It’s Autumn at Restumping Melbourne

Posted by admin on

Its Autumn at Restumping Melbourne2021 as a calendar year will carry a lot of really exciting opportunities. We’ve already alluded to some and will continue to do so in the coming months. The Restumping Melbourne blog loves to continue traditions and when the seasons change, we say, “hey! What’s coming down the pipeline?” That’s certainly the case when seasons change and like it or not, it’s time that a season is changing. There are wonderful things about fall or autumn. The leaves are changing and providing beautiful vistas and backdrops for your properties, you’re able to enjoy certain beverages and good choices that just make sense now and the same goes for activities.

These are all great and good. Believe us, between our families, our friends, our customers and our teammates, we find every opportunity to not just celebrate life, but also the homes that we’ve worked so hard on. But in order to celebrate at these homes, we need to take good care of them. And when we say “we”, we most likely mean you. It’s not that hard, don’t worry, we cover off on this every year. But it’s time for the 2021 version. Here are the tasks that we think you should put on your list in the coming weeks. Read on for more information:

Take care of leaves. Everywhere. One of the most amateur mistakes homeowners can make is to just assume that the leaves you see scattered around your homes are the ones that need to be removed. Even more popular is the question, “what the heck do I do with these?” Don’t worry, you’re not alone. That said, there are a lot of nuances to leaf removal. You want to check your roof, your gutters, hard-to-reach places on any verandahs you have, etc. Luckily, if you don’t want to call the Restumping Melbourne team (which honestly, you should…), then check out the internet including articles like these.

Power washing is something that’s normally associated with heading into warmer months, but it’s a hidden known secret to cross it off heading into colder months too. It means that your outdoor spaces won’t accumulate any sort of damage from winter weather, nor will anything get lost, should there be inclement weather like snow. Not sure how to power wash? We’ve got your back. This is one of our favorite links to share.

We can’t give away all of our tips, but we will give away one more in today’s post. It’s time to take a look at your landscaping. We’re not just talking about flowers, but your grass, any plants, the whole look and feel. Don’t worry – you’re not going to have to get rid of it all. Even so, you’ll want to be strategic around just what’s going to work in cold weather, so you have a little bit of homework ahead of you. Looking for a tutor?  The Restumping Melbourne team is certainly always here for you.

January News for the Home

Posted by admin on

January News for the HomeWhat better way to kick off the year than be enriching one of our favourite trends on the Restumping Melbourne blog? We know, you’re shaking your heads, throwing up your hands and saying, “you’re right, there’s absolutely nothing better than the trend that we know you’re referring to!” For our newest blog visitors (welcome!), we won’t keep you in the dark any longer. Once a month, we like to share our favourite finds on the internet with our current and prospective customers. They talk not only about what we’re best at – reinforcing the foundations of your home – but your homes and properties in general. Read on for more information:

We have a soft spot for storytelling related to tiny homes. It takes a very strong and creative household to say, “hey, this is all that we need”. That said, many of the tiny homes that we’ve profiled over the years are even better than regular-sized houses. It takes a lot to go this route, but examples like this one show exactly how it can be successful. The “simple life” doesn’t have to mean the simple life. As this post’s title shares, ‘complete with a modern kitchen, an outdoor bathtub and luxurious decor chic.’ Sound good? Definitely something to explore. Check out this link to learn more.

It’s both helpful and enjoyable to learn about how households design and build their homes in countries outside of ours. It provides context, helps us explore new knowledge and is just generally enjoyable. Today, and in this article, we’re exploring Russia. The Restumping Melbourne team works on all sorts of different types of properties and this one embraces many of the newest trends in interior design. In the article’s own words, “Its signature style was extremely classical and Kozlov (known to those close to him as Sacha) still remembers the very first project on which he worked – a 300sqm house in Moscow, replete with red velvet, gold and heavily decorated wallpapers.” You can read the article and learn more here.

CES (Consumer Electronic Show)’s annual expo just took place. One area that you wouldn’t think would show up would gardening… but it did! Many of us around the area are still spending the majority of our time inside and so this article rang true for us. We hope that it does for you as well. It discusses ‘4 Smart Indoor Gardens to Automate Your Green Home’. Whether you’re good outside or not, I think all of us can probably appreciate the automation process of this, so you can focus on being as creative as possible. Those profiled include Gardyn – an indoor gardening device equipped with AI technology, Rise Gardens Personal Garden – all about small spaces like countertops and shelves, New Garden Co. Ultron Smart AI Gardening system, that per this article, “that uses an AI-based agriculture platform and app to monitor the health and growth of your plants” and Gardenstuff ELIoT Vertical Garden – a leader in recyclable materials. Learn all about them here.

