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| Frequently Asked Questions Q: So., what all do you two girls actually do as remodelers ? A: Well., we do everything the guys do but we like to think that we do it a lot better ( smile : ) I only say that since we are much more detailed and take our time to get the job done right the first time. Anyhow., we do have a list of what all it is that we actually do on our web site. Please click here on this hyperlink to go to that section of our web site. What do You Two Girls actually Do When Remodeling ?
Q: How long have you been doing this kind of work, Sara? A: I've pretty much been doing this kind of work most all of my life, in one form or an other, directly or indirectly. Yeah, I know, I've been told more than once, “Sara you don't look like a tomboy!” Believe me when I say that, yes, I very much am. As a matter of fact, I hope I never grow out of any part of it (smile). After all, so far it's been a lot of fun! I mean, it's OK to wear cool steel-toed construction boots, although the smallest they make for men is size 7 and I really need a men’s size 6 because there aren't many women’s steel-toed work boots to choose from. Some nicer-looking woman’s work boots aren't steel-toed, and when framing in a home or room addition, you really need to wear them, just in case. More so when framing in timber-frame additions (which make for really nice-looking, rustic room additions, I think). You can't wear construction boots in an office, or at least you're not supposed to! Yet I don't mind wearing my nicer shiny black high heels if I’m going out for a nice dinner with friends or family, provided the weather is OK and it's not snowing, etc. I guess I'm still a big kid at heart, so I've been told, and I'm OK with that. I really love what I do for a living, otherwise, believe me, I wouldn't be in this business. Besides, we're extremely good at what we do for our customers. I've yet to see full remodeling services like we offer elsewhere. Q: Do you girls “sub out” most of your work or do you do it all yourselves? A: We'd rather do as much as we can ourselves. Approximately 98% of the time it's only us. And that simply means that whatever we end up needing to sub-out is typically such things such as major electrical. And for that we have a couple of very experienced master electricians who work with us. For any major plumbing work we have an experienced master plumber. For heavy (weight-wise) carpeting we have an great, experienced installer who's been very reliable and does super good work, just like all our subs we have on-call available to work with us on any remodeling project. I do this work because I love it, not because I have to. So you could say that, yes, I/we prefer to be very much hands-on type remodelers. I strongly believe that if you want it done right you have to do it yourself! And all our subs are licensed and insured. Q: Why did you name yourself “Two Girls Remodeling,” rather than “Two Women Remodeling” or something like that. Doesn't it make you sound too young? A: We did give that some thought, and we thought it better to be thought of as being... let's just say, perhaps a bit too young, rather than to be thought of as being a bit too old to get the job done! Besides we think it's cute! I mean, look at The Beach Boys, they're in their 50s now, and they haven't changed their names to The Beach Men, right? Hummm, just wouldn't be the same, huh? Nor will we change our name when we're older. If you've been wondering, I'm in my early 30s and Debbie is in her mid 40s, so we feel as though we're a good compromise, and Deb looks much younger at that—most people think she's in her 30s and I can agree with that. Nevertheless, we'll always be young at heart no matter what age we are. And that's how it should be, don't you agree? Q: Are you two girls ever going to have your own TV/cable remodeling program? A: Why sure! Say, was that an offer? Yes, we'd love to have our own TV program. We'd seriously entertain any legitimate, serious offers! The way we normally go into a home and change it is very much a different process all to itself. I mean, current programs seem to concentrate on almost teaching you how to actually do the remodeling itself, as in hands-on or like a school. What we'd rather do is show the inner thought process undertaken prior to the remodeling work itself, and then getting into the actual cosmetic surgery, such as taking down a wall part, etc, to the changes as things develop. Then there are always the add-ons (additional work as things become clearer) to the final finished product. As far as I can tell, none of the other programs have touched on any other facets of the critical, ongoing thought process that makes the difference between a job well done and a job simply done as planned. A remodeling show, like the real world of remodeling, is what we'd rather do. No fluffy stuff, because when we work we really do get dirty! I'd love to have a live Internet video feed while we're working...any takers? E-Mail me, the first legitimate offer gets sent and screened by my attorney for approval (smile). Q: Where did all these questions come from? And do you ever get any personal questions? A: Questions come from people like you and from people we've already done work for. And some questions come from places where we shop, for example, while we're at the Home Depot or Lowe's Lumber or Shone Lumber, etc, buying materials. We get asked lots of questions, some of which we've included here. We don't have time to chat online often because all we do is work, but we've gone online via AOL twice and chatted with the entire USA for a Remodeling home show. It was a lot of fun! Yet we get a lot more e-mail questions asking us more questions than even what's listed here. We may not care to answer the more personal questions, but that's not to say that I haven't from replied to a few if they asked me nicely, if you know what I mean. We try to answer all of them, but we can't actually get to some since there seem to be so many! Sorry. So we've added this question and answer section to our Web page to try to answer the most commonly asked questions for those of you who want to get to know us a bit more. Debbie is truly