April 11, 2025 • 38 mins
Do you dream of remodeling your home? Do you have a home remodel project you are already working on and in need of some advice? Mark Philben, Boston Globe's "Ask the Remodeler" columnist and a longtime Project Development Manager at Cambridge-based Charlie Allen Renovations joined us to answer listener's remodel questions!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's nice time with Dan on WAZ Boston.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
How they get it out of this system? It's it's
nine to one, you know. That's okay, Well, get him tomorrow,
get him tomorrow, Al no doubt.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We always have the Celtics.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Well, that's okay, that's okay. I know that we'll focus on.
Our focus will be in the Celtics. We'll right about
the Bruins in the summer and Red Sox will well,
I'll give Alex Corra Carlton. I don't give him a
little pep talk. I'm sure that yeah, that'll that'll help. Oh,
I'm sure sure. Thanks appreciate it. All right, everybody, we
(00:41):
are changing topics and want to welcome Mark Philbin. Mark Philbin, welcome,
How are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Good?
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Damn? How are you good?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Mark's a project developer for charlie Ian Renovations out of Cambridge.
They do what's called residential design build and we're going
to explain that and if you have any questions about,
you know, doing some substantial work in your home. We've
never had someone who's a project developer on before, so Mark.
(01:15):
We like to sort of give people something positive to
think about. We spend most of the week, the ninety
percent of the week arguing about politics or dealing with
serious issues like we did last hour with an innocent
man spending fifteen years in prison for a crime he
didn't commit. So we like to kind of exhale here
and focus on happier things. And there's nothing that is
(01:39):
happier than when people do some work at their home
and make the home more comfortable, more livable, and in
some respects I guess, more modern. So tell us first
of all, tell us about Charlie in renovations out of Cambridge.
It's been around I guess since what the late seventies,
early eighties. You folks have quite a reputation and you
(02:02):
confine your work to the great Boston area. You you
really are people who want to do a good job.
From what I understand you've got You've got some great
some great references from people that I've talked to. So
you can brag a little bit about the company. It's uh,
it does some great work. Tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Well, we do a large part of what we try
to do. It's not just the end result of the project.
That's the entire process, uh, which we the design build
process has us as the remodeler in on the ground floor.
We like to take the project from really from its inception,
you know, all the way to a you know, feigns
(02:42):
pick job book, right to the completion of the job.
So we do a lot of handholding with the clients.
We try to help with the design. We work with
the architect and the homeowner together and uh and that
we think actually is what makes for better project experience.
It's not just the end project, it's the whole process.
(03:06):
Working in people's home is is pretty traumatic, as you
can imagine, tearing apart your kitchen and your bathrooms, sometimes
half your house. So that's easy thing to live through.
And so a large part of it we do is
to try to develop the project properly in a way
that makes that as smooth as possible.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, well that's the first question anyone who has lived
in a house for you know, more than ten years
and someone says, oh, gee, you know, the bathroom's looking
a little shabby, or the kitchen needs to be updated,
or maybe we've got to do some work and maybe
expand something or develop a family room, whatever, whatever the
project might be. How do you do that? So people?
(03:48):
Do people have to move out for like three or
four months, or how do you work around them so
that they can live their lives and not have to
evacuate the home.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, we've done it, you know, both ways. We've done
remodels of course that are on a scale where people
do have to move out. They just can't live there,
no bathrooms, no kitchen, and so some people who actually
have to move out, But for the most part, you know,
if it's a kitchen, well we'll set up a temporary
kitchen in the dining room that people can function out
of as long as you have a you know, a
(04:17):
source of water and a place to cook. We will
typically set something up like that when we do a kitchen.
A model bathroom remodels a little more difficult. If you
have two or three bathrooms, it makes it a little
bit easier. And what we'll typically do is the cordon
open area that the work is being done. We plastic
off a section of the house and have a separate
(04:39):
interest for the contractors and we try to make it
as easy as possible for people that way. And and
so it depends, it depends on the scale of the project,
whether people have to move out or whether they can
actually live through the house, live in the house, you know,
during the remodel.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I assume that a lot of you work. I don't
think did you advertise From what I can see, I'm
not familiar with the company. I'm not even familiar with
the whole idea of house renovations. I'm assuming that that
you must rely upon word of mouth advertising more than
most most companies that do any level of remodeling. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Absolutely, Yeah, we don't really have We don't do any advertising.
It's it's word of mouth. We do have a website,
people can people can find us on a website. We
also belong to something we encourage to, you know, clients
who are looking for a remodel, remodeler or any kind
of professional contractor is We belong to trade organizations so
people look up. You know, some of the trade organizations
(05:45):
for builders and modelers were members of all the main
trade groups in New England. And that's a that's a
great resource for people to find, whether it's a contractor electrician, commer, architect,
and so we get some work to that as well.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So what are the I'm looking at, like, what are
the trends? I mean, I know that that depending I'm
not particularly observant, if you will. When I'm invited to
someone's home, I tend not to make judgments. But there
are some people who will walk in and they'll be
(06:23):
kind of looking around and they'll say, gee, this this
home is looking very nineteen seventy ish and here we
are fifty years later. What sort of businesses? What's the
latest trends in terms of what people are looking for
looking they looking to update or renovate and is there
(06:45):
much of a difference between updating and renovation.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Well, that's sort of the same. I mean, most of
it is updating. There's sort of that sort of a
two pronged question. There's what people are looking for from
a sort of a design standpoint. Is it hasn't changed
a lot. You know, working in the Greater Boston area,
people looking for open floor plans as opposed to a
lot of New England homes are cut up into small
rooms and so we open up the floor plans doing
(07:12):
some structural work. So people want to have a much
more flow through their living space. That's still popular, has
been for quite a while, and more people looking for
to get away from looking for more sort of I
call it urban chicic, it's clean designs, sleek modern sort
of mid century modern look is what people are after
(07:34):
right now as opposed to older New England charms.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
When you say mid century modern, look, we're not either
at mid twentieth or mid twenty first century. Define that
for me a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
That's sort of it would be it's post World War
two and it's a lot of wood tones, fabric, warm,
warm tones, earth tones, that sort of thing. It's sort
of you know, the fifties, you know, post World War
two into the fifties.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
So what I'm hearing on that say is that maybe
things that were popular that went out of style are
now coming back, you know, coming back in style.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's isn't that always the way?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Well that's interesting. There might be some people, yeah, well
there might be some people who are listening who have
never done any sort of a design build or a
design rebuild at their home, who now they might be
pleased to hear that, because they're going to say, no
sense of changing. Now we're back, We're back in style.
(08:43):
But my guess is Mark philban Mark is a design
build contractor with a company called Charlie Allen Renovations. Out
of Cambridge. We've never done a show. We've done probably
now close to forty one hundred shows. We're never done
with a with a project developer a this magnitude. His
company H does residential design builds, so you don't do commercial.
(09:06):
It's all residential, right it is.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah, we used to do some small commercial, but it's
it's pretty much all residential now. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Okay, Well, I'm sure that there are folks out there
who know more about this subject than I do. Uh,
And so I'm going to invite then we join the
conversation at six one seven, two five four ten thirty
or six one seven nine three one ten thirty. If
you have a question about your home, or you have
a question about what you would like to see developed
(09:34):
for your home, you got an opportunity here. Feel free
to join the conversation. I'll continue my questions with Mark
Philbern who is a design build contractor with Charlie Allen
Renovations out of Cambridge. And again this is we try
to do some different topics, folks, and we do. If
you want to show that does the same political show
(09:55):
night after night after night, and we we mix it up.
