Whether you want to remodel your home to give it an exciting new feel, or you want to increase your home’s value down the road, Kliethermes has you covered. Kliethermes has been providing custom home remodeling in Columbia MO and surrounding areas since 1976, and, to date, has worked on more than 1,500 remodeling jobs.

There are several types of home remodeling jobs offered by Kliethermes. These include home additions, kitchen, bathroom, basement and whole house remodels. Kliethermes can also add a sunroom or deck to your home, as well as redesign walkways, stairways and driveways. Kliethermes finds the delicate balance between cost and quality, and offers home owners the opportunity to go through the home remodeling process with them, making small decisions to come to a final outcome.

Kliethermes will strive to make your home remodeling job as personal as possible. Your needs will be listened to and met, and your project will be done not only on time, but on budget as well. Don’t put off your remodeling until tomorrow. Call Kliethermes today and to meet with personal and professional custom home builders and home remodelers.

Dan Kliethermes built his business from the ground up 35 years ago and went from being a builder who wanted to be his own boss to the owner of Kliethermes Homes & Remodeling.

Starting out, he worked for several companies before deciding he wanted to be his own boss. “I just took the leap and started working for a Realtor here in town,” Kliethermes says.

Kliethermes first built an office building; and that led to a referral to build another office building, along with a lot of small projects in between. Then one day while watching a work crew build a house, he got the idea that he might be good at that too.

Kliethermes Homes “& Remodeling opened for business in 1976 constructing “spec houses” — houses that don’t yet have a buyer. But as business grew, he began building custom houses as well as purchasing, designing and building subdivisions. To date, they have built more than 300 houses and worked on more than 1,500 remodeling jobs. Collaborating with other developers, their work can be seen in the subdivisions of West Creek, West Pointe and Avalon, as well as the Village of Cherry Hill, which is both commercial and residential.

Since the beginning, Kleithermes has focused on teaching himself to be a better business owner. Often, it meant making changes; but in basic terms it came down to putting the right people in the right jobs. “It was studying a lot, reading a lot of books and going to a lot of conventions so that I knew how to run a business.”

Many of Columbia’s civic organizations have benefited from the generosity of Kliethermes Homes over the years, most notably Habitat from Humanity, a group the company has assisted with hundreds of projects. In terms of services, the company handles essentially all interior and exterior projects. “The reality of what we offer our clients is an in-depth process that allows them to go through the process and make small decisions that leads into one large decision.”

SOURCE:

http://columbiabusinesstimes.com/13915/2012/02/03/kliethermes-homes-remodeling/

These business owners review financials, develop organizational charts, create future profit scenarios, and work to create systems that will add efficiency and predictability to their companies.

“I am thrilled to have this ongoing in-depth experience to draw from,” says Kliethermes. “Since I joined Remodelers Advantage Roundtables, this group of professional remodelers has become my informal board of directors and has made a dramatic difference in the way I run my company. They’ve helped me pinpoint areas for improvement — as well as giving me their input on the areas in which our company is particularly strong. With this feedback, we’ll be able to heighten the level of expertise and service that we offer, helping us deliver even more value to our customers.”

Remodelers Advantage Roundtables has 160 member companies from around the country. The program, in existence since 1990, is specifically tailored for the owners of companies with annual sales of over $1,000,000. In addition to the company reviews, Roundtables incorporates state-of-the-art business resources to help each member reach a higher level of success within their business.

The Scarlett floorplan has 1740 square feet on the main level with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and an unfinished basement that is already framed for 2 additional bedrooms, bathrooms and rec room.

Like many other Kliethermes homes, the Scarlett provides the must haves of a great home; open space to entertain, a well designed kitchen that is a joy to use, functional storage in the right locations, low maintenance products to save you time and a great master suite to relax in after a long day.

There is still time to pick your own colors if this is the home for you! Please give us a call for further information.

$275,000

Directions to the Cascades

Starting from the intersection of W. Nifong Blvd. and Sinclair Rd.; go south on Sinclair Rd to the Cascades subdivision. Turn left on Cascades Dr then right on Chelan Dr.

