REMODEL YEAR
Home improvements increase resale value
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ew home construction in the Greenwood area seems to be down so far through the first half
of 2017. Richie Fulgham, president at HomeFront Home Improvement Center, said most the construction he sees in this area now is dealing with remodeling. “New construction is definitely down. I
would say 80 percent of the work being done is remodeling, with 20 percent going toward new homes,” he said. “That’s a trend you will find not just in Greenwood but all over the Delta. “The biggest reasoning for all the remodeling, in my opinion, is that home prices have bottomed out and are easing back up. That’s why people are doing
=============== things with their homes o eçãÉ that will add to that resale value.” ÇÉÅçê Fulgham said home íêÉåÇë improvement projects cost Page 3 about 20 to 25 cents on the =============== dollar. The other 75 to 80 cents spent go directly back into the home through increased value.
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Jackie Sims Jr., a contractor, developer and real estate broker, paints a different housing picture, though. He estimates about 90 percent of his construction work in the last two years is in new custom-built homes. He has completed about nine during that time and is working on four more. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pÉÉ HOMESI=m~ÖÉ=S
PageO Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
Lighten up
PageP Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
Home decor
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Top home decor trends include lighter colors, marble
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ne of the biggest home improvement trends this year is to lighten up. In recent years, there’s been a shift from using dark or bright contrast colors to using light neutrals, such as whites, creams and grays, on everything from walls to countertops to floors to a home’s exterior. “It’s all about light — light colors and a clean modern look,” said Cheryl Hurst of Magnolia Home Center. The leaning toward lighter colors has also created another trend in countertops — marble. “As far as countertops, we are seeing a lot of homeowners who love marble, and marble is not very practical because it
does stain,” said Mary Lawson Barlow of The Galley. To solve that problem, however, a wide variety of faux-marble finishes for countertops made of quartz, formica and porcelain are now available. “So we are seeing a lot of people going toward the quartz, because they can get the look they want and also have the durability, because quartz is the only countertop, other than stainless steel, that is rated for commercial use because it has antimicrobials in it,” said Barlow. Once the biggest seller, granite countertops have now been surpassed by the more tranquil tone of marble. “Everything is going toward light colors,” said
Barlow. “Everybody wants a white countertop. You can achieve that easier with a quartz than with a granite.” The trend also appears in tiles and flooring. “We have been selling a lot of ceramic tiles and porcelain that have been ink jetted to look exactly like the marble,” said Hurst. “It looks great, and that’s kind of the trend right now for flooring, bathrooms, countertops and back splashes. A lot of the kitchens now are white with marble, and it’s just a clean look.” Barlow said recently her customers have been requesting brick pavers. “We’re seeing more and more of the 4-by-8 tiles that look like a true brick,” she said. “We install these
in showers, on floors and on the facade of fireplaces. It gives a home a more traditional feel, and it is a bit easier on the pocket book than a true brick.” An increase in technology has led to a new trend in flooring. “Another advancement that we’ve seen in tile is the wood-look porcelain tile,” said Barlow. “It comes in various sizes, various colors, and it looks like the hardwood without the price tag of the actual wood.” Besides being less expensive than hardwood floors, Barlow said this type of flooring has several benefits, including its easy upkeep. “You can wet mop it. The water isn’t going to hurt it as opposed to the wood,”
she said. The tile has the appearance of wood grain and a textured surface. “It has the look of real wood,” said Barlow. Hurst said another popular option for floors is waterproof carpet. “If you spill something on this, it doesn’t go through. The water stays at the top,” she said. “Once you clean it, it’s gone.” When it comes to tiles, the most popular now is the subway tile. “Everybody is wanting the subway tile. Ceramic, marble, travertine, beveled
subway — anything you want comes in subway now,” said Barlow. Crackled glass, geometric shapes, herringbone pattern and arabesque shapes are all big sellers in tile now, too. “The herringbone pattern is very popular right now,” said Barlow. “The arabesque and that sort of thing is really getting big, and the crackled glass is really pretty. People are starting to use that sort of thing, and it all comes in various sizes and colors.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pÉÉ DECORI=m~ÖÉ=S
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‘Real and functional’
PageQ Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
Corrugated metal
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‘Tin’ is traditional and trendy building material
