Making people whole again

Last summer a client threw one of the those "This Old House" parties to celebrate the end of a large project. This happened to be for a couple moving to town to be closer to family. One half of the couple needs to use a power chair to get around and we created a number of features and design elements with her needs in mind--smooth flooring throughout the home, a bathroom designed around her needs, some basic modification to make the kitchen more useful, modifications to exterior paths, etc. She expressed her gratitude to our team with the following words. "In my last house I increasingly felt like an invalid. In this home, I feel like a person again."


We are doing more projects these days that are not for seniors or related to aging or disability. There are two primary reasons for this. One is that we have a top notch rating on Angie's List and get a lot of calls from people outside of our target demographic (Angie List is a great resource, we even use it to find subs.) The other is word of mouth referrals--once you do a good job and show that you are a reliable resource, friends and family members come knocking.


We're business people so we're practical. And we have a great crew that we are committed to keeping employed and busy. So we happily take on projects matching our skill sets regardless of the age or ability of the customer. A kitchen remodel for a growing family, rebuilding a dilapidated garage for the daughter of a client, a bath remodel for an executive woman. Creating a space that someone enjoys, or helping to remove worry by fixing a maintenance problem, is always enjoyable.

And as we so often say, aging in place isn't about grab bars and ramps, its a much broader vision of home environments that support our stage in life, and at its core that is a vision that fits with people of all ages and abilities--young families, fit and vigorous seniors and folks with impairments. So we try to leverage our experience and common sense into all the projects we do.

But we have to admit, the greatest joys come from our projects where we can impact a life like we did for this woman. Our personal spaces should be refuges and havens, not daily struggles to accomplish simple tasks. That's a very attainable goal for homeowners and one that will pay back the homeowner in a variety of ways. And it pays us in spades when we get this sort of appreciation,well beyond the financial earnings.