Oct 16th – 17th 1-5pm

Floor Plans starting at $235,000

No job too big. No job too small. Whether you are remodeling or building, come see what we can design for you! For more then 30 years, Kliethermes Homes & Remodeling has been Columbia’s “Builder of Choice”’ the trusted choice for thousands of homeowners.

Our approach makes your remodeling or building process easier, you’re decisions less stressful and your home more enjoyable. We help our clients with everything from replacing countertops, patios, driveways, installing energy effi cient doors and windows, low maintenance screened-in porches, to custom design/built homes.

Experience open entertaining spaces, discover how to keep clutter out of the kitchen, de-stressing areas, and fl exible living spaces. Everything is designed around your Lifestyle Personality™ and available for either your remodel project or your brand new home.

Pella Window and Doors, Designer Kitchen & Bath planners along with other new products will be onsite both days. Join us and visit about your home modifi cation ideas. Drawing for $100 gift certificate to MacKenzie’s Steakhouse.

DIRECTIONS:

• Starting from the intersection of Forum and Nifong
• drive west on Nifong to Sinclair Rd
• Go south on Sinclair Rd to the Cascades.
• Take Cascades Dr to Redmond Ct.

Meet Me in the Kitchen…Now I love to be There!

There will be 4 seminars that discuss key elements of organization as it relates to your Kitchen. By the end of the seminar you will have many new tips, ideas and plans on how to organize your space and reduce clutter and stress!

The event will be held at our Design Center on Sunday August 15th with the first session starting at 1pm.

We look forward to seeing you and please bring a friend if you can!

There are several reasons that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has put new regulations in place when it comes to handling or disturbing lead paint; first they are concerned about the homeowner – either small children or pregnant women in particular.  Second the lead that is in lead paint or lead pipes just isn’t good stuff.  These new requirements, which took effect on April 22^nd, 2010, are focused only on those licensed businesses that are performing work on a residence.  After April 22^nd a renovator or remodeler must follow a much more strict set of guidelines set forth by the EPA when working on a house built before January 1, 1978.  The EPA is calling it “Lead Safe Work Practices” and really it is nothing more than properly protecting a family from the dust that a worker is creating while performing the required work.

As I see it there are four main areas that the EPA is focused on: EDUCATION of the client prior to work beginning, TESTING of the areas that will be disturbed, CONTAINING the dust during the work and THUROUGH CLEANING of the area after completion of the project.  Educating a client is probably one of the least touched upon parts of this process but is one of the most important.  If your home was built before 1978 there is a good chance that there is lead paint on or in it somewhere; the older the home the more likely that there is lead paint.

Year Built                                                         Percent of Houses with Lead Based Paint

Before 1940                                                                             86%

1940 –1959                                                                             66%

1960 – 1978                                                                            25%

All Housing                                                                               35%

The above table shows if any lead is present, it may only be on one surface but it is in or on the home.  You can see that in the 60’s they started to realize that lead wasn’t the best thing and the reason for the drop in percentage of lead based paint was because it was typically used on the outside of a home throughout and beyond the 60’s until it was banned in 1978.

What can lead based paint do to an individual?  It really depends on who that individual is; small children (under six years old) are more vulnerable as well as pregnant women.  Lead based paint can cause damages to the brain and central nervous systems, decreased intelligence, reading and learning difficulties, behavior problems and hyperactivity.  The biggest problem is that if these aren’t caught early on then they can become permanent.  In terms of pregnant women it isn’t the adult who is the concern but it is the child who is the concern.  Seeing as lead affects development you could imagine how dramatic a difference it would make on an unborn child.  Not only does it affect the development but can also lead to premature births, miscarriages and low birth weight.  These two demographics are the highest concern but that isn’t to say that everyone else is immune to lead.  Lead can cause high blood pressure, physical fatigue and loss of sex drive as well as other illnesses.  Quite often a doctor can easily misdiagnose this, it takes proper testing of the Blood Lead Level to know for sure if someone did have lead poisoning.

There are some simple ways to help minimize the effects of lead on your body; increasing the amount of calcium and iron you intake doesn’t allow the lead to stay in your body.  This isn’t a cure for lead poisoning, if someone has been exposed to lead dust for an extended period of time it is likely that they would suffer from the side effects for the rest of their life.

