Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Delaware County, PA (Delco"") and the surrounding Philadelphia Metro Region.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Matt Mills of M&D Home Remodeling: Transforming Spaces and Maximizing Home Value
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Matt Mills of M&D Home Remodeling: Transforming Spaces and Maximizing Home Value
Unlock the secrets to transforming your living spaces with our latest Good Neighbor Podcast episode featuring expert remodeler Matt Mills, founder of M&D Home Remodeling. If you have ever wondered how to turn your kitchen or bathroom into a modern masterpiece that enhances both comfort and value, this episode is for you. Listen to Matt guide us through the entire remodeling process, from understanding client visions and budgets to utilizing advanced 3D renderings that bring dream projects to life. Along the way, Matt addresses common remodeling concerns and offers indispensable advice on managing expectations and costs.
During this episode, host of the Good Neighbor Podcast, Bob Blaisse asks home remodeler Matt Mills about the financial benefits of key home renovations, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms, and how even a $25,000 bathroom remodel can yield significant returns when selling a home. Matt's insights extend beyond these areas to comprehensive interior renovations, including basements, family rooms and new features like closets and crown molding. We also celebrate M&D's community impact as a Good Neighbor Business, highlighting their dedication to quality and service in Delaware County, PA and the Philadelphia Main Line communities in Montogomery County, PA and beyond.
Website: www.manddhomerenovations.com
484-250-4883
--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
Good Neighbor Podcast Featuring M&D Remodeling
Speaker 1Hello, delco. This is Michael Barkan, welcoming you to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host Bob Blasey.
Speaker 2That's wonderful, Michael. Thank you very much for that introduction. Bob Blasey is my name and you're back with us again on the Good Neighbor podcast. The Good Neighbor podcast is coming to you today from Pennsylvania, specifically the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, where the podcast is coming from, the county that is just north of the state of Delaware and just south of the city of Philadelphia Delaware County. We call it DELCO for short, and it is a true Delco vibe.
Speaker 2Everybody here knows it, People in Jersey know it and Delaware know it. In fact, all across the country people are really coming to understand these movies that get produced in Delco, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and the vibe that's in Delaware County Pennsylvania extends not just from the people here in our county but also to the businesses, and so the purpose of this podcast episode, the Good Neighbor podcast, is really to bring you good neighbor businesses from Delco and beyond, and today we have a great one. This is a company that helps homeowners with their dream home, either to attain their dream home or to fix up their dream home, and it's going to be an interesting story because we're bringing to you the founder of MND Home Remodeling. Let me bring to the stage the owner of MND Remodeling Matt Mills. Matt, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Speaker 3Hi Bob. Thank you guys for having me on. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2Matt, you probably as the owner of M&D Remodeling. You're remodeling probably every day, so we're recording this in the evening and when I have business entrepreneurs that would record this in the evening, it probably means that you were swinging a hammer today or doing something like that today on site. Give us an example of some of the work that M&D Remodeling does and then we'll get into the specifics of a lot of the jobs.
Speaker 3Yes, we specialize. About 85% of our work is full kitchens and bathroom rehabs. That's mostly what we do as far as the kitchens and baths, the full renovations, and we do all interior renovations as well. That's our specialty. We specialize in interior.
Speaker 2Let's get to the specialty in a minute, because that's a broad specialty all home interior remodeling. That can mean a lot of things. First you had me at kitchen and bath, but really you had me at bathroom remodeling. I don't think there's anybody that is out there who has not had their bathroom remodeled, say, in the last 20 years, would not like to have their bathroom remodeled. But we all know those of us who only know a little bit know sometimes it can be an expensive job. And I'm going to ask you this question when you have people who has asked you to come in and give them a quote for remodeling their bathroom, do you almost have to start with the budget first and then that drives what you can get done and how much you're going to spend for the look that you want? Or do you kind of let them know right from the beginning that we can do anything you want? We just have to kind of pick and choose based on the budget. How would it work when somebody wants to get their bathroom remodeled first meeting?
Speaker 3Yeah, that's a great question. What I do. I go in there, introduce myself, we do a walkthrough and I kind of get a sense of what their expectations of their project are. Sometimes people don't have some. Most people do have a budget in mind and I always go through what they want as far as tile selections, cabinet selections, of this and that what they want, trying to just meet their expectations and just get a sense of what their vision is in the project. And, yeah, then I kind of get to the budget towards the end. But I really just looking forward to see what their vision of the and the scope of work they're getting on their project to see what their vision of the and the scope of work they're getting on their project.
Speaker 2Matt, when they say what they want, are they describing and then are you bringing in some kind of architectural drawing, or are you showing the pictures of what countertops can be like, or mirrors, or fixtures? How are you using visuals to help them arrive at the understanding that you're both on the same page with what it's going to look like?