orrugated metal. Start looking around, and you’ll see it on walls, on ceilings, on kitchen islands, on bars, in restaurants and on roofs. Generally referred to as corrugated tin, it’s one of the Delta’s favorite building and interior decorating materials. Go to any number of Greenwood businesses, and you’ll see a corner, an alcove or a side hallway accented with corrugated metal. Tutti’s, a little diner on North Main Street in North Carrollton, has a wall sided with it and a counter lined with it and also uses it as a magnet board. Dale Riser of Beard + Riser Architects of Greenwood said the widespread use of it is a trend that has been around for decades and is becoming more and more popular, especially in the South. Beard + Riser’s most visible new structure in Greenwood, the pavilion at Rail Spike Park on Johnson Street, was built almost entirely with corrugated metal stretched along steel frames. “People say there’s no architecture in the Delta,” Beard said, “but there are incredible weird forms in utilitarian buildings all over the place — sheds, pole barns, cotton gins — and they’re most often made using corrugated metal.” Riser’s partner, John Beard, used corrugated tin for a house he built in Webster County, an old home place that Riser said had enough salvageable buildings to use the tin and “a lot of lumber to reconstruct the house.” The result is both modern and vintage — clean lines and an industrial look with the warmth of weathered, oxidized metal turned orange and brown. Beard studied and worked with the late Mississippi architect Samuel Mockbee, who became well known for his Rural Studio program at Auburn University and the buildings that came out of that project, often utilizing materials that would be considered
This is Rail Spike Park Pavilion, a Beard + Rise design, from the east.
waste, such as old tin roofs or repurposed wood. “I think people using rustic things — old barn wood, old brick, old tin — it’s a reaction to everything looking so much alike most places you go. So much of our cities are cookie-cutter now,” Riser said. Using a material like corrugated metal as an interior or exterior design element in Greenwood echoes the surrounding countryside in the Delta and evokes the rural nature of the place while distinguishing it from other places. A product called Cor-Ten, oxidized or rusted metal with an orange or brown tinge, is one way to go, but Riser said it’s a high-end product and not inexpensive. The typical silver corrugated metal we see all around, however, is relatively inexpensive, easy to find at places such as Lowe’s and Home Depot and easy to install,
which is one reason it has gotten so popular. It also is available in all kinds of sizes and shapes, Riser said. “It’s a light material; you can hang it with a couple of people, screw it to the wall, put nails through it.” Riser said he wouldn’t use it as a backsplash on a counter or any place where it’s guaranteed to get wet, because it will corrode if it comes into contact with water and you don’t really want rust in contact with food in a kitchen. But inhibitors can be applied to stop rusting. In some cases, the metal is allowed to rust to a certain degree, and then an inhibitor is applied to keep it from rusting further. Corrugated metal was designed as exterior cladding to be used mostly on industrial buildings, and the corrugation was intended to give a solid sheet of metal more strength. But it also works as a decorative element because the
corrugation adds texture, line and shadow. Riser and Beard’s downtown Greenwood office has a wall constructed of a piece of rusted, salvaged tin that warms the space. Riser said he has loved it since he was a young college graduate and went looking for inspiration. “Around Opelousas, Louisiana, I took picture after picture of buildings made of metal. Utilitarian buildings, both old and new,” he said. “For me, I’ve got an emotional thing about it. It reminds me of my grandfather’s barn, a simple timber frame building clad with tin.” When Riser and Beard were designing Greenwood’s new pavilion, they wanted it to look like it belonged in the Delta, especially in the part of town where it sits. Take a good look at it, and you’ll see reflections of the industrial electrical plant just up the road and lines that call to mind cotton
gins and barns. The round cistern in front, made of corrugated metal, mimics the ubiquitous silos on farmland all over the Delta. “We felt like corrugated metal was the right material,” Riser said. Although the look has become popular thanks to slick publications such as Garden & Gun magazine and hundreds of uses can be found on Instagram, Riser said he doesn’t like to think of it as trendy. “For me it fits the use,” he said. “It’s true that it’s part of kind of an edgy Southern revival, but it’s real and functional, just like brick and wood.” Now, if only some entrepreneur would take the cue and treat salvaged metal the same way salvaged bricks and wood are used when an old building comes down or deteriorates — break it down and resell it. No doubt there’s a ready market for it. n
This is a gin in Thornton. “This is a pretty iconic building that is a really good example of gin buildings that sort of served as place locators. A lot of times, communities or The inside wall at Tutti’s Restaurant in North Carrollton, made of corrugated metal, is loosely based communities of people were known by their gin name,” said Dale Riser. used as a magnet board. pqlov=_v=h^qeovk=b^pq_rok=n melqlp=_v=_b^oa=H=ofpboI=e^kh=i^j_=^ka=h^qeovk=b^pq_rok
