Like the big guys, we give our workers colorful custom coffee mugs …
… Just not ours.
Fancy mugs cost money — money that we can use instead to keep our prices low and our work affordable. We stay away from the frills — company t-shirts, monogrammed jackets, colorful billboards, fancy showrooms — they're just not us, not our style, not the way we do things.
Which is why, in our very unfancy over-the-warehouse offices in Lincoln, Nebraska you will see stacks of beautiful, colorful, monogrammed coffee mugs — not a single one of them ours.
We much prefer to put our money into our work.
And, we do it for less money than the Big Guys — you know, the ones with the fancy mugs — about 20% less on average.
Our reputation for excellence, affordable workmanship and on-time, on-budget completion is second to none.
We have been on the Honor Roll of businesses accredited by the
Better Business Bureau since the program began and rated A+ for as long as we have been in business.
We take being professional very seriously.
Our Website
We're a little different. Even our website is different.
We don't just tell you a little about ourselves and show you a gallery of pretty pictures of our work along with glowing comments from past customers.
This site is big. Very big, over 100 in-depth articles written by actual carpenters, plumbers, electricians, plasterers, etc. We tell you how we do it, and why.
We explain everything from how to chose a lifetime faucet, to the elements of effective kitchen and bath design, to tricks for building a fabulous, inexpensive wood deck that needs almost no maintenance, to how to make your old windows as energy efficient as new windows, and much, much more.
If it's got something to do with design or remodeling, we have probably written about it.
It's intended to be informative not just about us, but about our trade.
We would like you to know (almost) as much about design-build remodeling as we do so you can be an effective partner in any remodeling project we work on together. After all, it's your kitchen, bath, deck, or home office, not ours, so the more you know the better decisions you'll make, and the more you will like the result.
So, we hope you will read as many of our articles as you need to become the reigning remodeling guru in your neighborhood. It helps us and it helps you if you learn as much as you can.
To get started, peruse our
Index to Articles to discover the wealth of information available.
When you're done reading, give us a call. Whatever your remodeling plans, big, small or somewhere in between, we can help you design them and build them so they fit your old house as well as your budget.
The Old House Specialists
We love old houses, and it shows in our work. We respect the craftsmanship and painstaking detail,
the fine moldings and woodwork, and the hand-made doors and windows.
Old houses are a big part of our national heritage — representing whole historical eras and a truly massive investment in energy and resources much too precious to be just thrown away.
An old house is not just shelter. It's a lifestyle set in living history with its own personality, quirks, and foibles. It groans in the winter wind, sighs in the summer sun. It sags a little here and a little more over there, so nothing is ever quite straight or square or perfect.
Unlike the new McMansions and look-alike tract colonials, it has a legacy of character and charm. None of us can imagine living anywhere else — squeaky floors, sticky sashes and all, because with these little quirks come 100-year-old sycamores and lush, mature gardens in neighborhoods where being neighborly is just how things have always been.
Over a good many years we have become the experts at remodeling and updating period kitchens and bathrooms, and even entire houses, while preserving the feel, the style, the old-time craftsmanship, and the spirit of the bygone era n which the house was built.
We can seamlessly incorporate a modern kitchen, bath, or addition into your period home while making it look as though it was always a part of your house.
We are the masters at squeezing the very last measure of functionality out of undersize kitchens and tiny baths, of reorganizing closet storage to hold twice as much in the same space, and of designing additions that look like they were a part of your house from the day it was built.
Our designers can create just the right look and feel for your kitchen or bathroom remodel, and our stylists can help you with colors, materials, and textures suitable for the era of your great old home.
So, whether your home is a classic Victorian, a folksy Craftsman bungalow, or a comfy post-war cottage, we can help you preserve it, enlarge it; modernize, and update it; without sacrificing the very special look and feel that you fell in love with the first day you saw it.
Your Design/Build Partner
We are full-service
design-builders. We do more than just build with a marriage of careful old-time workmanship and the most up-to-date techniques and materials. We can also help you turn your ideas for your home into a blueprint that fits both your needs and your pocketbook.
Design-building is a partnership. You have the ideas, we have the experience, know-how, and technologies required to turn those ideas into a beautiful, livable space.
Our Design Service features the very latest architectural CAD software that allows us to plan your kitchen, bath, or addition and show you in full-color, photo-realistic images what it will look like when it is finished.
You can view it from any angle, get a detailed look at any feature, and examine it from every imaginable perspective.
Why guess? Make sure you love it before we build it.
Construction Management
Our
Construction Management Service relieves you of the burden of supervising and managing a complex building project and places the responsibility and the risk where it ought to be — in the hands of trained and experienced professionals.
Several independent university studies have shown that the coordinated, comprehensive design-build process can save you
up to 40% over the conventional construction process.
We have honed our skills over more than forty years of commercial and residential building and remodeling experience. We keep up with the latest techniques, use the most advanced machine tools and the newest
engineered materials.
But we are also intimately familiar with fine hardwoods and the old
hand-crafting tools: frame saws, scratch beads, spokeshaves, jack planes, riving blades, and molders. We can produce any look from the most high-tech ultra-modern home office to an exact copy of great-grandma's armoire.
Our craftsmanship and experience ensure that when we're done, it will be as you imagined it could be.
And we stand behind our work, not with the industry average one-year warranty, but for a a lifetime on cabinets and furnishings and for a full three years on everything else.
Contact Us and Let's Get Started
So please enjoy our website. We have tried to make it as interesting and informative as possible. It contains a wealth of information for the novice remodeler as well as the savvy veteran, including a growing number of original
remodeling articles written by our seasoned remodeling professionals that we believe will help you design and plan your new
kitchen,
bath, or
addition.
We have no sales manager, we have no sales-persons. Anyone you talk to in our company is a hands-on, veteran construction professional with many years of experience who will be happy to work with you to make your remodeling dream come true.
So, if you are thinking about remodeling or just have some questions,
contact us. We'd love to tell you more about our work over a cup of pretty good coffee.
Just don't expect a fancy mug.
Please visit these excellent sites for more fine craftsmanship and useful information.
Sand Creek Post & Beam is North America's premier provider of authentic, post & beam building kits. Whether your need is for a new home, horse barn, garage, workshop or even a gambrel, discover how Sand Creek Post & Beam can help you complete your dream.
Designed and manufactured by SpencerWorks™ in our hometown, Lincoln, Nebraska, the All-Season Hanging Window combines old-world craftsmanship with the concealed convenience of a modern storm window. Restore the authentic look and beauty of your home without sacrificing functionality.
Lancaster Conservatories offers do-it-yourself or professionally installed wood and glass, historically accurate conservatories, sunrooms, and greenhouses for about the same price as those rickety aluminum monstrosities that disfigure many backyard landscapes. Many Conservatory and Sunroom Pictures, plans, and designs are available throughout this site. Almost any design can be built in kit form, complete with plans and instructions, for installation by your local contractor.
Tom Stangeland and his small group of craftsmen have been building award-winning fine furniture in the Arts & Crafts tradition for the past 25 years. Inspired by Greene & Greene, the furniture is built from the finest materials with impeccable craftsmanship. Everything is built by hand in Seattle, WA.
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