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JANUARY 2026
Plan Your Exciting Home Improvement Projects Now! DON’T WAIT FOR SPRING
The new year brings a burst of energy for many people, sparking thoughts of home improvement projects they’d like to tackle in 2026. Many homeowners dream of upgrading their outdoor space to spend more time outdoors relaxing, barbecuing, playing with their kids, or entertaining friends and family. If you’re planning on expanding or improving your deck, siding, or roofing this year, here’s a word of advice: Beat the rush. Call us now! We understand that planning home improvements doesn’t seem urgent this time of year. Spring is months away, and few homeowners are planning many barbecues at the moment. But here’s the thing: Getting on our schedule for home- improvement projects is a little like commuting to work in rush hour. If you leave early in the morning, you may easily arrive at work on time or even early. But if you depart just 15 minutes later, you risk encountering peak traffic congestion and getting stuck in the jam. Once you get past the tipping point, traffic expands like an epidemic. Even though the difference in your departure times is only 15 minutes, the delay you experience may be 2–3 times greater.
Scheduling works the same with us. A small delay in scheduling your project can trigger a major postponement in our ability to get started on it. If you reach us early, you will enjoy a much higher likelihood of reserving a spot on our schedule that is convenient for you. When homeowners book our services early in the year, we can often get to work on their projects by March, before the springtime rush begins. By March and April, however, the big home and garden shows begin, and everybody goes crazy with new ideas for home improvement. If you wait until then to contact us, we might not be able to start building your new deck or outdoor living space until July or August. That means you’ll miss almost an entire summer of enjoyment of your beautiful new amenities. Planning ahead offers other advantages, too, including more time to consider your options thoughtfully and make a budget to pay for your plans. Don’t allow yourself to be rushed! We are seeing strong demand for custom outdoor living spaces, from kitchens and fireplaces to decks, patios, and firepits. These projects increase the potential uses of your home exponentially. Among our most popular options are improvements that add multiple new ways to enjoy your home during the warmer months, from custom multi-level decks to brushed concrete hardscapes to accommodate a firepit, sunroom, or pergola. As one of our satisfied customers wrote in a recent review, “We’ve spent more time in our backyard the last three weeks than we have in the last five years!”
Contact us today so we can help your New Year’s home- improvement dreams come true!
—Sam Milligan
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Published by Newsletter Pro | NewsletterPro.com
Nowhere to Hide
Are Open-Concept Home Plans on the Way Out?
Isn’t it great to enter an open, sunlit home and gaze from the entry through to the kitchen, the family room, and beyond, without obstructions or walls? Maybe … or maybe not. For sheer aesthetics, few layouts rival the open-concept plans that won favor in the mid-20th century. As postwar families grew and the average house size shrank, designers opened communal interior spaces to make houses seem larger, brighter, and more pleasant for entertaining. By the 1990s, open-concept designs had become the standard. Then, along came another mega-trend: the move to working remotely. As homes began doubling as workplaces, the shortcomings of open-concept plans loomed large. Avoiding interruptions by family members, children, or roommates in an open- concept floor plan is difficult. Also, in an
era of soaring energy prices, open-plan designs are expensive to heat and cool. Designers are responding by creating more homes with closed rooms or separate spaces that allow for privacy and quiet. Meanwhile, open-concept plans aren’t going away completely. If you are a remote worker stuck in an open- concept home that isn’t working, consider these strategies to aid concentration. • Try to transform a room or defined space close to your internet router with a door you can shut. Many remote workers have converted closets, garages, laundry rooms, and sheds into functional offices. • If you manage to create a dedicated workroom, you will probably spend a lot of time there, so consider ways to make the space multifunctional.
Add compact workout gear, a meditation mat or chair, or a window seat for reflection to break up that monotonous focus on work. • If your only alternative is to
continue working out in the open, use props to signal to
others that you’re working, such as noise-canceling headphones or a standing screen around your desk. And as Nir Ayal writes in his influential book “Indistractable,” the most important boundaries may be mental. Cultivating the ability to focus intensely on what you’re doing and manage the psychological discomfort that leads you off track can help you create the privacy you need. Regardless of your future work setting, these skills and room strategies will help you improve your productivity and sharpen your focus.
ASK YOUR CONTRACTOR
Estimate Roofing Costs in Seconds
As many as 1 in 10 Americans has fallen victim to home-improvement scams, including many involving dishonest pricing, research shows. Some contractors give homeowners a lowball quote, then jack up the price sharply and demand more cash in the middle of the project. Other scammers charge a large down payment to begin work, then disappear with the cash. Older homeowners are most often the victims. We make a point at our company of honest pricing and firm, reliable quotes. We recently began offering a new online pricing service that underscores the high priority we place on transparent, trustworthy pricing. To receive an instant estimate of the cost of reroofing your home, navigate to the top right corner of the home page on our website and click on the
orange “Get Instant Quote” button. Then, spend a moment typing in your address, your name, and your email, and you’ll receive a satellite image of your rooftop. After you answer any questions about the roof slope, you’ll receive an estimated quote for a new roof. When a customer is ready to move forward with their roofing project, they can call us to come out for a full inspection to make sure the online quote they received is accurate. The online tool can’t account for all aspects of every job. For example, if the house is on a steep hill that would be difficult for our crews and trucks to access, we would have to include an additional charge in our final quote. But based on our experience, the quotes delivered by the online estimator are mostly accurate.