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PageR Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
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PageS Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
^q=^=di^k`b Project Bathroom addition Bathroom remodel Deck addition (wood) Major kitchen remodel Master suite addition Minor kitchen remodel Roofing replacement Siding romancelet
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Job cost $42,233 $17,908 $10,471 $59,999 $115,810 $20,122 $20,142 $14,100
Resale value cost recouped $23,727 $11,769 $7,850 $38,938 $74,224 $16,716 $14,446 $10,857
% of job cost 56.2% 65.7% 75.0% 64.9% 64.1% 83.1% 71.7% 77.0%
Source: HGTV.com
`çåíáåìÉÇ=Ñêçã=m~ÖÉ=N ---------------------------------------------------------The common theme in these houses, he said, is big kitchens with detailed cabinetry and high-end appliances. “The houses we are doing are increasing in size, although we do all sizes. I am not sure though if that’s the case for others,” Sims said. “Most of the houses we have done are between 3,500 and 4,000 square feet. Another new trend is clients wanting three-car garages.”
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Whether it’s adding on or new construction, Fulgham has noticed more homeowners are paying close attention to insulation. “Folks are spending more on better insulation, going with a spray foam insulation. They will spend an extra $7,000 to save 20 percent on their utility bill for the next 20 or so years,” he said. Experts say the only kind of insulation that creates an air-tight seal in floors, walls and ceilings is the spray foam, which is as revolutionary as insulation gets. Fulgham said spray foam insulation is a combination
nets.” Styles popular in home decor this year are farm house and town and country with gold accents. `çåíáåìÉÇ=Ñêçã=m~ÖÉ=P “You can get everything ---------------------------------------------------------in gold, and it goes well While the new focus on lighter shades can make any with the lighter colors,” said Barlow. “It just really space brighter and more relaxing, it is also practical. “The 1960s blue and pink tiles, people are ripping that out now, because you are so limited with the color schemes in decor,” said Barlow. “If you go with a neutral with your countertops and your tile, you can change the color of anything you want, such as wall color, towels, throw rugs, and it’s still going to look fine.” Also trending in kitchen remodeling is selecting neutral-colored cabinets rather than the once-popular wood grain. “We are selling more ivory-, white- and creamcolored cabinets than anything,” said Barlow. “It’s cleaner, and it looks newer longer.” There’s also a new shift from round and oval bathroom sinks to rectangle ones. “Everybody wants the rectangle sinks. We just got in a shipment of sinks today, and all are rectangle,” said Barlow. “For the kitchen sink, everybody loves the farm house sink. Another thing we’re seeing with sinks is a single bowl, one big sink rather than the 50-50, which is two equal bowls.” Making a comeback in recent years is gold. But rather than a harsh-colored gold, a new tone called champagne gold is trending. “It’s a softer gold, and it’s beautiful,” said Barlow. “We are seeing a lot of people using that with plumbing fixtures for their bathrooms and hardware for the cabi-
of chemicals that are sprayed out of a machine through a hose. The spray foam chemicals mix together at the tip of the hose, creating a thick paint-like goo that sticks to anything it touches, including wires, pipes and ducts. Within seconds, the foam begins to expand, trapping a gas inside billions of tiny bubbles. As the foam expands, it forms a continuous even layer of insulation and creates an air-tight seal. Fulgham also said one of the simplest, most costeffective improvements of all is paint. “Freshly painted rooms look clean and updated, adds a pop to any room.” The lighter trend is even making its way outdoors to the exterior of the home. “For outside, everybody is painting their brick now, and it’s all light colors,” said Hurst. Inside the home, popular
`çåëíêìÅíáçå=áë=~Äçìí=íç=ÄÉÖáå=~í=íÜáë=ëáíÉ=çå=oáîÉêÄÉåÇ=aêáîÉK=fí=áë=çåÉ=çÑ=íïç=ÅìêêÉåí åÉï=ÜçãÉ=éêçàÉÅíë=ÄÉáåÖ=ÇçåÉ=Äó=g~ÅâáÉ=páãë=gêK= and that spells value,” he explained. When selecting paint colors, keep in mind that neutrals appeal to the greatest number of people, therefore making your home more desirable. On average, a gallon of paint costs around $25. Tish Bowie Goodman, broker/owner at Bowie Realty, said some realtors will come to your house for no charge to help figure out how to get your money back out of your remodel. “People looking to buy a home are looking for updated bathrooms and kitchens and updated appliances and nice finishes. Also, get rid of wallpa-
per and dark colors,” she said. “I can tell you for sure you better replace old, worn-out roofs and air units. No buyer wants to spend their money on that; they want to spend their money making the house their home.” She said even if you can’t afford a full remodel, small changes such as replacing dated wallpaper with a faux or textured finish and replacing old lighting will update the room without denting your wallet. Another costeffective change is replacing an outdated vanity or old plumbing and lighting fixtures or adding a new tile floor.