We try to have stuff and guests which will be
of interest two different people, and hopefully Mark is going
to be of interest to you. And if you have
a question, you know the number. Give us a call.
Coming right back on night.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Side Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
We're talking with Mark Philman. He's a design build contractor
with a company called Charlie Allen Renovations out of Cambridge.
That company has been around for about forty five years.
The fellow who was the founder, I guess kind of
an interesting backstory. Mark, he was a student at Harvard
and he decided to start his own company, and eventually
(10:42):
he retired and moved back to the state of Washington.
And this is a company that's been around for a
long time. Are you right in Harvard Square, per se
or where are you located in Cambridge?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Actually not Harvard Square. We are in Central Square, Central Square,
well right in between between Mit and Harvard.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yep. Absolutely, So there's a lot that we can talk about.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
This.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
By the way, the name Mark Philbin. Mark writes a
biweekly advice column in the Globe, Ask the Remodeler, and
this is this is your opportunity to ask him a
question directly. So there's a lot that you and I
can talk about here in terms of well even the
(11:26):
timing here that we're talking about tariffs, and without getting
into the politics of it, this is going to cause
I assume some turbulence for your business if these tariffs
are in place for any period of time, without making
a comment politically or otherwise.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Correct, absolutely, as all righty, it's a question that comes up,
excuse me, with a lot of our clients projects we're
putting together now, they're concerned about should I buy it now,
will it be more expensive you know two months from
now when I really need it, will it be available
at all? So the question is coming up quite a bit.
And of course you know price of lumber is expensive enough.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Well we get a lot of well we get a
lot of lumber out of Canada.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Right totally that most most of it comes from Canada.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
So why do we not create what? Why do we
know we used to have mills here in New England,
you know, lumber mills. Did they just go away? I
don't understand. I can understand they sent the chips over
to Taiwan. Again, not getting political, why was it that
that you know, these lumber manufacturers we now have to
(12:35):
rely on Canada. We have we have a lot of
lumber and a lot of trees. Anytime any fly, anytime
I fly across the country, I love to look down
and see all the wide open spaces and the forests
and all of that. But what's the history of that.
I mean, there used to be lumber mills up up
in Maine.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Correct, Well, most of those are paper mills. Most of
the lumber, you know that came out of New England.
You know, they harvested all the old growth wood was
paper mills up in Maine. It was all that was
all for paper, and so it was never really not
much lumber. The reason it really comes out of Pacific
Northwest is they have more trees. They have more trees,
(13:14):
and and the type of trees that that we need
for building, the spruce and the and the you know,
the redwoods and the cedar's just far more plentful. And
a lot. It does also have to do with our
environmental laws are a little stricter than Canada, so it's
harder to cut them down in the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
No, I get it, and I guess once once again
we've for for good purposes. We put ourselves in a
bit of a bind here because if these tariffs do
hold for some period of time, uh, it's only going
to be more expensive here in Massachusetts. Again, I love trees,
don't get me wrong, but uh you good replant trees.
(13:56):
I realized that. But anyway, let's let's get let's see
if we get some halls incorporated here. There's so many
other topics that I want to get to. I want
to get to. Uh, you know, what are the most
important factors? What are the challenges? We get to all
of that in the cape in on Cape car on Cape.
I actually and how.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
Are you, Hi, Dan? How are you?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I'm doing great? So I had a mark Philbin. Do
you have a question? Mark?
Speaker 6 (14:21):
Hello, mister Philman. Can I ask a question? Hi? Can
I ask a question on roofing?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yes? Go right ahead. Sure, that's why he's here.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
Go ahead, Okay, thank you. I have a an a
framed pitched roof, and I had it. I had a
new roof put on twenty five years ago, and it
was the second layer. And so I have just a
(14:53):
just a little handful of quick questions. For instance, my
first the first time I had my roof downe twenty
five years ago, I had a small contracting company in
my city do the job, and he had all his
own guys. Now I'm finding that the roofing companies do
(15:15):
not have their own men and they use a preferred
roofing company. And I have so many questions.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Well, let's try to end. Let me do this. Don't
be nervous. Yeah, why don't you ask whatever questions you want?
The history is interesting, But what what would you like
to ask? Mark? Go ahead?
Speaker 6 (15:37):
I'd like to ask if a company has their own
preferred roofing people to do the roof that they that
they source out, who who holds the oh, the type
of insurance workmen's compensation insurance? Would it be the company
(15:59):
that actually is the company, the roofing company or the preferred.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Company whoever you're It sounds like you're hiring a larger
company that subs it out. There are plenty of roofing companies.
Kind of going back with a little bit, plenty of
companies out there are owner they're basically its owner run business.
They actually don't sub it out. It is their own employees,
so you can find them. There's plenty of them out there.
(16:26):
That's who we use. We use a company whose owner
is up on the roof with the rest of the crew.
That said, if you hire a larger company that's subbing
it out, you want to make sure that the larger
whoever you are writing the check to is that's who
you want to have the insurance policy for. And an
important note here is too, they should have workers' compensation
(16:50):
as well as liability insurance. They should have both. You
want to make sure that you can get both those
insurance certificates, and you want to call their insurance company
to get that sent over. Don't just ask the contractor
for it, ask for their insurance company and have it
emailed over directly from the insurance company. And that's really important.
To get it from the insurance company, not from the
(17:11):
not from the company itself. That's how we do it.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
The other phrase that I've heard don't mean to interrupt in,
but the other phrase that I've had is company who say, well,
we're bonded to do this work. Is that another way
of saying we have the we have the adequate insurance.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
That's sort of it's sort of the same thing. Usually
typically when you're dealing with a bond, you're doing the
municipal work. You know, we get a bond. If we
have to work on a sidewalk, we have to buy
a bond from our insurance company to do sidewalk work.
It's because it's a public you know, public access, so
it's sort of the same thing. A bond is sort
of an insurance policy, but typically it's for municipal work,
(17:46):
not not HOMEO to work.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And don't and don't take the word of the company,
Oh yeah, we're insured. You want to see the actual
documentation that proves that they are insured. And are they
insured for Ian's specific work? Are they ensured generally? Does
their policy run to the particular client that they're working with,
or is it more a general liability policy.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
It's no, it should It's usually it's a general liability
policy and a general workers compensation and you want to
make sure you get both. It's important to when you
talk to the insurance company, they should put the bottom
they're all the same form. The bottom left hand corner
of the insurance policy should say a certificate holder and
your name should be in there.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
What kind of question when I call the insurance company?
What kind of question am I supposed to be asking them?
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Ask them, tell them you know the name of the
company that you want to hire for the roofs, and
tell them you'd like to have a copy of their
liability policy and their workers compensation policy. You want to
have both.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And the policy that has been purchased by the company
that's doing the work for you.
Speaker 7 (18:52):
In Okay, I.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
Understand, I completely stand. I have one more quick question,
may I okay? Thank you? So, mister Philman, my a
framed roof, if I have a company do it. I've
spoken to a few and they say they do the
roof in one entire day. So my house is one
hundred and twenty five years old, and I'm thinking and
(19:19):
visualizing everything is torn off my roof, the two layers
of roofing, and probably the decking, the wood, the decking.
Probably I don't even have a decking. I have actual
old fashioned studs and their big spaces in between. So
(19:40):
I'm thinking, if everything comes off the roof, including my studs,
is my house gonna is? When my house collapse like
a deck of cards. Well, with you thing holding the
top together, Well.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
They're not going to take the raptors out. You're called sheathing.