a wonderful friend, and were it not for her encouragement, we might not have put this business together. Steve is a great guy and a wonderful friend to me as well, he's my big brother. More men should be like him. He works in the quality consulting engineering field throughout the world, solving complex issues that require the best of the best and the answer for the unsolvable. Q: Sara, because you're both women, is it harder to get work? A: At times it was hard, especially way back in the very beginning when we had just gotten started. Yea, It was harder to get work, but as the word quickly got out that we're as good as men (if not better) and much more reliable and detailed orientated, and that we're willing to put everything in writing, well, we've been extremely busy for quite some time now I'm glad to be able to say. We typically work 6 days a week, sometimes 10 hrs a day most days. After all, most people would rather have two women working in their home if they have, let's say, an 8-year-old, rather than to have two or three men in their home. And husbands prefer that safety factor as well. However, I will say this: It's sad to think that if a man shows up to most peoples' homes, 99% of the time it's assumed that he knows what he's talking about. It's not good to assume anything like that at all. From what I’ve heard from our customers men never offer any remodeling ideas, and we offer lots of free ideas from my many years of remodeling experience. There are lots of other reasons, yet too many to mention here, as to why we women have been getting hired vs men. We've been told by customers that they (the men) just want to know what you want done ASAP so they can give you a fast estimate and quickly move onto the next estimate. They're always in a hurry. We try not to rush our jobs at all because that's how mistakes happen. If one takes the proper time to get the job done right, quality will speak for itself. We specialize in high-end interior remodeling. That's all we do 365 days a year and we're experts at it, I'm proud to say. What's a big deal to most other general contractors normally isn't that major a deal to us because I've been in the remodeling part of construction most of my entire life. My architecture and engineering background helps out a great deal in more ways then I can say in this Q&A column, trust me on that one. After having completed complex major remodeling for larger beach-side hotel conversions, to now doing mainly residential homes (which isn't a piece of cake, yet easier than commercial work), it isn't as hard for me as it is for other contractors, from what I’ve personally seen and heard. I like having that big advantage and I pass that on to the nice people who hire us at lower rates. Remember, if the contractor thinks it's a big deal to do your job he'll typically charge more to handle any mistakes or miscalculations in his estimate. That's why it's best to go with us because we specialize in interior home remodeling, and on bigger remodels your savings can be as much as 30% less than if you hired, for example, 5 different contractors to handle your remodeling project. And then there's the cost of your time off work or taking calls at the office if you're trying to coordinate your own home remodel. What’s your time worth? We take care of everything for you, it's that simple. And we believe a good remodeling general contractor should be able to do. Q: So.,what all is it that you two girls actually do as remodelers ? A: Well we do everything the men do and then some of the many things that they wont or cant do such as what is listed under What Do You Do ? Q: Sara your web site looks really great ! How many employees do you two girls have ? A: We have none. We only sub-out ( sub-contract out ) what actually needs to be handled by other licensed professionals, such as HVAC, electrical, or plumbing. Other than that we do all our own work to save our customers money and they appreciate that important fact. I know our web site looks like we are a large remodeling company, but it's only just the two of us.
Question / Comment : From:
Michael C
Answer / Reply: Hello Michael, After all I do hope that those that have passed us Two Girls up that do Remodeling up due to my... perhaps not so great grammar style at times ? ANd some of my spelling errors., can I suppose always hire a English Professor to remodel their home huh ? All kidding aside. I
do my very best with the very limited time that I have. Most late
nights editing this site instead of watching TV then I go off to
remodel someone's home the next day. And for me the remodeling part
is what's the most important thing of all. By the way that., Whoopi was also dyslectic
and she is a great person...........................................
Albert Einstein was also dyslectic just
in case you didn't already know it...................................
Lots of talented people are dyslectic. but., as for me. When remodeling. I can see things "done" were as other contractors cant. I can very quickly come up with real ideas and solid solutions., since I see that kitchen of yours finished 100% from the onset while other remodelers need to sit down and get a sketch pad..... Maybe in a few hours or so later they might have come up with something. As for me... I honestly can create and recreate things very fast and I do this without much thought depending on your remodeling needs per your homes existing architecture. I used to think that all adults could do that while I was growing up but., we all know ( as I later found out ) well that simply is just not true. So...... I see it as a real personal blessing rather then a fault.
More Comments as we think of it, or better yet, Please don't hesitate to e-mail us at TwoGirlsRemodeling@Verizon.Net with any of your many questions or suggestions — We love to hear from you! Thank You ! Sarah DeLagostti Deborah Hirt
Two Girls Remodeling, 302-427-9673,
P.O. Box 7491, Wilmington DE 19803 |
Tom Cruise mentioned during a movie interview..... that he is dyslectic.
And that during a complete slow motion movie crash sense.,
he was able to tell the producer, what and how the complex
sense would look like., and how to film them best etc. That
saved lots of time and money.