You have a portion of your home that you're dying
to renovate, but you don't have the money to
do it. Well, we've all been there but
there might be another way. Calvin and Chris Lamont
host the HGTV Show. Buy it or build it
. And they're joining me now to teach us how
to renovate on a budget guys. Thanks for joining
. I think they're remote. Hi. Ok.
So, first up, I know you were named
instructors for American Standards. Home owning. 01.
What does every homeowner need to know? Well,
Chris, thank you for having us. I'm Calvin
Lamont. We're twins. So I'll say my name
first and it was a, it was an honor
being, um, one of the, the,
um, teachers, I would say instructors on American
standards. Home owning 01, this year and every
homeowner needs to know how to maintain their home so
they can keep their value and not run into real
high cost repairs. Ok. That's great advice.
Let's, well, I'm just wondering, Chris,
I want to bring you into the conversation as well
. What are some ways that homeowners can save on
renovations? Well, some ways you can save more
renovations. Number one is doing some items that yourself
, if you're doing, doing the demolition, taking
items down, clearing everything out, believe it or
not, that can save you thousands of dollars in
the beginning of a, of a renovation. Now
, when it comes to renovating, are there projects
that people can do on their own? Calvin Kristen
. Good question. An important question. I say
the things that a homeowner can do on their own
are things that aren't really too dangerous to the homeowners
or the occupants. So, changing hardware um on
your cabinets, on your doors, um changing hinges
, painting, um things like that are good ways
to increase some value, give a fresh look,
but also keep everyone safe. Ok. So Chris
safety is a factor here as Calvin mentioned, when
should professionals actually be hired to do the work?
I always say when it's those main four trades,
electrical plumbing HV AC and also like roofing. And
so those are the three, those are the four
things that you really wanna have, the professionals do
. Uh roofing because obviously water damage is one of
the main reasons why uh people and homeowners have to
use their insurance today and also electrical plumbing in the
AC ac are very, very important units in your
home and you want to make sure the professionals who
take thousands of hours of training to do it,
let them do that work. Yeah, it sounds
a little a bit dangerous to be climbing on a
roof. Uh Maybe yourself, if you don't have
that experience, Calvin, what was the biggest lesson
that you learned while renovating? Well, Chris and
I have renovated hundreds of homes over the years,
built new homes and renovated homes. We learn to
slow down his feet up and look at the main
heartbeat of the house first. So you don't have
to go backwards um and repair things. So if
that's um making sure that your air conditioning and H
VAC work, you see. No, you know
, my brother and I are partnered with the American
standard and making sure that your furnace isn't over 20
years old. Um Things like making sure your electrical
panel is up to date because when you're doing renovations
, you wanna make sure that you have the,
the um you know, you have all the ampage
, you needed to be able to run all your
electrical refrigerator, your new furnace and everything you're going
to put into your house. Um And so,
so things like that, um I really believe important
. Yeah, obviously buying a home is a major
investment and one that does need a tender loving care
throughout the journey, Chris, what are some ways
that people can best care for their investments, best
care, the best ways to care for your investments
in your new home. As you can see,
I just moved to my new home as well.
So I'm doing the same thing everyone else is doing
, making sure I find, get all my warranties
set up and ready to go every single month or
quarter. If it's your HV AC system, uh
, depending on what unit you have. Um,
I have an American standard so basically I only have
to check every 3 to 6 months my filter but
, and I don't have to change mine, but
in any other unit, every month, check your
filters, change your items. Also make sure that
you're checking for your, your knobs are always on
tight, you know, keep the house clean.
Those are the ways you'll definitely be able to keep
that investment a lot longer. Ok. Good Calvin
. We all know housing prices are steep, right
? You add on top of that high mortgage rates
and it is expensive affordability is a factor for anyone
who does want to own a home. What's the
best way to go about looking at properties? Do
you think a fixer up is the way to go
? Um, good Christian Christian right now, when
interest, interest rates are higher, home prices are
still steep, like you said, um, a
fixer upper is a great way to find a home
in an area that, that you may want to
live in, but it's not at the highest of
standard now. So that's where the value and the
quality can come in. If you can do a
quality remodel, you can really find some value in
that home and now you have some equity in your
home and you can save some money, um,
on the front end. So finding a fixer upper
is a good way to have equity in your home
after you're done. Um, so I really think
that's a good route to go buying a new house
, um, is a great way to go with
the warranties and not have to, to do other
things with it, to fix it up. But
most of your equity will be, will be a
little smaller in the beginning. Um If you buy
a new home rather than I like it. Ok
, Chris, you get the last word, any
final tips or tricks to share with our viewers when
it comes to home owning, uh when it comes
to home owning or starting, let's say starting a
new renovation, that's what we're talking about right now
. Let's make sure that everything that are the major
items are done first because you can always say put
lipstick on a pig. But if you just finish
the new walls and change your, uh, your
cabinets and do items like that without checking your electrical
without checking the HV AC or the plumbing areas,
then you're, you're bound for a problem later and
you gotta do it all over again. So I
would say check out those major albums for your home
. If everything is ready to go start renovating,
do some work yourself, but leave the hard stuff
to the professionals. All right guys, great advice
for renovating a home at Calvin and Chris Lamont.
We appreciate it.