4 years ago, I began designing, manufacturing and marketing a line of raised plaster stencils and ornamental molds. My focus was to introduce the art of raised stenciling to the general consumer, making a new marketplace for frequent stencils, which I did rather successfully.

Then again, as news spread of the revival of this lost art, I began to receive much more and far more calls from drywall contractors and builders across the nation quizzing me about the feasible application of these methods in their drywall/plaster business.

The typical slow down in winter due to harsher constructing conditions (and now the recent downturn in the housing business) commonly left a gaping hole in revenues for businesses of this nature.

Intelligent drywall professionals began seeing Raised Stenciling and the application of Ornamental Ceiling and Wall designs as a way to bridge the gap between busy seasons and increase their revenues via this effortless and inexpensive craft.

Plaster stenciling simply involves smearing common wall mud (joint compound) over the stencil openings, removing the stencil and allowing the design to dry which creates an ornate raised design on walls and ceilings.

Ornamental molds are just as easy! Spray the mold with mold release (a silicone based spray that prevents the plaster from sticking to the mold), filling it with plaster of paris mixed with water, allowing the plaster to harden then applying joint compound (used as the adhesive) to the back of the hardened piece and holding it to the wall until it bonds.

Numerous mold designs are combined in artistic methods to make ornate ceiling medallions, ceiling corners, wall border designs, wall and ceiling frames and to turn plain fireplaces in to ornate beauties.

The investment in stencils and molds can be minimal and as everyone in the business knows, plaster of paris and joint compound are extremely cheap, permitting you to create a high ticket service for extremely little expense.

Professional creation and installation of an ornate plaster ceiling design can produce as much as $50,000.00 from the high end client and can be scaled down to the simplest frame around a light fixture for lower end buyers or builders.

How do you market such a service? That\'s straightforward. By doing some of these designs in your own house, you can rapidly begin a breathtaking portfolio to show builders and clients.
Go to plaster restoration internet websites on the online for lay-out ideas.

Don't forget that areas such as above doorways, windows and exterior doorways also benefit from the beauty of this hassle-free treatment, along with fireplace designs.

In conclusion, do yourself a favor and look in to the possibility of extending your enterprise services in to the area of decorative art to assist you by means of the slow times. What you could find is a significantly far more lucrative primary staple in your organization service line-up for the remainder of your career.

© Victoria Larsen 2006

Estimating Expenses for Retailing Your Properties

Retailing as utilised in this article is defined as fixing up a property with the objective of reselling it to an owner occupant.

Figuring your expenses when planning a retail project can be complicated. The most beneficial rule of thumb for investors who are somewhat new to this part of the enterprise is to take on projects that do not require significant modifications to existing floor plans. Even experienced investors may locate it challenging to stay within spending budget on rehab projects where a second floor or additional room is being added, or walls moved.

Room additions, or changes to existing floor plans will inevitably run into style problems or other delays that are complicated or impossible to predict ahead of time. These sorts of issues can cause you to exceed your budgeted numbers by tens of thousands of dollars. Such substantial-scale projects should really not be attempted unless you have the encounter and an adequate budget.

One of the most typical complications among newer investors is starting a project with an inadequate spending budget, and having too small time to devote to the project. I wish I had a dollar for every single rehab I have seen that was for sale by an investor who was bailing out. No additional time, no far more funds, and most likely, no a lot more patience. Retailing is not for everybody. The guys who are really successful at retailing know their marketplace, fully grasp what improvements will supply the greatest return, and don't let themselves get sidetracked with unprofitable improvements.

I can\'t support but believe of a good friend of mine who got a outstanding deal on an old 1930\'s farmhouse. He bought it and 15 acres of land for only 25 thousand dollars. And to boot, he only had to pay $250 a month on the property although he was rehabbing it. The property was worth about 75 to 85K fixed up. With such low holding costs, a repair spending budget of 20K and an ARV of $80K, It looked like a dream deal. He was all set to make a fast 35 thousand or so in profit.

His dream deal started out well sufficient, as the repairs on the home proceeded along on schedule at first. But then my friend started to fall prey to the temptation to fix up all sorts of small things that had been less crucial, rather than focusing on the most necessary items.

For starters, the home required a furnace installed. The old gas heater in the living room was not going to be adequate for today\'s buyers. You would believe this would have been a no-brainer. But Sam got so hung up on how fairly the house would look with some nice landscaping that he sort of forgot about the furnace.