You're talking about the old boards are gonna probably have
to come up. They don't all have to come off.
Sometimes you can just replace the rotted ones with plywood.
We do that fairly often, so you don't necessarily have
to take all that off. I'd say, if they're going
to replace all the sheathing on your roof, it's it's
it's going to be more than a day. That's quite
a bit of work to replace all the wood sheathing
(20:15):
on top.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah, do.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
You have anything?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, let me jump in for a second and get
more than one quotation and make sure you're dealing with
at least a couple of good companies. Go ahead, Mark,
I'm sorry I interrupted you. Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Yeah. Do you have you have things stored in the attic?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
No? No, I do not. Just my I had. I
had the floor of my of my attic all thoroughly insulated.
So should I ask them I probably should ask them
to have a covering to protect all that insulation from
all like the fives and nails and all kinds of deboos.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
That's what I was suggesting. It's going to be really
really messy down there. It's gonna just there's so much
to bring. It was going to rain from the rope absolutely,
it'll be really really messy.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
All right, Anne, I got to let you go out.
You got a lot of good information. Thank you for
the call, talk to you so I have a great night.
Good night, Mark. Very comprehensive answers appreciated. We're going to
take a quick break out of news at the bottom
of the Ara back with my guest, Mark Philbin, a
design build contractor with a company called Charlie Allen Renovations
out of Cambridge. If you have a question like and did,
(21:26):
you were more than welcome to join the conversation back
on Nightside after this, It's.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Night Side with Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Mark, we got more phone calls here. Let me just
real quickly. You mentioned that the concept of sustainability, uh
in the materials that you that are used and also
the energy conservation products that are chosen is important. What
does that mean when you talk about sustainability, I mean
something that's going to last long, is what I guess
(21:59):
you you're referring to correct.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Well, not exactly. It really is. Sustainability is more sustainability
of our planet. Earlier we were talking about trends and
I'd mentioned it's sort of a two pronged question. A
lot of the trends that we're seeing now beyond just
the design as the materials that we're using now, and
that has to do with the sustainability, has to do
with the sustainability of the planet. People want to have
(22:26):
products that are sourced responsibly, low carbon footprint. That sort
of translates into a lot of energy efficiency, and the
windows that they choose, installations that we use indoor air quality.
People are much more conscious of that. This is a
really really important trend in building and remodeling right now.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Is look I look.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
At that as I look at that more from a
personal point of view, and that the I'm not going
to save the planet by bye I myself using energy
efficient windows. However, I'm going to save some money if
I use energy efficient windows. I mean, I have friends
of mine who talk about that, and I look at
them and and I mean, again not to get into
(23:08):
the politics of it. You know China and Pakistan is
they're they're belching stuff out of their factories into the atmosphere.
I don't think I can offset that by using simply
you know, I will use the materials that are that
are the longest lasting and the most efficient and obviously
I want safety from my family. I don't know, maybe
maybe I am out of step with society. But I
(23:33):
get pitches in the mail all the time from these
solar energy companies, you know, switch your your gas supply
or your electric supply to solar energy, and it says
in very small print, this might cost you more money,
but you'll save the planet again compared to what's going
on the rest. I just don't buy into the theory
(23:56):
that that what I do at my home. And then again,
if it makes people feel good and feel better about themselves,
I'm all in on that.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Okay, Yeah, well that is, I mean that is and
that is a trend. A lot of people are doing it,
you know, for altruistic reasons, to do their little their
little bit to help save the plant on whether it's so. Yeah,
and to be honest with you, do a lot of
this a lot of being mandated by the by the
building codes.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Oh yeah, no, yeah, I can't get around the stuff
that's mandated. And more and more is going to be mandated,
that's for sure. Let me go to Elaine in Melrose. Elaine,
you're on with Mark Philbin of a company called Charlie
Allen renovations. He's a design build contract, build contractor go
right ahead.
Speaker 7 (24:42):
Thank you so much for taking my call. I appreciate it.
I had a couple of questions. I have a cottage
down the cape and we were going to be putting
in Central Ear in it. It's one level, our three bedrooms,
a kitchen in a large family room, in one bathroom.
(25:03):
And I was wondering mini splits versus Central Ear. And
before I even get to that, there was a person
we were considering who had done service the similar thing
with Central here for our neighbors. And he does it
on the side. He works for somebody who does it,
but he does it on the side. What's your opinion
(25:27):
of that? And would we get the same thing that
you said to the other lady which I really appreciated
about getting the liability insurance and the worker's conversation. Would
he provide us with that as well? Or do they
not do that if they do it on the side.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
No, and you should anybody who works on your home,
and you should have they could do a lot of
damage potentially, you know, working with your electrical system to
get these systems powered up. So anybody who works on
your house, you want to have a liability and a
worker's comp policy, assuming unless it's just the only people
who can work without workers COP would be a sole
(26:05):
proprietor somebody who works strictly by themselves. In Massachusetts, as
soon as you have one employee, you need to have
workers COP. So it's hard to do that work solo.
So somebody should have a worker's comp policy as well
as a as well as a liability policy. And I
think you should also they should be licensed to do
it and should pull up. We have to pull building
(26:26):
permits so we don't do any work like that. If
we were doing a new HVAC system, whether it's any
splits or whole house, you need to pull a permit
for that at the time. That's very important because that
way affected then it'll be done to the code. So
sort of three things to think about is it should
(26:47):
they should be a building permit, so he should be
licensed to do it, which he's doing on a side
he might not be. And you should absolutely have the
two insurance policies in hand before anybody works on the house.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
And I want to weigh in here, do you really
need air conditioning on the cape? How many days during
the summer. Is it the need air conditioning? It seems
to me to be a brutal.
Speaker 7 (27:12):
Last summer, the heat was brutal, even on the Cape.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Okay, all right, I spent most of the last summer
in the Cape, and I didn't quite experience the same thing.
I guess, But that's okay. I mean, you you've got
to figure out what is best, what is best for you.
But I think what what what Mark just told you
is to be very important with whom you with whom
you're dealing want to make sure that they're they're fully insured.
Did you have another question for Mark?
Speaker 7 (27:39):
Yes? I did have another question? What Mark? What is
your opinion of mini splits? The system we put in
the heating system is gas instant hot water. It was
a very expensive heating system and when we had mass
saved come they said that it would it wouldn't be good,
(28:02):
that it would be foolish for us to do it
because the heating system was so expensive and it wouldn't
work for MASSA because you have to go to electric
and for what we take for that. But what what
what do you feel about mini splits versus central ear?
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Well, you already have so right now you have what's
called the forced hot air. The heating system is forced
hot air. So the duct work is already in all
the rooms.
Speaker 7 (28:28):
Correct, it's like along the baseboard.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
Oh, okay, that's okay in that case. If in that case,
I would say the mini splits are a good way
to go. They're far more efficient, they will be a
lot less expensive to put in. It's hard to put
in duct work in a house that's already built, and
so it's much much more cost efficient to put in
(28:55):
the mini split system and they're more efficient to run
in the in the long term, and they also work.
The mini splits nowadays also do heat and so you
can actually use the mini splits to sort of take
the edge off using it as in heat mode. And
so they're they're they're pretty versatile systems.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
So you could even use them with the new with
that system that we have, even though masks say with
saying they wouldn't even touch it because it would be
crazy to do it. To convert.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yet to convert totally. But you know something that we've
been doing a lot is we've been putting in mini
splits and telling people to keep their heating system just
in case it gets really really cold. You can leave
your heating system in place and put the mini splits
in for the air conditioning. If that makes sense.
