did in 2012. So, maybe, could FIU on the right day.

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Whomp on fools until nothing remains: Why Louisville's schedule is perfect

Northern Jersey (PRWEB) August 30, 2013

A. Rizzo Carpentry has recently expanded business with the addition of a sister company, Kitchens Impossible, LLC. Kitchens Impossible was started as a way to offer premier cabinet lines to suit a variety of needs, styles and budgets. The showroom is open to the public and gives the opportunity for homeowners and contractors to see and feel cabinet samples.

We always wanted to open a showroom, says A.Rizzo Carpentry co-owner, Amanda Rizzo. The housing market changed and the focus shifted from new construction to home renovations, with a big demand on kitchen remodels. Starting Kitchens Impossible allowed us to expand our business while the showroom allows us to offer more cabinet selections to our customers.

The Kitchens Impossible showroom is located in Landing, NJ. Significant discounts are offered to contractors. Cabinet samples are on display and show a wide range of wood species including oak, maple, birch, cherry and hickory. Many colors and styles are represented such as modern and rustic.

The cabinet door samples are not limited to kitchen cabinets. With an expertise in woodworking, A. Rizzo Carpentry can build custom bathroom vanities, bookcases, a home bar and more. They can install hardwood floors and tile or granite countertops and a backsplash for a small but stunning transformation.

A full-service remodeling company, A. Rizzo Carpentry is also able to provide design-build services that include a free home consultation, renderings, permit processing, pre-construction meetings, construction services, and a final walk-through. They employ their own plumber and electrician, eliminating the need of hiring multiple contractors.

To contact the Kitchens Impossible Showroom call (908-578-4858). Visit their website at http://www.carpentrynj.com .

About A. Rizzo Carpentry

A. Rizzo Carpentry was founded in 2005 by the talented husband and wife team, Andrew and Mandy Rizzo. They have quickly earned a stellar reputation based on trust, integrity, and dependability while creating distinctive and stunning spaces for New Jersey residents. Their experience and dedication gives homeowners a signature remodeling process that makes this company stand out from the rest. Whether homeowners need a kitchen or bathroom remodeled, cabinets, flooring, tile work, or a custom deck, when all the dust is settled, they will be glad they selected A. Rizzo Carpentry for their remodeling needs. A. Rizzo Carpentry proudly serves New Jersey including Morris, Sussex, and Union Counties.

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Hopatcong Cabinet Company Announces the Opening of Their New Showroom

2701 W Greeley Street Broken Arrow OK 74012 - Joanna Ford - Coldwell Banker Select - Broken Arrow
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