Then there was that massive room on the back of the home that accounted for about 30% of the living space. This room had suffered some fairly severe water damage and had to be gutted. Instead of redoing the room and retaining the living space, Sam decided that this region would make a killer screened in porch. It did, but at the price of 30% of the square footage that could be counted for the appraised value.

The bathroom was no little problem either. Over the years water leakage from the tub had rotted out the floor joists, causing the require to rip out the entire bath, replace the floor joists and then redo the bath. To save cash, Sam decided to hire one of his buddies who would work for beer, to repair the floor. The buddy took so lengthy to get the job carried out that Sam would have been much better off paying a contractor.

To make a quite long story short, what really should have been a three month, 20K repair project turned into a 12 month, 40K fiasco, as Sam flittered from 1 idea to a different, and tried to cut corners by making use of buddies to do the work.

The 1 contractor on the project, frustrated by Sam\'s inability to focus on the critical work finally quit in disgust.
To top it off Sam had heard that houses painted yellow with green shutters sell even more swiftly and for even more dollars that other colors. But school bus yellow? Yep, he painted it the same shade of yellow as a school bus, despite the objections of his family, buddies, and the painter. It's now been 17 months, and the house still belongs to Sam. He finally did rent it out, but these classic errors pretty a lot put Sam out of the rehab enterprise. Sam\'s greatest single mistake was assuming he knew additional than he genuinely did.

There are 4 key components that you ought to be realistic about:

1. How a lot profit do you Actually have to have to net to make this project worth though? If it takes 6 months to fix up, market and resell, is a $20,000 profit worth the time and effort? For some folks it is, whilst other people can earn even more than that working a typical job. Set a minimum acceptable profit goal.

2. What repairs are Actually going to have to be carried out to compare favorably with the competition in this location and attract a buyer? Don\'t forget to compare the condition of similar properties. Is the top quality high, medium or average? Are the bath\'s made with imported Italian marble, or just a fiberglass insert? Are the kitchen cabinets going to have to be solid oak or just veneer? This is significant details for determining how much you will need to invest on repairs to be competitive with other properties on the market in that certain area.

three. How significantly are those necessary repairs or improvements Certainly going to price? And how long are they likely to take? Be realistic about these numbers.
And don't forget about holding costs which will accumulate if your project is not completed on time. Interest, payments, utilities, taxes, theft protection, insurance, etc.

4. Can I Seriously do this myself, or will I need to hire professionals? Do you know how to do the work involved, or had been you planning to get a set of Time-Life How To books? Be certain you have the time required to devote to your project.

If you have no experience with rehabbing you want to educate yourself before you take on a project. Read some books, attend some seminars, check out some web-sites on this subject. I am not a huge fan of the pricey courses that you see for sale. Most of these courses are not worth their sales price. Books at your local bookstore will be much better to use as a reference manual, at a much lower price.

You could take a contractor to the site just before producing an offer you and have them provide an estimate. And if you will will need to hire a contractor, do you know 1? Do you know how to locate one? How will you check their credentials? Who will be in charge on a day to day basis, you or the contractor? Are they going to be accessible when you have to have them? A contractor you can trust and work well with can be difficult to come across. There are a number of web-sites that offer you contractor services that have met specific screening criteria. One of those is improvenet.com.

If you want to take a even more hands on approach, there is a book called \"Property Repair and Remodel Price Guide\" by Marshall & Swift, which is updated yearly. This book makes it possible for you to break your expenses down into significant components, such as Kitchens, Electrical, Windows, Roofing, etc. It can be purchased by way of , or book stores can order it. The ISBN number is 1-56842-071-4. There are also a number of web internet sites that make the book readily available as component of their educational literature.

And finally, there are expenses to contain that several \"newbies\" overlook. For example, assuming you will not want the services of a real estate agent to resell the property, and for that reason failing to contain this prospective expense in your price estimate can wipe out narrow profit margins

Not such as some extra holding costs for the marketing period can hurt you too. Everyone seems to believe that considering that Atlanta has been blessed with a \"hot\" market, any home will sell in two weeks or much less. I have seen quite nice homes in extremely \"hot\" parts of town sit on the marketplace for months and months. The interest expense for tough money loans can really add up. If you are smart, you will consistently contain an additional 3-6 months of holding expenses for marketing time in your estimates.

There is great dollars to be made in retailing houses, if you do it ideal. Take the time to educate yourself and above all be realistic. Then you will be on your way to a effective (and happy) career in retailing.