Speaker 3Yeah, good question. So we I go over all types of materials that we're going to. I help them get familiar with the project is describing the materials and the brands we use, and we do use a renderings, 3d renderings and I have a company that does that for us and that really helps bring this, so to speak, the project, to life from their, from my perspective, and trying to blend it all together with what they want as far as their dream kitchen or bathroom yeah.
Speaker 2Well then, matt, when they, when they start with that and I'm kind of imagining how I would do this, but do you? Is there kind of things like, well, we can't do that if we don't do this. Like, for example, if someone says, I don't know, I want to change out the pipes in my bathroom because I know they're lead pipes and I want to make sure that we're getting them down all the way down to the basement or whatever it is, is that necessarily mean, well, then, the tiles got to come up? Or if somebody says, I, I want, I want bathtub change. That's all I want. I want the bathtub changing.
Speaker 2I don't want to do one of those overlay bathtubs. Can you come in and take my bathtub out and just change the bathtub? Or is that necessarily going to say, well, you really wouldn't do that, unless you're also going to change the tile about it? Let me show you what the more modern approach to this is that it's like a thread where things just start pulling on each other. Or is it better to just get the client that says got it and rebuild everything, bring it down, to bring it down to the bare walls and start from scratch?
Speaker 3That's another good question too. Well, we've done. We've done some where we're just replacing a shower and then we're not touching everything else, and that's particular to the client's needs, on their budget as well. But I always recommend once you're getting into a project I always say, stuff can happen, but anyways.
Speaker 2Well, you got to be ready for accidents to happen and as a contractor you cannot bear the cost of that. So the quote has to be able to honor the work that we don't know yet we're going to have to do. If, if, if we were to say this kind of differently um, and I really don't want to see, I never want to see this get into pricing on this episode, this kind of program, but we almost have to right would you say that the um, not your pricing, but if someone has a modest size bathroom, let's say it even is below average size in square foot and such but is the starting point for any bathroom remodeling above 5,000 or above 10,000 or above 15,000? Where would you say, like you know, you're talking to the right customer because they're living in the real world. They're talking about getting work done.
Speaker 3Right. So I mean most of the bathrooms we do are hall bathrooms, or anywhere from 30 to 40 square feet and you're starting at like $20,000. That's usually our price point.
Speaker 2And you find most people know that right.
Speaker 3Yes, most people do.
Speaker 2It's a big number. It's a number that we all have to recognize that if we were going to be doing, you know, fencing around our whole property or reseed or saw it or saw it or hold on or you know, let's face it, if you finally can't put money, more money into that car and you need a new car, you're spending $20,000. But unlike other investments, matt, you must really see the bathroom be an investment that can pay back. So let's talk a little bit Besides just nicer showers, better water, nicer mirrors, and maybe you got a walk-in tub or you got a stand-in shower, walk-in shower. You're recognizing that for people who have bought a home that really needs work kind of an as-is thing that remodeling a bathroom can really raise the value of the house. It's money that, if you know you're selling your house, would you say that bathroom or kitchen is the kind of money that comes back to you when you sell your property. You've got a fresh-looking remodeled kitchen or bathroom. Is it going to pay back?
Speaker 3Oh, absolutely, and I would say both. A fresh looking remodeled kitchen or bathroom Is it? Is it going to pay back? Oh, absolutely, I. And I would say, um, both. I mean per square foot. Um, the bathrooms are, um, most, um, highest ticket number on the whole house. It's kitchens and bathrooms. You're, you know, your two biggest expenditures out of your whole house, but both will give you a high ARV when you go to sell. And that's what I kind of tell people to don't customize your project so much to where nobody else would want to buy it. Cause I'm always telling people make sure you look ahead to the future and resale. So I try to always steer them in that direction, because people, most people, aren't going to stay there their entire lives. So I just like to try to help them through the process and just let them know that you know you might want to sell it and just keep that in mind.
Speaker 2Well, that's. That's interesting. You said that a little bit differently than I thought you were going to say. Let's then make it specific. Let's say I'm somebody that really I know my bathroom isn't nice. I wish it was remodeled, but I don't want to spend that money, or I just don't care enough, but I am going to be selling my house next year. You would then say to me I think feel comfortable in having your house bathroom remodeled. You might spend twenty five thousand dollars, but that in itself will drive a price down for your home $25,000 more. Is that what you would say?
Speaker 3No, absolutely Absolutely, Because whatever you put into your house, you're going to get a bigger return, regardless of what it is within reason as far as, like you know, if you don't go too crazy on your cabinets and your tile and stuff like that. But yes, you're always going to see a return on your money 99% of the time, I would say.
