As homeowners in Sapphire, North Carolina, we face a unique set of issues that we need to overcome while having a home in the mountains. This is not unique to Western North Carolina, but in any destination that is farther from a major metropolitan. While we made the conscious choice to purchase property “off the beaten path,” getting things done here in the Sapphire, North Carolina has it’s own set of unique challenges.

A growing amount of people now live, work and play here. Our kids go to school here. We shop local and eat local. As transplanted “locals,” we have conversations over dinner, at Bucks Coffee, while our kids are playing, when we are at the Community Center working out… and many of them revolve around a the same topics.

Ask yourself: What if the labor pool couldn’t afford to live in our communities any longer.

Maybe if we (you and I) looked at the community as a place we want to “invest in” we would be more selective on who we hire, where they are from and what impact it would have on the community at large. We would not simply choose the painter that drives his old beat up truck from Franklin because he gave us the lowest price. We would think twice before hiring the kid from Florida that comes up with his girlfriend when she takes care of the neighbors horses because he is cheep.

Actually this question on labor shortages and the value of establishing quality relationships with vendors is something we should have been asking ourselves already. It’s nice that workers and service providers are willing to drive from Brevard, NC., Sylva, NC., Ashville, NC., Clayton, GA., or Franklin, NC., but there are “Hidden Costs” that we should all consider.

Here is our two cents.

As we continue to do quality work, we are going to get introduced to more and more friends of our current trusted clients here in the Sapphire Valley community. Word of mouth advertising is important to any company, especially a service provider like CabinCare. While we have chosen to stay “local,” will have made the commitment to offer referral based services in our neighboring communities of Cashiers, Glenville, Lake Toxaway, and Highlands. We have chosen to take this path to help you as a current customer (or soon to be current customer) and us as a local provider of service. The goal with limiting our services is to focus on one of our core business goals; to work with people we like and trust locally. We don’t feel that entertaining jobs that we can not personally manage, drive by to “check in on” or be able to service immediately give us the “value added” service goal we desire. In our opinion, our time should be used effectively, and that just can not be done driving through the mountains unpaid to get to the next property.

The way we see it, to travel outside our immediate surrounding communities is a waste of our time and yours. We don’t feel it is advantageous to service an area that is not a “reasonable” drive from door to door, without charging for travel time or increasing our hourly rate, hiding the travel costs. To keep our services reasonably priced and lightning fast, we want to focus on our community.

We hope you see the value in our position and working with us here locally. To get started, send us a message by clicking this link.

Like you, I would like the home remodeling projects in my home or the work done on my property – done by qualified members of our community. It goes without saying, it has to be done right. These type of home remodeling projects are not (traditionally) something that can be done by a Property Manager or Handyman. Not only do I want quality craftsmanship, I really appreciate the attention to detail and skill when I see it. There is nothing more internally satisfying than seeing an skilled craftsman’s work…maybe with the exception of personally knowing that craftsman.

A fireplace mantle that makes a house a home, beautifully done stonework on a hearth, wood floors so artistically laid that you can’t seem to move your eyes up to the art adorning the walls, or how a landscape artist’s can take diverse plantings in little plastic buckets and make an area come alive with color and texture…turning it into a real Mountain Eden.

VISITING THE NEIGHBORS

Have you even been invited over to the home of a neighbors and notice they got some work done since the last time you were over? As soon as you mention it they come alive with excitement and offer to give you “the tour” to show you what they just had done? There is no doubt that you can not only see their excitement as they point at this and comment at that, but you can hear the pride they have, not only in the work that was completed, but the decisions they made during the process.

Did you feel that way after your last home remodeling projects?

If you did, you know first hand the amount of time it took – to not only work out all the details before calling around to find the right craftsman to complete your vision – but once you did, the amount of details that it required to make the project into a reality.

As you came to realize working on this larger project, a craftsman is a worker skilled in a craft. It took this craftsman many years to gain the experience to hone the skill of his or her craft.  If you are anything like me, you dug a little deeper into the skills required to do what this person does. For those of you who have not taken the time do a deeper dive, allow me to provide a snippet of info..

When a craftsman is new to his or her field, he or she often works under the supervision of a Master Craftsman. Such a person is known as an Apprentice.

As you know from being on the planet for more than 18 year, Craftsman and quality Tradesmen are a dying breed. With new technological technological developments, most crafts are dying in many (if not most  industries), replacing Craftsmen with machinery. These machines are able to produce items, even intricate items, in volume never before seen in history. That’s great isn’t it? We can just sign on and order what we need from a picture… a few days later the truck pulls up and delivers it to our door.

PUTTING TOGETHER THE PIECES

What we have now requires us to consider more variables. We have to be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together in a way that a few decades ago was handled with one call or within a single contractual agreement. Managing your second home is not easy, I know from personal experience. Getting small home remodeling projects done is difficult, especially if we don’t have the time or can only be “on-site” a few times a year.

What I have found, is many of my neighbors don’t live here full-time. Not because they don’t want to, but because they either bought the property as a weekend retreat or an investment property. Because of this they have limited time to manage a project, wait for a vendor or do things here at their mountain cabin… especially if they are only up for an extended weekend and they want to take advantage of the area and relax. What happens traditionally is the little projects build up, get backed up or like the larger projects… just don’t get done at all.

If you are thinking about working on a project, large or small, and would like someone to assist you, let us know. We can work with a Craftsman you have already selected or we can help you find local Craftsmen and do the pre-qualification work for you. More importantly, we can be your eyes and ears as the project moves forward.

Not only are we local full time residence, but we understand the complexities you are facing first hand and would be a good steward of your time, property and financial investment. If you would like to discuss your needs, click here.

Let CabinCare, Even When You’re Not There!

It’s that time of year again friends and neighbors… for Groovin’ On the Green! The sounds of live music will be echoing off the mountain sides, while we watch the sky, clouds and mountains change and morph providing the most majestic art available.  We will be meeting at The Village Green in Cashiers, NC. to watch this years musical line up so please join our growing concert group.

As customary, the entertainment will be starting at 6:30pm.

Concert goers will get to watch live performances from the beautiful “green” part of the venue, copping a squat with lawn seating on a first come, first served basis. As we tell our family and friends who join us, bring you most comfortable lawn chairs, pack up the picnic basket, fill portable coolers with whatever you heart desires, throw in the wine glass holders (the ones that stick into the ground so you don’t spill your Sauvignon blanc), pre-order you pizza’s, pick up you Ingles Deli sandwiches and join us for another season of Groovin’ On the Green.

This year kicks off on Saturday, may 25th 2019 with the infamous Hurricane Creek! If you can’t make it, please take a look at the Groovin’ On the Green and The Village Green concert events line up here.

DIRECTIONS:

If you are new to the CabinCareWNC family, click here to get to know a little something about us! We look forward to meeting you and getting to know more about why you love it here on the Cashiers-Highlands Plateau!