B Y A R I A N M O D A N S K Y

THEY SAY THATEXTRAORDINARYOPPORTUNITIES COME ALONG ONCE IN A LIFETIME.If you are a homeowner who is thinking of building, remodeling orrenovating your home, or if you are thinking of building a new home,that extraordinary time is right now. With the economy in a down-turn, the likes not seen since the Great Depression, it is the perfecttime for those who have the extra cash or credit to build and reinvestin their home. Prices are down for all components of building — fromthe architect to the contractor to the building materials. As stated inan article in the Home section of the New York Times on April 23,2009 entitled The Makeover Moment, “as demand for contractors falls,some homeowners reap the rewards.”

No one knows how long this window of opportunity will last. Likeno other time in recent history, it’s a consumer’s market. All overConnecticut and New York, sought after, experienced contractors,

once only available to the rich and famous, are looking for jobs and arewilling to work more personally with the homeowner. Constructioncompanies which have been too busy in the past to bid on smallerjobs, now welcome them. This is a huge advantage to the homeown-er, because an experienced company usually means more resources,more competitive subcontractors, and a high quality level.

How can you turn your dream of a larger, modern kitchen or bath,family room, or master suite, for example, into a reality? It all startswith a little extra cash and the willingness to just say “Yes.”

Ted Mantz, project estimator for the family-run MantzConstruction, LLC Company in Bridgeport, CT, explains how tobegin the process. “It all starts with the architect,” he says. “It’s impor-tant to establish a construction budget early in the process and keep tothat budget. Define the area of renovation or design work that is mostimportant to you, communicate that to the architect and keep to thatschedule; this will eliminate potential ‘sticker shock’ when the build-ing proposals are completed and turned in to the architect.”

“Homeowners have the right at any time during the process to askthe architect for a preliminary construction budget for all of the workbeing proposed, or just a portion of the work. I love the idea of phas-ing construction projects — that is, isolating an entire project intophases: phase 1, 2, 3. By doing this, the homeowner can be provided aphase by phase construction budget or a menu of pricing, if you will.”

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It’s a GreatTime to BuildIf you’ve got the moneyand want to invest in your home, now’s the time

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JMKA ARCHITECTS IDA AWARD

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JMKA Architects uses the phasing concept, and it has been wellreceived by all of principal Jeff Kaufman’s clients. Phasing is addition-al work for Mantz Construction, but well worth the time spent for theclient. According to Ted Mantz, the homeowner might get the idea toremodel, expand or renovate. He might have always wanted a fantas-tic family room, his wife might have been asking for a new, state of theart kitchen. They might have been talking about a master suite on thefirst floor, in anticipation of their retirement years. Whatever the job,the architect is the person who can draw the plans for the design oftheir dreams. A tentative agreement is drawn up. Finally, when thehomeowner agrees to the design work, the architect will submit theplans to the town for approval. He will then select three to fivebuilders, based on many requirements, and the job goes out to bid.

That’s where companies such as Mantz Construction Company stepinto the process. They, in turn, get the sub-contractors, such as elec-tricians, plumbers, carpenters, framers, interior designers, and excava-tors, to bid on the project. Mantz usually sends out to multiple sub-contractors for each trade category. They select the ones who will pro-vide the greatest value without compromising the level of detailrequired for the project. Mantz Construction only looks for sub-con-tractors who provide quality and customer service. “If I call WiltonPlumbing,” Ted says, “they respond quickly. They have great customerservice and they are always very responsive to our needs. I gravitate

towards these subs because if they don’t call me back, how are theygoing to deal with the customer? It all gets rolled over to the client.”

“We’ve been in business since the mid-eighties,” Ted adds. “Mybrother, Tim Mantz, started the company. Customer satisfaction isparamount to us; you live or die by customer service. If someone callsor emails, there is always someone here to quickly respond and resolveany questions that need answering, promptly. We offer a high level ofsupport and service to our clients. We provide a great team effort forthe homeowner and the architect. We work with them at every stageto make certain they are comfortable with the process and happy withour performance. We’re not the biggest contractor in the area; I’d say

we’re a smaller, boutique contractor. But we know what we do well,and we understand our limitations.”

