Mitch Handman
R.C. Legnini, Malvern, Pa.
The tool that has most changed the way custom builder and remodeler Mitch Handman does business in the past year is the same little gizmo that is changing the way we all take, save, and share photographs: the digital camera. Remodeling and historic restoration projects are notoriously difficult to estimate, but with a digital camera, Handman says, “We’re able to bring jobs back and review them with each other, and then do our bids.” During construction, digital pictures enhance e-mail communication with clients and architects. And the high-quality output from his 3-plus mega pixel Sony has led Handman to go public with his shots. Printed on premium paper, project shots are sharp enough to display at poster size on his office walls.
Sony. www.sony.com.
Michael Wood
Providence Homes, Fort Worth, Texas
Mike Wood’s high-end clients in the Dallas/Fort Worth area appreciate attention to detail. So that’s what he gives them. Take his custom-made wood HVAC grilles, for example, fabricated by a Northern California company called Wood Ventures. “We use 8- to 12-inch baseboards and have our wood grilles stained to match them,” he says. “Then we mortise them into the baseboards. People are very attracted to the idea—it helps us sell homes.”
Buyers also value builders who stay on schedule. So Wood chooses Isokern fireplaces. They’re made from lightweight Icelandic volcanic stone, so he can install them relatively quickly. The fireplaces are lined in brick and then custom finished, providing lots of design flexibility. And the volcanic stone possesses strong insulating properties. “If you’re going to use a masonry fireplace, these are the ones to use,” he says.
Wood’s clients are concerned about home security, so he often specs exterior roll-down window shutters from Roll Shutter Solutions. The shutters completely block off light, supplying the owners with privacy and security at the same time.
Wood Ventures. 800.524.5230. www.woodvent.com.
Isokern. 800.642.2920. www.isokern.net.
Roll Shutter Solutions. www.rollshuttersolutions.com.
David Warner
Redhorse Constructors, San Rafael, Calif.
For homes with million-dollar views—and budgets to match—David Warner now recommends glazing important windows with Amiran, a special low-reflectivity glass produced by the German company Schott. Designed for commercial applications like museum exhibits and shop display windows, Amiran makes the most of residential views too. “We’re using it for featured window areas where you have urban views or undisturbed rural views,” Warner says. “It’s so clear it’s incredible.” Available in single or insulated panes, the glass can be installed in any conventional window system.
One window system Warner especially likes is produced in Italy by Albertini. Made of sustainably harvested Norwegian pine, the units are clad in 1/8-inch bronze in a variety of non-paint finishes. Warner considers these “incredibly durable” windows perfect for buildings finished in brick or stone. As with those materials, he says, “You never have to maintain them.”
Schott. 914.378.3839. www.us.schott.com.
Albertini. 858.756.4102. www.albertini.it.
Brian Smith
Brian T. Smith Builders, New Hope, Pa.
Once upon a time, Brian Smith and his crews routinely discarded half-full cans of insulating foam. Not anymore. Now they use Hilti’s CF 128-DW Insulating Foam. “This stuff stays good forever—it doesn’t harden like the cans we used before,” says Smith. The versatile foam works well in attics and window joints and behind drywall. “We use it everywhere,” he adds. “The guys are just thrilled with it.” Smith and his subs handle the foam with an ergonomically designed CF-DS1 dispenser, also from Hilti.
Hilti. 800.879.8000. www.hilti.com.
Bob Ernst
FBN Construction, Boston
Bob Ernst began using Hawa Junior pocket door hardware from Hafele about five years ago because of the system’s quiet operation and ease of installation, he says. “This track-and-roller system is smooth running and easily installed and adjusted,” Ernst says. His firm now uses the Hawa Junior hardware exclusively for all pocketing and bypass applications.
Available for application with wood as well as glass pocket doors, the hardware is comprised of a top-hung aluminum track with an integrated track stop, two high-density nylon wheel trolleys, and a floor guide or optional floor channel. Wall-mount versions are available, and the maker says its Hawa systems are designed to be maintenance free.
“Our clients are always surprised at the ease of operation of even the heaviest doors and the quiet glide compared to other units they have had before,” says Ernst.
Ernst began specifying bamboo flooring from WFI Bamboo when a client asked for something unique for the great room floor. “This flooring…offers an easy installation and an unusual yet familiar tone and appearance,” says Ernst. “It complements other hardwoods, such as cherry cabinets or furniture, extremely well. Our clients appreciate the uniqueness and versatility.”
WFI’s bamboo flooring is available in several grain patterns and comes pre-finished or natural to be finished on site. Because bamboo is a grass, not a wood, it is readily available and quickly renewed. “We enjoy the ease of installation,” he says, “and another chance to set our projects apart as cutting edge.”
One more mark in its favor, according to Ernst, is the ease with which bamboo floors can be cleaned and repaired. Amazingly, he says, “We have found that minor scratches can be rendered virtually invisible with a wipe of peanut butter.”
