From Concept to Completion...

Thinking of expanding or rearranging your living space?
Consider this: Frechette's can provide the design-build services necessary to ensure a quality product, and a great remodeling experience.

We have an in-house designer/estimator with 25 years of carpentry experience giving us the ability to create a complete set of construction drawings as opposed to a design with minimal engineering and no true consideration of cost or buildability.

Once the plans are completed, our carpentry staff and a hand picked group of sub-contractors with whom we have a long standing working relationship come together, managed by a lead carpenter, to build the addition you've been dreaming of.

Something worth mentioning...
When someone requests an estimate for a remodeling project without plans, the best anyone can do is to give a "blind quote" based on a generic formula and visible conditions. This price often does not reflect the true cost of the job once plans are drawn and revised to reflect the desires and expectations of the client. We have encountered situations where as ideas were put forth by customers during the design phase, the price and expectations of the project grew to the point that after the plans and budget were completed at a cost of several thousand dollars, the project did not go forward.
As we are in the business to build, this is not the preferred result.
If you are willing to give us a budget cap right at the start, we can generally tell you how large or small a project is feasible before you spend money on a set of plans for something beyond your budget.
We believe that by being honest with our clients about what's realistic to expect for the dollar spent, that we can provide a high quality product and a pleasant remodeling experience.

Welcome To Our Project Gallery...

We've compiled pictures of some of our remodeling projects to give you an idea of just a few of the possiblities. Keep in mind that remodeling can take various forms.

Though not the least expensive method, building up over an existing living space or garage can add much needed square footage to a house that may be exceeding it's capacity, or where an office or work space is needed.
One thing to consider is, if you're on a septic system, there are restrictions on the number of rooms that may be considered usable as bedrooms, regardless of how they're labled on the plans. Should you be considering this type of addition, it is recommended that you have an assessment done of your septic tank's capacity prior to moving ahead with building plans.

Below, a large master bedroom was added above an exising family room. It started like this...

In the photos above and left, the long family room / garage wing provided the perfect location for an upward addition.

The finished product is featured in the 3 shots below. The new room was cantileverd out to match the style of the existing house to allow for better proportioning and to break up the long monolithic appearance of the original section.
Here, we built the shell. Our client,who is an accomplished woodworker handled the interior finishes.

The next "add up" is larger, and featured a bedroom, office, and laundry room. We did both interior and exterior on this one. Unfortunately we don't have pictures of the interior. Replacing the roof on the existing house helped create an unbroken appearance. If you were seeing the house for the first time, you'd never know it was remodeled. This project required additional structural support in the form of beams below the garage ceiling.

Building out, when the need and budget allow for it, can take numerous forms, going from a modest expansion of a deck to a full scale make over.
We'll work our way from the modest to the grandiose.

There are times when expanding the exterior living space makes a lot of sense. In our first example it was necessary to walk out the back door and down a set of concrete stairs to get to the deck which functioned as a more or less free standing affair. A second level was added to allow a more convient transition from house to deck as well as more deck space. The full length step in the top photo was made extra wide to afford better visablity.

There are times when you're hot and just don't want to take the long way around to the pool. This deck features Trex composite decking and railings.

A contrasting band was used at the transition of the two levels to indicate a step down.

Additional footings were installed, and the framing expanded to enlarge the original footprint.

When there's no other way but to build out, you may as well go all the way.
Below: Photographed during and after construction, This 968 square foot addition included a sunken livingroom, a master bedroom on the 2nd floor, front porch, and a 2 car garage below the living space. The original main house, a standard colonial with an attached garage is on the left. the owner removed the garage a couple of weeks prior to start of construction. There were no "before pictures" or interior shots in our files. But as you might guess, the change, both inside and out, was quite dramatic.

In many cases, gaining living space can be more about rearranging the interior space you already have than about building out. Moving one wall can dramatically alter ones perception of a room.
Take a look at the series below.

Left and below: The wall with the doorway divided the kitchen/dining area from a family room, restricting the traffic flow and giving the. family room an isolated feeling. An LVL beam was installed to replace the wall, and trimmed to blend with the trim in the adjoining rooms. This resulted in a pleasant open room with increased efficiency in the kitchen.

In addition to removing the wall, we installed a pre-finished oak floor, an island cabinet with a breakfast bar on two sides, new countertops,and a tile backsplash. The backsplash hadn't been grouted when these photos were taken.
Notice how the floor unites the two spaces and gives a feeling of openness

Personallizing a room can go a long way toward making life more pleasant. An empty room in the basement was transformed into a study. The cabinets pictured are Wellborn Forest, the same brand we use for much of our kitchen and bathroom work. The contrasting moldings added movement to the layout, and broke up what might have been rather monolithic appearance. The design was done by Frechette's in house designer.

In the picture above, you will see an oddly place window on the upper right side. It looks out at the underside of a deck. Our client referred to it as the dungeon window, and asked for suggestions on ways to hide it. The final solution was definitely unique. It was painted by our designer/ foreman.