Summer time and the living is easy...

Summer time and the living is easy...unless you’re working with GRS Homes!

It’s been a busy old winter and spring for us and we’re now on the verge of finishing the conversion of the beautiful Victorian villa we’ve been working on in Falkirk for several weeks.

And I have to say, it’s looking good, with the frontage beautifully finished and just the kitchen and doors to go in, which should be done by early next week.

We’re very happy with the work we’ve done and people who have passed by have complimented us on it. And the boss is very happy too.

That meant we’d been working across two major jobs at the same time. We’re happy to say we’ve just finished a major garden conversion, also in Falkirk, which was a big task but is now done to the client’s satisfaction. Two big jobs at once is breeze for a small building firm, but we got there and everyone’s happy.

We’ve been offered more conversion work on the back of what we’ve already done, so word-of-mouth recommendations seem to be doing us well.

As to the future, we’ve previously mentioned a wonderful site we’ve recently acquired, which, while nestling in a woodland glade, is only a short walk from Falkirk town centre.

Once more, we’re mixing the old with the new, hopefully in a manner sympathetic to its environment. We’re using our experience of creating luxury bespoke rural buildings, normally in the Slamannan area, and melding that with our more recent work of completing a town centre development in Falkirk.

This beautiful grove will hold three luxury houses and brings back to life a site that had once played an important role in the community life of the town, but which sadly had gone into disuse. We now can breathe new vigour into it and make it a place that will contribute to the community and local economy once more.

We don’t have a definite timetable yet but watch this space.

((And last but certainly not least – we’re working on something that could be the most prestigious development for us yet. But until it’s in the bag, we’re not counting our chickens.))

More to come soon, folks.        

GRS HOMES GOING FOR A GONG

They say good things come in threes. Well, we must be in for a welcome surprise soon, because we’ve just had two bits of good news this week.

It’s just been announced that GRS Homes have been nominated in three categories for the prestigious Scottish Homes Awards. These recognise excellence in the house building industry and we’ve been nominated, along with our colleagues at Arka Architects, for our newly-completed town centre development at Comely Place in Falkirk.

We’re in for the House of the Year, Starter Home of the Year and Architectural Excellence (Single Dwelling House) sections – so fingers crossed all round that we’re celebrating at the award ceremony at the EICC in Edinburgh in a few weeks’ time.

Without blowing our own trumpet too much, we’re no strangers to this sort of thing, of course. This is the fifth year in a row we’ve been put forward for these awards and we see it as recognition of the fact that we incorporate innovate and exciting designs from Arka into the quality of the homes we’re known for.

This week, with such news to announce, we sat down with our friend Tom from Steeple Media, who looks after our PR and video production. Tom and I consulted on a media release we’re sure we’ll make the local press and radio – at least.

And the second piece of good news? After lengthy negotiations, we’ve just bought a new site which we’re sure will be attractive to would-be buyers looking for quality and luxurious living within walking distance of Falkirk town centre.

We reckon we can build three sumptuous town houses a only a few hundred yards away from all the town’s amenities, including shops, schools and the transport network.

And without giving too much away at this stage, the site is off-road and nestles in woodland. You would never guess you can be in the Woodside Inn in five minutes!

SPRING FORWARD, BUT NO FALLING BACK

Now that we’re well into April, when the clocks have just changed, it’s time to look both back and forward.
Our town centre development in Falkirk has been completed bang on schedule and all our new homes are sold, which is testament to the hard work of my guys – and I did the odd bit too!

Work on the extension and conversion of the Victorian villa in Falkirk is also running to plan and I have to say it’s looking good. We’ve even broken new ground by using high-quality material normally found in commercial buildings to add that special touch.

But now we’re looking at where we go from here and we’re excited about what might be on the horizon.

COME ON DOWN, THE PRICE IS RIGHT.......

It’s widely accepted that the UK economy is on the up after the dreadful recession which affected us all. But I wonder how many Scots are really seeing that? It’s true, however, that the construction industry, one of the first to suffer in the downturn, is showing signs of revival, however slight.

