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Cosmetic and Restorative Services

12 Things That YOU Can Do to Make Your Home Remodel a Success

Once you’ve selected a professional contractor for your remodeling project, be confident and trust the decision you’ve made. Also, be proactive and vigilant to ensure your project’s success. With the help of NARI – the National Association of the Remodeling Industry – we’ve assembled a checklist to use no matter which contractor you choose.

List the Procedures in Phases and have the contractor explain the time needed.

Plan Adequate Storage Areas for your belongings and for the working crew’s materials.

Put your project manager’s number in your cell phone for when important questions inevitably arise. Consider the logistics in ordering and delivering all of the materials that will be used. Material deliveries can be affected by weather, and manufacturers and distributors make mistakes with materials, quantities, or dates.

Select materials (paint color, floor tile, etc.) in advance so they’ll be ready in time for installation.

Try to stay out of the construction area to maintain safety for everyone in the home.

Expect the unexpected. Unforeseen incidents happen: late deliveries, shipment shortages, wrong parts, oversights, rain, and on-the-spot changes.

Workmanship.

Know what to expect in terms of industry standards of quality workmanship so that you can inspect the work as stages are completed.

Ask your contractor about the stages of your project and who will be involved. Separate crews install framing, siding, insulation, masonry, finish carpentry, and roofing. Painters, electricians, and plumbers and other trades will come and go at various stages.

Cover furniture and carpeting. A quality contractor will cover the area to protect your home.

Hovering over workers can cause resentment and a loss of focus. Trust the professionalism of the crews and they’ll work better.

Limit questions to workers www.facebook.com/BellaVistaCompany

Most workers are simply following orders and construction specs. Only discuss construction changes with your project manager.

Join us on Facebook for a look at our latest renovations, company news, and events.

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lakehighlands

LAKE HIGHLANDS BLOG: When we posted the city’s application for a $13.35 million HUD loan* that would jump start construction at the Lake Highlands Town Center, most commenters seized on the grocery store size included in the application — 57,186 square feet, which, as we pointed out, is more in the range of a Tom Thumb than a Sprouts.

SUGGESTED that if Tom Thumb opens at the Town Center, Sprouts could move into one of its vacated spots

EXPRESSED that a conventional grocer like Tom Thumb “makes the most sense” for Lake Highlands demographics

STUCKTO their beliefs that Lake Highlands demographics are good enough for a specialty grocer like Sprouts

THOUGHT giving the Town Center a HUD loan to create “new” jobs was a bad idea, since many jobs may come from existing Lake Highlands businesses that move to the Town Center (i.e. Tom Thumb)

FELT FINE about a larger grocer, including Tom Thumb, and are “just ready for some progress”

HELD OUT HOPE for a different large grocery store, such as Market Street or H-E-B

LAMENTED that a new Tom Thumb would “poach” one or both of the two existing stores within a mile of the Town Center

HATED the idea of a Tom Thumb at the Town Center

BELIEVED the existing neighborhood Tom Thumbs are a “lost cause,” whether or not the grocer opens at the Town Center

TOLD Lake Highlanders to get over it and referred to our neighborhood as “ghetto”

DENOUNCED these off-topic insults and called the commenter a “troll”

* The city council vote on whether to approve the HUD loan application was slated for Jan. 25, after this issue went to press. Catch up on the latest at lakehighlands.advocatemag.com

Q&A: Chuck Connor

It’s kind of like stepping back in time: The slick maple floors and spinning lights, the sounds of the “Hokey Pokey” and beginners’ rickety orange wheels slapping the solid burgundy carpet, and, what’s that smell? Redolent of antiquity, it’s the musty, nostalgic aroma of your adolescence. “It hasn’t changed since I was a kid,” patrons exclaim. That used to bother Chuck Connor. It actually takes much money and work to keep White Rock Skate looking and feeling exactly as it did in the ’70s. But now the statement, uttered by some 30- or 40-something daily, just makes him grin. Connor, who hasn’t missed a day of work in about 40 years, has made the place what it is. He is the Sultan of Skate, the Roller King, the Lord of the Rink, and he rules his kingdom with austerity and compassion.