Speaker 7 (29:45):
Yes, it does. In a quick little question. So the
place down the Cape is one level, so it's kind
of long. So the mini do the mini splits?
Speaker 6 (29:58):
Like?
Speaker 7 (29:58):
Are they all around the whole house?
Speaker 4 (30:00):
How do they get They have to run the lines
which are very small to run compare the traditional you know,
AC systems. You'd have to have one in each bedroom
and one in the living room typically maybe one in
the dining room, kitchen area. I'm not sure how it's
laid out, but you do have to have multiple you know,
you have to have multiple heads. And nowadays they make
(30:22):
some nice units to go into the ceilings so they're
not hanging on the wall. So uh, but you would
have to get one in each bedroom, living room, kitchen,
dining area.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Helene, I hate to do this to you, but we're
way past my break here. You've had six minutes. You've
asked great questions, but I got to move on. Thank you,
best of luck, and I hope it's a cooler summer
of the cape form Okay, thanks thanks for calling. You welcome.
Very quick break back with Mark Philbin. Final concluding segment,
Joe and Phil and Alex are going to try to
(30:52):
get all of you in. I promise coming back on
night Side.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
It's Night Side with Dan Rayton's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
All right, John, Phil and Alex. We have about eight
minutes and I got three callers, so I'm gonna ask
each of you to be six SYNCD in your questions
for my guest, Mark, Philbin, Alex set the standard. Go ahead, Alex.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
Hey, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Dan?
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Hey you miss Phil, go right ahead?
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Are you?
Speaker 5 (31:21):
I have a couple of questions, so uh uh home,
you know, as I call it, my endless love. We've
had installed the old house generator a couple of years
ago and it probably used it once, uh, and then
had a question about the roof, so that uh, you know,
would you say that would be a good investment, you know,
(31:41):
as far as uh you know, uh, Godd's value to
your home or is it you know, uh.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Absolute absolutely Alex. And when you need a generator, go ahead,
Mark absolutely. If you can afford a generator, to get
a generator, go ahead, Mark.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yeah. No, Actually that was that's something that has been
coming up with some of the projects that we've been
looking at and talking to our electricians that the right
now the energy grid is under such strain right now
because everybody's going with electric cars and heat pumps in
their homes. It's being mandated by building codes no fossil
(32:17):
fuels and the new home construction so hot summer could
cause a lot of blackouts and brownouts, and generators are
going to become a bigger part of you know, building
and remodeling and the not too distant future. Energy grid
is much under duress right now.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
All right, one more quick question, Alex, I want to
get everybody a chance to go ahead.
Speaker 5 (32:39):
Our roof is fairly new, but when it comes time
to change it, do you think installing a metal roof
is worth the money. They're you know, kind of pricey
or I haven't seen too many people metal roofs.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Yeah, they they are. They are pretty pricey. They're you know,
popular up north, so snow slides off of them. That
that's more important up there than it is down in
our neck of the woods. It's really not that critical.
Light roofing nowadays. You can get a good architectural shingle
with a you know, fifty year guarantee. That's a pretty
good guarantee without the cost of a metal roof.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Oh Alex, thanks great, great questions. You got to keep moving.
Thanks Alex. Let me go next to Joe in Ross
and Dale. Joe, you're next on Nightside like Alex, please
be quick and direct. Go ahead, Joe, Yes.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Joe, Hi Dan, thanks for taking my call. I have
a question for.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Mister markhead Mark.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Yes, Hi Mark. I've said property in Rosindale, it's got
asbestos siding on it. My question to you is every
thinking about whether I should repaint it or have the
asbestos removed? And the question is what is the procedure
for removing asbestos nowadays? I realize it's hazardous, believe it
(34:01):
or not.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
If that's true, sais if you want to take it
off carefully, you can and get a special dumpster that
it goes into. If you have a contractor do it,
it's they have to be licensed to do it, and
it's incredibly expensive to have because of their liability policy
that they have to have. If you don't want to
take it off, I can tell you right now if
(34:21):
that's the siding, well, if you paint it, that's perfectly
acceptable and uh it'll last forever. It's it's the most
durable siding I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Joe, you just might save yourself a lot of money
by making this phone call.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Okay, all right, thanks Mark, Okay, thank you very much.
And I won't hould you an because I know you're
running out of time there.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
So well, you saved yourself some money, Joe. Listen to
what the gentleman said. Thanks Phil in Boston. Phil, you
gotta be quick. We got about a bit and a
half left.
Speaker 8 (34:51):
Go ahead to the colonial house windows Wooden. Should I
keep the storm windows and get the rope free places
in the windows that want open open up and downs,
I just you know, lock them all out and putting
the windows in.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
You know, we've done both. You know there tends to
be about the same price. We've we've done a lot
of restoration of windows where you get the windows properly, uh,
the the old pulleyweight windows. You can put weather stripping
on all sides of them and make them much much
more thermally efficient, and then get a really high quality
storm window on outside of outside of that on the
(35:28):
attached to the casing of the house. And that's actually
is a is a very good way to uh, to
get a thermally efficient window without ripping the old ones out.
Speaker 8 (35:37):
You need a permit for that.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
You got that.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
Not to do windows now, not to do windows of
storm windows, you don't need a permit.
Speaker 8 (35:44):
All right, doing heck of a job. Thank you, thank
you very much.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Well, you know what, Phil, you just might have got
some great advice. And again, the company is out of Cambridge.
You in the city, what neighborhood?
Speaker 8 (35:58):
Well, I'd rather keep that well fair enough.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Okay, Well Phil, let me ask you. Are you in
the greater Boston area? They only work Okay, good, that's
all I'm just saying. Well, that's great, no problem, no problem.
All I'm just saying is it's the company is Charlie
Alan Renovations out of Cambridge. It wouldn't hurt to have
them come over and give a look and give you
a price. Do you do that work type mark? Do
(36:22):
you go out and price a job for someone like
like Phil?
Speaker 4 (36:27):
Well, yeah, we've done that, and we also have some
contractors that specialize in it. So either one, depending on
the scope and size of the project. But yep, yep,
wen we could do that.
Speaker 9 (36:37):
Okay, sounds great, Phil, Phil, Phil Will Phil Phil Phil
Phil I'm out of time, Okay, I'm sorry I got
to let you go, but thank you for your call.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
And again I think you got some good advice. Appreciate it, Phil,
talk to you soon, all right. I want to thank
you Mark, Philbern of Charlie Allen Renovations. You know Cambridge based. Uh,
you certainly know your stuff. I wish I had better questions,
but there's there's a lot to consider here, and anyone
(37:09):
who's looking to do some some work at their home.
I think you've listened to a guy tonight who knows
his stuff. Mark. I appreciate your time and really doing.
Of course, people can read you in the Globe every
couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
As well, right every two weeks. Yeah, it comes out
every two weeks in the Boston dot Com and the
UH and the Boston Globe.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
And the name of the column it's is give us
the name of the column. They can look forward.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
I'll ask the remodeler. It's in the UH. It's any
address section of the Globe, Okay.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
And do they do you end up in the print
section or only in the digital?
Speaker 4 (37:42):
No, No, it's in both. It's in Boston dot Com
and that comes out on a Wednesday, and then it's
in the Sunday Globe in the address section, sort of
the real estate section. Ye Globe on the Sunday print.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Sounds great, Mark Philman, thank you for your time. I
really enjoyed the conversation. Thanks. I learned a lot myself.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
I thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
When we get back, it's Brushes with Celebrity, having done
it in a while, line up, let's get the calls going.