The Concerns We Hear Most

Posted by admin on

The Concerns We Hear MostConcerns are totally normal. When it comes to your home and your property in general, we at Restumping Melbourne expect them. If you didn’t have some sort of concern about the foundation of your home – which we take painstaking efforts to support – then we wouldn’t be the most prolific company in the area (our sentiment included) at doing the work that we do – restumping, reblocking and underpinning your homes.

A lot of people are concerned about embarking on home renovation projects for multiple reasons and while we cover individual concerns on a regular basis, we noticed that trend recently. Because we love the Restumping Melbourne blog so much and know what a wonderful all-encompassing resource it is, it seemed like an easy reach to combine many of the calls/emails/conversations/etc. that we receive all the time. That’s right, you can reach us in all sorts of different ways, we don’t mind which one. We’ll always respond ASAP and with pleasure. Here are some of the questions and concerns that we get the most:

How long is the work going to take?

Unfortunate answer to start with, but totally up-in-the-air. The reason we say this is that the scope of work determines how long we’ll be in your home. That said, the duration will always be as short as possible. It’s our personal goal to ensure that we’re causing the shortest amount of interference in your day-to-day life and that means that time is of the essence, no matter what our scope of work is.

What’s this going to cost me?

Hey, we get it, home renovations get a bad reputation, no matter how important they are. But, that’s what’s important. They’re important. There are home renovations that are simply fun to complete, but there are most that are truly necessary to not only optimize the quality and the curb appeal of your current state of home. We like to think that the work that the Restumping Melbourne team does to restore, reinforce or even fix the foundation of your home falls in the latter, but we do more than that. We make sure that your home will be around for decades to come. That’s not to say that we will try and escalate prices, based on the value of our work. In fact, we pride ourselves on remaining some of the most cost-effective vendors in this space. All you have to do is give us a call and we’ll have an honest and transparent conversation about the rates that we can give you.

What’s the point?

We get it. There are the jobs around the house that you depend on experts for where you’re thinking, “I’ve never even heard of restumping!” Well, let us tell you. When you properly reinforce the foundation of your home, you’re tackling problems like cracks in the walls and ceilings, any excess moisture and even sloping walls. All of these can seem like short-term problems, but they’ll build up over time.

Happy New Year from Restumping Melbourne!

Posted by admin on

Happy New Year from Restumping MelbourneThis is one of our favourite posts that we get to do every year. You can reference all of them on the Restumping Melbourne blog – a place that we love to treat as a wonderful outlet when the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve to welcome you into the New Year and know that everyone will be even better than the last.

There are a couple of goals which never change, but we do like to update the verbiage as we share with the current and new readers of our blog:

  1. We will always do better to beat our best. There’s no question in our minds that we put in the work in 2020, especially with some very extenuating circumstances. This meant that we needed to put in the extra time and effort, looking into outlets where we could continue to learn about how to always be the number one and most prolific/hardworking company in our space. We had no doubts, and never will that we’d be able to succeed, but creativity was definitely the name of the game.
  2. We will always put in more and more hours – as our customers request. Please note, this is never something that will upset us or stress us out. Rather, it’s something that we like to promote and celebrate in all of our marketing, not least of all this site, because it’s incredibly important to us, that a company is always available for our customers – which, as we’ve shared on the blog before, are really our community and even our family. That means that we’re looking into the best ways for you to connect with your contractor – be it any question or comment that you have. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what it is, we should be able to answer it and, in any capacity, or forum that you’d prefer. We’re aiming to have these conversations at the very beginning of intake, no matter what you’re looking for, so that you can always assume that you can reach out via phone, email or in-person and get the answers that you need or want.
  3. Finally, and as teased above – it’s time to get creative. We talked about certain goals in our December posts, but now that we’ve properly celebrated each other and our families, the focus will be on identifying the gaps in the work that we’re currently achieving. Don’t get us wrong, we’re very proud of ourselves, but there’s a reason that we wrote our New Year’s resolutions. They’re so important as we ensure that this year ahead – 2021 – will be one where we challenge ourselves and enjoy every minute of it. So, creativity. Not a problem, especially if these posts and associated conversations continue. We’re going to make things easier for you and maximize the ability to minimize time working on projects, no doubt about it.

Ideas? Bring it. It’s time for all of us to have the very best year yet.

