So much is usually obvious by a simple check on the bank account. The abundance or lack of cash determines so much immediate information, a deeper study can seem almost unnecessary, yet a treasure chest of information is available just below the surface of numbers that can totally change the game.

A check-in with your gut also provides an accurate measure of how things are going.  If all is well, a smile is easy and sleep comes naturally.  A chronic tightness in the belly indicates a need for change.

       These apparent benchmarks lead the way to creating a better business for ourselves, but can really slip out of our focus as daily details require our attention.  The formal process of writing a business plan forces us to articulate the impressions that guide our decisions.

As long as ideas remain obscure visions and intuitive dreams float in our minds, they can influence our projects, but have to fight with other forces and fears to constantly impact the bottom line.  The exercise of a written document not only creates clarity, but communicates ideas and cements hopes into action.

The effort to transcribe the vision into a reality of details can be daunting.  Knowing where to start and how much to articulate can easily disintegrate into reams of crumpled paper.  Like just about everything else, the process becomes manageable by breaking it down into simple steps.

Who You Are

Begin with the very basics.  Name the names and describe the positions of the organization.  Account for backgrounds in education and training.

The “who” involved defines many other aspects of the business and the rest means nothing without these people making it happen.  Focus on the details of what makes each person important.

If working by yourself, characterize the many roles as if they are played by others.  The process of dividing your duties into many compartments reveals that it is a complicated job, involving many areas of expertise.

What You Do

          An accurate description of the type of work creates an important and insightful definition.  Commercial and residential divisions and the differences between new construction and remodeling are headliner delineations.

Behind these are myriad clues about how the business operates that can provide answers to the formation of a better plan.  Paying attention to the type of client can determine where advertising dollars are best spent.

Where You Do It

Even if the bulk of your work is performed at a client’s property, being based in an office or warehouse or working out of the home makes a very different impression.  Image is not absolutely everything, but it counts for a lot.

As long as the work is satisfactory, some clients won’t care while others want the prestige of an upscale address. A clear look into the corners of the operation will help prioritize the need for space or wheels.

When You Do It

Writing down the process of creating your product reveals a lot about efficiency and methods.  When step-by-step methods are studied, there are no shortages of questions and ideas that appear.

In words, the description of action forces a hard look and invisible details leap to the forefront. Different tools come to mind.  An alternative sequence of events surfaces. New ideas are pondered, evaluated, tested and eventually tried or tossed by virtue of the process.

Why You Do It

       Most importantly, to be successful, we must keep the vision of our motivations close to our heart and in plain sight of all around us.  The mission statement of a business plan is often the shortest but most powerful point.

The company that is just out for profit and ruled by money will get what it deserves.  Cash may flow, but they may have to be constantly scrambling for the next client.

The ones who live with the integrity of their mission will attract clients who become friends and return again and again to utilize the services.

How You Do It

These five “W’s” combine to reveal the “how” of a company.  The process of re-writing your business plan forces questions, definitions and decisions that can transform the year to come.

Taking the time now to study what has been happening in the past will ensure that the future shines brightly.

        Celebrating with family underscores why we work so hard.  Nestled with our sugar plums in front of the fire describes the beauty in our lives which makes everything else worth the struggle.

Settling into winter afterwards can be a stark awakening to cold, dark and terrifying days or a time of fueling fires to burn brightly in the months ahead.  Business thrives on planning and January affords the blessing of plenty of time.

It is likely no coincidence that we associate the end of the year with these shortest days.  The natural rhythm leads us into contemplation just as we close our books on the work that has been done.

The process of tax preparation requires a serious look at the finances, but also provides the chance to inspect all systems and procedures.  Probing deeply can ensure that the coming year tips the balance in flavors of more success.

    Of course, it is all about making money.  The most obvious points of profit and loss are glaringly apparent and therefore potentially swept aside easily.  When the answer seems so clear, the deeper questions are often never asked.

If the coffers are loaded, the temptation is to take well-earned slaps on the back, a healthy bonus and a memorable vacation to a warm climate.  When all seems to be working so well, there can appear to be no need to fix anything but the slightest detail.

