Drab appearance can benefit from a facade facelift

Curb appeal is one of the most important attributes a house can have.

Realtors often say a house can be fabulous on the inside, but if it is ugly, out-of-date or in poor repair on the outside, it is difficult to get a potential buyer through the door.

And today's economy, combined with the public's interest in energy efficiency, has created the perfect environment for companies that focus on exterior renovations like window replacement, weatherization and facade improvement.

That is why Airoom, the well-known and long-respected Lincolnwood-based home addition and renovation firm, created a subsidiary two years ago that deals exclusively with exterior renovations. Elevations is the name of the subsidiary and it has offices in Naperville, as well as in Lincolnwood.

“We were getting calls for exterior work only, something Airoom didn't traditionally do. So we formed Elevations as a way to meet our clients' needs and change with the times,” said Mike Klein, CEO of Airoom.

Elevations focuses on creating more value for a home's owner by creating more timeless curb appeal for a tired-looking, dated house. They use the architects and designers on staff for Airoom to improve each home's facade and depending on the homeowner's wishes, they replace old windows and doors, add insulation, replace gutters and drainage systems, replace garage doors and so forth while they are there.

“We try to make every home look different and better by assembling an assortment of products to create a cohesive look,” Klein said.

Porches, exterior trims and details, trellises, porticos, cupolas and exterior lighting have all been used.

“Many production and semi-custom homes built during the last 50 years are very nondescript and made up of a mishmash of styles,” Klein explained. “We have leveraged our design expertise and architectural staff to make these homes look truer to one style.”

Bi-levels and tri-levels pose the biggest challenges.

Jeri and Mark Stenhouse of Lake Forest hired Elevations to transform the exterior of their 1950s-era tri-level this fall.

“It was an odd looking house. We bought it because of the nice interior and because of all of the exterior windows,” Jeri Stenhouse said.

The Stenhouses called in five different contractors before hiring Elevations to revamp the exterior, removing rotted wood trim and siding, removing an old balcony, replacing the windows, garage door and gutters and adding insulation.

The wood siding was replaced with stone and wrought iron Juliet balconies were added to the two front windows.

“We told the people at Elevations that we wanted a low maintenance exterior and wanted to improve our energy efficiency, which was about as bad as it gets,” Stenhouse said. “All of the ideas for cosmetic changes came from Elevations because Mark and I were stumped about what to do to make it look better.”

Now that the project is complete, the Stenhouses are thrilled. “We are surprised at how well it turned out, to be honest. Elevations came up with a way to update the house without taking away from its architecture,” she said.

Currently, the most popular looks with customers are Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style and the Cape Cod, shingle style, according to Klein, but at any given time Elevations' designers are working on makeovers in many different styles, from very traditional to very contemporary, throughout the Chicago area.

Klein said that some of the completed renovations are so dramatic such transformations that is difficult for people to believe they are looking at the same home.

The cost of these exterior makeovers range from $25,000 to $125,000, depending on what the homeowner wants done and the expense of the windows and other items they choose. But most projects come in within the $40,000 to $60,000 range, he added, and can be completed in about four weeks.

Elevations is also willing to give homeowners' a detailed plan so they can execute their makeover in phases over the course of several years.

“We give them the plan to follow to get to their eventual goal,” Klein said.

Klein's favorite example of a makeover involved a Glenview house that they transformed from a boring, nondescript gray two-story home to a striking Craftsman-style home right before the market crashed in 2008. Soon afterward the owner was transferred out of state and had to sell the home.

They put it on the market in December, 2008, at one of the worst selling times in history. Amazingly, they had one offer on the first day the home was listed and two more within the next six days. And all of the offers were within 10 percent of the asking price.

“He made money on the house. He wasn't giving it away, by any means. Some of the other homes in the area that were listed at the same time still haven't sold,” Klein said.

“That is a true testament to the value of these kinds of exterior makeovers. Their value is exponential if they are done right.”