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How Is a Second Floor Addition Added to Your House?

Is your single-story home beginning to feel a bit cramped? With growing families or expanding hobbies, a home that once seemed big enough can easily fill up. However, moving is a laborious process that can mean sacrificing a wonderful neighborhood, a great school district, and proximity to friends and relatives. Instead of giving all of that up for a new house, you may want to consider expanding your current one. Today, Heidan Construction wants to talk about the process of having a second floor addition added to your house. 

Designing the Addition

The first thing we have to do when adding a second floor to your home is design it and how it will connect to the existing structure. This will involve mapping out where supports may need to be added as well as how the new stairway will connect. 

Many people forget that the addition of a stairway will take up space on the first floor. However, this is something that can’t be avoided. The space used can be minimized by choosing a spiral staircase, but this is up to the homeowner and their preferences. For most, using up a bit more space for a more standard stairway is preferred. 

Preparing for Construction

When the building process begins, you may have to move out of your house temporarily. A full second-story addition will guarantee this necessity, as the entire house becomes a construction zone. However, for partial additions that are only added to one side of the house, you may be able to retain access to the other part of the house. This will depend on how big the addition is, how the construction area and non-construction area are connected, and so on.

Removing Obstructions

After we’ve begun construction, the first thing we have to do is remove obstructions. That will mean demolition of the roof, in part or in its entirety, depending on the size of the addition. We will also remove parts of the ceiling, as is needed for the new stairway entrance.

Adding to the Structure

When everything that was once in our way has been taken out of the picture, it’s time to start adding to the structure. The first step is creating new wall and roof frameworks so that we can put up raincover. This will protect the interior as we work. Because the roof can’t go up right away, this is important in ensuring the house doesn’t get water damage.

Once the new framework is in place, we can start on the walls, wiring, plumbing and more. Following that, we’ll insulate, add interior walls and, finally, the roof.

Finishing Touches

Everyone knows a new roof is expensive and extensive. This part will take quite a bit of time on its own. However, when the new roof has been added, we’ll be nearing completion of the project. From there, all that’s left is the finishing touches. This is when we add siding, paint, flooring, baseboards, and fixtures.

All in all, this process is quite extensive, taking quite a bit of time and money. However, for an investment in your future, it’s worth it. Improving and expanding a house you love always leads to more satisfaction than the arduous process of finding somewhere that comes close to comparing.

Give us a call if you want to discuss home additions. We can walk you through the process in more detail and answer any of your questions.

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Business Office Remodeling with Design Build Contractors

There’s nothing quite like stepping into your very first office building. Any new business owner can tell you how rewarding it is. However, after many years of use, that first little office may become a bit aged and cramped. There’s always the option of moving your company to a new office space, somewhere else. However, employees have chosen to work at your current location for a reason. Customers know where to find you. If you move locations, you risk losing employees who can’t make the commute, and customers who no longer know where to find you. That’s where business office remodeling comes in.

Improve What’s There

Business office remodeling doesn’t necessarily mean bulldozing the existing building. There’s no reason to get rid of the perfectly functional, existing structure. We can simply improve what’s there. Remodeling can mean a lot of things. While remodeling is usually more extensive than simple renovations, it can still include renovations.

When improving the existing space, we can:

  • Put in new doors
  • Install new railings along stairs and lofts
  • Replace administrative countertops
  • Upgrade bathroom fixtures
  • Redo faulty plumbing
  • Redo faulty wiring
  • Add a new coat of paint
  • Replace flooring

These things are just the beginning of what we can do to the existing structure. No matter how you decide to remodel, we’ll make sure your existing building is as high quality as anything new that’s added to it.

Expand Your Office

In most cases of business office remodeling, there comes an expansion. After all, having a team out to do so much work on your building is a great time to get that expansion you desperately need. Business office expansions can come in many forms. 

  1. We can expand the back, providing more space without changing the front-end appearance of the office. 
  2. Another possibility is expanding one or both sides, to provide a bigger, wider building. This can be great at grabbing the attention of passers by.
  3. A second-floor addition is also possible to achieve, creating more space without the need for more property.

Improving Your Business

With an expansion and remodel comes a lot of fantastic opportunities. The first is your new ability to expand your staff. With more space, you’ll have more room for employees. Plus, everyone loves working in a newly remodeled building. Morale is at an alltime high when a remodel happens, making it the perfect time to hire.

In addition to new staffing capabilities, you also have a new pitch to draw in customers. Advertise about your new expanded business and draw interest from potential clients. After all, an expansion and remodel is a great sign that a business is flourishing and is, therefore, reliable.

Design Build Contractors

Heidan Construction is the leading choice for business office remodeling for a very important reason. Because we provide design build services, we can both design the remodel and make it a reality. Don’t force yourself to juggle multiple teams. By giving us full control over making your remodel a reality, we can ensure the end results are of the highest quality possible.

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How Renovating Your Clinic Improves Health and Safety

Owning a medical office or clinic is a lot of responsibility. Not only does it go hand in hand with intense jobs which require a lot of study and practice, but you become a lot of people’s lifeline. When your clinic is the first place your patients go to for medical help, the building where they receive care is a huge facet of their health and safety. Because of that, our team at Heidan Construction wants to impress upon you how renovating your clinic improves that health and safety. There are a lot of valuable ways you and your patients can benefit from a renovation investment. Let’s look at just a few of them.

Replace Dangerous Materials

So, one of the most important reasons you should be renovating your clinic is if it’s been around a while. If you bought the building from an older practice, took over an existing practice, or have been pouring blood, sweat, and tears into it for many decades, it might carry some less than stellar secrets in its walls. Namely, old buildings can contain things like asbestos. In a perfect world, every old building would be remodeled as soon as a building material is found to be dangerous. However, we don’t live in a perfect world.

When renovating your clinic, it’s important to test for things like asbestos in the older parts of the building. Removing the dangerous materials used to build a structure in the early or mid 20th century is a tricky task. Having a renovation team that can help arrange for the safe removal of health hazards is paramount.

Banish Bacteria

Have you ever thought about how bacteria can be harbored by even the smallest crack or crevice? If you work in the healthcare field, you most certainly have. Now that you’re thinking of it, how many cracks, crevices, fractures, and so on have made themselves at home in your clinic? The answer is: probably more than desired. Even crackling paint can be a place for bacteria to hide.

Bacteria can lead to serious infections and illnesses. Therefore, a medical office necessarily needs to do its best to remove its footholds. Upgrading equipment, wall paint, flooring, counters, and anything else that contains bacteria-harboring gaps of any size is something every medical clinic should strive for. Renovating your clinic to be safer and healthier for patients can start as simple as repainting. Or, if you’re a go big or go home kind of person, it might be time to consider that full scale remodel that your clinic has been in desperate need of for years.

Rely on a Trusted Team

No matter how extensively you want your clinic renovated, you’ll want a team of experience professionals to get the job done right. Heidan Construction is the #1 choice for clinic renovations in Toronto. Don’t wait until an aging building leads to disaster. Provide your patients with an environment dedicated to their health and safety. Pick up the phone and give us a call. We look forward to working with you.

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What Is Design Build and Why Is It Important?

If you’re not familiar with design build, you will be soon! Design build is an incredibly important branch of the construction and architecture industries. Heidan Construction specializes in design build. Because it’s one of our strongest features as a company, we want to tell you all about it. So, what is design build? Why is design build important? Let’s take a look.

The Marriage of Two Trades

In short, design build is the combination of two incredibly important trades: architectural design and building construction. If you hadn’t already guessed what it was, you probably feel it’s pretty obvious now! After all, it’s right there in the name.

The way these two trades are combined is in the beginning to end process of creating a building. What makes this type of work unique from the traditional building process is that the same team does all parts of the process. Instead of trading off with another set of professionals, Heidan Construction creates a design for your home or office and then sees it through to the end.

Architectural Excellence

What makes this system so much different than the traditional structure of a building production team? Well, primarily, it’s in its efficiency and results. With a traditional team, it’s more likely that the design and construction teams are completely separate. Most likely, they’re not even part of the same company. While this traditional approach does mean each team is more “specialized,” it also means they’re disconnected.

Actually, if you take a closer look at that elusive “specialization,” you begin to see why it’s not so superior after all. A design team that only does design will be limited by their conceptual knowledge. A construction team that only does construction will be limited by their practical knowledge. When one of these teams hits a bump in the road of their designing or building process, they will use the knowledge hallmark to their specialty to solve it. That approach is not the most efficient, and can end with less than perfect results.

With design build, on the other hand, you have a team of people who specialize in both the conceptual and practical aspects of building. This fluency in both major steps of the building process means outside-the-box solutions and a finished building that goes above and beyond traditional standards. So, what is design build? Design build is how we achieve architectural excellence.

How Heidan Construction Does Design Build

When you entrust Heidan Construction with your design build project, there are some things you can look forward to.

  1. Our team has the knowledge and proficiency in both fields necessary to determine masterful solutions. That means, if something in the design begins to look inadequate during construction, they have the tools and knowledge necessary to adjust that on the spot. There’s no wait period while our team convenes with a design team on the side. They are the design team.
  2. The design and construction processes bleed into each other. There is no need to coordinate two teams to work together. Consult with us to create your design and then bring it to life, all from the same office and with the same familiar faces.
  3. The results of our design build team is unparalleled by traditional two-team construction systems. Check out our portfolio to see what could be your future if you give us a call today.