Ted asks, “Why call Mantz? Because we’ve been in business for along time, our reputation speaks for itself and people like us. We’reevery bit as good as the big guys in the field, but we choose to keep thecompany the size it is. We like to have just two to three projects goingon at once. That way, we can ensure quality, integrity, and proper levelof customer care.“

As Mantz puts the numbers together for me, the cost to build ismuch less in the current market. There are many, many examples ofsavings for clients who have the ability to make the investment in theirexisting home. Lumber companies are recording material costs at anall time low, as are vendors across the board. Skilled laborers, at onetime charging $45-$50 per hour, today charge $25-$30 an hour,depending on the complexity of the job. Mantz explains, ”If I hadthree carpenters on eight hour shifts a year ago, that added up to $150an hour. Now, it’s $90 an hour for the same workers, a huge savings Ican pass on to the client.” In addition, “if a job comes in requiringseven hours of production, you need to analyze it, be sure the laboreris efficient and organized, and get it down to five hours. No one hasthe luxury of wasting any time, for time means money.“

Mantz summarizes what all this means to the client. Unlike eveneight months ago, projects are coming in on time. Costs are down;

people are working harder and paying close attention toevery detail of the job. Everyone is involved in workingto eliminate oversights. And of course, everyone is eagerfor work. “Mantz Construction, in the past, would noteven consider a job under a half million dollars,” Tedchuckles. “Now, if the job is $150,000, we’ll absolutelytake a look at it. We want everything we can get.”

To illustrate his point, Ted tells about a family inConnecticut who wanted to renovate their home abouta year ago. They hired an architect who drew up theplans, and sent the project out to bid. Mantz bid on it,but the family decided to wait about ten months. Theysent it out to re-bid a few months ago, and the projectsaw a savings of 23%. On a project of two to three mil-lion dollars, that’s a substantial savings. On the otherhand, he recently submitted a proposal for a project inWestchester County, at a value of $850,000, for a mas-sive home renovation. The client decided to put the

project on hold. When they decide to move forward, perhaps eventwelve to fourteen months from now, it may not be $850,000; it couldbe a lot more. This is a great time to build, a window of opportunitybecause you get better value, and in addition, if you have the moneyto spend, you are putting people to work and helping the economy.

Ted Mantz directs me to talk to Jeff Kaufman, an architect in theConnecticut firm JMKA Architects. “He owns one of those companiesthat I rely on to deliver trust, confidence, and hands on service; clientslove him. He understands the client’s ambition, and he strives to blendthe renovation or addition work within the existing neighborhood.He’s very creative. And, when I call him, he picks up the phone or

It’s a Great Time to Build

”Construction is a psychological lift for people. Many are more confident in real estate coming back than the stock market.”

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emails me right back. He understands that a “team” working togetherand making the client the number one priority makes for a successfulproject. I have lots of confidence in Jeff and his team,” Ted states.

Jeff Kaufman is happy to continue our discussion from the architect’spoint of view. “Clients are making out like bandits,” he laughs. “Subs aremore competitive than ever. It’s a great time to buy a house or downsize.Empty nesters have equity in their house, and many can afford to sell forless and buy a smaller, more manageable house for a great price. Manybaby boomers who have the cash are doing work on their existing hous-es.” Jeff is seeing smaller projects, but people who still want to put moneyinto their real estate. Many are doing fix-ups, what he calls “feel good”size projects. They might have lost money in the stock market, so theywant to renovate their family room because they aren’t traveling as much.They may be home more now, and want their extended family to visitmore often. They call him to design an interior project — a small roomor a master bath suited to their later years so they can stay in their houseas they get older. They want their house to cater to their grandchildren,or perhaps want a hide-away master suite downstairs, so they can haveprivacy when family visits. Jeff explains, ”Construction is a psychological

lift for people. Many are more confident in real estate coming back thanthe stock market.” He’s seeing more jobs that are not as glamorous as inthe past, like renovating an unfinished space so that the family can havea lifestyle change, because it’s better than moving. The economic climatehas gotten people to think smaller and less opulent. JMKA architectsrecently completed a project (decorated by Shelly Morris Interiors) of aranch house renovated for a family of three: a small house, with lowerconstruction costs, but more efficient utility costs — a win-win. Thehouse was featured on the New Canaan Cares Kitchen Tour, to an over-whelming number of comments like “This is what I want! How simple

and manageable the scale of the residence is.” Clients are thinking morecompact and efficient.

Jeff notes that house values have gone down on paper, and many peo-ple are realizing that their homes are not worth what they were even ayear ago. They call him because they understand that they need to main-tain their house to keep up its value if they want to sell in the future atthe maximum amount. Jeff designs kitchens and bathrooms, mastersuites, and family rooms, for example, and turns them into up-to-date,state-of-the-art masterpieces. He enjoys working off a client’s wish list,and finds that “people are thinking outside the box now. It is a great timefor creativity.” You have to be creative when you have a tight budget.

