I once installed an exterior door... it was one of those with the blinds build into the window already. I'm a known functioning retard at times and once we got the door in it looked... good enough until I noticed the controls for the blinds were outside. After having fucked with that thing for however long it took I left it.
Plan for today: 1.) Mow/edge 2.) Fix rust on iron fixture over front door 3.) Replace pipe behind pot filler (water is initially coming out brown, suspect rusty pipe) 4.) Mount TV in bathroom
After I bitched at him, I ended up getting the price down to $29k. Obviously he and I both knew there was loads of room to negotiate and they built this into their pricing model. 3600 square interior, ~3300 square exterior needing siding (1-side brick). This was a vinyl siding he quoted. He was shit talking hardieplank saying that since it absorbs moisture he thinks we're going to find a bunch of failures over the next several years. Said this vinyl stuff they have has 100-year warranty, won't crack/peel/rot/fade/dent. Said they would install over the current siding. Basically, throw some Tyvek over current siding, three inch foam back board, then new vinyl siding. They would then seal and build out window and door frames.
My guess is he gets a volume discount by sole sourcing on the vinyl siding. He then shit talks other options. I live in Portland, lots of rains, and have hardiplank wth no moisture problems. I also don't like the idea of not removing he current siding and just going over the top.
Why does he feel it necessary to wrap and foam board the side? Do you not have insulation or waterproofing?? I paid 2.09 psf installed for 1500sf for a commercial application. Pass on this guy. You should be paying abt 1psf for material for hardi. 1-3psf for labor.
That's kind of what I was thinking. I had initially thought it would be about 15k for full hardi replacement. This was double that...
radiant barrier, is it worth the money? I'm trying to decide if I should put it in my new house or not. I have about 1044 sq ft of attic I think, and they wanna charge me $700.
replaced both sink faucets in master bath, and one of the vanity lights. Going to do the other tomorrow and some paint. We are having our current shower torn out and doing a tile shower, but our guy was booked until october. I had him doing the other little things too, because I didn't know how much time I'd have, but I guess he'll have less work now.
so, i came to the conclusion around 4oclock today when i had done maybe 400 sq feet in 6 hours, that pressure washers are cheap because no one reasonably thinks that grown men will spend 30 hours to do their porch, sidewalk, and driveway. but it needs it, so bad. and my fucking hands hurt. also, pressure washers DRINK gas. thankfully the good Lord made bourbon
I fucking love pressure washing. Yea the work sucks but nothing in the world gives me the immediate feedback and satisfaction that that sweet machine does.
pressure washed the back of my in laws house in a down pour. I was laughing the whole time. Like a kid in the candy store
they're orange fool ... and like 7 years old, they are my "working on the lawn" shoes, so if they're faded its not my fault
Went into Menards today to buy a some baseboard and ended up dropping 700 bucks on a new patio set clearanced down from 1200. Holy impulse buy.
Took the whole weekend unfortunately but I did add a task... Spoiler started with the pot filler, the "galvanized" steel nipple I used was in fact rusty: There are 3 total metal components. One is the metal fitting behind the wall that the builder put in place that the nipple attaches to (it had rust in it as well but difficult to tell if it was the culprit) and the other is the pot filler itself which appeared rusty but I can't imagine it would rust because it is designed to hold water but who knows: New brass nipple with pot filler reassembled: Took off the rusty iron facades of the front door and neutralized the rust then spray painted with a flat black from Rustoleum: Added task of resurfacing part of the concrete foundation in the backyard (when staining the deck a bunch got on the concrete). Hopefully the colors come together: Mowed and edged: Finally got the TV mounted in the bathroom last night, toughest part was IR repeater you can see in the bottom left corner and finding that one small spot on the cable box that it relays to:
That TV swivel? Would drive me crazy to have that thing blocking part of the mirror 24/7. Great fucking job on all that shit though.
Deciding to landscape 3/4 of the house with 5 tons of rock and replace 4 window wells by myself was a terrible idea. But it's done. Fuck.
Funny enough my wife loves power washing. Literally one of her favorite house work tasks to do. My neighbors probably think I'm some asshole husband but it's one less thing on my plate so she can have at it.
Closing on a house is more expensive than I thought. Should be getting the keys to my first house this weekend. Can't wait.
It swivels and tilts. The picture lacks perspective but that mirror is approximately 8-10 ft wide and I'm covering up a few inches with the tv.
I finally ran my sprinkler system. Need to replace 3 sprinkler heads and recalibrate 3 more - 2 of them are teaming up to kill one of my spruce trees, 1 of those is also watering my neighbor's driveway, and another is watering the woods. On the plus side, I can now run a couple zones and keep my front yard from burning off the rest of the summer. The rest of the lawn should be fine. I also cleaned the dead leaves and branches out of the drain in the woods so flooding shouldn't be a problem again. It turns out I have a french drain system that empties into the wood ravine at the back of my house, which then flows into a sewer drain by way of a culvert at the bottom of the ravine. The culvert was blocked, which is why it was overrun. I also filled the water softener, bug sprayed again, replaced a broken outdoor electric cocket cover and hung a couple more shelves. Pretty productive. My boy loved running through the sprinklers.
giant sycamore branch fell in my yard yesterday. barely missed my house. scratched my wife's car. this thing would have killed someone. created a foot deep crater in my front yard. had a fun time hacking it up with my sawzall. chainsaw needed a new blade so most of it is still chilling in my front yard.
on the bright side dome foam when that tree comes down you'll get a new roof, mostly new garage, and maybe even a new living room.
Water heater in my rental died. First issue Ive had with the unit. How hard are those to install? something I can do on my own, or do I need to call a guy?
