John and Ann Nelson bought their first home in an affordable small town. It’s a fixer-upper, but that didn’t stop them from purchasing this 1930s, two-story with bay windows and original architectural details. Unfortunately, the house needs a lot of work: electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and lots of other cosmetic details.
John and Ann start by looking for a contractor to give them a realistic estimate of the total cost of their home remodel. Being savvy with the Internet, they run a Google® search for local contractors. No luck. So they search for other professionals, thinking that if they find someone, they’ll be able to recommend a general contractor. Strike two. They decide to run a search on their small town, hoping there is a website with a list of local businesses. Strike three.
Frustrated, they go to their neighbor to borrow a custom cabinets orange county phonebook. The Nelson’s don’t have a phonebook because they use their cell phones. They do find a contractor and the process starts.
Ann is still very annoyed by this point. Who doesn’t have a website? Surely, since this is the 21st century, businesses are online. Consumers turn to the Internet to find products and services. It just makes sense to have a website.
The Nelsons have now completed their home remodel without the aid of an online resource to help them through the process. They have notes and contact information from a variety of professionals that were either contacted about working on their home, or that actually completed the work.
And now, as she’s enjoying her new sitting room, Ann has an epiphany.
She’s going to find a free website offer so she can create a place online that provides the information she’s collected for other homeowners who may also benefit from a regionally based online resource.
What? No Website?
If there isn’t a website already out there, why not create one dedicated to help those undertaking home renovations in your town-similar to the website Ann Nelson is creating?
If you are starting to remodel your home and there isn’t an online resource for your area, start taking notes and build a free, easy website so that someone in your position will have the resources available to them later. You already have lots of valuable content about making a budget, talking to contractors, architects, and other laborers to get the job done. All you have to do is create a free website using one of those online programs you keep seeing, so you can share this abundance of advice with others.
Doing Your Homework
How do you get started? You can run a search. You’ll see that there are so many different “free website” offers. How do you differentiate between each one? Start by making a list with each of the following categories: