Handholding homeowners from renovation start to finish

When Jerome Zaccaria Sr. started Remodeling Consultants Inc. 60 years ago, he wanted to ensure that the family-owned, design-build company, serving Westchester and Fairfield counties, would control every aspect of a project. 

“We take clients from the very beginning to the end to make sure the project is completed on time and on budget,” said Richard E. Davis III, vice president and manager of design, sales and architecture, who was trained by Zaccaria himself. “It’s one of the things that makes us unique.” 

To that end, Davis and his partners – company President Richard Zaccaria and Secretary Jerome Zaccaria Jr., Jerome Sr.’s sons, another son Gregory having just retired – oversee roughly 90 employees who include designers, architects, office support staff and 12 full-time teams of roughly three carpenters each. These teams in turn have support staffs of laborers that include masonry workers. Add subcontractors like tile cutters, plumbers and electricians, and you begin to see that Remodeling Consultants is a world unto itself. 

At the center of that world is the client, whose demographic profile is highly educated professionals, 30s to 50s, with a growing family in Westchester and Fairfield counties, Davis said, though the company does have older clients looking to fulfill the renovations of their dreams at last. Remodeling Consultants occupies a Goldilocks niche, as it were, in the home design world, he added. Its services would be “overkill” for, say, a small bathroom renovation. And owners of $15 million homes have their own people to do the work. Remodeling Consultants’ clients are right in the middle, with large-scale projects that average in excess of $300,000. Their first step is a free at-home consultation with the personable Davis. The follow-up would take place either at the Mamaroneck headquarters, where the showroom is located, or at the satellite office in Stamford. 

As far as trends in remodeling are concerned, Davis said, “It’s been pretty consistent for quite a while. Most of the homes in this area were built in the 1920s. The needs of families are different now.” 

They want an open-floor plan that connects the kitchen, an informal dining area and a family room. That desire may have dipped during the pandemic as people scurried into separate spaces, but it never really left, Davis said. Mud rooms that collect everything from car keys to lacrosse equipment are also still a must, he added. Primary suites with a bedroom, walk-in closets and a bathroom that is “calm and relaxing to start and end your day” are also desirable, as are outdoor living areas – terraces, decks and patios – which Remodeling Consultants outsources. (It also does not do roofs, siding and windows unless these are part of a project.) 

As for those homeowners who wish to eliminate the soaking tub – a feature that can cost $10,000 when you add on the plumbing and possible electrical work – and confine the bells and whistles to an expanded shower, he said he has cautioned them that you must have a tub for children for the home’s resale value. Indeed, Davis – who took every engineering and architecture course at F.D. Roosevelt High School in his native Hyde Park, New York; holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston; and has been with the company for 26 years — has a lot to say to homeowners in consultation. Here are his tips before you remodel: 

1. Prioritize the scope or objective of the project – This requires differentiating between your needs and your wants, he said. For example, you may want a soaking tub, but what you really need is to fix the bathroom. 
2. Understand how long you’re going to live in the home – “It comes down to an investment at the end of the day,” he added. “The longer you stay in a home, the more it makes sense to spend more money on it.” 
3. Know the value of the homes in your neighborhood – Davis used the example of a 1950s ranch-style home in Pelham Manor that Remodeling Consultants expanded into a two-story Tudor. The clients spent $1 million on the house and $1.5 million on the renovation. But the $2.5 million outlay was still not the high point of the neighborhood’s houses. Thus, the clients could sell it and “make a killing,” Davis said. The moral:  “You never want to be the most expensive property in the neighborhood.” 
4. Consider your municipality’s requirements from a zoning standpoint – You may well be restricted on how close you can build to a road or your neighbor’s property. 
5. Be realistic about what you can afford – “Most people don’t know what remodeling costs,” Davis said. What you see on TV is an illusion, he added. Knowing your budget and having a cushion are key. “At the end of the day, cost is what we’re talking about.” 

For more, visit remodeling-consultants.com.