An empty account requires hard questions and serious resolutions, often providing more stress than can find any answer.  Instead of celebration, the holidays may be spent with a clenched heart in panic.  Perhaps it feels like the brink of disaster, a looming confrontation that might force closing down the dream and accepting a bitter reality, a prospect too painful to consider.

In either case and in every one between, it is important to take the time to evaluate from all angles.  The math is often self-explanatory, but the heart must be involved.  The balance sheet should not be entirely about the statistics.

Perhaps negative numbers are the stiff price of the calculated risk to expand into a new market.  Slower than planned, it may be part of the pain that almost necessarily comes with growth.

Likewise, the shadow of golden achievements may lie just out of sight of celebration, where confidence brims over and the laurels strewn about look like just so much dirt to the one who has to clean it up.  The hard work should not stop just because expensive vacations are affordable.

Each year is a new year and each day we begin anew.  The next contract can make or break us.  If I have learned nothing else, it is an abiding respect for the resilience of bank accounts and reputations and the relentlessness of Murphy’s Law.

Change is inevitable.

        So in the silence of the phone, let there be a cacophony of measured thoughts in the head.  This is the time to study what has gone right and wrong in the business.  Make use of the advantages to invest in the tools that created them.

Giving your self the room to see is an important part of the process.  The calendar must be cleared to spend time alone in contemplation as well as with partners and advisors to determine the soundness of your judgments and inspirations.

Look straight at the problems and find solutions.  No matter how painful, sweeping them away or covering them over condemns us to repetition until we learn the hard lessons.

While it is tempting to race ahead to more obvious production, these are important hours to make decisions affecting your bottom line with more strength than another nail in a 2 x 4.  The time is precious that is taken to consciously consider the structures of the business, hours just as good as gold.

Congratulations for taking the time to reach out for more information to build yourself a better business.  By educating yourself, learning from the experience of others, you demonstrate a remarkable ability to put tools to use that will grow your business in a healthy, strong way.

With a shortage of new energy growing more evident, there is tremendous opportunity today for those willing to work hard and stay focused on a committed plan to grow a business.  Your determination can pay off with rewards that will benefit not only you and your family, but your clients, workers and the community at large will all gain from your efforts.

Startup

Most construction businesses begin with two guys on a scaffold who see their boss arrive in a fancy pick-up, point a few fingers from a shiny clip-board and go off on exotic vacations.  It looks easy to do, so when asked to do a little work on the side, they jump right in.

Typically, this kind of beginning leads to a seat-of-the-dirty-pants kind of operation that never catches its breath. Money goes out as quickly as it comes and only one contract separates the owner from disaster.

A business plan makes all the difference.  Take the time to envision goals, set them down, consult with friends, family and professional advisors to formulate a realistic version on paper that you can follow to the success you want. A mission statement focuses the idea into a solid anchoring platform from which all else can grow.

To Market, To Market

From the vision of your plan, create the brand that will represent your dream.  Design a logo, a single image that can be on stationary, signage and all material that will plant in people’s minds the idea of exactly what you do.

The brand will expose yourself to the kind of clients you want in your portfolio and attract their interest.  The idea is to bring them towards you, asking for your services.  Create an image so strong, that customers are on a waiting list for the opportunity to brag to their neighbors that you worked on their home.

Today’s market requires a website.  As your main feature, complicated or simple, expensive or adapted from a template, the look and feel represents the quality of your business and should not be compromised.  It is far better to have a simple page and be present on the internet than to wait to be able to afford the services of a professional marketing guru.

Paid advertising in local newspapers and the Yellow pages are still an important way to reach more prospects and establish a professional commitment to your business. There are also free opportunities by publicizing your activities through press releases, submitting your work to award programs and sponsoring baseball teams.

Joining associations establishes credibility.  The Home Builders and NARI are obvious choices, but the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and other community networks will introduce you to people who will eventually want work on their homes.

Selling the Concept

From the initial contact by phone or email to a signed contract, all steps must be professional and designed to guide the prospect down the path.  An appointment leads to an estimate, a proposal leads to a deposit.

Systems should be in place to make decisions easy.  An intake form ensures all the current information to be prepared for the first site visit.  Showing up on time with a camera, portfolio and calm demeanor demonstrates expertise and commitment.  A detailed document that clearly defines the scope of work and specifies options will secure a deposit.