Brushes with Celebrity coming up on the eleven o'clock The
twentieth Hour,
It's nice time with Dan on WAZ Boston.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
How they get it out of this system? It's it's
nine to one, you know. That's okay, Well, get him tomorrow,
get him tomorrow, Al no doubt.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We always have the Celtics.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Well, that's okay, that's okay. I know that we'll focus on.
Our focus will be in the Celtics. We'll right about
the Bruins in the summer and Red Sox will well,
I'll give Alex Corra Carlton. I don't give him a
little pep talk. I'm sure that yeah, that'll that'll help. Oh,
I'm sure sure. Thanks appreciate it. All right, everybody, we
(00:41):
are changing topics and want to welcome Mark Philbin. Mark Philbin, welcome,
How are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Good?
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Damn? How are you good?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Mark's a project developer for charlie Ian Renovations out of Cambridge.
They do what's called residential design build and we're going
to explain that and if you have any questions about,
you know, doing some substantial work in your home. We've
never had someone who's a project developer on before, so Mark.
(01:15):
We like to sort of give people something positive to
think about. We spend most of the week, the ninety
percent of the week arguing about politics or dealing with
serious issues like we did last hour with an innocent
man spending fifteen years in prison for a crime he
didn't commit. So we like to kind of exhale here
and focus on happier things. And there's nothing that is
(01:39):
happier than when people do some work at their home
and make the home more comfortable, more livable, and in
some respects I guess, more modern. So tell us first
of all, tell us about Charlie in renovations out of Cambridge.
It's been around I guess since what the late seventies,
early eighties. You folks have quite a reputation and you
(02:02):
confine your work to the great Boston area. You you
really are people who want to do a good job.
From what I understand you've got You've got some great
some great references from people that I've talked to. So
you can brag a little bit about the company. It's uh,
it does some great work. Tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Well, we do a large part of what we try
to do. It's not just the end result of the project.
That's the entire process, uh, which we the design build
process has us as the remodeler in on the ground floor.
We like to take the project from really from its inception,
you know, all the way to a you know, feigns
(02:42):
pick job book, right to the completion of the job.
So we do a lot of handholding with the clients.
We try to help with the design. We work with
the architect and the homeowner together and uh and that
we think actually is what makes for better project experience.
It's not just the end project, it's the whole process.
(03:06):
Working in people's home is is pretty traumatic, as you
can imagine, tearing apart your kitchen and your bathrooms, sometimes
half your house. So that's easy thing to live through.
And so a large part of it we do is
to try to develop the project properly in a way
that makes that as smooth as possible.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, well that's the first question anyone who has lived
in a house for you know, more than ten years
and someone says, oh, gee, you know, the bathroom's looking
a little shabby, or the kitchen needs to be updated,
or maybe we've got to do some work and maybe
expand something or develop a family room, whatever, whatever the
project might be. How do you do that? So people?
(03:48):
Do people have to move out for like three or
four months, or how do you work around them so
that they can live their lives and not have to
evacuate the home.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, we've done it, you know, both ways. We've done
remodels of course that are on a scale where people
do have to move out. They just can't live there,
no bathrooms, no kitchen, and so some people who actually
have to move out, But for the most part, you know,
if it's a kitchen, well we'll set up a temporary
kitchen in the dining room that people can function out
of as long as you have a you know, a
(04:17):
source of water and a place to cook. We will
typically set something up like that when we do a kitchen.
A model bathroom remodels a little more difficult. If you
have two or three bathrooms, it makes it a little
bit easier. And what we'll typically do is the cordon
open area that the work is being done. We plastic
off a section of the house and have a separate
(04:39):
interest for the contractors and we try to make it
as easy as possible for people that way. And and
so it depends, it depends on the scale of the project,
whether people have to move out or whether they can
actually live through the house, live in the house, you know,
during the remodel.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I assume that a lot of you work. I don't
think did you advertise From what I can see, I'm
not familiar with the company. I'm not even familiar with
the whole idea of house renovations. I'm assuming that that
you must rely upon word of mouth advertising more than
most most companies that do any level of remodeling. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Absolutely, Yeah, we don't really have We don't do any advertising.
It's it's word of mouth. We do have a website,
people can people can find us on a website. We
also belong to something we encourage to, you know, clients
who are looking for a remodel, remodeler or any kind
of professional contractor is We belong to trade organizations so
people look up. You know, some of the trade organizations
(05:45):
for builders and modelers were members of all the main
trade groups in New England. And that's a that's a
great resource for people to find, whether it's a contractor electrician, commer, architect,
and so we get some work to that as well.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So what are the I'm looking at, like, what are
the trends? I mean, I know that that depending I'm
not particularly observant, if you will. When I'm invited to
someone's home, I tend not to make judgments. But there
are some people who will walk in and they'll be
(06:23):
kind of looking around and they'll say, gee, this this
home is looking very nineteen seventy ish and here we
are fifty years later. What sort of businesses? What's the
latest trends in terms of what people are looking for
looking they looking to update or renovate and is there
(06:45):
much of a difference between updating and renovation.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Well, that's sort of the same. I mean, most of
it is updating. There's sort of that sort of a
two pronged question. There's what people are looking for from
a sort of a design standpoint. Is it hasn't changed
a lot. You know, working in the Greater Boston area,
people looking for open floor plans as opposed to a
lot of New England homes are cut up into small
rooms and so we open up the floor plans doing
(07:12):
some structural work. So people want to have a much
more flow through their living space. That's still popular, has
been for quite a while, and more people looking for
to get away from looking for more sort of I
call it urban chicic, it's clean designs, sleek modern sort
of mid century modern look is what people are after
(07:34):
right now as opposed to older New England charms.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
When you say mid century modern, look, we're not either
at mid twentieth or mid twenty first century. Define that
for me a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
That's sort of it would be it's post World War
two and it's a lot of wood tones, fabric, warm,
warm tones, earth tones, that sort of thing. It's sort
of you know, the fifties, you know, post World War
two into the fifties.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
So what I'm hearing on that say is that maybe
things that were popular that went out of style are
now coming back, you know, coming back in style.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's isn't that always the way?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Well that's interesting. There might be some people, yeah, well
there might be some people who are listening who have
never done any sort of a design build or a
design rebuild at their home, who now they might be
pleased to hear that, because they're going to say, no
sense of changing. Now we're back, We're back in style.
(08:43):
But my guess is Mark philban Mark is a design
build contractor with a company called Charlie Allen Renovations. Out
of Cambridge. We've never done a show. We've done probably
now close to forty one hundred shows. We're never done
with a with a project developer a this magnitude. His
company H does residential design builds, so you don't do commercial.
(09:06):
It's all residential, right it is.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah, we used to do some small commercial, but it's
it's pretty much all residential now. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Okay, Well, I'm sure that there are folks out there
who know more about this subject than I do. Uh,
And so I'm going to invite then we join the
conversation at six one seven, two five four ten thirty
or six one seven nine three one ten thirty. If
you have a question about your home, or you have
a question about what you would like to see developed
(09:34):
for your home, you got an opportunity here. Feel free
to join the conversation. I'll continue my questions with Mark
Philbern who is a design build contractor with Charlie Allen
Renovations out of Cambridge. And again this is we try
to do some different topics, folks, and we do. If
you want to show that does the same political show
(09:55):
night after night after night, and we we mix it up.
We try to have stuff and guests which will be
of interest two different people, and hopefully Mark is going
to be of interest to you. And if you have
a question, you know the number. Give us a call.
