Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor
Every day when I walk our dogs, we pass by a house on the corner of Sanford Street and Mauro Avenue in Glens Falls, where a gut and rebuild was happening.
Monday for the first time — mindful that we were publishing our Winter Home Issue today — I ventured inside and introduced myself.
The first person I met turned out to be the head guy, Matt Laplanche.
He and his crew were hard at work.
Matt, 36, graduated from Glens Falls High School in 2006. He lives in South Glens Falls.
I asked: So have you done things like this before?
“This is my third house,” he said.
How did he get started?
Over recent months I watched a crew of guys not wasting any time essentially strip the house down to studs.
“We like to go in and go right at it and tackle it,” Matt said. “And we don’t want to stop until we’re done. So we do a lot of long days and, you know, hammer down. …We have about four to five people.”
Does he know what’s next after this project is done? “I have actually other jobs going on right now as well,” Matt said. “But right now I’m looking to find another property. I got my eyes on some. I just haven’t picked one yet.”
How did he identify this house on the market?
“This one didn’t go on the market actually. I got an inside scoop, so that’s great. I actually stopped by, the house looked obviously vacant and distressed. And the owner actually was sitting in the driveway at the time. It was kind of right place, right time. I spoke with him, and he told me what he had. And I said, ‘Well, I buy houses and gave him an offer right there.’ And there it is.”
When was that? “August, I think.”
I asked: When you do that, what kind of cost analysis have you done?
Matt said that in his mind, “I’m making a checklist of what everything is going to cost. But the thing is, with these houses, you never know what you’re getting into until you really start tearing it — when you start getting into walls, seeing the plumbing, electrical.
“I got into this and it had like a fairly new furnace and HVAC [Heating, Ventilation Air Conditioning] system and I ended up having to rip it all out and do all new everything because once we finally did the tests on it, the stuff actually wasn’t good.
“So that’s the thing — till you get into places, everything looks okay, until you start going in and then you’re like, oh, s—, this doesn’t work. So you have to kind of prepare for the worst.”
By now, though, as far as estimating, Matt said, “I pretty much do most of it in my head. If it’s a real technical thing, that’s when I take the time to really try to check on things and make sure I got my numbers correct. But for the most part, I’ve been doing it for quite a while, so I’m pretty good with that stuff, kind of seeing what I got to put into it.”
I said: So when you’re driving around town are you always looking for houses?
“Pretty much. I’m always on. I’m on Zillow every morning. I’m always looking.”
How far afield does he go?
“Typically the furthest go is around Saratoga area and maybe a little bit further but not much further than Saratoga.
Do higher interest rates affect you?
“No,” Matt said. “Cause I’m a cash buyer. I don’t use a bank.”
What surprises did you get here?
“Pretty much everything,” said Matt. “Some of the flooring had to be restructured and we had to change out the whole electrical panel box and do all new service to it and run all new wiring through the whole house.”
He said he already has a buyer.
“I do,” said Matt. “So it’s a friend of mine that I’ve known for quite a while. And she’s been looking. When I got another house, she was like, ‘Hey, let me know.’”
Matt said he replied, “Let me cut you a deal right now.” He says, “We actually would have had this done, but she came in kind of midway. She wanted to kind of cater it to to what she wanted. So that’s what we’re doing.”
What changes did she asked for?
“A little bit more custom with the cabinetry, she wanted to add some things and different paint colors, different trim package, stuff like that. Nothing crazy, just, you know, kind of just putting your own finishing touches, putting your own style vanities. And we did custom tile in both bathrooms for what she wanted.”
Walking through with Matt, the interior seems much larger than the outside leads you to expect.
“It is,” Matt replies. “When I first saw the house, I was like, it looks kind of tiny. But when I walked in through here, I’m like, oh my god, here’s another room. here’s another room and just kind of kept going and going.
“And that room we were just standing in used to be the bedroom and they had a small little half bath right there. We ripped it all out and then turned it into a multi-purpose room so it’s got the mudroom, pantry. It’s got all cabinet space and countertop space for laundry and then I put a full bath in there. “
The living room features an operational brick fireplace.
“And the great thing about that is it’s set up for either a regular wood fireplace or you can put an insert or do open, whatever you want to do.”
How long before the rebuild is finished?
“She’s probably got another week or two left,” Matt said. “We’re almost there. We’re just finishing up the electrical and setting up the bathrooms right now. Adam’s finishing doing that. And once we’re done with the bathrooms, it’s pretty much just a little bit more trim work and do some finishing work on the cabinets and obviously touch ups and painting a little bit of that. But other than that, we’re pretty much there.”
Matt asks how long I’ve been with The Chronicle. When I tell him I started the paper 44 years ago, he relates to it.
Matt says, “I mean I didn’t really have much growing up so I didn’t really have much of a choice. I really hammered out.
“We try to put out the best product we can. I don’t cut corners like a lot of flippers out there — like they always just want to get in and get out and get their money and do it the cheapest way possible. But that’s not our style. We rip out anything that we see that’s bad and we always replace. We do top down so definitely don’t mess around.”
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