It's like a wedding. Anything is at least $200. All of the shit with the title transfers, like, how do you justify charging me for certain things I never see? I wish I had the document in front of me right now so I could list some of the additional charges that I have no clue how they quantify.
Last week my idiot 3 year old stuffed a bunch of toilet paper in the toilet. Got all that shit out, but in the process had to turn the water off and on a bunch, and now the supply line has a constant drip it didn't have before - enough to fill an 8 oz cup twice a day. Why the fuck is this happening and how do I stop it?
I hired a guy. Im fairly handy and like teaching myself how to do that stuff. Mostly how I learn. But just want to get it taken care of quickly for my tenants. If it were my place, Id probably do it myself.
gotta love my mortgage getting transferred for the 3rd time in 27 months sure, i'd love to call and set up auto payment and fill out and mail new fucking forms.... again....
also the MINNESOTA M will be this thread's icon once we have that ability any objections can be taken up with Rabid
Called to get a quote on pavers to make a walkway to the side of my house. They quoted $55 per paver. Am I crazy or is that a ridiculous number? Every time I get remotely close to having someone work on my house they offer up a crazy price and I go back to diy.
the day i put TAMU on a thread is the day they stop jizzing in jars which will be never it will never happen
Anyone do the cost analysis on geothermal vs heat pump recently? I got a quote for a geothermal system at $12k. Builder told me the heat pump system he was planning was about $9.5k. I still need a quote for wells that I have no clue. Also I can still get the 30% rebate if installed by end of year. I live in PA. Had a heat pump at last house that was new construction. Was loud as shit outside bedroom and used to run non stop when it was below 10-15 F outside. Dad has geothermal and it seems worth every penny. My only issues is I'm already dishing out cash like crazy.
My side door is a fogged glass door and the light glows through it to outside at night. It attracts a ton of bugs. Every time I open it about 3-4 moths and bugs fly in. What can I get to repel them other than a bug zapper or candles? Do those ultrasonic pest repellent things work? If so, how long are they good for?
Thought this might be helpful for this crowd. Here are my lessons learned and general rules for dealing with contractors. This applies to us small guys (I did 350k of construction spend over the past year). I'm a nobody in their eyes. 1) You are a one time sale to a contractor. Don't forget that. This, inherently, puts you in a tough position. Flip that mentality, you will use this contractor one time. Treat them that way. There will always be another contractor just like there will always be another customer. 2) Do not give money in advance unless you are dealing with the super low income contractor that is working at 10hr. Then, only give money for materials, or even better, get a parts list and buy materials yourself. 3) Hold the profit until you feel good about the job being done. This is called a retainer. Hold their money, you may get angry responses. Tell them you will pay them, but its gotta work. "Why are you so concerned?" Put it back on them. Always, always be ahead of your contractor. Don't get behind. Don't lead with "I'm gonna hold your money," but just make that work out that way. Pay in increments. 4) Inspect what you expect. Be around. Ask questions. If something doesn't look right, it isnt. Figure out a way to know what you are looking at. Ask a friend or watch a video online. If it's in a house, there are YouTube videos and thisoldhouse articles about it. Guaranteed. Lack of knowledge is no longer an excuse in the day of the Internet. 5) if its a big contract and you want referrals, consider asking for a referral from someone who won't work with them anymore. They have one, I promise. It's always extremely insightful, and most times the story is actually a positive for the contractor. It just gives you an insight into their conflict resolution which will inevitably occur in your contract. 6) Get a breakdown of parts versus labor in the costs. This will help you compare apples to apples with multiple bids. If contractors won't provide this they are hiding something. Figure out what. All purchasing agents want to know someone's hourly rate. You may be surprised to see that a common plumbing or electrical hourly rate for small residential is 100+. 7) Estimate materials and time yourself. Do things yourself when you can. Give yourself reps. At least try to figure it out before you call in someone else. Experience is the only way you know a bad quote. Give yourself experience. You have some sort of baseline to compare it to. 8) Always start a project with a price AND timeline confirmed. You wouldnt buy $4 milk at the store without knowing the price. So don't buy a 400 toilet repair without a price. 9) This seems contradictory to the above, but don't be difficult. Contractors don't want to deal with difficult people or they will charge you more. This is the art of working with contractors. 10) Contractors have different rates. It's only partially price gouging. Good contractors definitely have different rates. If they are busy they will throw a number at the wall to see if it sticks. Its just how the business works. Thats part of the reason getting a full written quote doesnt likely get you a good price. They are pricing for the busy times. If you have time and flexibility tell them that you want the gap filling price, but be prepared to wait in this market. You can get lucky and get a low ball price. The absolute best scenario is usually to get a good quality contractor in between jobs at a gap filler cost. An easy example of this is hvac contractors. If you are replacing your ac in early spring it's totally different than the beginning of summer. Your labor price might be half in april. Ive only been "fired" by a contractor that was worth a shit one time. And that probably means I am not being tough enough. He was 6 weeks late delivering a job he was underwater on (misbid - I let him recover some of it). I was tired of him being late and lying over and over again and let him have it. The only reason he couldn't walk away is that I was 4k ahead on work performed. I ended up 100% ahead at 9k and held every penny until I was damn sure it was working. Holding the money for 8 weeks after that was what did it for him. Even though he held me hostage for 6 weeks, me holding him hostage for 8 was ridiculous. Whatever. I'll use the next hvac guy worth a shit in the phonebook. This isnt to say that you treat people like shit. You dont. But, you need to be informed of how you can manage contractors. Its harder to walk a hard line with specialty contractors, or if you're in a really small town, or if you want a "guy" or are in a type of business where you need a "guy". Otherwise, enjoy squeezing the blood out of a turnip.