Coming right back on night.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Side Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
We're talking with Mark Philman. He's a design build contractor
with a company called Charlie Allen Renovations out of Cambridge.
That company has been around for about forty five years.
The fellow who was the founder, I guess kind of
an interesting backstory. Mark, he was a student at Harvard
and he decided to start his own company, and eventually
(10:42):
he retired and moved back to the state of Washington.
And this is a company that's been around for a
long time. Are you right in Harvard Square, per se
or where are you located in Cambridge?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Actually not Harvard Square. We are in Central Square, Central Square,
well right in between between Mit and Harvard.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yep. Absolutely, So there's a lot that we can talk about.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
This.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
By the way, the name Mark Philbin. Mark writes a
biweekly advice column in the Globe, Ask the Remodeler, and
this is this is your opportunity to ask him a
question directly. So there's a lot that you and I
can talk about here in terms of well even the
(11:26):
timing here that we're talking about tariffs, and without getting
into the politics of it, this is going to cause
I assume some turbulence for your business if these tariffs
are in place for any period of time, without making
a comment politically or otherwise.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Correct, absolutely, as all righty, it's a question that comes up,
excuse me, with a lot of our clients projects we're
putting together now, they're concerned about should I buy it now,
will it be more expensive you know two months from
now when I really need it, will it be available
at all? So the question is coming up quite a bit.
And of course you know price of lumber is expensive enough.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Well we get a lot of well we get a
lot of lumber out of Canada.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Right totally that most most of it comes from Canada.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
So why do we not create what? Why do we
know we used to have mills here in New England,
you know, lumber mills. Did they just go away? I
don't understand. I can understand they sent the chips over
to Taiwan. Again, not getting political, why was it that
that you know, these lumber manufacturers we now have to
(12:35):
rely on Canada. We have we have a lot of
lumber and a lot of trees. Anytime any fly, anytime
I fly across the country, I love to look down
and see all the wide open spaces and the forests
and all of that. But what's the history of that.
I mean, there used to be lumber mills up up
in Maine.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Correct, Well, most of those are paper mills. Most of
the lumber, you know that came out of New England.
You know, they harvested all the old growth wood was
paper mills up in Maine. It was all that was
all for paper, and so it was never really not
much lumber. The reason it really comes out of Pacific
Northwest is they have more trees. They have more trees,
(13:14):
and and the type of trees that that we need
for building, the spruce and the and the you know,
the redwoods and the cedar's just far more plentful. And
a lot. It does also have to do with our
environmental laws are a little stricter than Canada, so it's
harder to cut them down in the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
No, I get it, and I guess once once again
we've for for good purposes. We put ourselves in a
bit of a bind here because if these tariffs do
hold for some period of time, uh, it's only going
to be more expensive here in Massachusetts. Again, I love trees,
don't get me wrong, but uh you good replant trees.
(13:56):
I realized that. But anyway, let's let's get let's see
if we get some halls incorporated here. There's so many
other topics that I want to get to. I want
to get to. Uh, you know, what are the most
important factors? What are the challenges? We get to all
of that in the cape in on Cape car on Cape.
I actually and how.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
Are you, Hi, Dan? How are you?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
I'm doing great? So I had a mark Philbin. Do
you have a question? Mark?
Speaker 6 (14:21):
Hello, mister Philman. Can I ask a question? Hi? Can
I ask a question on roofing?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yes? Go right ahead. Sure, that's why he's here.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
Go ahead, Okay, thank you. I have a an a
framed pitched roof, and I had it. I had a
new roof put on twenty five years ago, and it
was the second layer. And so I have just a
(14:53):
just a little handful of quick questions. For instance, my
first the first time I had my roof downe twenty
five years ago, I had a small contracting company in
my city do the job, and he had all his
own guys. Now I'm finding that the roofing companies do
(15:15):
not have their own men and they use a preferred
roofing company. And I have so many questions.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Well, let's try to end. Let me do this. Don't
be nervous. Yeah, why don't you ask whatever questions you want?
The history is interesting, But what what would you like
to ask? Mark? Go ahead?
Speaker 6 (15:37):
I'd like to ask if a company has their own
preferred roofing people to do the roof that they that
they source out, who who holds the oh, the type
of insurance workmen's compensation insurance? Would it be the company
(15:59):
that actually is the company, the roofing company or the preferred.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Company whoever you're It sounds like you're hiring a larger
company that subs it out. There are plenty of roofing companies.
Kind of going back with a little bit, plenty of
companies out there are owner they're basically its owner run business.
They actually don't sub it out. It is their own employees,
so you can find them. There's plenty of them out there.
(16:26):
That's who we use. We use a company whose owner
is up on the roof with the rest of the crew.
That said, if you hire a larger company that's subbing
it out, you want to make sure that the larger
whoever you are writing the check to is that's who
you want to have the insurance policy for. And an
important note here is too, they should have workers' compensation
(16:50):
as well as liability insurance. They should have both. You
want to make sure that you can get both those
insurance certificates, and you want to call their insurance company
to get that sent over. Don't just ask the contractor
for it, ask for their insurance company and have it
emailed over directly from the insurance company. And that's really important.
To get it from the insurance company, not from the
(17:11):
not from the company itself. That's how we do it.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
The other phrase that I've heard don't mean to interrupt in,
but the other phrase that I've had is company who say, well,
we're bonded to do this work. Is that another way
of saying we have the we have the adequate insurance.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
That's sort of it's sort of the same thing. Usually
typically when you're dealing with a bond, you're doing the
municipal work. You know, we get a bond. If we
have to work on a sidewalk, we have to buy
a bond from our insurance company to do sidewalk work.
It's because it's a public you know, public access, so
it's sort of the same thing. A bond is sort
of an insurance policy, but typically it's for municipal work,
(17:46):
not not HOMEO to work.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And don't and don't take the word of the company,
Oh yeah, we're insured. You want to see the actual
documentation that proves that they are insured. And are they
insured for Ian's specific work? Are they ensured generally? Does
their policy run to the particular client that they're working with,
or is it more a general liability policy.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
It's no, it should It's usually it's a general liability
policy and a general workers compensation and you want to
make sure you get both. It's important to when you
talk to the insurance company, they should put the bottom
they're all the same form. The bottom left hand corner
of the insurance policy should say a certificate holder and
your name should be in there.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
What kind of question when I call the insurance company?
What kind of question am I supposed to be asking them?
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Ask them, tell them you know the name of the
company that you want to hire for the roofs, and
tell them you'd like to have a copy of their
liability policy and their workers compensation policy. You want to
have both.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
And the policy that has been purchased by the company
that's doing the work for you.
Speaker 7 (18:52):
In Okay, I.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
Understand, I completely stand. I have one more quick question,
may I okay? Thank you? So, mister Philman, my a
framed roof, if I have a company do it. I've
spoken to a few and they say they do the
roof in one entire day. So my house is one
hundred and twenty five years old, and I'm thinking and
(19:19):
visualizing everything is torn off my roof, the two layers
of roofing, and probably the decking, the wood, the decking.
Probably I don't even have a decking. I have actual
old fashioned studs and their big spaces in between. So
(19:40):
I'm thinking, if everything comes off the roof, including my studs,
is my house gonna is? When my house collapse like
a deck of cards. Well, with you thing holding the
top together, Well.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
They're not going to take the raptors out. You're called sheathing.
You're talking about the old boards are gonna probably have
to come up. They don't all have to come off.
Sometimes you can just replace the rotted ones with plywood.