This place hasn’t changed since I was a kid!

Yes, people say that to me every day, and it used to kind of upset me. I’d think, “Hey, I just paid so-and-so dollars to have new carpet or lighting installed!” I update every couple of years. But now I know, it is just the way they remember it from their childhood.

The music is a big part of the ambiance here. How has it changed?

Well, there are these cool things called computers and iTunes now! They didn’t have that when I started out as a DJ — we had reel-toreel and turntables.

You started here as a DJ?

Yes, my dad built the place in 1973, and I was in grad school and I worked here as a DJ.

I assume you weren’t in grad school for roller rink management. What were your plans?

I got a master’s degree in counseling, and I went to work for the Dallas County Community College District. Running the rink wasn’t in my plans, but at one point, my dad tired of operations and decided to sell. Around the time I was working in administration more, and less with students. And what I really wanted to do was work with people. So, my dad and I struck up a deal.

You’ve been here, every open day, ever since?

Haven’t missed a day of work in 39 years. I will use the days we are closed to travel on short vacations. I did go on my honeymoon when I was 28, but my dad was still here at that time; it was before I took over.

Is your family now highly involved in the business?

My wife used to be around all the time, basically lived here. My daughter, Leslie, who recently graduated from college, works here part-time now. She had her first gig here when she was about 4 or 5 years old. We paid her a dollar to hand out fliers. I still remember her first pair of tiny purple skates.

Will Leslie take over someday?

I don’t think so. I care about her too much to do that to her [Leslie is listening and they both laugh].

I had friends in high school who worked for you. Does your staff still comprise mostly high school students?

Mostly. We have a few college kids. Most of them are from Lake Highlands, Lakehill, Bryan Adams. We’ve had a couple from Woodrow. I have a wall of photos in the office of all the kids who have worked here.

You can point to any picture, and I can tell you a story about them [he proves it by doing so; he hasn’t forgotten a name or a face]. We even had a staff reunion in 2003 and about 125 former employees showed up. It was wonderful. Some of their spouses thought they were crazy, traveling to a reunion of a place they worked for in high school, but many of them worked here and were together four or five years and coming back was almost like a high school reunion. When I started out, I thought it would be the kids who come to skate that I would enjoy the most, but as much as I care about them, it’s really the staff that has been the best part.

Everyone seems very happy, but you must have to be stern sometimes in order to keep the teens working for you and the kids (and parents) skating here in line, right? We have strict rules, and they apply to everyone. As my father told me, what you do for one, you must do for all.

You proved this by not allowing me in the money machine. Only on your birthday.

No fair.

In orientation, we make sure the staff knows the seriousness of everything from safety on the rink to cleanliness of the uniform. Usually by the time they start working here, I know them and I know their families because they have been coming here to skate. As for the skaters, we sometimes have to tell them to slow down or change a shirt that has profane words on it. Some parents get upset if their child doesn’t win the race or the limbo contest, and we just say OK and keep the rules the same for everyone. And, it doesn’t happen often, maybe one in a million, a kid breaks a rule — steals or fights — and when that happens, they are out.

For good? No exceptions?

For good and no exceptions. I’ll bring them in here [his office] and they’ll look up there

The T Shop

Happy Valentine’s Day! Make your Valentine’s Day special with a little something from the T Shop. 1911 Abrams Parkway 214.821.8314

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The Store In Lake Highlands

Trollbeads Valentine’s Day Event Feb 10-14. Buy three beads, get one free. Sterling silver bracelet with the purchase of any decorative clasp. 10233 E NW Hwy@Ferndale (near Albertsons) 214.553.8850 Mon-Sat 9:30-5:30 TheStoreinLH.com