I don’t want to scare everyone that is not my intent of this blog post.  I hope to let people know that if a project is not properly planned for there can be some long-term effects.  The thing that I do want to inform everyone of is what is now required of someone who may work on your home.  These rules go for plumbers, painters and remodelers and are currently in place.  So what does the EPA now say we need to do for you on the job?

First we have to test to know if what we are working on is lead based paint.  There is a good chance that if we are working inside a home built in 1975 that there may not be lead based paint.  We have to test every area that we are disturbing so if we are removing and replacing a window we have to test the wall inside and outside, surrounding the window as well as test all parts of the window (sill, sashes, trough, etc.).  Once we discover that there is lead based paint we can stop testing but if we don’t find lead on the inside wall we still have to test the outside wall and all parts of the window.  We also have to document everywhere we tested and which test kit we used.  Someone doing the work can always assume that there is lead and perform the lead-safe work practices, but for a home older than 1978 you are unable to assume that there isn’t lead based paint.

Second we have to contain the dust we will create, as in the above example it can get a little complicated.  If we are replacing a window and there is lead based paint on the window trim (inside and out), the window sash and the siding around the window then we have the possibility of disturbing a lot of lead.  We must contain that dust so as not to contaminate the rest of the home with lead dust.  Closing off the inside of the home can be quite easy, plastic and tape off the doorways and put plastic over the HVAC vents – both supply and return; it is the outside that can be a little tricky.  The EPA doesn’t require a whole circus tent to be set up around a house, nor do they even require that a renovator builds temporary plastic walls; they only require that the surrounding area has plastic laid out to catch the chips/dust as they fall.  The challenge with this is trying to stop the wind from blowing!

Then we have to clean up our mess.  Every job gets dust everywhere; it is impossible to completely contain the dust (unless we locked a worker in a sealed off room until they were done with the project) inside a work-area.  The next best thing is to thoroughly cleanup once we are done.  A remodeler is required to clean an area up to three times to ensure that it is clean.  First everything must be wiped down using a wet wipe, you start at the back corner of the work area at the top of the wall and you literally wipe down the walls and every horizontal surface.  Windowsills are particularly important, they have a tendency to hold an excessive amount of dust.  The rule of thumb is to wipe from top to bottom, back to front so that you are never tracking lead over where you have already cleaned.   If it is a hard floor (wood or tile) we have to thoroughly mop it but if it is carpet then we have to use a special HEPA vacuum to ensure it is clean.  These aren’t your ordinary vacuums, it is a certified HEPA filtration system; there are multiple filters to ensure that the exhaust is clean of lead based dust.  Once all that is done a Certified Renovator must test the area and confirm that it passes the cleanliness guidelines set forth by the EPA.

In short if you are going to have work done on your home and it is built before 1978 make sure that the firm that you hire is a Certified Firm, you can check on the EPA’s web sit at http://cfpub.epa.gov/flpp/searchrrp_firm.htm . If there are any questions please feel free to email or call us at Kliethermes Homes & Remodeling, (573) 446-2222 or cale@kliethermes.com .

Dan submitted a question to Ask the Expert in Remodeling Magazine regarding phone etiquette. For those of you who have had a sales position or been sold to you can understand how sensitive this subject can be. We hope to have sufficient follow up without going over the line. If you have any ideas we would appreciate it!

We were recently mentioned in Residential Design Build Magazine’s Blog concerning the future of the industry. With the correction that has happened over the past several years one major concern is the amount of younger people who went to different industries. Thanks for the kind words Rob!

In today’s real estate market we as home builders and remodelers are faced with a requirement of creating a home that has the amenities to support your lifestyle, while putting it in a package that looks great.

We might be in the golden age of curb appeal. Think about it, we all know how big of an impact the internet is. The National Association of Realtors estimates over 85% of home shoppers begin their search online. They go to real estate sites, enter specific search parameters and bam – every possible house right at their finger tips. This is great for those of us selling our homes but not so great for those of us selling our ugly homes. With the exterior being the starting point of every house, buyers may not even make it to the interior pictures to see how great of a buy your home might be.