We do that fairly often, so you don't necessarily have
to take all that off. I'd say, if they're going
to replace all the sheathing on your roof, it's it's
it's going to be more than a day. That's quite
a bit of work to replace all the wood sheathing
(20:15):
on top.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah, do.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
You have anything?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, let me jump in for a second and get
more than one quotation and make sure you're dealing with
at least a couple of good companies. Go ahead, Mark,
I'm sorry I interrupted you. Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Yeah. Do you have you have things stored in the attic?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
No? No, I do not. Just my I had. I
had the floor of my of my attic all thoroughly insulated.
So should I ask them I probably should ask them
to have a covering to protect all that insulation from
all like the fives and nails and all kinds of deboos.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
That's what I was suggesting. It's going to be really
really messy down there. It's gonna just there's so much
to bring. It was going to rain from the rope absolutely,
it'll be really really messy.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
All right, Anne, I got to let you go out.
You got a lot of good information. Thank you for
the call, talk to you so I have a great night.
Good night, Mark. Very comprehensive answers appreciated. We're going to
take a quick break out of news at the bottom
of the Ara back with my guest, Mark Philbin, a
design build contractor with a company called Charlie Allen Renovations
out of Cambridge. If you have a question like and did,
(21:26):
you were more than welcome to join the conversation back
on Nightside after this, It's.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Night Side with Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Mark, we got more phone calls here. Let me just
real quickly. You mentioned that the concept of sustainability, uh
in the materials that you that are used and also
the energy conservation products that are chosen is important. What
does that mean when you talk about sustainability, I mean
something that's going to last long, is what I guess
(21:59):
you you're referring to correct.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Well, not exactly. It really is. Sustainability is more sustainability
of our planet. Earlier we were talking about trends and
I'd mentioned it's sort of a two pronged question. A
lot of the trends that we're seeing now beyond just
the design as the materials that we're using now, and
that has to do with the sustainability, has to do
with the sustainability of the planet. People want to have
(22:26):
products that are sourced responsibly, low carbon footprint. That sort
of translates into a lot of energy efficiency, and the
windows that they choose, installations that we use indoor air quality.
People are much more conscious of that. This is a
really really important trend in building and remodeling right now.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Is look I look.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
At that as I look at that more from a
personal point of view, and that the I'm not going
to save the planet by bye I myself using energy
efficient windows. However, I'm going to save some money if
I use energy efficient windows. I mean, I have friends
of mine who talk about that, and I look at
them and and I mean, again not to get into
(23:08):
the politics of it. You know China and Pakistan is
they're they're belching stuff out of their factories into the atmosphere.
I don't think I can offset that by using simply
you know, I will use the materials that are that
are the longest lasting and the most efficient and obviously
I want safety from my family. I don't know, maybe
maybe I am out of step with society. But I
(23:33):
get pitches in the mail all the time from these
solar energy companies, you know, switch your your gas supply
or your electric supply to solar energy, and it says
in very small print, this might cost you more money,
but you'll save the planet again compared to what's going
on the rest. I just don't buy into the theory
(23:56):
that that what I do at my home. And then again,
if it makes people feel good and feel better about themselves,
I'm all in on that.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Okay, Yeah, well that is, I mean that is and
that is a trend. A lot of people are doing it,
you know, for altruistic reasons, to do their little their
little bit to help save the plant on whether it's so. Yeah,
and to be honest with you, do a lot of
this a lot of being mandated by the by the
building codes.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Oh yeah, no, yeah, I can't get around the stuff
that's mandated. And more and more is going to be mandated,
that's for sure. Let me go to Elaine in Melrose. Elaine,
you're on with Mark Philbin of a company called Charlie
Allen renovations. He's a design build contract, build contractor go
right ahead.
Speaker 7 (24:42):
Thank you so much for taking my call. I appreciate it.
I had a couple of questions. I have a cottage
down the cape and we were going to be putting
in Central Ear in it. It's one level, our three bedrooms,
a kitchen in a large family room, in one bathroom.
(25:03):
And I was wondering mini splits versus Central Ear. And
before I even get to that, there was a person
we were considering who had done service the similar thing
with Central here for our neighbors. And he does it
on the side. He works for somebody who does it,
but he does it on the side. What's your opinion
(25:27):
of that? And would we get the same thing that
you said to the other lady which I really appreciated
about getting the liability insurance and the worker's conversation. Would
he provide us with that as well? Or do they
not do that if they do it on the side.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
No, and you should anybody who works on your home,
and you should have they could do a lot of
damage potentially, you know, working with your electrical system to
get these systems powered up. So anybody who works on
your house, you want to have a liability and a
worker's comp policy, assuming unless it's just the only people
who can work without workers COP would be a sole
(26:05):
proprietor somebody who works strictly by themselves. In Massachusetts, as
soon as you have one employee, you need to have
workers COP. So it's hard to do that work solo.
So somebody should have a worker's comp policy as well
as a as well as a liability policy. And I
think you should also they should be licensed to do
it and should pull up. We have to pull building
(26:26):
permits so we don't do any work like that. If
we were doing a new HVAC system, whether it's any
splits or whole house, you need to pull a permit
for that at the time. That's very important because that
way affected then it'll be done to the code. So
sort of three things to think about is it should
(26:47):
they should be a building permit, so he should be
licensed to do it, which he's doing on a side
he might not be. And you should absolutely have the
two insurance policies in hand before anybody works on the house.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
And I want to weigh in here, do you really
need air conditioning on the cape? How many days during
the summer. Is it the need air conditioning? It seems
to me to be a brutal.
Speaker 7 (27:12):
Last summer, the heat was brutal, even on the Cape.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Okay, all right, I spent most of the last summer
in the Cape, and I didn't quite experience the same thing.
I guess, But that's okay. I mean, you you've got
to figure out what is best, what is best for you.
But I think what what what Mark just told you
is to be very important with whom you with whom
you're dealing want to make sure that they're they're fully insured.
Did you have another question for Mark?
Speaker 7 (27:39):
Yes? I did have another question? What Mark? What is
your opinion of mini splits? The system we put in
the heating system is gas instant hot water. It was
a very expensive heating system and when we had mass
saved come they said that it would it wouldn't be good,
(28:02):
that it would be foolish for us to do it
because the heating system was so expensive and it wouldn't
work for MASSA because you have to go to electric
and for what we take for that. But what what
what do you feel about mini splits versus central ear?
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Well, you already have so right now you have what's
called the forced hot air. The heating system is forced
hot air. So the duct work is already in all
the rooms.
Speaker 7 (28:28):
Correct, it's like along the baseboard.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
Oh, okay, that's okay in that case. If in that case,
I would say the mini splits are a good way
to go. They're far more efficient, they will be a
lot less expensive to put in. It's hard to put
in duct work in a house that's already built, and
so it's much much more cost efficient to put in
(28:55):
the mini split system and they're more efficient to run
in the in the long term, and they also work.
The mini splits nowadays also do heat and so you
can actually use the mini splits to sort of take
the edge off using it as in heat mode. And
so they're they're they're pretty versatile systems.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
So you could even use them with the new with
that system that we have, even though masks say with
saying they wouldn't even touch it because it would be
crazy to do it. To convert.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yet to convert totally. But you know something that we've
been doing a lot is we've been putting in mini
splits and telling people to keep their heating system just
in case it gets really really cold. You can leave
your heating system in place and put the mini splits
in for the air conditioning. If that makes sense.
Speaker 7 (29:45):
Yes, it does. In a quick little question. So the
place down the Cape is one level, so it's kind
of long. So the mini do the mini splits?