For those taking on major projects, Fulgham said local remodeling costs an average of $80 to $100 per square foot, while new construction is anywhere from $100 to $120. But contractor Heath Hodges said those numbers are very general, and a particular project may be well in excess of that depending on exactly what the customer wants done. “One common theme these days is people wanting outdoor living areas. That’s becoming very big around here,” Hodges said. Sims agrees: “A lot of people are wanting to incorporate outdoor kitchen areas for entertaining.” n
paint colors include light shades of blues, greens and grays. “Wallpaper is in now, and metallic wallpaper is popular,” said Hurst. “We’re seeing a lot of people going with glossy finishes for their walls, and that’s
something new, too” Currently there is also a shift from using drapes to using shutters for windows. “We’re really selling a lot of shutters,” said Hurst. Hurst recommends for those who are interested in remodeling a home to
check out the site eçìòòKÅçã for ideas. “It’s a great website, and you can find anything you want on there,” said Hurst. “I even use it for people sometimes who can’t visualize exactly what they want.” n
PageT Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
AUCTION COMPANY, LLC
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PageU Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
Local firm, state leader
PageV Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
The Johnson-McAdams Firm
Architects, engineers busy with projects all over US T
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he Johnson-McAdams Firm continues to have projects going on all over the country, and the architectural, engineering and planning firm’s president says he expects things to stay busy. David Leard said Johnson-McAdams has 16 projects in design, 40 either in construction or some bidding phase and four active studies or planning projects. “We’ve been here for nearly 40 years and done nothing but grow during that time,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we couldn’t have a hiccup and our workload go down, but we’ve got a very good client base and we’re optimistic about our future.” Leard said Johnson-McAdams is one of the largest firms of its kind in Mississippi, if not the largest. He estimated that 95 percent of its clients are public entities. The federal ones include the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Agriculture, NASA and others. Mississippi clients have included the City of Greenwood, Viking Range, Milwaukee Electric Tool, Wade Inc., Pillow Academy, Express Grain, Clarksdale Utilities and Baxter Healthcare. Jobs include new buildings as well as
renovations and a good mix of large and small projects, Leard said, citing one $50 million project with the Mississippi Army National Guard done within the last couple of years versus other work in the $500,000 range. Structures might range from an explosion-proof Department of Defense building to a wooden church. The business does pursue some private jobs, but they are rare. “There’s not a lot of private clients here in our area. There’s just not,” Leard said. “And there’s not a lot of active projects or work going on.” Then again, he said the firm has been chasing jobs elsewhere since it was founded. “We’ve been working nationwide for a long time,” he said. “We have active projects in Puerto Rico and active projects in Seattle.” Some examples of other recent work locations are Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. For this reason, Johnson-McAdams goes up against some of the nation’s larger firms for work, particularly federal work — and it is very competitive, Leard said. Ed Johnson, who was president of Johnson-McAdams before Leard, opened a Greenwood office for the Pickering Firm in 1978, bought that office in 1986
and started the Johnson-McAdams Firm there. The firm occupies two former cotton-classing buildings in downtown Greenwood and also has an office in Collierville, Tennessee. Leard, who is one of the firm’s seven owners, estimated its number of employees to be in the mid-30s and said he expected that number to stay the same for a while. In addition to Leard, who is an electrical engineer, the other six principals include three architects, two civil engineers and a mechanical engineer. After graduating from Mississippi State University in 1981, Leard went to work for General Electric in New York and then to Baxter Healthcare in Cleveland, Mississippi, in 1983. He remained there until joining Johnson-McAdams in 1998 as general manager. He became president seven years ago when Johnson scaled back his duties. Leard said the job is a constant learning process. The firm is registered in about 35 states, each of which has its own requirements for continuing education, so everyone has to keep up with the latest trends and techniques. The top trend is greater energy efficiency, which has been a focus for a while. Johnson-McAdams designs a lot of buildings to LEED Silver specifications and some to LEED Gold. These are the