Spring 2000

Finally...She Is Going Home

Dottie Berg lives in a townhouse, but anxiously wants to move back into her family’s one and a half story Cape Cod where she had grown up in Perry Hall. (It is one and a HALF because her father had to create an attic bedroom for her brother when she was born.)

When she looked at the house more closely, however, she realized it needed some serious work and decided to see how much it would cost to turn it into her “dream” home. So, in May, 1999, she called several contractors and received estimates on the cost of the renovations. She was not interested in hiring any of the contractors for various reasons.

Then she saw an article about HBF Architects. It occurred to her that maybe she needed to have things more tangible before even considering the contractor. So she called HBF and made an appointment for July. HBF Architects listened to her ideas, drew plans, and then recommended three contractors. Dottie met with all three, but says there was “no contest.”

Bill Rauser, president of Rauser Professional Contracting, walked in with a portfolio of completed projects, information on the company, and written references. Then to top it all off, he “spoke her language.” They walked through her home; he listened to what she wanted and made suggestions along the way. The teamwork had begun.

When Rauser left, she understood where she stood with this contractor and she felt hope for the first time since she had started this project. Additionally, because Rauser had come prepared, it was easy to make phone calls to check references. “All the legwork had already been done for me and the references just reinforced my decision,” she said.

In addition to feeling like she and Rauser were on the same page with her project, a big plus to Dottie was the fact that there would be only one crew involved with her job. This made Dottie feel more at home with them because she got to know them all. She said the men were all extremely knowledgeable, personable and approachable.

Dottie also found Rauser Professional Contracting very flexible. For instance, they agreed to work with a flooring person she had selected, and they did not fuss over her doing some work on the house herself. (Most contractors usually prefer to work with their own people and are not always so accommodating.)

By now, you’re likely wondering what the work involved. Dottie wanted to expand the little Cape Cod and make it more modern in appearance. One step was to change the outside to “Dutch Lap” vinyl siding over rigid insulation. She asked that they expand the kitchen by creating a first floor addition with a cathedral ceiling, add a deck and covered porch, and rework the entire attic into a master suite by adding dormers to both front and back.  And a gorgeous bathroom with a whirlpool bath was constructed. Dottie can’t wait to get into that bath!

To accomplish this much work, Rauser’s estimate was three, possibly four months worth of work at a cost of $87,500. They started in mid-November of 1999 and finished up the last week in February. They had delivered as promised, including a number of changes.

Dottie added lattice work to the bottom of the deck. She also thought they should hide her outside propane tank with some type of enclosure. She also wanted a porch roof that would be more solid than the awning over her existing side entrance. Her final change came when Rauser was planning on matching the dormer shingles to the shingles on the rest of the roof. She decided to just redo the entire roof.

As you can imagine, these changes did raise the price of the contract work to more than $90,000, but Dottie felt that it was “well worth it.” In addition to the timely completion of work and the willing accommodation of changes, Dottie felt that both the crew and subcontractors were an integral part of her satisfaction.

Anyone want a townhouse? Hers is for sale. She now has a home.

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