Prepare for Production

By having systems in place and taking the time to arrange the details before digging in or tearing away, the job ultimately goes more smoothly and has a better chance of being profitable.  A few hours of paper work to ensure special orders are placed and sub-contractors are in the loop saves days of repairs and re-scheduling.

The actual construction of the project can be the easiest part when everything has been considered and there are measurements and calculations along the way to adjust the details.  With a solid plan, the crew installs and refines the materials efficiently and in the right places.  Regular client meetings to evaluate progress and collect payments reduce stressful phone calls and minimize miscommunications.

On a well-planned and executed project, the punchlist should be completed at the end of a day and the satisfied homeowners will hand over a check with a smile of regret that they won’t be seeing you around as much.  Evaluate the work to make sure enough profit was made and discover the ways it could have been more.  Stay in contact with yearly reminders on the anniversary so when they will need more work, you are the friend they will call.

Administer the Paperwork

Whether in an office or a room at home, create the space to manage the business and close the door at the end of the day.  A successful business generates and manipulates a wealth of information to create the profit.  Not just the dollars in and out, but every detail must be accounted for and tracking systems keep it all under control.

As volume increases, systems expand and adapt, but the basic flow is always the same.  Bills must be created and paid.  Employees come and go.  Schedules maintain the order of progress and reports inform the participants.  Without clarity, the vital information is lost and problems fester until they become life-threatening.

Play in the Sandbox

Ultimately, the business is just business and one should never lose sight of the things that are most important in life.  Most problems can wait and might even benefit from being set aside while children grow up and are gone faster than it takes to renovate a life to do it differently.  Attention to the business will falter if the support of family is failing, a two way exchange that should always be caressed. Bring home flowers as well as the food that goes on the table.

A strong place in community through schools, marathons, and local purchases not only establishes friendships, but likely leads to a solid and loyal client base.  While the construction business is a focused effort on the most basic need for shelter, we are more successful for being balanced in all our needs, most especially the spirit that reminds us of why we are here.

Out to Pasture

The work is all about creating security, but no matter how tight the budget appears, there should be investments made for growth and savings set aside for even harder times.  For the business to be an anchor, we must maintain the ship that carries it.  Keep yourself in good shape, remain vigilant and optimistic.  The future is not determined but hard work makes it so.

From the beginning, it helps to have a plan for the future, including the one that decides if the doors will close or the keys pass to a new generation when it is time to retire.  With solid planning, determination to do your best, fortitude to weather the hardships and the willingness to sacrifice short gains for long reward, years of satisfaction and enjoyment of the hard work are self-assured.

Tweet

During the courting period and initial stages of projects, everyone is on their best behavior and words, far more than actions, are setting the tone. Purposes are aligned and the satisfactory completion of the project is beautifully envisioned.

When problems arise, however, the true strength of the relationship is tested, bending and relaxing under the stress or suddenly snapped by the weight of unforeseen pressure. A well-written contract can provide the support and recourse to keep negotiations and ultimately the project itself on track.

Like a pre-nuptial agreement, many people–especially hearing that it will only be a day or two, in and out, for sure–waive the formality. The implication of distrust may create animosity and feel like an insult to integrity, but a professional with experience understands the legal binder protects the contractor as much as the homeowner. There are as many nightmarish clients as bad builders.

The size of the job can determine the complication of the document, but for any project, the basic agreements should always be in place and well-stated. Similar to the journalistic rules of a first paragraph, the who, what, where, when and often the how should be clear in every contract. Most importantly are the clauses relating to “how much and when”.

Smaller jobs can be a one page proposal with space for signatures to accept the terms. The vitals are still necessary, even if stated as casually as “replace the kitchen sink” at an hourly rate of “X” plus the cost of materials (with a mark-up). The proof can be in the process as long as the outcome threatens not to break either bank or back.

In my own business, the division came at about $1,500, more than a week’s worth of work, or involving several distinctive components. A mid-size contract with more detailed specifications naming the type of door, quantity of siding and allowances for choices that could be open-ended ensures the two-headed purpose of protection and flexibility.

The larger projects invite multi-page, multi-tiered documents covering the basics, coloring the details, connecting the schedule of payments with performance, and carefully delineating ways to separate should that become necessary. Room for change is still important, even as details are crossed and contingencies dotted.

Architects and lawyers often advocate a standard contract which is easily available through the AIA. While it provides valuable clarity in commercial situations without a lot of expensive negotiations, home owners can be overwhelmed by inappropriate clauses and the builder too constrained by the stringent definitions. Simple is better and a contractor with enough experience to do the job should be able to produce a tried and true document off his word processor.

With a contract so specific, the temptation is to name a hard, fast and intractable dollar amount, but all of my experience–given a strong sense of mutual trust combined with a good estimate and specifications–an agreement based on actual cost is the fairest to all concerned. With clear parameters, solid budgets and honest communication, time and material contracts work very well.

Regardless of the best made and laid plans, things change and room must be made for Mr. Murphy to show an ugly face. Allowances and change orders are important parts of any agreement and coverage must be in place in case disaster leaks through a roof, spills out of a can or is short-circuited by a wire that should have been there, or worse, should not have.

Once a wall is framed, the view might invite a window that was not originally figured into the job. While the temptation and urgency of the schedule might dictate a quick decision to proceed and figure out the cost later, postponement of the cost implications can have serious repercussions burning a deep hole in the pocket of the builder or a terrible sticker shock long after the fact.

Regardless of size, a written contract is the best tool to ensure a project goes smoothly with as few negative incidents as the law of averages guarantee will happen. The comfort and ease with which one is negotiated will often be an indication of how well the parties will work together throughout the adventure.

Tweet

Powered by WP Email Capture

A fixed price or lump sum contract is when the builder estimates all costs, allows for contingencies and marks up for profit, presenting a bottom line to the owner. If actual costs are below the estimates, he wins; if overages occur, the problem falls on the builder. There is no going back to cry, “Ooops!”

A time and material contract, also known as cost plus or T&M, arranges reimbursement to the builder for every invoice with a little extra percentage for the trouble and warranty. It costs what it costs and the risk for the owner at the beginning feels like a potentially whopping blank check and the reputation of being a fool.

Of course, there are variations in between these two options and no single version works for every client, builder and circumstance. Once again, the answer boils down to the matter of trust and the comfort zone of risk each party is willing to hold.

             Fixed price contracts are every home owner’s first choice. When we go to the store to buy a shirt, we look at the price tag attached and pay it without negotiation or concern for how much each of the buttons, fabric and thread might have cost individually.

Often the initial phone call to a builder includes the desire for a square foot price (the average total cost divided by the square footage of the area affected) which is really an inaccurate measure for a remodel, considering the size, scope and complications have no average. At the end of the first look interview, after numerous ideas have been bantered around with no clear decision, the potential client inevitably asks for a ballpark figure (“I won’t hold you to it,” they promise), a wild guess that either sets the bar at a ridiculously low number against which all is measured or whacks the builder right out of the game entirely.

After careful consideration, the fixed price contract defines the size of the field, all the rules and players, even declaring the home owner a winner while the builder never knows until the dust has settled and the green grass is grown in how well he has done. Settled on the price, the owners can go on to deal with the physical stress of disruption and door knob decisions, well-prepared to have checks ready according to the schedule in the contract. Relieved from most painful surprises beyond inconvenience, the job gets done and they transfer the funds.

The builder also enjoys the benefits of planning and if all goes well, packs up tools with a tidy smile and a thicker wallet. A clear payment schedule and description of scope, defined allowances and method for change orders, and the orderly completion of tasks creates an equally seamless flow that turns each large check into countless smaller checks good to their subs 30 or 60 days later, or to employees that very same Friday. Everything lines up and everyone is happy.

The problem in a fixed price contract arises when Mr. Murphy appears to blow the best laid plans away. A simple, but large line in the estimate might have been miscalculated (computers can do that, ha-ha) or misplaced entirely. Bricks instead of wood might be hidden unconventionally inside the wall. The customers may be so convinced they said “blue”, it is better to paint the room over than to argue the point and fail to receive the check that is needed that Friday to bring the plumber back on Monday.