Fall 2021 Landscaping

Posted by admin on

Fall 2021 LandscapingIt’s still a bit bizarre for the Restumping Melbourne team to include “2021” in titles for reports, articles and more, but it’s right around the corner whether we like it or not. In our minds, and probably one of the reasons that we’re the best in the business at restumping, reblocking and underpinning services in the area, you have to be prepared for what’s ahead. It means that you’ll be ahead of the game for sure, but it also means that you’ll be less stressed with a clearer head and plan, making whatever you’re working on much more pleasant.

When we work on your properties, we spend the vast majority of our time outside in one capacity or another. So, as we’ve mentioned a time or two on the Restumping Melbourne blog, landscaping and gardening have become a piece of our business whether we planned for it or not. We’ve seen what works and we’ve definitely seen what could use a tweak in the future. So, as we’re looking toward the future and the season ahead, we thought we’d share our recommendations for fall 2021 landscaping. Read on for more information:

One way that homeowners and renters will get creative this fall and throughout the year will be looking at unique footage in your real estate to set up a garden. There’s a misconception that gardens need to of a certain size, located in a certain space or even shaped a certain way, but where’s the fun in that? We’ve noticed more and more articles about balcony gardens, which are a great opportunity for several types of properties – especially apartments or condominiums. As long as your plants are receiving the water and the sunlight that they need, you’re in good shape.

This next trend may be a bit controversial but hear us out… “wild gardens”. They’re pretty much exactly what they sound like, leaning into large swaths of colour, not pruning trees and shrubs as often and just generally appreciating your great outdoors for what it is. Just be careful that you’re not planting things so close that their roots encroach on each other’s spaces.

Permaculture gardens will continue to gain popularity, especially with the increased interest in ensuring our homes are sustainable, as well as durable and beautiful. Permaculture gardens depend on the natural elements – sun, water, and wind. That’s all you get for these. The thought is that the natural elements will provide everything your garden could possibly need, including food, water and shelter. If you’re looking for bonus points on the sustainability scale, you can use these gardens to focus on fruits and vegetables that you and your loved ones can enjoy all year round.

This is by no means an all-encompassing list, but if anything, it can and should serve as a springboard for conversation about the trends that you’re excited about. Let us know. The Restumping Melbourne team would love to hear from you.

Home News for December

Posted by admin on

Home News for DecemberWhat a year! What. A. year. There are both few and so many words to describe it. We’ll get to the positive ones in a minute – which we like to focus on – but we do have to give some Restumping Melbourne blog lip service to those that have been a little bit more challenging. Our community of customers and employees has been hardworking, creative and resilient and because of that, we’ve been able to traverse a crazy year and make it out the other side. With trepidation, we can’t wait to share this same post next year (consistency is one of our positive traits we’ll discuss in a minute) and smile at the growth that 2021 shows for all of us.

Back to consistency. It gives us such joy to be able to share posts like this one on a monthly basis. No matter what has changed around us, we’re able to go back to what we love most – taking care of your homes and ensuring that they’re as safe and comfortable as possible. We’ve learned a lot and will continue to do so, and these monthly news round-ups are a great way to point to articles that have helped us build our skillset. Drumroll… read on for the last of the year 2020.

How the Construction Industry Is Changing

We wanted to start with something forward-looking, something full of hope. If you look at the history books, you can see in an instant how far building dream properties has come. So, it’s crazy to imagine what other evolutions could take place even over the next five years. As the article’s key point states, “The techniques and methods used to develop structures are varied, employing a number of different technologies and ideas” and as the title itself claims, “From ‘airspace developments’ to 3D-printed schools: How the construction industry is changing”. We couldn’t agree more and don’t want to provide any more of a teaser. Read the whole article here.

Best Herbs To Grow in Your Garden

When the Restumping Melbourne team works on any property, it’s impossible to not have a discerning and slightly judgmental look at your garden. It’s not because we think you’re doing anything wrong – rather, looking at the exterior of your property is just a check-off the list of things we need to do to ensure that the foundation of your home is safe and secure for decades to come. So, we can’t help it! But, in return, we make sure to include landscaping advice in these monthly emails. Today’s topic is herb gardens – sensible and beautiful. They’re wonderful to look at, hopefully, minimal maintenance if things are done right and you’ll elicit delicious herbs for meals. Take a gander at this article and you’re sure to learn a thing or two if it’s a project in your future.

Clean and Simple Cleaning

There are fewer things than keeping your home clean during the holidays that you look forward to. But we promise it can be both rewarding and perhaps even fun if you follow guidance like that of this article. Clean and simple are the key words. We know that we appreciate both and we bet that you will as well. Visit this link for more information and stay tuned next month for a proper news kick-off of 2021.

