Daily Archives: March 20, 2020

More Space, More Value: Home Additions that Increase Property Value

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Thinking about staying or moving to another home in a few years? Whatever it may be, certain home additions are worthwhile undertakings, especially when they significantly increase the price of your home.

Patios and Carports

Many urban homes in Brisbane have carports, patios or sometimes both. These house extensions effectively expand a house without requiring extensive construction. A patio can increase your home value by 10 to 20 per cent, and a carport is an attractive addition for families with more than one vehicle. If you’re not planning to sell your home, you can still make use of an extended patio. It extends your living area while keeping the sun at bay and keeping your house cooler. The larger space is perfect for gatherings and barbecues, afternoon tea time or evening parties. A carport will protect your vehicle from the sun, maintaining its paint job and allowing you to drive off without suffering from suffocating heat during summer months.

Conservatories and Greenhouses

A garden won’t affect your house’s valuation, but a well-made conservatory or greenhouse would. A conservatory or a separate greenhouse will give your house a more refined look. You can make full use of a greenhouse even if you have no plans to sell your house. Australia is particularly hot, so make sure you choose your crops properly. Vegetables like tomatoes, cabbage, spinach and peppers are popular crop choices. If flowers are more to your liking, geraniums, petunias, chrysanthemums or orchids can be good options. You can even opt for specialty plants like cacti and other succulents or Venus flytraps and other carnivorous plants. Modern greenhouses can be constructed using polycarbonate sheets instead of glass, so you don’t have to worry about damage or accidents – especially if you have kids or pets in the house.

The Usual Backyard Cabin

Granny flats are everywhere in Australia. An extra living structure in your property will certainly raise its price, but you will probably choose to stay if you opt for a backyard cabin. While popularly used to provide a living space for older relatives, granny flats can have multiple uses. It can serve as an office if you work from home or run a business; you can even list it as a coworking space online. Use it as a workshop for wood-crafting or hobby space for the whole family. Keeping the mess outside of the house can make your family a lot happier and saner. If you don’t want to make a lot of changes, just rent it out as an Airbnb accommodation or perhaps a short-term lease. A backyard cabin is easy to maintain, and contractors can easily reconfigure it if your elderly parents finally decide to move in.

House additions cost money, but they make your house more spacious and comfortable or give it more character. The right additions pay for themselves by either raising your quality of life or raising your house’s valuation if you plan on selling in the future. So choose a project that best suits your needs.

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Sensible Times To Outsource In Business

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Outsourcing is something that all businesses can benefit from. But when should you outsource and when you should take on a task yourself? Here are just a few of the key times to consider outsourcing.

When it’s beyond your expertise

There are some jobs, such as cutting, for example, that you may simply not have the expertise to handle, so outsourcing to a professional CNC cutting service is the best solution – learn more here. While you may be able to teach yourself the required skills in some cases, this could still take a lot of time and energy.

Manufacturers for instance will often specialize in certain areas and outsource parts and other processes, such as heat treating. You may specialize in casing for machinery but may require another company to handle electronics assembly. Without spending years studying electronics, there’s no way you can do this task yourself.

Legal support is another task that is commonly outsourced because it requires specialist expertise. Lawyers can help to explain business laws and may be able to help with tasks such as writing legal contracts, applying for trademarks or defending you against a lawsuit.  

You don’t want to be outsourcing tasks that are your specialty. If you can competently handle a task, save yourself the money by doing it yourself.

When it saves you money

Another great time to outsource is when it could possibly save you money. Outsourcing does cost money, but there can be times when you make a return from it.

One example could be outsourcing a delivery service for your online store. Hiring your own team of delivery drivers and buying vehicles is likely to cost a huge amount compared to outsourcing a delivery service.

It’s also often more economical to outsource one-off tasks to save you from purchasing equipment and resources. If you need to print off and mail newsletters but don’t own a printer, you’ll save a lot of money by hiring a printing and mailing company to handle it the task for you.

Always do the math beforehand so that you can be certain that you’re going to save money. Don’t outsource something that you can do cheaper yourself if you can achieve the same level of quality doing it.

When it saves you a lot of time

There are many tasks which take up a lot of time. By outsourcing these tasks, it gives you more time to focus on more pressing things.

A lot of companies outsource office cleaning because it takes up a lot of time – even if it is something you and your employees can do yourself. It allows your team to focus on their core responsibilities, while a team of professional cleaners can then focus on keeping your office tidy.

Similarly, you may want to outsource a task like answering the phone if you’re constantly being barraged by calls and can’t focus on other tasks. A phonecall answering company can take all calls for you, so that you’re no longer having other tasks interrupted.

Of course, there’s no point outsourcing a task like answering phone calls if you rarely receive phone calls. You’re much better off handling these tasks yourself if they only cost you a small amount of time.

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