But we at GRS Homes tried to recognise those hard times during the downturn by making our new builds extremely competitive in price and I know that our purchasers have been appreciative of that. In fact, we've found that people who started out as clients have over the years become friends and Liz and I have been to many of their family functions, including weddings, as a result.

BACK TO THE FUTURE?

But what now for us and companies like us? We’re scoping out our future – do we revert to building rural developments with paddocks and equestrian facilities between Glasgow and Edinburgh, or do we concentrate on our town centre building which has proven so popular?

One thing that we can be certain of is that those who want to move forward can’t stand still. So we’re currently casting an eye over some possibilities and we’re now finding that we’re being contacted by agents who have recognised the unique design, spec and quality of what we've done before.

Spare our blushes, but they’re bringing to our attention hard-to-come-by, top-level opportunities because they know we can make the best of what might be a special site. It certainly makes a change from driving round with my PR guy looking for spare ground with potential!

THAT’S AMAZING, GRACE!

Oh, and one last word to the hungry folk of the central belt. We can highly recommend the new cafe at the Coasters leisure complex in Falkirk...their scrambled eggs and bacon wraps are superb. Grace, you’re a star!

Cheers, Graham.

A great compliment for GRS Homes

It’s always good when you get an unexpected compliment from a fellow professional and that’s what happened to GRS Homes last week.

I was working at our almost-completed town centre development when I noticed a stranger walking around the site, taking pictures on a mobile phone.

Naturally, I was curious as to why this was, and I approached him, admittedly suspicious of his being there. He then asked me who the developer was and I told him it was me.

He then said he was an architect and that he had seen the development from a distance, had been impressed by the building work and design and had walked down to see for himself close up. He said the standard of design and work was excellent and he wanted to capture that in photographs – another testimonial for our company!

As discussed, the town centre site is almost done and all the houses have been sold. And the extension work at the beautiful Victorian villa is also progressing well.

We’re now looking at what promises to be an exciting future for GRS Homes and without giving too much away, we have possibly identified out next project – we never stop! It’s no wonder we enjoy our stress breaks in the Woodside and Wheatsheaf.

Cheers until next week
Graham

Another week, another challenge for GRS Homes

Just as we’re nearing completion of our town centre development, we’ve now been asked to do something else we’re known for and that’s to build an extension, this time to a beautiful Victorian villa.

This has so far involved the demolition of a garage, which will be replaced by a superb kitchen diner.
The job will take us around six weeks and require a dozen tradesmen – with me supervising, of course.
And it’s not merely a question of building a simple add-on, it’s much more complex than that. For example, the work will include a new ‘’floating’’ balcony – one without visible support – which means the steel used first has to be galvanised. Once the steel is in we will counterbalance the balcony by inserting the steel four metres back.

Our steel is sourced from a fabricator in California, which you might think is a long way to go...but it’s the California near Falkirk I mean.  The new addition is nothing if not adventurous – it will include a cathedral roof!

We’re nothing if not versatile at GRS Homes and all this means we’re now working across two sites at the same time – not bad for a small company.

But that doesn’t mean we’re not looking for the next venture – we’re already scoping out further opportunities. In fact, if you see us in the Woodside Inn or the Wheatsheaf, we’re probably deep in creative mode!

Cheers,
Graham

Well, it's been a long haul but we're almost there. Town centre developments are a bit of a new venture for GRS Homes as until now we've mainly concentrated on building rural developments. But our latest site has proven so popular we've sold off all our townhouses and they are now occupied by families enjoying life in their new homes. And we're confident the last house will go fairly quickly too. And after that - who knows? We have several options open to us and are keen to work on extensions and conversions in particular, something we have great track record on already, with many satisfied customers. But old habits die hard and we might, just might, revert to building back in the countryside, as we've done so successfully in the past. Whatever we decide to do, it's exciting times for us at GRS Homes and we look forward to our next project.

Check our website for more information:  www.grs-homes.co.uk