To keep the labor cost under control, certain tasks are inevitably hurried and corners might be cut more quickly, a little more squarely than round. The in-stock sink could be purchased instead of the special-ordered extra (and more expensive) myl of stainless steel, looking just as shiney upon installation, but showing scratches much sooner. The decision to let a bad cut fit or replace the board can more often land on the cheaper side of “close enough.”

Conscientious, well-organized and financially comfortable builders do just as well as the home-owner with fixed price contracts, often better than with the less risky luxury of a cost plus contract. The underlying costs, however, in quality and dollars could eventually add up to far more than fabric, thread and buttons combined.

Tweet

As part of the decision or after deciding on a builder, the next important bullet point is the type of agreement that will set the tone for the relationship throughout the course of the project and possibly far beyond. The consequences are potentially huge and indefinably dynamic.

A fixed price contract is the first most obvious choice for the owner who expects to purchase a remodel like a shirt off the rack. For the agreed price of X dollars, a list of details is established to be completed satisfactorily before payment is issued; no surprises and only negotiated pain. While it is clean and seems risk free, the line in the sawdust, unfortunately, has less obvious drawbacks.

With little room to cope for a surprise behind wall number two or unpredictable conditions of weather and sub schedules, the contractor, no matter how conscientious, may be forced to make compromises to minimize the damaging effects to his own best interest. The fixed price forces a focus on profit over quality that may not be apparent until paint peels or the floor finally squeaks in alarm a few years later.

Conversely, if all goes well, the homeowner ends up paying much more than it actually cost.

Shoulder the Risk

A contract based on the actual cost with a mark-up for the contractor’s efforts may feel like an open wound about to bleed profusely, but with proper bandages applied, often ensures a completed project with a more balanced result. Better than a win-win, the contract that pays for what it actually costs can create a trust between the parties that makes an ordinary project brilliant.

A time and material contract shows every invoice for materials and sub-contracts, adds an agreed upon percentage for the contractor’s risk and warranty, and charges labor at specific rates per hour. Bills are presented weekly or twice monthly and due immediately, providing full transparency and continuous opportunity to re-evaluate the relationship at each juncture.

In this version, an honest relationship is critical and attention to detail ensures a good outcome. The builder makes every decision on quality first and cost second while the owners are able to tweak the design without constant stressful and time-consuming re-negotiations.

Assuming there is not the luxury of an unlimited budget, the builder is not forced into the position of always saying “no” to changes or having to seem like a “nickle and dimer” having to revisit the contract at every new idea. It is important, however, to regularly update owners on the effects of apparently small changes that can actually change the bottom line significantly.

Trust the Process

The most important concern in a time and material contract for the owner is that the labor cost will be out of control. Owners can be quickly consumed by the minutia of pennies and lose sight of the dollars saved by efficient planning. Animosity can brew while the carpenter whistles merrily along.

It is easy to be swept up in a day of counting coffee breaks and judging production on the basis of over-heard conversations. Idle stances may disguise industrious calculations and a casual huddle may not show the hours saved in scaffold building afterward. After two days of absence, the quality of doors painted in a dust free environment is missed in the lack of apparent activity.

Accountability & Communication

With today’s software and text messaging standards, there is no reason to leave customers or builders in the dark as the process evolves and questions arise. Fears can be quickly and easily laid out for solutions.

Programs like Quickbooks, the industry standard, can easily tabulate every nail and hour on or off the site. Microsoft Project and other CPM software present a schedule and chart the deviations and delays. A spreadsheet comparing the estimate to the actual costs with projections to finish can keep anxiety under control.

Ultimately, the kitchen table still reigns supreme at the end of the day where a cup of coffee or cold beer keeps the conversation human and on task, focused on the facts. The ability to speak openly as partners on the project makes all the difference to the quality as egos and ownership are dormant and the goals are aligned to make it the very best it can be.

Tweet

Contracts are fear based and only necessary as a resource to cover the contingencies for when and if something goes wrong. If all the smiles and good feelings could last as the work was completed, there would be no need beyond the handshake, but in remodeling especially, surprises do occur and disagreements almost always happen.