How We Craft Our 2021 Goals

Posted by admin on

How We Craft Our 2021 GoalsIt would be smart, sensible and logical to assume that we craft our 2021 goals the same way that we’ve crafted our goals for all of the previous years since the inception of Restumping Melbourne as a company. Well, we don’t know about you – but we’ve found that sometimes it’s fun to throw smarts, sensibility and logic out the window. That is to say that every set of goals and resolutions that we put together as a team is completely different from one year to the next. In fact, it’s a valuable exercise for us to reference old thoughts and notes and see how much we may (or may not) have grown.

Well, that time has come for this year and while our lists will be brand-new, there are foundational values that we always ensure are used as our North Star for planning. We don’t look at putting together goals and resolutions as homework, a chore or a task. We look forward to the exercise – a chance to smile and pat ourselves on the back as well as lean in as hard as possible to one of the most cliché times of the year to push and motivate ourselves. Feeling in the same boat? Or maybe you’re the opposite and a little bit stuck. Here are our guiding principles if writing your 2021 goals is on the to-do list this week:

  1. Make goals for both your personal and professional lives. There is a lot of respect for “work-life integration” or “work-life balance” and we appreciate and support that. Neither can work without the other in both models, so you want to pay them each the proper love that they deserve. Think through what worked really well at work this year and why? Were your best days those where you got exercise in the morning and your worst those when you realized you’d spent on lunch? You can paint a picture of your perfect life, and incorporate both work and life.
  2. Keep your goals measurable. You can have a couple of more holistic and aspirational goals that remind you about certain behaviors you’d like to embody, but it’s so much more satisfying at the end of the year to be able to say, “yes, I did run 20 kilometers ten times this year!” When we say measurable, the Restumping Melbourne team recommends that you look at duration of goal, cadence of goal, output of goal and/or deadline of goal.
  3. Set rewards for yourself to look forward to when you complete your chosen goal. They can be big, they can be small, they can be inexpensive or they can be something that you save your wages for months (that could even be one of your goals!) All that matters is that it’s something that you look forward to and that spurs you on when you’re feeling frustrated. Many find success in tying their rewards to their goals, but that’s entirely up to you!

Good luck!

Happy Holidays from Restumping Melbourne

Posted by admin on

Happy Holidays From Restumping MelbourneThere are a lot of different emotions that come with the holidays. You’re probably a little bit stressed about what different plans look like, what to get the pickiest member of your family for a present or how to sit your eccentric aunt at the annual celebratory dinner. We get it, while advertisers would have you believe that the only thing associated with the holidays is smiles, that’s simply not the case. That said, we want to limit any stress that you have and instead focus on what a banner year this has been. You have a lot to celebrate – you made it! No matter what happened between January 1 and now, we only have to look forward to exciting and rewarding things ahead.

As we’ve mentioned in past posts, when it comes to the holiday season, we look forwards, focus on the present and get excited about the future. There’s no other way to do it. You have to be accountable for both the wins and the losses from the previous year. Of note, there is no shame in having losses. We work on all sorts of properties and that means that we learn lessons all of the time. Sometimes you stump us (which we love by the way) and it takes us just that little bit longer to figure out a solution. There’s no doubt that the Restumping Melbourne team will be able to reinforce the foundation of your home through our restumping, reblocking and underpinning services – it’s just a question of how. We take stock of every project, what went right and what could have gone better and you know what? We always learn from our lessons.

That’s looking backward, and we have to be honest – there weren’t a ton of constructive lessons in 2020. We’re pretty proud of our team and the work orchestrated. The teamwork, the creativity, the patience and more… all contributed to a banner year for the business. Now, let’s talk about the present. A huge virtual high five through the computer or whatever device on which you’re enjoying the Restumping Melbourne blog goes out, not only to our employees but also our customers. Why our customers? You may ask. Because you pushed us to be our best. And that is all that we ask of you. We hope that everyone reading this article is taking a week or two to spend time with family and appreciate what’s really important – hopefully in a home whose foundation has been properly reinforced!

We know that 2021 is going to be even better (even though society and that whole COVID thing might have set 2020’s standards low), so it’s been so much fun thinking about what we want to achieve next year. It’s not even achieving… we’re ready to smash our goals and set new ones every month. In fact, if you have ideas or requests, let us know! The Restumping Melbourne team is always excited to hear from you.