Well now that we identified why it is and always will be important you might be asking “How can I change my house?” Here is a check list of items you do to improve your curb appeal:

1. Take a picture- Start off by assessing the look of your house. What elements do you have that are great, terrible, what style is your house, where is your eye drawn to?
2. Get a game plan on what you want to change, is it small details, a major project that will take a professional, what time of year does the work need to take place, how much money do you want to spend?
3. What areas can we change?
   1. Exterior appearances – Play up your best features. You might have great wood beams or a big front porch already there. How is your paint holding up? Do you have a proper blend of exterior materials (ie stone, brick, siding, etc)
   2. The Entry – A warm inviting entry is essential to make a great house. This is often the main focal point when looking at a house. If you look at your front door and think it is hopeless then it might be time to look at having a new one installed. There are steel, fiberglass and wood doors of all styles so you can find one that fits your house. If you just need a little pick me up look at color, decorative brackets/elements, or even a new door knob.
   3. The Approach – When designing new homes this is often the most difficult element to see for a homeowner, yet this makes a huge impact on your overall look/feel. Your front yard is an extension of your house. Who here has a neighbor who doesn’t take care of their yard? Look at size and location of planting beds, often the size of the planting beds is too small for the scale of the entire house. You want to match the size of your plants to the size of the house (ie more tall trees if you have a 2 story). Walk ways can be a great element to add that will make your house standout from the typical subdivision home. Exterior lighting is another element that can have a major impact. The type and position of lighting might depend on what you would like to accent.
   4. The Supporting Cast- The final elements that can enhance the overall look but are often forgotten. Driveways and garages are a big concern, especially with the Ranch style homes we have in our area. Adding decorative garage doors, or glass windows to the doors can help make it feel more like a part of the house verses a big box attached to your house! Driveways can also be spiced up when building by adding stain or even stamping a design element into them.

This is a crash course on curb appeal, and it might raise more questions than provide answers. That is ok, getting you thinking about it is a great start. Take a look at your home, decide what you can and can’t do and then put a plan in place to accomplish it. Home improvements can be like working out, painful but gratifying when they are finished! If you have questions about projects you are working on please give us a call and we will try to help out.

Forbes Magazine recently ranked Columbia MO in the top 10 on the Best Small Places for Business and Careers. For those of us who already live here this isn’t a shock but it is always nice to see how we measure up across our country.

All of us at Kliethermes Homes and Remodeling feel fortunate to live in such a great community. We are excited to see what the future will bring. Keep up the great work Columbia!

Click here to read the Best Small Places for Business and Careers Article on Forbes.com

We are excited to show Columbia an example of how Kliethermes is Columbia’s custom home builder of choice. Please stop by and see us at the Design Center this Saturday or Sunday from 1-5.

The house is located in The Cascades Subdivision at 2310 Redmond Court. We look forward to seeing you!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=91264651136&ref=ts

We will use this page to provide news / updates on what’s going on at Kliethermes as well as have discussions about different issues home owners typically face.

To read the article please go to: http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com/category/special_section/

We have found paint is a very affordable way to give your house a new look and feel. Depending on what you are looking to do you can add flair, create a relaxing room or just simply make your room more inviting. Pittsburg Paint has a color personality quiz that is a lot of fun to take but also helps narrow down the number of colors to those that fit your personality. You can take the quiz by going to http://voiceofcolor.com/en/colorsensegame/index.asp.

Here’s to finding a great paint color, the first time!

Take a mini vacation each time you step outside. Whether you choose to unwind with a glass of merlot or invite the whole family for a barbeque the summer is yours.

For more than 30 years, the Kliethermes Team has been designing and building decks, verandas and screened-in porches that have set the stage for those wonderful and largely unmemorable moments that make summer the best season.

Venture outside to a haven for quiet moments, family gatherings and everything in between.

When they met Dan Kliethermes, Bruce and Erika Ringdahl were looking fo a way to keep their increasingly busy kids close to home. In response, Dan designed this warm, welcoming outdoor living area that transformed a backyard into a comfortable gathering place that attracts family and friends and good times.

With a home remodeled by Kliethermes you can entertain friends and family where we all want to be … in the comfort of your own home.