We’re breaking out our aprons support a great organization! Join us for the Craftsmen & Craft Brews Lowcountry Boil, part of the American College of the Building Arts’ (ACBA) Master of the Building Arts Festival.

The Master of Building Arts Festival is a week-long event, running from March 24-29 and features a series of professional workshops, hands-on demonstrations, lectures, tours and a variety of family activities.

The Craftsmen & Craft Brews Lowcountry Boil will bring the festival to a close on Saturday, March 29. Join us from 5:00-8:00pm and enjoy a Lowcountry Boil with all the fixins’ – prepared and served by our very own Bob Fleming, with the help of ACBA students. You can also enjoy craft beer, a silent auction and live entertainment by Johnny Dailey.

Tickets are $25 ($15 for students with valid ID) and go on sale March 1. Proceeds from the Craftsmen & Craft Brews Lowcountry Boil benefit the ACBA’s Student Guild organization.

For those who aren’t familiar with ACBA, it is the only school in the country to offer a four-year program where students learn traditional craftsmanship along with modern building trades. Students learn “the old ways” and develop the skills needed to help preserve historic buildings not only here in Charleston, but around the world.

We hope you’ll come out and enjoy this great event, and learn about all that the ACBA has to offer.

With temperatures in the Lowcountry expected to drop into the teens (and wind chills near zero along the coast), Charleston residents are bracing for some bitterly cold weather tonight – something we don’t experience that often.

Because extreme cold temperatures are somewhat uncommon, it’s easy to forget to take proper precautions to prevent frozen pipes. Here are a few simple steps you can take to protect your plumbing:

1. Leave a faucet dripping over night. Flowing water is less likely to freeze. Even if some of the water in the pipes does freeze, keeping the faucet open and water flowing helps prevent pressure from building, which can cause a pipe to burst.

2. Cover exposed pipes. Your local home improvement store should carry pipe insulation. If you don’t have time to get the insulation, grab a few blankets or towels and wrap any exposed pipes. Don’t forget about pipes in the garage, attic or other unheated areas of the home.

3. Disconnect garden hoses. It’s not uncommon to leave your garden hose connected to your outdoor spigot year-round. The problem is that if water freezes in the hose it puts pressure on the entire plumbing system. Disconnect your hose, drain it and cover the spigot just to be safe.

4. Know where your water shut-off valve is located. If you do have a pipe burst, use this valve to shut off your home’s water supply and hopefully minimize any water damage.

Every year we look forward to our annual client appreciation party, when we get a chance to get together with past clients and new clients for an evening of food and fun.

This year, our party took place at the St John’s Yacht Harbor’s Headquarters Room. Despite some concerns earlier in the week about the weather, it turned out to be a picture-perfect evening.

More than 100 of our clients and employees came out for the evening and were treated to a full spread of homemade dishes, prepared by Classic’s staff. Our “head chef,” Bob Fleming, provided the main course of pulled pork, mac & cheese, green beans and cornbread, Charleston Oyster Company provided the oysters, and an array of appetizers and mouth-watering desserts helped round out the buffet.

Despite all of the delicious food, one of our favorite offerings of the evening wasn’t food related.

Like all good party hosts, we don’t like to send our guests home empty-handed. This year, in addition to the koozies and oyster knives, we also wanted to give back to our community and those in need. There are so many deserving organizations throughout the Lowcountry, we decided to let our clients help us decide where our money should go. So, we selected 3 charities* and gave each client a stone valued at $10 to drop into the donation jar for the charity of their choice.

Thanks to the participation of our clients, Classic will be making donations in honor of our guests, to Susan G. Komen Lowcountry ($250), Operation Home ($350) and Water Missions International ($490).

It was a wonderful evening and we’re already looking forward to the next party. Thanks to everyone who attended and we hope to see you next year!

*About our selected charities:

Susan G. Komen Lowcountry – The Lowcountry Affiliate of Susan G. Komen supports breast cancer awareness projects and promotes breast health programs in 17 counties across the Lowcountry. Additional proceeds support research, educational and scientific programs around the world.

