Citadel Construction

09/09/2021

Established remodeling/construction company looking to add new members to our team. Starting pay based upon skills, $12-18/hour. Year round employment, paid holidays, no weekends. Must have dependable transportation. Must be able to do light sheet rock work and know how to paint. When responding, please include your full name and phone number.

01/31/2017

Last week, a property owner requested us to do something that is impossible to do. IMPOSSIBLE! I told them we could not perform their request. Their response was, "Ok then, in the proposal, price that separately." My question, how do you price the impossible?

11/02/2015

If I allowed it, I could spend hours daily wasting time.
Recent phone calls:

Homeowner- One of your employees used my outside water and did not put the winter cover back on the spigot. Will you come put it back on?
Steve-Yes, I get it.

Real estate agent- Y'all did some repairs last month for a house that is under contract. Will you provide video documentation of the repairs, a written report on the repairs, copies of all receipts/proof of payment to workers, and what warranty you will provide to the buyer.
Steve-?

Homeowner- there is a crack in one of the bricks on my chimney. Will you fix it?
Steve-was working nearby so I stopped by. The house was at least 100 years old and I assure you that a cracked brick was not priority.

07/15/2015

I get odd phone calls daily. A couple of the recent calls-

1st Homeowner- I just got 2 new puppies and they are eating my deck and back of my house. Will you come over and give me some ideas?
Me- Sure, but you will not like my idea and the dogs will even less.

2nd Homeowner- After the house got hit by lightning, my (pick an appliance) is not working correctly and seems to have a lot of water in it.
Me- call an appliance repair man.
2nd Homeowner- yeah, but can't you just give me some ideas and show me what is wrong?

3rd Homeowner- why did you send me a 30 day past due notice? I always pay my bills.

4th Homeowner- will you come look at my incomplete project. The last 2 contractors quit because they said I did not pay them.

You cannot make this stuff up.

09/16/2012

05/23/2012

Crawling around under a house yesterday that was invaded by critters. It stunk, I was concerned with the odor getting up into the living space. Also, most of the crawl space insulation was torn down. Finally, there were lots of holes in the duct work allowing the crawl space to be nicely air conditioned. Two things to take away. First, look at your foundation walls/crawl space once a year, ensure that there are no sources of entry. Second, if you do hear anything crawling around under the floor, react to the invaders. This will not be an overly costly repair, simply one that could largely been avoided. If you were a squirrel, would you rather live in a tree or someones a/c duct work? I know were my vote goes.

05/04/2012

We are working with a home owner on an upcoming kitchen remodel. The owner is concerned that they currently do not have enough cabinet space. Reality is, if they had a warehouse, eventually they would not have enough space. Once a year, look at what is in your cabinets and drawers. If you have not used it in the past 3 years, maybe it is time for a yard sale. I know you have that drawer with coupons, broken crayons, and phone chargers that you do not have the phone any longer. Clean out the clutter, your cabinets will feel larger.

05/03/2012

Yesterday I was asked what is the most cost effective way to improve my home value. As they say on the reality shows, wait for it, ... curb appeal. When prospective buyers visit your home, the first thing they see is the exterior of the house. Clean up the yard, trim the bushes, pressure wash the house and paint any trouble areas. I am a firm believer that the interior of a house is always worse than the exterior. Raise the bar, build the confidence of prospective home buyers.

04/29/2012

I was asked what is important to look for in a flip/foreclosure/investment property. While the answer may seem obvious, finding the right house takes time and patience, right Marion? Look for things that you cannot or would be expensive to change. Location for instance, tough and expensive to change. Look for a good basic structure, a sound starting point. Moving interior walls may be easy, moving exterior and supporting walls in not. Look for expensive parts of the house that may or may not need to be replaced, ie windows, roofing, siding, exterior doors, leaky basement, mold, HVAC, appliances, dated kitchen and bathrooms. All potentially expensive. Inexpensive items are carpet, paint, landscaping, general clean up, patching holes in the walls, new lighting and sink faucets. Finally a rule of thumb is look at what comparable houses in the area are selling for. Remember, things are only worth what people are willing to spend, do not look at asking prices. Calculate what you will spend on your next project, add 20% for project creep, and subtract it from comparable housing pricing. Assuming you are not going to resell the house anytime soon, that is the purchase price. Have patience, it pays off.

04/27/2012

Recently, I have seen several hardwood stairs that I would consider sub par. Three things come to mind when building hardwood stairs. First, use the correct wood. I have seen red oak floors with white oak, imported rubber tree, and pine stair treads and risers. It costs very little to purchase/order the correct material. Plan ahead. Second, the color was wrong. Again, just take the time to match the color of the hardwood flooring to the risers/treads. If you do not have access to 20 different stains, ask me, I will help you. Finally, match the sheen from the floors to the stairs. The difference between satin finished floors and high gloss stairs can be seen from outer space. Don't settle for a halfway done project when correct is just a little more work.

04/20/2012

I have seen several wall paper installations lately. I thought when wall paper went out of style several years ago, it would never be back. I suppose I don't mind, we spend a lot of time removing the old paper. The new wall paper is totally different from the flowers and rooster stuff on kitchen walls from the 80's. It is actually tasteful and adds a charm to the room. A grass cloth accent wall might be the perfect addition to a dining room. The best applications I have seen are small rooms, bathrooms, with a lighter color paper. What will be the next thing to come back in style? Velvet Elvis paintings, s**g carpet, sunken living rooms, dark wood paneling?

04/13/2012

Those in the North Georgia/Chattanooga area know all about Dalton and the discount flooring stores. We install many prefinished hardwood floors. Beware of shopping for hardwood flooring based on price. Some prefinished hardwood flooring is one step away from being dumpster debris. Make sure to buy a premium quality product and ensure additional material is available if needed. We recently installed a floor that was purchased for $1.49 per foot. The floor literally fell apart the next day. The homeowner was out labor and material since there was a no return policy stamped on the receipt. The discount flooring store knew exactly what they were selling.