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Princeton · NJ · Bucks County · PA

Older & Historic Homes

Princeton & Bucks County

Plaster, old wiring, out-of-square walls and historic review, planned for before the walls open.

Free ConsultationSee What's Included
Design-Build Remodeling
A Crew We Manage
General liability insurance (biBERK)
WrittenScope after our visit
OnePoint of contact
1 YearWritten warranty
SignedChange orders

Our Commitment

Old housesdon’t surprise us.We plan for them.

Princeton and Bucks County are full of houses built long before today’s codes: plaster walls, knob-and-tube wiring, floors that aren’t level and walls that aren’t square. We look for those at the visit and put them in your written scope, so what’s behind the walls is planned for instead of found out.

Ryan McNee, owner of The Home X

From Ryan

Ryan McNee, owner, The Home X

I love old houses. I don’t romanticize them. Open a wall here and you can find knob-and-tube, plaster on lath, joists someone notched for a pipe decades ago.

None of that should surprise you on day three. We look for it at the visit and put it in your scope. Anything new gets a written, priced change order before we touch it.

Scope of Work

What We Deliver

Your written scope lists what we do and don’t do, the materials, allowances, schedule and price.

Investment

In your written scope

Schedule

Set in your written scope

  1. 01

    Plaster and Lath

    Patched, skimmed or replaced, room by room. Which one goes in your scope, with the reason.

  2. 02

    Old Wiring and Plumbing

    Knob-and-tube, ungrounded circuits and old galvanized pipe, updated where the work touches them, by trades we manage.

  3. 03

    Floors and Framing

    Sagging floors and undersized framing found, sistered or replaced, with a written change order if it only shows up once the walls are open.

  4. 04

    Matching What’s There

    Trim, doors and details matched to the house, so the new work doesn’t look new.

  5. 05

    Lead Paint

    In a house built before 1978, federal rules decide how painted surfaces are handled. How yours will be handled goes in your written scope.

  6. 06

    Historic Review

    If your house is in a local historic district, exterior changes go through the town’s review before the permit.

Why The Home X

One point of contact.
Scope and changes in writing.

01

Written Scope After Our Visit

After our visit you get it in writing: what we do and don’t do, the materials, allowances, schedule and price. If it isn’t in the scope, it isn’t in the job.

02

A Crew We Manage

A crew we manage does the work; plumbing, electrical and HVAC work goes to subcontractors in those trades, and other specialty trades when a job needs them. You have one point of contact.

03

Written Change Orders

If you change something, or we open a wall and find a problem, you get a written change order with the price. That work starts only after you sign it.

04

1-Year Workmanship Warranty

Your contract carries a 1-year workmanship warranty. Manufacturer warranties on fixtures, appliances and materials pass through to you.

Credentials

What You Can Count On

General Liability

Berkshire Hathaway Direct (biBERK)

Certificate available on request

1-Year Warranty

Workmanship, on our installation

In your contract

Written Change Orders

Nothing extra without your OK

Signed before the work changes

A Crew We Manage

One point of contact

Owner-run company

NJ + PA registered

NJ HIC #13VH13547600

PA HIC #PA199109

Our Process

From first call to
final walk-through.

01

The Call

First

Call (609) 874-0990 or send the form. We talk about the project, your timeline and your budget.

02

The Visit

At your house

We come to the house and see the space.

03

Written Scope

After the visit

After our visit you get the scope in writing: what we do and don’t do, the materials, allowances, schedule and price.

04

You Decide

Before you sign

You owe nothing until you sign. Anything you haven’t picked yet is carried as an allowance in the scope.

05

The Build

On site

A crew we manage does the work; plumbing, electrical and HVAC work goes to subcontractors in those trades, and other specialty trades when a job needs them. On your job, any permit the work needs is in place before that work starts. If something puts a date at risk, you hear it from us first.

06

Changes and Warranty

In writing

Any change comes as a written change order, priced and signed before that work starts. Your contract carries a 1-year workmanship warranty.

Service Area

Older & Historic Homes in Princeton, NJ and Bucks County, PA

Princeton and nearby towns, including Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset and Hunterdon counties, NJ, and Bucks County, PA. See every town we cover, with its permit rules.

The Home X works in Princeton, NJ and Bucks County, PA. Not sure we cover your town? Call (609) 874-0990.

Common Questions

Older & Historic Homes
— answered honestly.

Straight answers about older & historic homes, before you sign.

If your house was built before 1978, the paint may contain lead, and the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule covers any work that disturbs it (more than 6 square feet of painted surface in a room inside, 20 square feet outside, or any window replacement). Your written scope says which painted surfaces the work touches and how that work will be handled before anything starts.

Mostly the outside. In New Jersey, when a permit is referred to a town’s historic commission, the commission has 45 days to report, and no report counts as a report in favor. In Bucks County towns like New Hope, Doylestown, Newtown, Yardley and Upper Makefield, the HARB reviews and recommends, and the borough council or township supervisors decide. Your town page has the local rules.

You get a written change order with the price, and that work starts only after you sign it. In an older house we point out what’s likely at the visit, so fewer surprises are surprises.

Yes. We pull the permits the work needs, and the fee is in your scope. Any permit is in place before that work starts.

A crew we manage does the work; plumbing, electrical and HVAC work goes to subcontractors in those trades, and other specialty trades when a job needs them. You still deal with one company and one point of contact the whole way through.

A 1-year workmanship warranty on our installation, written into your contract. Manufacturer warranties on the products themselves pass through to you.