Jeff Kaufman is also designing with more energy efficient, greenhome improvements. All JMKA specifications include items that arehealthier for the environment and the resident. Clients are becomingmore in tune with what will be a positive sales feature in the future. Hedescribes a home in Fairfield County where his firm designed into theproject a geo-thermal heating system and a green roof. The new stimu-lus package allows a 30% tax credit. This saves the homeowner of alarge house tremendously, and he will be ahead of the curve when it

comes time to sell. Geo-thermal saves a homeownerapproximately 75% of conventional utility costs; in alarge house that can add up to annual savings of$15,000-$20,000 in energy costs. “There are fourhouses that were just built overlooking theHousatonic River in Connecticut that were built onspec, and included geo-thermal energy,” Kaufmanadds. This is the future of home construction —“green” projects will be faster sellers.

It’s also a great time for improvements and buildingin retail and commercial spaces. Jeff is drawing plansfor several local retail businesses. “In this economy,shoppers want to see newness and freshness in thestores in their neighborhoods. People always want tocheck out something new. All this means constructionjobs. New restaurants are sprouting up with “green”innovations. They are in tune with what’s going on.This is partly recession-driven, and this will play a bigrole in getting us out of it. New places get people moti-vated to spend money. Commercial real estate ownersdon’t want empty spaces so they have to upgrade, andcreative, aggressive business owners can be first in linewhen the recession is over.”

Ted Mantz and Jeff Kaufman believe it’s a great time to build. To getan even clearer view of the market, I spoke with some of Mantz’ topsub-contractors.

Don Cote owns and operates Wilton Plumbing and HeatingCompany, in Wilton, Connecticut. Don and his brother Davidbought the business eight years ago; it has been around since the early1950’s. Don explains that today, when he gets a set of plans and esti-mates the job, the client definitely gets more value for his money. Herepeats that there’s a lot more competition for jobs. His is a servicebusiness, and suppliers are tightening their margins. Don knows that

STRAW HILL MILL WORK

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his company is quicker and more attentive now. His work is in newhomes, remodeling existing homes, commercial properties and service.He always gives a one-year warranty on his work and cautions, ”Bewary in this market of the fly-by-night business. They get your downpayment and leave. Check with the Better Business Bureau. I like towork with Mantz, because of their reputation. Mantz Constructionhas had the same sub-contractors for years. Contractors want to knowwho to call and be able to trust them. Sub-contractors need to be therewhen they say they will. We’redependable, and customer serv-ice-oriented.“

Along with Wilton plumb-ing, Mantz ConstructionCompany recommends NYGypsum Floors in Larchmont,New York for radiant heating, afast-growing alternative to con-ventional heating. EricJohnson, a part owner in thecompany, explains the howsand whys of radiant energy. “Itstarted over twenty-five yearsago as an enhancement to ahouse, especially in bathrooms.It was considered a luxury itemto keep your feet warm. Europehas had radiant heating for overfifty years,” he adds. Over aperiod of time, radiant heatingmoved from just one room tomultiple rooms, to wholespaces. Here in Westchester andConnecticut, most new addi-tions get radiant heating. It’s nolonger considered a luxury. Ericexplains further: “It’s good formany reasons. Radiant heatingis efficient and draftless. Withconventional heating, you canfeel a curtain of cool air; even the ducts aren’t hot. With radiant, dryheat rises; there are no drafts. It heats the objects in a room, and theygive off heat. If you sit on the hardwood or tile floor, it’ll be 82degrees. There’s no dust, because it doesn’t move through ducts. That’sgreat for allergy and asthma sufferers.” Overall, the homeowner cansave a considerable amount on his heating bills — the payback forradiant is four to seven years. Eric sums up, “Wise people are lookingfor this payback in money and efficiency. Both residential and com-mercial builders are turning to radiant for that extra value. It’s a greatselling point when you want to sell your property.”

Another sub-contractor affiliated with Mantz Construction isStrawberry Hill Millwork, in Bethel, Connecticut. AndrewTucciarone, Jr., its owner, is happy to show me around his state-of-the-

art woodworking shop. His company does complete custom kitchenand bathroom renovations, “his and hers” offices, playrooms, dressingrooms, closets, and commercial spaces. Custom wine cellars are a newand popular project category for Strawberry Hill Millwork, andAndrew tells me they run the gamut from room size to small-spacecustomization. Last fall, his company took the first place prize in thespecialty category in the “Innovative Design Excellence Awards” at atrade show in Atlanta, Georgia for a customized wine cellar his team

designed, built and installed ina Greenwich home (which youcan see on his website). Hisclient base is essentially theConnecticut and WestchesterCounty areas. His companywas established in 1994 andgrew from his love of wood-working as a schoolboy, into alove of making beautiful furni-ture. As Andy explains, “Wepride ourselves on our qualityproduct, and our repeat cus-tomer business is a testamentto our skill level and the carewe take. We work closely withour clients to ensure that theirexpectations are met. We’revery hands-on, which meanswe even assist clients in theselection of appliances for anew kitchen, for example, andhave been known to pick themup, if it makes things easier allaround. I recently made a tripat 5:30 am to pick up a sinkwhich was needed that morn-ing.” He continues, “I love thisbusiness. I enjoy coming here,getting my hands dirty. Wemake every effort to educate