Tough Questions

The bottom line is that owners have a budget stretched to the max and enter the project terrified it will still cost more…a whole lot more. Quality is also important. They do not want dust in their lives any longer than necessary and they want to know the builder will be around to fix any problem.

The builder wants to be paid on time and fairly. Period.

A contract that meets these issues is the mutual goal. The type of contract finally signed gets the project started, but more than the ground rules, the agreement subtly establishes the kind of relationship going forward. Like love, we enter full of hope and the best assumptions and are usually at least willing to consider divorce somewhere along the way.

Plan A, B and All of the Above

For a fixed price, the builder takes all the financial risk and races to completion with fingers crossed. In a cost-plus contract, hands need to be held: reassurance is as necessary as the broom at the end of the day.

A fixed price contract full of allowances or a cost plus agreement with a cap on specified areas are both ways to align what often seem like opposing needs between the home owners and builder.

Selected Items

Novice contractors can often be caught estimating a standard grade toilet and have to mask their surprise later or risk ill-will when the client finds the second most expensive choice in the catalogue. A 2×4 is a 2×4, but so many features in a remodel are not generic. The difference between painted and stained trim, for example, is a huge expense to swallow if it was not clearly defined in the price tag.

Identifying the variables that require choice and naming a specific dollar amount–even if open-ended–grants the owner the satisfaction that the change is in their control. Color choices, siding type, fixtures and doorknobs are all important and oh so subjective points of distinction where clarity makes all the difference. Eliminating obvious surprises makes the rest less painful.

With no victim, no one is hurt.

Not to Exceed

Placing a cap on costs while still operating with the flexibility provided by a Cost Plus contract is a solution from the other direction. Arms and legs are not threatened when limits are placed either at the top or on quantifiable areas.

To alleviate concerns about gauging and motivate profit incentives, the difference between the actual cost and limit can be divided between the owner and builder. Bonuses can be placed on timelines to ensure efficiency.

Some aspects like the roof replacement can be estimated and billed as a line item at a fixed rate while something unknown like reversing a stairway can just be estimated and billed out accordingly. This requires a little more education for the laborers to track their time accurately, but provides peace of mind for all by being transparent and fair.

Attitude Adjustment

Accountability is key. Presenting a bill with labor lumped all together as a single item creates distrust while dividing them by worker and categories makes the owner less inclined to count them from behind the curtain.

The point of a contract is to be fair and clear, to avoid misunderstanding and provide a resource to settle disagreements. A partnership is preferred to an adversarial relationship. The tools are available to make it so that the owners in the end can be comfortable stepping out onto the balcony they just paid so much to have built.

Tweet

The warmth is delivered by moving the heated water through a network of pipes around the house, usually divided into separate zones on each floor. Radiating outwards from the water into the air in each room, the heat is accelerated and amplified by fins in the baseboard or reflectors in the floor. It is a passive, unobtrusive friend.

In older houses, this system is identified by the ornate bulky cast-iron boilers in every room. Homes less than 50 years old have sections of bulky baseboards along the wall, noticeable only as limiting for the placement of furniture.

In the basement, the efficient system sits contained in a small box (size of a filing cabinet) with a well-organized mane of pipes and valves. Often now, the hot water tank for dishes and showers serves as auxiliary to hold water heated by the boiler, no longer a heater by itself.

This system is the most expensive to install and cheapest to maintain, quietly (well, older versions provide the comforting gurgle and knocks moving through) providing an even, warm heat without another thought. Anyone who just wants to go about their day should live with hot water heat.

Baseboards, like grilles of a forced air system, are usually set under windows to offer the strongest defense against the largest loss. A large room requires longer runs, limiting some locations for a sofa or bed. The pipes can remain effective built into a shelf or cabinet unit.

Although the most expensive installation, most people would prefer to run radiant in the floor, especially in a solid slab concrete floor. This requires a web of pipes weaving to cover every square foot of the floor for maximum warmth and effect. The mass becomes warm enough to live in bare feet while winter rages outside, heating from your toes upwards.

Beyond cost, there is no downside to hot water heat. Solid and persistent, this is a heat source that does all the work with little complaint beyond the creaking of expanding pipes. There are no pauses in the day to feel cold or hot; simply set the thermostat and live.

