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Politics & Government

Montgomery Village Gears Up for Its Home Show

Montgomery Village Foundation offers a chance to discuss home improvement with vendors.

Spring is here—though the temperatures outside don't feel like it—and summer is fast approaching. In Montgomery Village, outdoor home improvements projects are getting started.

The Montgomery Village Foundation understands this. It knows residents want to undertake projects to improve their homes for the summer months. It just wants home improvements done the right way.

On Saturday, MVF will teach homeowners the correct way to make improvements to homes in the Village when it hosts the eighth annual home show at the Lake Marion Community Center.

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Forty vendors—mostly local contractors, home insurance salesmen and designers—will be in attendance, serving as a source for local homeowners to discuss ideas and learn the best way to make their home improvement dreams become reality.

“Certainly a lot of [homeowners] are going to be calling vendors,”  said Diane Sasiewicz, MVF's director of architectural standards. “But here, they have them right there. They can get information if they want, and they can even sign up for free estimates and have free inspections done. It’s just an opportunity for them to have people right there, on hand, if they’re thinking about projects for the upcoming months.”

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It’s a way to educate homeowners. Most of the vendors have worked with the MVF before, Sasiewicz said, so they have an understanding of building requirements and the review process involved.

There also will be members of the Architectural Review Board on hand so homeowners can ask questions and get information on how they can get their projects approved.

“This is a perfect chance we’re hoping homeowners will take advantage of,” Stasiewicz said. “To meet some of the local contractors, and to ask questions in preparation for the spring and the summertime when home improvements are made.”

The MVF isn’t just relying on the home show to educate homeowners, though. Some of those local contractors—including Thompson Creek Window Company and TW Perry—have also been writing how-to articles in the Montgomery Village News, outlining the smartest and safest ways for users to finish their home improvement projects.

”We hope it’s a win-win situation for both the foundation and for the homeowners,” Stasiewicz said. “And the vendors.”

All in all, Stasiewicz expects more than 200 residents to attend the four-hour home show on Saturday—about the same number who came last year.

When it was first held eight years ago, the home show had a small turnout, no vendors and little more than paint samples and pictures. Now, the MVF is providing a one-stop shop for all its local residents who want their homes to be the best they can be.

“If people have questions or proposals in their mind, we’re actually there. We’re available right then and there,” Sasiewicz said. “They don’t have to come to the office, switch schedules or take off from work. We’re there to help them.”

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