Milton Grew's Discussions

GREW DESIGN, INC.241 Main St South, Woodbury, CT 06798Tel 203-263-0292www.GrewDesign.comEmail: GDI_information@GrewDesign.comWe are a small architectural firm specializing in residential design from new homes to remodels and additions.Our affiliated company Grew Construction, LLC can build what we design.For residential work we serve all of Connecticut, Eastern NY, and Western MA.

As an architect and building codes expert, too often I am confronted by situations where homebuyers, their real estate agents, or their attorneys have not performed adequate due diligence and leave them with what can be an expensive problem not of their making.My first example involves a young couple who made an offer on a 40 year old house here in a Connecticut city. The real estate agent representing them was alert enough to check city records and find that a two-story addition that had been built 30 years ago had never been inspected by the building department and never had a certificate of occupancy. I am called upon to identify code violations and what it will take in corrective work so that it will pass inspection and get a certificate of occupancy. There were significant structural and weather protection issues which would cost about $20,000 in repairs. The buyers wound up having to pay half, an additional $10,000 above their contract price. They had no choice if they wanted to get a mortgage.The second example I have concerns a house in an affluent town in Connecticut. We designed an exterior makeover to give the house a more unified and traditional style. The project did not involve additions or any structural work. This should be easy to get a zoning permit for, shouldn't it? The couple I worked for owned the house for 15 years. What do you think I found when we went to the zoning office to apply for what should have been a simple permit? There is an open zoning permit for the tennis court 31 years ago, open permit for substantial additions 30 years ago, and open permit for the sunroom 20 years ago. Where were the real estate agents and lawyers when this house was sold to my clients?

If you are using a small propane tank just for the fireplace or a couple of appliances you will probably find you are paying a very high cost, so propane fireplaces are not always economical or beneficial ways to add heat to a space. We have used them in remodeling or finished basements and they do add greatly to comfort and enjoyment of the space but I would not tell my clients there is a cost benefit using the fireplace to heat the space or the rest of the house.

A friend of mine who is a social media consultant has posted on his blog how he successfully sold his own house in only 50 hours using social media. Check it out here:http://www.sayitcommunity.com/Home/59