Tweet

Forced air systems are easily recognized in a basement as the network of silvery trunks and pipes converging on a large metal box. The older the unit, the larger the box and the more places to duck underneath. In the rooms upstairs, the system is identified by the simple or decorative grilles in the floor, usually under windows. Typically the grills do not interfere with furniture placement and are a great delight for kids to stand over in bathrobes.

This system, aptly named, makes the cold air hot and pushes it through a duct system, entering each room through the grilles in the floor. Another set of grates, usually in central common areas, returns the cooled air back to the furnace to be heated again. This is an on-demand system: a call for heat delivers immediate satisfaction with a rush of warm air no one could deny. The heat is a comforting embrace, a luxury of warmth.

But in any house, especially a drafty one, the heat soon dissipates. The cold slowly creeps back in. A whirr of motor and a fluff or breeze soon delivers more heat. The body constantly readjusts.

All that movement of air also stirs up and redistributes the dust we wish was not actually there. This could certainly be a problem for allergy sufferers, but additional filters installed within the system provide a strong argument that this system actually cleans the house while heating. As long as they are maintained regularly, a series of filters in the ductwork may actually catch and control a healthy portion of the dust naturally floating around.

Air movement also accentuates the amount of moisture drawn out naturally in the process of heating air. Felt mostly in our dried out nostrils, this is often experienced by an increase of bloody noses. Here too, a humidifier can be added to the system to replace moisture lost in the changes of temperature blown through the house. Humidifiers in various strengths being necessary to balance any form of winter heat, this system may actually hold the advantage, being directly applied internally and requiring no oversight.

While these drawbacks make people avoid furnaces, each problem has a solution that actually improves it overall. Forced air is less expensive to install (about $6,000) and costs about the same to run relative to natural gas, LP, or oil. No system satisfies our need for heat more quickly and the fluctuations may be controlled by well-placed thermostats. The vicious claws of winter are well-tamed with a forced-air system.

Tweet

Fireplaces satisfy that basic urge to bring the flame into the home, creating the direct warmth on the face and the extended, rubbing hands around a campfire feel. The mantle provides a place for stockings with care, and a visual focus for the artwork of the Home. During a gathering of friends, the ambient flame welcomes guests to feel safe.

While it satisfies a basic psychological urge, unfortunately, in addition to being dangerous when not-maintained properly, the fireplace is not able to offer much heat into the room, spitefully pushing it up the chimney instead. Even worse, it sucks already conditioned air from every nook and cranny throughout the house, causing drafts and discomfort.

Woodstoves are a great compromise to the nearly-hands-on afficianados, providing much of the ambiance of an open flame, but turbo-charged to provide serious heat. No other source can match the saturating blanket of warmth, the embracing feel of entering a room toasty and sizzling.

The word “cozy” is perhaps best defined by an evening heated by a woodstove. As darkness descends and winter cold creeps in, the appliance becomes the center of life. The warmer you want to be, the closer you get. Children play on the floor in front of it. Animals sleep practically under it. Mittens dry on hooks behind it. The sizzle and crackle is as soothing as classical music.

Cheaper to install ($2-3000 plus labor), and one third the cost to run, wood heat is a great alternative for the energy conscious, but requires a year round commitment not suitable for the feint-at-heart. No matter how comfy the sound, heat by woodstove takes constant attention, and armfuls of work.

The adage is absolutely correct that woodstoves heat you twice: once when you burn, and once collecting the wood. As winter ends, the real work begins to secure and cure enough cords (typically 3-5 at $150 each) by late Fall. The stack must remain dry and close enough to be easily hauled inside. The chips of bark and dust fall where they may, littering the pathway, and just when you are really settled down and comfortable, it demands another log.

Efficient designs allow for stoves to burn all night, but like feeding a pet, there is a problem for those who spend the Holidays away. Additionally, the amount of heat enjoyed is directly proportional to the proximity to the stove, so the far reaches of a home tend to remain chilly and comparatively uncomfortable.

While a great solution for someone concerned with economics and a greener lifestyle, in cold climates the drawback of a woodstove is that it requires the support of another system to ensure that pipes are never frozen. Discussion of these will follow in future entries.

Tweet