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Why It’s Time to Upgrade Your Dental Office

If you have a dental office, it might just be time to consider an upgrade. Why is it time to upgrade your dental office? The short answer is: everyone loves an upgrade. However, there is a longer answer. You might be interested to know the legitimate reasons why an upgrade can benefit your business. Therefore, let’s break down the long answer into something you can say to staff and management for your office. After all, the long answer does sound more convincing, even if you didn’t need it to persuade you.

Upgrades Improve Office Appeal

The most obvious benefit when you upgrade your dental office is the improvement in appeal. Expanding, replacing fixtures, updating counters, and improving your filing system is all well and good. However, even a fresh coat of paint can bring new attention to your office.

Something simple like painting the interior can make the whole place feel more welcoming. Painting the exterior with a soft, but noticeable, color can catch the attention of those driving by. Many people may drive by your office every day and never knew it was there. This is often the case with buildings painted white. They don’t stand out. Just adding some color may suddenly catch the attention of those people passing you by every day.

Actually going the extra mile and having all of those more extensive changes made can improve things functionally as well. Everyone knows a more functional space is more appealing, both to clients and staff. Speaking of clients and staff…

More Room Means More People

When you upgrade your dental office with an expansion, you’re opening your business to expansion. More room means the ability for more people to fit comfortably inside. That doesn’t mean you need to change your workload. If you hire more staff, you can take on more clients. If you get more clients, you can afford more staff. Get started in whichever way is easiest for you and the rest will follow naturally.

Let’s not forget that expansions are also outwardly noticeable. Construction draws the attention of passers by the entire time it’s in progress. That makes it easy for people to suddenly notice your dental office for the first time. Plus, those who knew it was there and weren’t impressed by its curb appeal may finally give it a try. After all, everyone loves to see the results of a new remodel or expansion. Human curiosity is a great thing.

Prevent Building Aging

Aside from aesthetic changes and expansions, we also must consider the longevity of your building. When you upgrade a building, you create a huge roadblock for deterioration. After all, if you’ve had the same paint job for ten years, a new coat of paint sets the timer on paint peeling and cracking back by ten years. It resets the clock and your office never has to reach that point of looking aged. That’s great news, since an aged building is a great way to make clients go elsewhere and deter those considering your office for future appointments.

Paint is only a small example. Consider the bigger fixtures as well. Ensuring the entire inside of your office is spick and span does great things for functionality and appearance. The morale of everyone working or visiting the building is instantly boosted.

Heidan Construction in Toronto

When you’re ready to upgrade your dental office, Heidan Construction is the solution. We have many years of experience building, remodeling, and renovating dental offices. We know exactly what dental offices need to be successful and we can use that to give you what you need. Give us a call to schedule a consultation and we can talk about allowing your office to meet its full potential.

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What Makes Design Build the Best Choice for a New Company HQ?

Are you ready to grow past your old company headquarters? That’s a huge step! Finally reaching a point in your company’s expansion to where you feel comfortable constructing a new and improved HQ is a massive achievement. Congratulations! However, the next step is finding a company you feel you can trust to do the building justice. From designing it to constructing it, there’s a lot to consider. We, at Heidan Construction, strongly suggest design build. What is design build? Why is it the right choice for your new company HQ? Let’s take a look.

What Is Design Build?

The first thing you’re probably wondering is, what is design build? It’s surprisingly straightforward and as simple as it sounds. Design build contractors both design and build your new company HQ. There are many benefits to this, but the most obvious one is that you don’t have to coordinate with two different companies. Following that, it’s better for the fluidity of the whole interaction and process.

Creating a Vision

The design part of design build is great for your new company HQ because we can sit down together and create a vision. You want your new company HQ to represent your business as a whole, right? A company with a lot of experience designing unique, modern, and luxury buildings is the perfect company for the job.

One of the great things about design build contractors doing both the designing and building is that they know their strengths. When a design build team makes a design, they can give you everything you want while leaning toward the things they do best. This gives you everything you want in a design as well as ensuring you get the best of their service.

Producing that Vision

One of the most important parts of design build contractors doing both parts of creating your new company HQ is the ability to produce the vision you created together. When you have one company design a building and another construct it, the vision sometimes gets lost in translation. Even if you sat down with your designer and worked all of your needs into the design, giving it to a team who never heard your needs, exactly as you said them, may fall short in constructing it.

Quality Construction

Another benefit of design build is the quality construction produced. When a team is fluent in both building design and construction, you know they’re passionate about both the vision and the process. This can lead to some truly extraordinary results. We know you want nothing less than extraordinary for your new company HQ. After all, you’ll be spending a lot of time in it. Seeing the fruits of your labor every workday is a lot more satisfying when it’s everything you wanted it to be.

Heidan Construction

If you want design build and extraordinary results, you want Heidan Construction. One of Toronto’s most successful construction companies, we can truly deliver. Give us a call when you’re ready to schedule your first consultation and we can begin the process of making your new company HQ a reality.