Operation Home – Operation Home helps low-income residents of Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties remain in their homes by increasing safety and accessibility through the coordination of critical home repairs.Water Missions International – Water Missions International provides sustainable safe water and sanitation solutions for people in developing countries and disaster areas. They are currently providing critical assistance to the victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

An under-utilized breakfast area was converted into a new sitting room

Master bath, before and after

A crumbling brick archway and porch was replaced with a new screened porch

One of Classic Remodeling’s core values has always been to provide superior customer service to all of our clients. In an industry where referrals are key to the success of our business, customer satisfaction is not something that can be taken lightly. We go to great lengths to monitor our team’s performance, using survey services like GuildQuality and review sites like Angie’s List or Houzz.

It is extremely satisfying to hear from clients at the end of a project and learn that they had a great experience. We received one such note this month, from a client who hired us to renovate their 1940s condominium. 

Classic’s Bob Fleming will be a featured panelist in an upcoming Owner Series Webinar sponsored by GuildQuality, which will focus on how company owners preserve their core values and company culture while growing their business.  In advance of the webinar, the panelists shared some of their thoughts with Remodeling Magazine. Below is an excerpt of the article.

Focus Your Culture on Service Excellence
Is your company’s culture helping you exceed client expectations?

Managing expectations is important, but exceeding client expectations is essential to growing your business. There’s a definite correlation between a company’s success and how its culture focuses on service excellence.

Fitting In
Creating defined processes and an encouraging environment where teamwork and accountability are valued is critical to developing a strong culture of excellence. As your business grows, preserving that culture can become a challenge. Bob Fleming, president of Classic Remodeling & Construction in Charleston, S.C., considers whether new hires will be a cultural fit during the interview process.

“First and most important, I hire for attitude,” he says. “All the technical skills in the world will not compensate for a lack of people skills. I find that when you find someone with good people skills who is motivated to learn, you can teach the technical skills quickly and easily.”

Fleming also emphasizes the importance of his company’s core values with new team members and trains them to deliver excellence to clients. He monitors his team’s performance using GuildQuality.

“There is nothing more satisfying than getting the feedback from our clients that everyone involved with the project was great to work with and knowing that those results occurred without any daily involvement from me as the company owner.”

To read the full article, check out Remodeling.com. 

Planning your summer vacation? Don’t forget to make plans to keep your home and belongings safe while you are away. Here are a few practical tips to ensure your house stays safe, whether you are gone for a week or a month.

Although the housing market continues to show signs of improvement, the overwhelming majority of older homeowners are still expressing a desire to remain in their current homes as they age. As a remodeler, we are seeing an increase in the number of requests to retrofit our clients’ homes to accommodate their changing needs.

This is where universal design (UD) comes into play. UD is an architectural practice that allows occupants of all ages and capabilities to live independently and comfortably for a long period of time in the same house.

While in the past, the idea of remodeling your home for “aging in place” may have conjured up images of industrial-looking grab bars and wheelchair ramps, today UD elements are designed to be subtle and almost undetectable.  

Cabinetry is a great place to add UD elements. Pull-out shelves which make cabinet contents more visible and accessible are one popular option. Soft-close drawers and doors also help to protect against pinched fingers. Other accessories like lazy susans, door shelves and flip-down fronts enhance storage capacity as well as accessibility.

Grab bars are also being integrated into the design of many bathroom fixtures. From faucets and towel bars to shelving and soap dishes, these elegant fixtures provide discreet support, making them both beautiful and functional. 

Single-lever handles for doors, sinks and showers are easier to manipulate, whether you have an armful of groceries or lack strength for gripping. “D”-shaped handles also make cabinets easier to open.

And let’s not forget appliances. Many of the current popular appliance options also deliver UD benefits of better accessibility and increased safety. Wall ovens and warming drawers, French-door style refrigerators and microwave ovens with flip-down doors are just a few examples.

Over the past few years, universal design has come a long way, in large part because the products available have become more attractive and flexible. Be sure to talk with your contractor about your needs as you begin the design and product selection process. You have many options for remodeling your space to suit your lifestyle needs both now and in the future while also enhancing the beauty, comfort, convenience and long-term value of your home.