Hafele. 800.423.3531. www.hafeleonline.com.
WFI Bamboo. 319.533.0662. www.bamboofloors.com.
Robert Rowan
Rowan Fine Homes, Jackson, Tenn.
Keeping a house evenly heated isn’t easy. But Robert Rowan thinks he’s found a way to do it: Vanguard’s Hydronic Radiant Heating System. The company custom designs a piping system based on a home’s sun exposure, window sizes, and supplementary heating systems.
Rowan then installs the system in a concrete subfloor. “It’s a pretty simple system,” he says. He’s employed the piping underneath several finish materials, including hardwood, ceramic tile, and carpeting, always with positive results. Rowan also likes stone-coated metal roofing shingles by both Metro and Gerard. They’re lightweight, offered in several different colors, and give the look of slate or clay without the hefty price tag. And for a low-maintenance, attractive countertop material, he prefers Cosentino’s Silestone, an engineered quartz stone. “We’ve used it on a couple houses recently,” he says. “It’s harder than granite, you can cut on it and put hot pots on it. It’s non-porous, so you don’t have to seal it. It’s also beautiful and offered at a good price point.”
Vanguard Piping System. 800.775.5039. www.manabloc.com.
Gerard USA. 800.237.6637. www.gerardusa.com.
Metro Roof Products. 866.638.7648. www.metroroofproducts.com.
Cosentino. 281.494.7277. www.silestone.com.
Franco D’Ascanio
D’asign Source, Marathon, Fla.
Franco D’Ascanio’s turf, the Florida Keys, is Hurricane Central. Strict local codes required him to include storm shutters on all projects—until Andersen and other manufacturers started making impact-resistant windows. “Storm shutters are ugly and expensive,” D’Ascanio says. “These Andersen hurricane windows save a lot of time and money, they comply with code, and they don’t interfere with the style of a house.” The glass used for the windows was developed with a technology similar to that of shatter-resistant car windshields. Andersen also offers special reinforcing hardware to accompany the glass. And it’s now making impact-resistant glass that also meets energy-efficiency codes common in Northeastern states.
One of D’Ascanio’s favorite decorative products relates to another natural phenomenon present in the Keys: coral reefs. Clients love to use pieces of coral as ornamental accents, but removing them from the sea damages the marine environment. So D’Ascanio specs cast coral stone featuring coral impressions. The concrete tiles and veneers, made by local company Ornamental Cast Stone, present the look and texture of coral without the environmental ramifications. “Since the product can be custom cast, the uses and patterns are almost endless,” D’Ascanio says. “It’s really taken off around here.”
Andersen Windows. 888.888.7020. www.andersencorp.com.
Ornamental Cast Stone. 305.743.8341.
Ted Visnic
Mitchell, Best & Visnic, Rockville, Md.
With Washington, D.C., rapidly becoming the nation’s capital of anxiety, area builder Ted Visnic reports that cocooning is the order of the day. Among his custom home clients, the nesting instinct translates as a heightened interest in convenience, comfort, and home entertainment. “Espresso stations are beginning to make a statement,” he says. “We’re doing more and more of those.” Visnic likes the Coffee Station by Miele, a built-in unit that handles bean-related tasks from grinding to brewing to steaming milk. “Typically it’s in an appliance garage, so it can be hidden.”
The central vacuum system Visnic specifies is by Silent Master, which offers the VacPan, a baseboard- or kickspace-mounted outlet that allows clients to simply sweep floor crumbs into the vacuum system. “It’s easy on the back.”
Flat-screen television has changed not just the way clients watch, but the way Visnic designs and builds houses. “We used to account for 2 extra feet to push in a TV,” he says. “Now you can hang one over a fireplace and have two focal points in one.” Visnic’s audio/video subcontractor is partial to flat-screen units by Sony.
Miele. 800.883.4537. www.miele.com.
Silent Master. 800.525.2055. www.silentmaster.com.
Sony. www.sony.com.
David Hornstein
Light House Design, Lexington, Mass.
David Hornstein first used the 100 percent waterproof, high-density urethane board called Sign Foam3 for a renovation project on a Victorian home that required him to match existing decorative porch brackets. He wanted to find a cost-effective way to produce 16 brackets, and found Sign Foam3. “I like Sign Foam because it has unique properties that enable me to design any type of exterior ornament I can imagine.”
Sign Foam3 comes in sheets in three different densities, is chemically resistant, and carries a 10-year warranty. Also, the material will not warp, split, crack, or rot, and is unaffected by temperature, according to the maker. “The real benefit is that the brackets will look exactly the same 20 years from now,” says Hornstein, “where the wood may have rotted or delaminated by then, and would certainly need to have been repainted a number of times.”
Sign Foam3 is “lightweight yet dense, routs very crisply, paints beautifully, and is completely inert (no seasonal expansion or contraction) and waterproof,” Hornstein says.
Sign Arts Products. 800.338.4030. www.signfoam.com.
