Chad's Carpentry Remodeling Kitchens Bathrooms Basements Madison Wisconsin

Growing up as a boy in Hampton, VA, Chad was always interested in building. Friends and family thought he would become an architect. Throughout high school, his parents gave him the freedom to remodel their attic into a light and spacious family room, build an octagonal deck and hot tub enclosure onto the back of their house, and complete many other wonderful projects.

During his college years at Dartmouth, Chad began to think about teaching. With a degree in hand, he landed a job as a high school teacher. That’s where he met his lovely wife Sue, a fellow teacher. After several years of teaching, Sue and Chad moved to Madison to pursue graduate degrees.

Chad began to support himself as a self employed remodeler during graduate school and soon hired friends and family to help complete his many projects. Though he loved his studies, Chad’s renewed interest in carpentry quickly proved more engaging than graduate school. As their children (Amelia, 10 and Kevin, 6) were born, Chad and Sue decided that a home remodeling business was something that they could do together, while balancing the needs of their family.

Today, Chad’s Carpentry has a staff of 13 talented individuals, including 8 carpenters in the field and 5 office personnel who are involved with estimating, design, sales, project management, and accounting. They proudly provide a wonderful set of benefits for their employees and continue to place a high value on education. As a company, Chad’s Carpentry offers educational opportunities to their staff as often as possible and, as a family, both Chad and Sue work with flexibility in mind and are fortunate to be able to spend time helping in their children’s classrooms. Chad trained and tested to become a NARI Certified Remodeler and two members of his staff – Les Tasker and Dave Foley – worked very hard to become Certified Lead Carpenters. Three more carpenters are in class right now, working to earn their certification!

A: While referrals from friends and coworkers are reliable indicators of a contractor's capabilities, there are many credentials to look for which help to identify knowledgeable remodelers. If a company advertises membership in NARI (the National Association of the Remodeling Industry), then they are pledged to abide by a strict code of ethics, and are likely to have a proven track-record. More importantly, look for credentials such as CR (Certified Remodeler), CRS (CR Specialist), and CLC (Certified Lead Carpenter). These NARI certification programs reflect months of training, culminating in a comprehensive test of knowledge relating to construction techniques, safety, business practices, and ethics. The elite few who have earned these credentials are committed to being the best in their field, which helps to deliver a better product to the homeowner. While no one thing can insure a successful project; having a knowledgeable contractor committed to ethical business practices is an important place to start.

For the third year in a row, Chad’s Carpentry has been featured in the NARI Showcase of Remodeled Homes Tour. This year’s project is a home at 5400 Pheasant Hill Road in Monona. The project was a renovation of a 1930s-era house, formerly owned by the Monona Grove School District. Chad removed the entire second floor and designed a new layout to create three spacious bedrooms – all featuring cathedral ceilings and large closets. He also added two new bathrooms, one featuring a Jacuzzi tub and skylights.

The first floor was reconfigured to be more open and friendly, adding a new powder room and a new back entrance from the yard. Part of the basement was also finished into a recreation/family room. In keeping with Chad’s commitment to historically accurate renovations, all of the trim work in the house was updated to be consistent with the 1930s-era. All of the windows and siding are new, along with some landscaping and waterproofing that were a necessity. Finally, a new two car garage and driveway completed the lengthy process. The Pheasant Hill whole-house remodel is one of which, “we are exceptionally proud.”

Please see the back cover of this newsletter for more before and after photos of this year’s NARI Tour home.

By popular request, Chad’s Carpentry recently introduced a new service as part of their complete line of home improvement and remodeling services. Chad’s Handyperson Service is designed for those projects that need to be done around your home, but don’t require a meeting or a bid.

If you have a “fix-it” issue that’s been on your “to-do” list way too long, just give Chad a call or submit your request via email to Chad@ChadsCarpentry.com.

For $65 per hour, one of their highly trained carpenters will come to your home and take that fix-it off your to-do list! There is a two hour minimum for each job and each additional hour is billed on a time and materials basis. The carpenter will invoice you on the spot and explain clearly and completely what was needed to complete your job. Payment is due upon fulfillment of each project.

In the next issue of re-!novate™, we’ll feature two new programs that we’ve recently become involved with. For now, here’s a sneak preview...

Chad's Carpentry is active is two relatively new programs which help remodelers and homeowners assure long-lasting quality renovations which, in turn, create healthier and more energy efficient homes: Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® and Green-Built Home.

As an ENERGY STAR partner, we have every home thoroughly tested and assessed before we begin a project. ENERGY STAR provides a report to the homeowner and to us. The report helps identify improvements that increase energy efficiency, reduce potential carbon monoxide problems, and help reduce potential moisture and air quality problems in the home.

Green-Built Home helps identify products and procedures which further assure healthier living environments and enable homeowners to choose sustainable products that have a less detrimental environmental impact.

Spring is here! It’s time to get outside and enjoy the weather. While you’re out there, why not clean up and maintain the exterior of your home! As we all know, long-term maintenance is largely a battle against the elements, and rainwater seems to be the biggest challenge. Water in the wrong place–any time–leads to rotting wood, crumbling walls, and mold and mildew. Any signs of water getting through the roof, or into walls and basements, should be addressed as soon as possible.

Both the builder and the homeowner play key roles in keeping homes dry and healthy. As a builder, we take many additional steps while remodeling a home to help ensure a dry, long-lasting structure. There are also a number of simple maintenance steps you, as a homeowner, should monitor:

Water that is channeled into the streets drains directly into our lakes, so while you are reducing the stress of water pressure along your exterior foundation, please make sure not to channel water into the street. Use smooth pvc pipe to channel water underground to lower areas in your yard. (Unlike corrugated drain tile, smooth pvc can be easily cleaned and is less likely to clog in the first place.)

Most older homes do not have any exterior waterproofing, so keep bulk water away from the walls whenever possible. Don’t bury siding in the dirt. Burying siding in the dirt will allow the exterior wall to rot. Instead, create a terrace or barrier approximately 10" beyond the exterior wall, which enables you to build up the grade without rotting your walls.

The best approach, if possible, involves excavating the exterior, waterproofing your foundation walls, and installing an exterior drain tile system. The down side; however, is the disruption to the landscaping surrounding the house, which may not be practical. An interior drain tile and sump system is a good alternative and also helps relieve water pressure on the foundation walls.

If your home is newer, make sure that a proper rain-plane was installed between the plywood sheathing and the siding. All exterior surfaces help to keep water out, but do not prevent all water from getting in. It’s important that a house wrap such as tar paper or Tyvek is properly installed behind your exterior siding and flashed at all windows and doors so that water that gets past the first layer does not get beyond the second. During the last twenty years, a lot of builders decided to skip this critical step. As a result, many people have rotting homes. If your home does not have a proper rain-plane, consider having one installed.

When replacing your entire roof, consider removing the existing layer. While it is sometimes appropriate to add a second layer of roofing over an existing layer, houses are not designed to have more than 2 layers of roofing. The extra weight of additional layers of roofing leads to sagging and structural problems.