HOME IMPROVEMENT: Living up to its name

Service Champions Heating and Air Conditioning opened in 2000 in Brea with a staff of six people, recalls company founder Leland A. Smith. Today, the award-winning residential contractor’s base of customers expands beyond Orange County and into Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. To service these regions, they have expanded their team substantially and now have 195 employees.

Such remarkable growth is partly due to Service Champions’ razor-sharp focus on taking care of its customers and employees, Smith says. And partnering with the HERO Program in 2013 has only added to the contractor’s expansion, says Jim Dotson, a comfort advisor who has been with Service Champions since the beginning.

“The HERO Program has gotten a lot of homeowners involved in home improvement projects who typically may not have been able to afford them another way,” Dotson says. “It’s helped us reach out to a lot of clients. I think HERO is a game changer.”

The HERO Program allows homeowners to make energy- and water-saving improvements to their homes with no money upfront and pay for the improvements over time through voluntary assessments to their property tax bill. This is thanks to the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing provided by the HERO Program – the nation’s largest PACE provider.

HERO financing payments may have tax benefits, and many homeowners see immediate savings on utility bills. Homeowners can also take advantage of state and local rebates, which make the improvements even more affordable. A recent example of Service Champions’ desire to deliver stellar service occurred in Norwalk, in the home of Debra Solorzano-Madrid and Cesar Gallegos.

The couple had shelled out a sizable amount of cash for a pest control company to come out to their 1960-built tract home prior to having a new HVAC system installed this June.

For years, their air conditioner had failed to keep their single-story, three-bedroom home properly cooled. And it died just ahead of a birthday party the couple was planning for their 17-year-old daughter.

Choosy about selecting a HVAC contractor for the job, Debra and Cesar found Service Champions online and were impressed by the contractor’s great reviews.

During installation, Service Champions field technicians found a pigeon living in the attic.

Putting into action the contractor’s ethos of going to great lengths for clients, the technicians used a bed sheet to wrap up the pigeon and its nest and relocate the bird and its home outside.

“What kind of a (HVAC contractor) does that?” Debra asks. “Their customer service was just above and beyond.” Smith says Service Champions is committed to delivering the same exacting high standards of customer service throughout the Inland Empire. The company’s field technicians, about 20 percent of them military veterans, show up on time to jobs in crisp uniforms and feel personally invested in achieving customer satisfaction. Debra and Cesar highly recommended the contractor.

Ditto for the HERO Program, which is made possible through a public-pri­vate partnership with municipalities and has been adopted by 439 communities, making it available to 89% of California households. Since its inception in 2011, HERO has financed more than $1.95 billion in home energy and efficiency improvements in more than 81,000 homes.

“The HERO Program representative walked us through every step,” Cesar said. “We felt so informed. They wanted us to feel comfortable about making a decision, and we were absolutely comfortable in making it.”

Add A Quirky Touch To Your Home Decor

A home is a visual reflection of the personalities of its inhabitants, says Munawwar Sharifi, founder of ‘The Design Company India’ and ‘Let’s Space it out’. “Every human has a quirky side to his personality and expressing this is no longer considered taboo,” adds Sharifi. Consequently, quirky décor is now in vogue as home owners try to give a unique feel to their homes.

There is a vast range of quirky décor items that are available today, as an increasing number of artists, designers and creative entrepreneurs take to creating such products. There are stores all over the country that sell quirky creations and even websites, which have home décor items for every budget.

“Today, the posters of epic films are seen on homes’ walls more often, as compared to family photographs. The cutting chai glass is in trend. So is the the peti (metal trunk) and the aluminum kettle, which may have been an eyesore in the past but with some art work on it, it is now seen as a great décor item,” explains Sharifi.

Choose appropriate accessories Quirky items can brighten up a dull décor. “From the crockery that one uses in the kitchen, to the décor in the study table or bar area, there are products with a twist that can be added for fun,” says Sneha Raisoni, owner of Tappu Ki Dukaan. The inspiration for quirky items, comes from any art or design that uses popular or cultural icons and can be extended to Bollywood, autorickshaws and even trucks, she says. “We have coffee mugs, which look like cactus plants, ashtrays that resemble Indian loos and beverage glasses with funny lines,” says Raisoni, giving examples.

A peppy sculpture, a bicycle converted into a bar, a lamp crafted out of motorcycle parts, or graphic-based accessories, can change the mood of the décor and serve as interesting conversation pieces.

“Quirky can be humorous, playful, shocking or something which makes people curious. It can be huge in size, or the way it is arranged can be radically different,” suggests artist Bharati Pitre from Pune, who is known for exaggerated papier mâché figures with large bodies and small heads that reflect the lighter side of life. These elements tend to start a conversation and evoke curiosity. One can also play around with colors or shapes, which are striking, adds Pitre, who created caricatures of her friends’ faces on recycled old bottles and gifted it to them as décor items.

Selecting a quirky or a kitschy piece can be be tricky. One can also buy them online at sites such as whysoserious.co.in, tappukidukaan.com and Indiancircus.com. Look at its finish, material and the shades of colour used. “Ensure that the piece you select has its own special identity,” concludes Pitre.

Tips to add quirky décor elements Ensure that the pieces don’t end up looking cheap or tacky. This genre allows for items to be recycled. For example, old metal buckets, taps (can be used as hooks), old painted kadhais (can be used as planters), etc., can be used as décor items. You can also provide an artistic twist to old furniture and waste material – an old wooden stool can be painted in a bright orange shade, while an empty liquor bottle can serve as the base of a table lamp. Don’t go overboard and restrict your quirky décor items to a few selected pieces. Display photographs (or caricatures) of loved ones in neon-coloured frames and align them asymmetrically. Retain a brick-finish on the wall and colour it vibrantly with street art on the walls.