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Client Stories

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Kitchen/Floors Remodel

Our clients - both husband and wife with highly demanding IT jobs and two very young boys had their hands full. They also had limited construction background and know-how. While their existing home was beautiful, they needed a bigger house for their growing family. 

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Saratoga New Build

We bought our latest personal residence home in 2018. Our goal was always to apply all our construction and renovation knowledge and experience to build our dream home....

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Monte Sereno 

Our clients were considering tearing down their existing home in Saratoga on a 13000 square feet lot and constructing their new dream home at which point Baybricks was engaged to review....

Pleasanton

Home Sales Financing & Renovation

THE CHALLENGE

Our clients, a husband and wife, had their hands full with highly demanding IT jobs and two very young boys. They also had limited construction background and know-how. While their existing home was beautiful, they needed something bigger for their growing family. Their financial status, busy lifestyle, and young kids presented challenges with selling their existing home before they could buy and move into a new home.

 

FINANCING

The team at Baybricks came up with creative financing options and got our clients a bridge loan to facilitate the purchase of their new home, then prepped their existing home for listing on the market. We were able to quickly line up contractors to renovate the house to get it market ready within two weeks after the clients moved out. The house had multiple offers and went under contract within a week — at a price much higher than listed. 


REMODELING
Following their purchase, we've continued to help our clients with multiple remodeling projects to turn their new home into their dream home. The new home had three garages, and they didn't need any of them. So we converted one into a home baking studio and the other two were merged with the long-term intention of turning the space into a movie theater.


In the kitchen, while the cabinets were in good condition, the kitchen countertop had a traditional look and feel, with tiles creating an uneven surface. We advised our client to save money on changing out the cabinets and focus on replacing the countertops and backsplash, which we swapped out for durable Quartz stone. We were also able to add a quartz countertop to the walk-in pantry, with electrical outlets to make room for appliances. 

 

The existing flooring was a rag-tag combination of tile, wood, and carpet, which presented allergy issues for their young children. We had this changed to SPC flooring throughout. All doors were upgraded to a mix of solid core and hollow core to have a consistent look. And a bidet connection was added to the toilets for an extra bit of luxury.
 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Since it was not possible for our clients to stay in the house with their children during the remodel, the our team managed the entire project while our clients took a much-needed vacation. We leveraged our list of qualified and cost-effective contractors and vendors to deliver the project on time and under budget for very happy clients.

 

To learn more about the cost breakdown for this project and other details of the remodel, including materials used, construction challenges, and more. please log in to our member section. You'll also be able to see before and after photos and videos of the project to get an idea of the scope!


[Pictures and Videos]


Construction Details
 

Flooring
SPC (stone plastic composite) flooring was installed throughout the house. Not familiar with SPC flooring? Have a look at this article that compares it to luxury vinyl planks (LVP).
https://www.cafloordesign.com/2019/06/15/what-is-the-difference-between-an-lvp-product-and-an-spc-product/

 

Countertops
We built a new kitchen peninsula and extended the island. The peninsula required a stone that was 8’x4’ in order to avoid a seam. Although this was almost double the cost of a 8’x2’ countertop, it reduced fabrication cost, avoided a seam, and reduced the number of stones required. 


Doors
Since the new flooring was not as high as the old one, particularly around the carpeted areas, a wide gap remained under the doors. While the doors needed replacement regardless, this gap required the door frame to be changed out as well. We decided to install solid core doors for the bedrooms and hollow core on the bathrooms and closet.


Cabinets
Since the cabinets were in good condition, we advised our clients to save money by doing a quick paint touch up. However, the existing cabinets were installed on top of the old wood floor. The new lower flooring required us to change the toe kick on the existing cabinets.

 
Lighting
We installed power outlets under the cabinets to keep switches or outlets off the backsplash, giving it a much cleaner look and saving us from cutting any costly holes. Newly installed LED lights under the counter enhanced the look of the stunning new quartz countertops.

Lyons Court

Our Home Sweet Home

When we bought our current personal residence in 2018, we applied all of our knowledge and experience with construction and renovation to build it into our dream home. We started the design process as soon as we were under contract — and the journey continues!

 

We've shared the invaluable lessons we learned in a series of blogs [link to blog category?]. We invite you to read about how we created more than one million dollars in value on a $1.5MM investment within a two-year period and ended up with our dream home!

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Read the blogs:

Renovation Blog #1

Renovation Blog #2​

Saratoga to Monte Sereno

To Demo or Not to Demo?

THE CHALLENGE

Our clients were considering tearing down their existing home in Saratoga and building their dream home on a 13,000-square foot lot. That's when they called us to review and provide input on their plans. Once we reviewed the plans and ran the numbers, we realized there was an opportunity to create much higher value and get an even better dream home for our clients in a different location.

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Our clients had made various upgrades to their existing home over the years, and the property value was much higher than they had initially thought. Once we provided our report, they put a pause on their demolition plans and welcomed our advice. 

 

We were able to get them a much older home on a one acre lot in nearby Monte Sereno for almost the same value as their existing home. This lot had great upside potential, beautiful views of the mountains, proximity to both Downtown Los Gatos and Saratoga, and surrounded by great schools. 

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FINANCING

Our clients were prepared to sell their existing home to finance the purchase of their dream home. We provided some creative financing options, and they were able to retain their home in Saratoga and still purchase the new home in Monte Sereno.

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REMODELING

Baybricks has continued to stay engaged with our clients' new home construction plans and provided feedback that will enhance the future value and functionality of the house. Through our extensive vendor database, we connected our clients with qualified materials and service providers such as soil survey, civil survey, structural engineering, story poll, and more.


Here's a sneak peak [link to video] of the new home as it looks at the moment, including elevations laid out by the story polls. Stay tuned for regular updates on this project!

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