thirdhighest and second-highest, respectively, of the four levels in the Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program for “green” buildings. Architect Becky Palmer also is a consultant to the Coast Guard on LEED issues. Leard said it’s hard to predict the future because of the firm’s variety of clients, but he expects work for the Department of Defense to increase under President Donald Trump and the current Congress. “The people that are hurting as a result of that are people like the USDA, where they’re at least looking initially at cutting their budgets,” he said, adding that work for Customs and Border Protection might decrease, too. He thinks there could be more work in New Orleans, where Johnson-McAdams worked on a facility that made the external tank for the space shuttle. Now that the shuttle program has ended, that site has transitioned to a space launch system building rockets to go to Mars or the moon. “We did a large addition for them back a few years ago to be able to assemble these new rockets,” Leard said. “They have to change tooling; there are a lot of things that have to change when they’re designing new rockets and new hardware.” Johnson-McAdams has had a contract with NASA there but now will be working for a subcontractor, he said. n
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Family business
PageNM Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
Mike Rozier Construction Company
Company seeks projects that play to its strengths
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ike Rozier of Mike Rozier Construction Company has been in the Greenwood construction business his whole life, starting from an early age helping his grandfather during the summer. After graduating from college with a degree in construction engineering, Rozier worked in Jackson as a superintendent doing residential work for two years before moving back to Greenwood. While he was away, his family started an overhead door company, and he began working there before starting his own company in 1976. Starting a construction business in Greenwood was “scary,” but Rozier said he knew he wanted to open his own business after building Sonic Drive-In restaurants in Yazoo City. Today, Rozier has two offices — one in Greenwood and one in Hattiesburg that is run by his son, Michael Rozier Jr., who “wanted to be in the business from day one,” Rozier said. The construction business is a family affair, and both of Rozier’s sons, Craig and Michael Jr., his brother and nephew all work together. Rozier said working in a family business
can be difficult at times but is also very rewarding. “When it works and when it jells together, it is very rewarding,” he said. “I mean what is better than working with your sons or your brother or your nephew putting a project together?” Rozier Jr. went to the University of Southern Mississippi, graduating with a degree in construction engineering. The office in Hattiesburg opened in 1997. Rozier’s son, Craig, is one of the project managers in the Greenwood office, and he has worked for the company for almost 10 years. “It’s in the blood,” he said. Craig said he enjoys working in the family business, where he believes communication is key and likes the challenge of construction. “It is always a challenge, and I don’t like repetitive work,” he said. “I am always out there looking for something to do I haven’t done before.” Mike Rozier Construction Company is well known for its commercial building for companies locally and nationally, such as Dollar General, McDonald’s, Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. and PepsiCo. Dollar General came into the picture
around 1997 after Rozier had built the Dollar General on Mississippi 7 and leased it back to Dollar General. Later, the company asked Rozier to be its preferred developer, he said. Since 1997, Rozier Construction has built more than 387 Dollar General stores in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. Rozier was the developer and general contractor for the new PepsiCo warehouse and distribution center in Greenwood. The company does commercial and private projects, and Rozier chooses the ones that fit the company’s strengths. “We like jobs that are a little bit different, a little bit challenging that maybe the average person would not want to fool with,” Rozier said. “We try to look at what we do best, and that’s the kind of jobs we go after.” One of Rozier’s most memorable projects was building three 120-foot crosses throughout the state. The first was in Winona in 2014. The third was recently completed in Batesville. “It’s special when you get to build a project like that, and I hope I get to build a lot more,” Rozier said. n
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PageNN Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================
PageNO Greenwood Commonwealth / Wednesday, July 26, 2017 `lkpqor`qflk =======================================================================================================================================================================