The option has been very popular with visitors to our website. Homeowners appreciate having a ballpark estimate of what a new roof would cost today. This enables some to budget for the cost in advance. The estimator also allows a homeowner to test the waters without having to make an appointment for one of our estimators to come to their home and do a full inspection (takes about 1–2 hours). As this online tool shows, we aren’t playing games with people when we price our projects. Our quotes don’t contain hidden surprises. We apply the same straightforward combination of mathematics, experience, and expertise to deliver quotes to all of our customers, regardless of their age or experience. We look forward to doing the same for you!
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The Good Book
As a noted architect once said, the details are not the details. They make the design. A growing number of our clients are upgrading details of their homes’ exterior, with a major impact on their curb appeal. A change as simple as new copper gutters or a carefully selected siding upgrade can make a home stand out from all others on the street, without a huge financial outlay by the homeowner. One increasingly popular premium fixture option is copper gutters and rain leaders. This is a stylish alternative to the standard seamless aluminum gutter and downspout installed on nearly all houses today. Copper costs more upfront, but copper gutters are more cost-effective over time. They add durability and natural resistance to rust and algae. Depending on a homeowner’s preferences, copper also develops a green patina that many people find appealing, boosting the curb appeal of your home. And often, these design touches are unique in their neighborhood, attracting attention and even sparking imitators. How a Simple Upgrade Can Transform Your Home Stand-Out Style
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” Romans 12:9–10
Testimonials
“We absolutely love the work done by Cousins Roofing, Siding, and Decks … They created the black board and batten around our store and also re-created the exterior column on the outside of the store to look more modern. They also reshaped the roof over the fire escape. The crew … was highly skilled, on time, and friendly. We appreciated Calvin looking out for us and calling us or coming in to ask if we liked the work being done. This company also took care to clean up after they were finished and make the small details like the trim look great. We are so proud of our building now, and I am sure that the work Cousins did will help bring us new customers. I will be calling the Cousins to work on my home next. Honestly, this team is absolutely terrific! Super people, too!” –Bonnie T.
Some homeowners add copper rain chains as a decorative replacement for traditional gutter downspouts. These novel fixtures come in cups, bells, links, or flowers, and transform the downflow from the gutter into a cascading waterfall. Rain chains originated in Japan, where they have been used on temples and houses for hundreds of years to manage falling water and add aesthetic value. They make an appealing, musical sound and look beautiful as well. Some are outfitted with bells that sound as water overflows onto them. These copper fixtures serve as a unique focal point for passersby and visitors to your home. We see a similar effect if we install premium Hardie siding on one home on a block where all the other houses are clad in vinyl siding. That home with Hardie siding winds up being the best-looking house on the street because that homeowner is willing to spend a little more to get a major benefit back. If you’d like to make your home stand out from the rest, don’t hesitate to contact us today to discuss potential improvements that might work well for you!
OUR SERVICES:
• Roofing • Siding • Gutters, Soffit, and Fascia • Decks • Roof Construction • James Hardie Siding • Windows and Doors
• Design and Build • Architectural Drawings • Concrete • Stamped Patios • Outdoor Kitchens • Outdoor Living Spaces • Repairs
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2681 Sidney St., Pittsburgh, PA 15203
@CousinsRoofingSidingDecks
@cnscousins
INSIDE 1
Dreaming of a Home Upgrade? Start Designing Your Plans Today
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Smart Ways to Find Privacy in an Open-Plan Home Need a New Roof? Our Online Tool Provides Estimates in Seconds Exterior Design Tweaks That Set Your Home Apart CNS Testimonials
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An Accent on Style
The Chair Makes the Room
The Chair Makes the Room
Designing a new room often ends with a task that can be the most enjoyable of all: choosing the right accent chair. This piece may serve various purposes, like providing extra seating, adding a pop of color, or creating a contrasting design. Making the right choice requires finding a balance between form and function. A lounge chair invites users to kick back and enjoy. An armchair with comfy armrests suggests good conversation. For a smaller space, a side chair with a straight back and skinny legs works best. In choosing a design, feel free to bend a few rules by departing a little from your theme, such as
adding a side chair with solid wood legs to a streamlined Danish modern theme. Now, with an accent chair that perfectly defines your living space, sit back and enjoy!
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