the customer so we have a fuller understanding of what direction orstyle they’re leaning toward. We ask them to cut out pictures of thingsthey like, which helps the project come together more quickly. We willdo preliminary sketches for them and then our draftsman will createfull shop drawings showing all the details. With regard to today’s bar-gains to be had, I completely agree with others about the customer’sability to get far more reasonable pricing now than before. Hardwoodsare at the lowest prices I’ve ever seen. All our vendors are competingfor our business, which helps us keep costs down. Some of the woodswe work with are cherry, maple, quarter-sawn white oak, and poplar,as well as more exotic woods. Our painted cabinetry is made using softmaple. Our finishing work is extraordinary, if I say so myself. Antiqueglazing is a specialty of ours.”

It’s a Great Time to Build

JMKA ARCHITECTS

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Andy’s energy is contagious. “People we work for want the best and we strive to give it tothem. We help design their project, use the best materials and deliver quality workmanship.I love to see the customer smile, that’s the payoff.”

My understanding of the construction business would not have been complete withouta visit to the lumber supplier. Ted Mantz directed me to the Hatch and Bailey Companyin Norwalk and Stamford, Connecticut. The company has been in business since 1872.It’s a full service lumber yard, mostly for the professional. They are looking to expand tothe homeowner.

Michael De Felice, Senior Vice President of operations, explains their philosophy: ”Wegive the contractors a competitive price, but we wow them with our service. We have sameday delivery. We do blue print take-offs. This means the architect draws it up, and gives theplans to the lumber yard. Our take-off service determines the list of building materials thatare needed. We do this service free of charge. The quality of our material can’t be beat. We

use the best quality grade Douglas Fir. We also have pressure treated wood. We need to setourselves apart from our competition in this market. All our wood is grade stamped andagency approved. Our green products are environmentally friendly. We’re slowly shiftingour inventory towards green based on demand.”

The Hatch and Bailey have gone through tough times in their long history. Mike laughs,”We’ll be here after it’s all said and done. In the last six months, companies have gone onthe defense. We went on the offense. We’ve hired more sales staff who are quality, experi-enced people. When this economy turns, we’ll be ready. It’s an investment on our part, thatwe can handle now. We’re cutting costs in other ways, like watching our energy usage andrecycling to save money. But when it comes to sales we’ve invested, and it’s starting to payoff. Sales turn into hiring more drivers and inside people. This relates to a quicker responsefor the contractor and the homeowner.”

From the architect to the construction company to his sub-contractors and suppliers, allconvinced me that it’s a great time to build. With a little cash, a wish list of ideas, and theforesight to plan for the future, you too can have the house of your dreams. When the econ-omy comes back, you could be sitting in your radiant heated master suite, bathing in yournew, state of the art Jacuzzi tub, or entertaining and cooking in your professional chef ’skitchen. You can invest in your home, your life, and the economy, and be proud that youdid it for much less than you expected.

THINKING OFBUILDING?TED MANTZ

MANTZ CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

745 HANCOCK AVE,

BRIDGEPORT, CT 06605

203/696-0323

MANTZLLC.COM

JEFF KAUFMAN

JMKA ARCHITECTS

181 POST RD W.

WESTPORT, CT 06880

203/322-1222

NORTH ST., GREENWICH, CT 06830

203/698-8888

JMKARCHITECTS.COM

DON COTE

WILTON PLUMBING AND HEATING

496 DANBURY RD, WILTON, CT 06897

203/762-9009

WILTONPLUMBINGANDHEATING.COM

ANDREW TUCCIARONE

STRAWBERRY HILL MILLWORK

12 TURKEY PLAIN RD.,

BETHEL, CT 06801

203/790-0550;

STRAWBERRYHILLMILLWORK.COM

ERIC JOHNSON

NY GYPSUM FLOORS

2 MADISON AVE.,

LARCHMONT NY 10538

800-542-4132.

THE HATCH & BAILEY CO.

IN NORWALK: 1 MEADOW STREET EXT.

PHONE: 203.866.5515

IN STAMFORD: 34 FAHEY STREET

PHONE: 203.348.7785

WWW.HATCHANDBAILEY.COM ❉

Geo-thermal saves ahomeowner approximately75% of conventionalutility costs; in a large house that can add up to annualsavings of $15,000-$20,000 in energy costs.

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