Speaker 2Will people who are selling houses and they've remodeled their kitchen or their bathroom in recent years or so, will they actually show receipts or show the cost that they paid to kind of prove that that was the value they put in their house? Or is it just self-evident from what you see?
Speaker 3I would say self-evident because I've never seen someone have a receipt. But that's a great question. But yeah, now you can kind of see, by the work performed on that home, when someone goes to buy it, that you're going to get a return.
Speaker 2Well, let's talk about the rest of the home. We've talked about the kitchens, the bathrooms, as a part of your primary work. We're talking to the owner of M&D Home Renovations, matt Mills, the owner. And if you'd like to see Matt or you'd like to see the website for M&D Renovations, you can visit them on the web. The website address is just as the business name, but you have to remember to write the word A-N-D between the M and the D M-A-N-D Home Renovations. That's com, right, so MNDHomeRenovationscom, and you can visit the website. They're located in Delaware County, pennsylvania, in Morton, pa, right off of Morton Avenue, and Matt Mills, here is our guest today to talk about MND Home Renovations, to talk about home renovations. We've talked about kitchens, we've talked about baths.
Speaker 2Matt, you also mentioned that M&D renovations can be considered to kind of all interior renovations. Now, that's a broad term. I'm imagining that what that means is that if we wanted to remodel a room, a basement or a family room, check room, a basement or a family room, check. If we wanted to take drywall down because it's smelly, it's bad, it's broken, let's bring it all down, put all new drywall down. Or if we wanted to I don't know remodel all the moldings around the house. Is that what I'm thinking that all interior remodeling means? Is it right up to even building a house? Explain a little bit about your other orbit of all interior remodeling.
Speaker 3Explain a little bit about your other orbit of all interior remodeling. Yeah, that's a good question. Yes, we do basements as well. We're just wrapping up a kitchen, basement and a bathroom all at once this week. And, yeah, we add closets, hardwood flooring, drywall, paint, crown molding. You know, taking a room, adding a room and stuff like that. We don't get into the new construction, but our specialty is in just the rehabbing.
Speaker 2Would your clients not just be homeowners, but actually house flippers, people that are just investing in homes to flip them? Yes, so some of those are your clients who are, like repeat users of your service.
Speaker 3Yes absolutely.
Speaker 2You're functioning as the general contractor.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 2Plumbing or electric air conditioning, heating none of that is a burden for you. You bring in the right talent to do the right work.
Speaker 3Absolutely yes, we do yes, and we keep all our subs and we work with them all the time. So we have a great group of guys and I'm very thankful for all of them because we still all stay together and I use them from job to job to job. So we are on. We have a good flow going.
Speaker 2How long has it been since you founded M&D Home Renovations?
Speaker 3We started in 2007. We started in 2007.
Speaker 2So that's a pretty good long time I mean you're in business, long enough time to have proven success and repeat customers. Obviously, you've probably expanded a bit from maybe starting with kitchens or baths and widening the whole reach of what M&D renovations can be. If someone was looking to just talk to get questions answered, they're not ready. It might be six months from now. Do you welcome those calls, matt?
Speaker 3Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2Um, just to get out the number and let's make sure that the the listeners out there, if you want to talk to a professional home remodeler, and one that's been doing it for 15 plus years, you can reach Matt Mills by calling four eight four two. You can reach Matt Mills by calling 484-250-4883. Now, that's the number for M&D Home Remodeling and the website, if you'd like to look at it, is simply as it sounds the letter M, the word, and the letter D, and Home Renovations, mndhomerenovationscom. They're in Morton, pennsylvania. They're right there off of Morton Avenue and that's in the heartbeat of Delaware County, pennsylvania. Last question, matt, how far out can somebody call?
Speaker 3from. Are you traveling all over the tri-state area to do work these days In the tri-state area? Yes, but we mostly specialize in Delaware County and Montgomery County. That's the bulk of our work, so Delaware.
Honoring M&D Renovations
Speaker 2County and Montgomery County and, for those listening, around the country, right there in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania but also known as the Philadelphia main line. So all those blue blood towns, like from Ardmore and Wynwood and Gladwin to Villanova, Bryn Mawr, Radnor and all the way out to Paoli and beyond, these are the towns that you've had past clients in and future clients to come. Matt Mills, we want to thank you for being not just a great contractor but willing to kind of share your expertise here on the Good Neighbor podcast. But because you are touching the homes of people who really love their home and want to love their home more, helping them love it more by performing really high quality renovations M&D Renovations is certainly a good neighbor business and we're honored today to have you on the program and really to honor you as a good neighbor business. Thanks for what you do for the people of Delaware County and beyond.
Speaker 3Thank you, Bob. We really appreciate the time you spent with us. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to gnpdelcocom or by calling Bob at 610-557-3745.