All Forum Posts by: Steven Maduro

this is a bathroom that I am doing

I had a cabinet customed designed to fit the ejector pump opening. I could have put in some little bi fold door. and it would have been cheaper.  I paid 800 for the cabinet. that is installation and building.   I designed ths cabinet myself and the carpenter just followed my drawings.

the middle draw is for throwing trash the bottom draw can house the waste paper basket

the upper draw is for shampoos soaps and other small storage items. 

so now instead of my tenants guest asking what is that pipe thingy in your bathroom?

they may say wow that's a nice cabinet?  I never saw something like that before?

its the gift that keeps on giving.

remember no one is saying spend the most money that you can

My path and approach is finding the items for less 

So I may opt to find a seller of goose neck faucets for 50 dollars more than a builder grade faucet 

Even through the regular price of the gooseneck may be 300 I find it for 80

Or I chose laminate flooring 

It offers a nice look that I can run throughout the house

Saving extra board for repairs down the line

I don't have to pay for carpet cleaning and so far my floors have stood up 

I paid 700 to do two apartments and now four years later I only had to replace two boards

It's about having the commitment and desire to do more for your customer and still maintain sustainability and growth 

Isn't that what good businesses do?

Apparently I stumbled upon an old idea yet seldom taught in business schools 

The concept is called value minimization

The idea is simple leave some value in the product for the customer

Thus reducing your profit margin 

But going for long term customer satisfaction

I am now four years into this plan and I cannot complain

I always seem to have good leverage 

Good customer interactions

And I haven't had anything trashed or broken

Have I had an eviction or two yes

But my places have always been rented within 3-4 days of me listing the apartment so my vacancies have been much reduced 

Repairs have been minimal

Usually just a coat of paint 

Or a self imposed upgrade having nothing to do with a tenant damaging anything

So my update is that 

I have very rapid turnover

I get to select better tenants

Tenants are appreciative of what they are getting in return for their dollar

The money spent was easily recouped in both mental peace and bottom line profit for having reduced vacancies

Plus I have a place I am super proud of. 

plus one @lesely Resnik  Lowes definitely seems to have the edge for a designer

home depot has good stuff too just not as much cutting edge design stuff

it is more of a contractors store than a designers store  70/30

lowes is designer/ contractor   55/45

this is not a scientiic study just my observation.

this is what I meant when I mentioned lay a trial course test it to make sure it is straight 

I ran this from the doorway into the living room/kitchen then worked off of this measurement 

I have another option I will be trying on my next conversion

Cork

It seems easier to lay and as durAble as good laminate

And water proof

This may have a slight advantage over vinyl 

I think you are good if the ROI

On the installation pays for itself 

You can't complain

And pulling up vinyl plank is easy

And the good stuff looks really good

one more thing that I would like to add

If you want wood floor tile and want it to look like a wood floor 

You may need to emphasize to the tile setter 

To make the patterns completely random 

He or she should be using three sizes for the starters

I had to tell my guy a few times to be more random 

As a tile person sometimes is stuck in a tile paradigm

Plus one

thanks Marie for the vote of confidence

Demo of tile is a chore and a half

I had to pull up 89sqft in order to lay this

It's not hard it's just not a pleasant task 

One you could definitely do without

Yeah Marie k pope

I am still going all out for my tenants I have done lots of special things in here and I really pulled out all my design teeth on this one