Speaker 6 (29:58):
Like?
Speaker 7 (29:58):
Are they all around the whole house?
Speaker 4 (30:00):
How do they get They have to run the lines
which are very small to run compare the traditional you know,
AC systems. You'd have to have one in each bedroom
and one in the living room typically maybe one in
the dining room, kitchen area. I'm not sure how it's
laid out, but you do have to have multiple you know,
you have to have multiple heads. And nowadays they make
(30:22):
some nice units to go into the ceilings so they're
not hanging on the wall. So uh, but you would
have to get one in each bedroom, living room, kitchen,
dining area.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Helene, I hate to do this to you, but we're
way past my break here. You've had six minutes. You've
asked great questions, but I got to move on. Thank you,
best of luck, and I hope it's a cooler summer
of the cape form Okay, thanks thanks for calling. You welcome.
Very quick break back with Mark Philbin. Final concluding segment,
Joe and Phil and Alex are going to try to
(30:52):
get all of you in. I promise coming back on
night Side.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
It's Night Side with Dan Rayton's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
All right, John, Phil and Alex. We have about eight
minutes and I got three callers, so I'm gonna ask
each of you to be six SYNCD in your questions
for my guest, Mark, Philbin, Alex set the standard. Go ahead, Alex.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
Hey, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Dan?
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Hey you miss Phil, go right ahead?
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Are you?
Speaker 5 (31:21):
I have a couple of questions, so uh uh home,
you know, as I call it, my endless love. We've
had installed the old house generator a couple of years
ago and it probably used it once, uh, and then
had a question about the roof, so that uh, you know,
would you say that would be a good investment, you know,
(31:41):
as far as uh you know, uh, Godd's value to
your home or is it you know, uh.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Absolute absolutely Alex. And when you need a generator, go ahead,
Mark absolutely. If you can afford a generator, to get
a generator, go ahead, Mark.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yeah. No, Actually that was that's something that has been
coming up with some of the projects that we've been
looking at and talking to our electricians that the right
now the energy grid is under such strain right now
because everybody's going with electric cars and heat pumps in
their homes. It's being mandated by building codes no fossil
(32:17):
fuels and the new home construction so hot summer could
cause a lot of blackouts and brownouts, and generators are
going to become a bigger part of you know, building
and remodeling and the not too distant future. Energy grid
is much under duress right now.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
All right, one more quick question, Alex, I want to
get everybody a chance to go ahead.
Speaker 5 (32:39):
Our roof is fairly new, but when it comes time
to change it, do you think installing a metal roof
is worth the money. They're you know, kind of pricey
or I haven't seen too many people metal roofs.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Yeah, they they are. They are pretty pricey. They're you know,
popular up north, so snow slides off of them. That
that's more important up there than it is down in
our neck of the woods. It's really not that critical.
Light roofing nowadays. You can get a good architectural shingle
with a you know, fifty year guarantee. That's a pretty
good guarantee without the cost of a metal roof.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Oh Alex, thanks great, great questions. You got to keep moving.
Thanks Alex. Let me go next to Joe in Ross
and Dale. Joe, you're next on Nightside like Alex, please
be quick and direct. Go ahead, Joe, Yes.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Joe, Hi Dan, thanks for taking my call. I have
a question for.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Mister markhead Mark.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Yes, Hi Mark. I've said property in Rosindale, it's got
asbestos siding on it. My question to you is every
thinking about whether I should repaint it or have the
asbestos removed? And the question is what is the procedure
for removing asbestos nowadays? I realize it's hazardous, believe it
(34:01):
or not.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
If that's true, sais if you want to take it
off carefully, you can and get a special dumpster that
it goes into. If you have a contractor do it,
it's they have to be licensed to do it, and
it's incredibly expensive to have because of their liability policy
that they have to have. If you don't want to
take it off, I can tell you right now if
(34:21):
that's the siding, well, if you paint it, that's perfectly
acceptable and uh it'll last forever. It's it's the most
durable siding I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Joe, you just might save yourself a lot of money
by making this phone call.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Okay, all right, thanks Mark, Okay, thank you very much.
And I won't hould you an because I know you're
running out of time there.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
So well, you saved yourself some money, Joe. Listen to
what the gentleman said. Thanks Phil in Boston. Phil, you
gotta be quick. We got about a bit and a
half left.
Speaker 8 (34:51):
Go ahead to the colonial house windows Wooden. Should I
keep the storm windows and get the rope free places
in the windows that want open open up and downs,
I just you know, lock them all out and putting
the windows in.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
You know, we've done both. You know there tends to
be about the same price. We've we've done a lot
of restoration of windows where you get the windows properly, uh,
the the old pulleyweight windows. You can put weather stripping
on all sides of them and make them much much
more thermally efficient, and then get a really high quality
storm window on outside of outside of that on the
(35:28):
attached to the casing of the house. And that's actually
is a is a very good way to uh, to
get a thermally efficient window without ripping the old ones out.
Speaker 8 (35:37):
You need a permit for that.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
You got that.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
Not to do windows now, not to do windows of
storm windows, you don't need a permit.
Speaker 8 (35:44):
All right, doing heck of a job. Thank you, thank
you very much.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Well, you know what, Phil, you just might have got
some great advice. And again, the company is out of Cambridge.
You in the city, what neighborhood?
Speaker 8 (35:58):
Well, I'd rather keep that well fair enough.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Okay, Well Phil, let me ask you. Are you in
the greater Boston area? They only work Okay, good, that's
all I'm just saying. Well, that's great, no problem, no problem.
All I'm just saying is it's the company is Charlie
Alan Renovations out of Cambridge. It wouldn't hurt to have
them come over and give a look and give you
a price. Do you do that work type mark? Do
(36:22):
you go out and price a job for someone like
like Phil?
Speaker 4 (36:27):
Well, yeah, we've done that, and we also have some
contractors that specialize in it. So either one, depending on
the scope and size of the project. But yep, yep,
wen we could do that.
Speaker 9 (36:37):
Okay, sounds great, Phil, Phil, Phil Will Phil Phil Phil
Phil I'm out of time, Okay, I'm sorry I got
to let you go, but thank you for your call.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
And again I think you got some good advice. Appreciate it, Phil,
talk to you soon, all right. I want to thank
you Mark, Philbern of Charlie Allen Renovations. You know Cambridge based. Uh,
you certainly know your stuff. I wish I had better questions,
but there's there's a lot to consider here, and anyone
(37:09):
who's looking to do some some work at their home.
I think you've listened to a guy tonight who knows
his stuff. Mark. I appreciate your time and really doing.
Of course, people can read you in the Globe every
couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
As well, right every two weeks. Yeah, it comes out
every two weeks in the Boston dot Com and the
UH and the Boston Globe.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
And the name of the column it's is give us
the name of the column. They can look forward.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
I'll ask the remodeler. It's in the UH. It's any
address section of the Globe, Okay.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
And do they do you end up in the print
section or only in the digital?
Speaker 4 (37:42):
No, No, it's in both. It's in Boston dot Com
and that comes out on a Wednesday, and then it's
in the Sunday Globe in the address section, sort of
the real estate section. Ye Globe on the Sunday print.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Sounds great, Mark Philman, thank you for your time. I
really enjoyed the conversation. Thanks. I learned a lot myself.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
I thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
When we get back, it's Brushes with Celebrity, having done
it in a while, line up, let's get the calls going.
Brushes with Celebrity coming up on the eleven o'clock The
twentieth Hour,
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