The Relationship Between Landscaping and Your Foundation

Posted by admin on

The Relationship Between Landscaping and Your FoundationWelcome to the Restumping Melbourne blog! If you’re someone who visits on a regular basis or someone who is saying hello for the first time – the respect and appreciation level from our team is the same. We know that the most valuable asset that we have is you – our current and prospective customers. So, the purpose of this blog is to serve up on a silver platter any sort of information we can that’s informative, engaging, and entertaining – related to both the foundation of your home (restumping, reblocking and underpinning does tend to be our specialty), but moreover – your HOME! Every part of it… Interior, exterior, if you call it yours, we call it our responsibility to help educate you about making it your best.

Landscaping… why should that be any of our business? We’re not landscapers or gardeners and we certainly don’t have any business pretending that we are. That said, when you work on the foundations of homes, you are working at eye-level and seeing all sorts of things in the landscaping space that you wouldn’t normally see in such an intricate degree. We LOVE this, and we love sharing all of the details that we learn, thanks to the extehttps://www.restumping-melbourne.com.au/nsive variety of properties that we work with.

So, what’s the relationship? Let’s break it down:

  • Landscaping and the foundation of your home have more in common than you think. Your landscaping can serve as the best warning that there may be upcoming foundation damage that you’ll need to contend with. It’s easier to find than you may think. All you need to do is wander around the peripheral of the home and ensure that the star of the show is the landscaping – no cracks, no slants, no excess moisture. All of these are signs that you should call the Restumping Melbourne team.
  • You also need to be pretty strategic about your landscaping in relation to your foundation. As beautiful as they are, the best flowers and shrubs have roots that can pull down a lot of other home components in the vicinity. You want to do your homework in advance of any sort of planning to make sure that the roots of your chosen scheme don’t wrap themselves around any of the foundation components. If you’re at all concerned, again – the Restumping Melbourne team is here to answer any questions, survey your property and just generally be there for you throughout any home renovation process that you’re concerned about.
  • Seasonal is the final keyword here. Plants change every season; weather changes every season and the needs of your home change every season. This is nothing to worry about; rather, it’s just something to be aware of, depending on what sorts of projects you’re about to embark on – spring, summer, winter, fall.

Common denominator and broken record? Call us. No matter what’s going on, the Restumping Melbourne team is passionate about making your house a home.

November Home News

Posted by admin on

November Home NewsThere’s never a dull moment when it comes to your home. The Restumping Melbourne team wouldn’t have it any other way. It keeps us on our toes. We love to learn and improve and change in all of the best ways possible. And we get to do that every day. Not all of our competitors are so lucky. They’re wonderful at what they do, we enjoy the industry and everything that comes with it. But there’s a great difference between those who are proficient at what they do and those that challenge themselves to get out of the creativity box, so to speak. Well, put us in the latter department and chalk it up in part to one of our favourite monthly rituals – our home news round-ups. Read on for the sites and articles we found this month that we just keep returning to. And we think that you will as well.

Borrowing to Build Your Dream Home

One of, if not the number one reason that deters prospective homeowners from signing their name(s) on the dotted line is cost. It’s not even as simple as too expensive or well-priced, there are an abundance of other variables in play that speak to whether you’re ready to take a great leap of faith and buy your next (or first!) home. But it doesn’t need to be that way. Talking about money in relation to homes seems very confusing but conversely, we’re lucky because there are so many tools and resources out there to educate you and walk you through the process. And that includes borrowing money to buy homes. It’s becoming less of a novel idea and more of the norm… for good reason. Check out this link for more information.

Construction Loan

In the same theme, have you ever heard of construction financing? In a nutshell, as summarized in the very headline of this article, “A construction loan is financing for building your own home that requires at least a 20% down payment.” This doesn’t speak as directly to those of you who are buying completed homes, but if you’re looking to design and you’ve been worried about money, you might want to explore construction loans. You can even convert it into a regular mortgage upon completion of the building. These loans cover a whole host of things, including permits, labor, materials and even the cost of the land. One thing to keep in mind though; while mortgages have much longer-term periods, that’s not the case with construction loans, so as always, do your homework! And visit this article, because we know that we learned a lot!

We don’t have the main challenge detailed in this article; in fact, it’s getting warmer and warmer. But the best maintained home is one with an owner who thinks ahead, so now you have your insight into what to do with your garden when we finally do deal with colder weather. Hydroponic gardens are all the rage, helping ensure that you can bring those seasonal delights inside and continue to cultivate them. “For Aerogarden, a company selling hydroponic gardens, sales jumped 384 percent in the two weeks of March, a time period that followed most state lockdowns. From April through June, sales were up 267 percent year over year.” Learn more here.