A Second Set of Eyes.

A Second Set of Eyes.
How true that a second opinion, a second look, a second glance, a second set of eyes can make a big difference in opening our own eyes to what we are missing. I think, and I speak from personal experience that humans (not all) are prone to seeing things the way they are and if there is nothing wrong to moving on to finding the obvious fault or the easier correction to make.

Let me explain, my builder Neil Jarman and I walked through his custom built energy star home last week together, and while I am in the house multiple times a week and he is there from time to time, this is the first time we were both there together since he finished it.
So we have a buyer that has expressed an interest in the house and as we walked through the house I explained to Neil what it was they liked and didn't like about the house. There were only some easily changed items that were a concern to them, like switching out the carpet in the master bedroom with hardwoods. We stopped in the living room which has soaring cathedral ceilings and wooden beams across the length of the room and a wall of windows on one wall. Neil is looking at the ceiling and notices that something is just not right. The beams while beautiful to look at, seem somewhat detached from  the rest of the features in the room, the stone fireplace or the Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors, the built in shelving unit. So he starts to plan a way of adding beams perpendicular to bring everything together. As soon as he said it I realised that I have been looking at those beams for months and in the back of my mind thought something was missing, but because they were functional and beautiful I moved on.

The stone fireplace has a space cut out for someone to install a flat screen if they wish and if not then Neil will fill in the space, now I tell people this and it is obvious to me and the builder and to a lot of people, but as we are standing there looking at it …....it becomes a big black hole and to some people that is what they see and that is what they remember. Not everyone will know that the wires are behind the wood panel and the builder can easily add the stone to finish it if they so desire. Some folks might even think they would have to do it themselves!! So now we will get a nice picture to cover the gap in the stone and explain what is behind in a note card.

The great thing about a walk through a property like this is when Neil will say “what needs to be done with the master suite or the bonus room or theater or kitchen?” and the answer is a resounding NOTHING!! They are about as good as it gets.