Wednesday, October 26, 2016

The Importance of Getting Your Own Tradesmen

It has not been easy to find local tradesmen who would come out this far in the country.
 
Tradesman, a person engaged in trading or a trade, typically on a relatively small scale, ie: craftsman, workman, artisan.
So in otherwords, I needed a local electrician and plumber and I really needed a good general contractor or go-to guy, hence, Mr Fix-it!

The first thing I did was look up the nearest town my place would be at and found a website and there it listed all of the different people for different trades. This isn't many as this is a very small town and not even grid like streets. Every place is spread out along different roads. It's not like a city or town that has buildings all set up next to each other along one street.

Searching on the internet was not easy as it came up with special services that would try to find you someone or give you a number to someone but all of those I had tried just led me to people who never called me back or answered their phone or they just were too far away.

I got lucky as the town here listed two electricians. I tried the first one listed as the 2nd one said 'Master Electrician' and I thought he might be too expensive. Well the first one didn't answer his phone and never called me back so I didn't wait and called the 2nd number and wha-la! he answered and we talked briefly and set up a date for him to come out and take a peek at what I had going on.

I mostly wanted the electrician because of the house inspector we had who pointed out several weird things going on that he recommended an electrician look at. Also it's a good idea to get in contact with your local service/trademen so that if something goes wrong, you know who to call.
 
On top of all of that, this house was built in 1978, so it's fairly old already and a lot of the codes back then are not the same as today's standards. So it would do you well to bring the house up to the current codes of today and make sure to identify any issues that may need to address now versus later or when it's too late and you have a major issue on your hands.

So I got in touch with the Master Electrician with Hillside Electric and he came out and took a look and we went over the house inspection report for all the electrical work and I ran down a small list of things I knew I wanted done off the top of my head. He gave me an estimate as to how much it would be and we identified what was more priority than others and then he set up a date and time he could come out and begin to work on them.
 
WOW! I was so excited that I finally got someone to come up AND he is not that far away either!! JACKPOT! On top of that, he was able to give me the name and number of a local plumber and a contractor. I was so excited! The Master Electrician also did not cost me an arm and a leg, he kept his prices reasonable so I absolutely adore him! He's wonderful! Friendly, personable, quick wit and great sarcasm, he is a pure joy to have him work with you on whatever you need. He is very honest and will take the time to explain things to you as well. I just couldn't ask for more. Because of all of that, he will be my electrician for all projects in the future and I would highly recommend him!

My first concern was the electrical system as I wanted to be sure it was taken care of, but after that got squared away, I called the plumber. I noticed that my kitchen faucet was leaking and also I had no garbage disposal.  So John Maynard, the local plumber came out and tho' he charged a lil more than Paul, he was great! He remembered the last time he was here in this house, 1987. He was really brilliant! I loved that he came up so quick and is local and gave me straight, no-nonsense information. He took his time to explain about what I did not know. Very kind and patient man, understanding.
 
What made this even better was that I was able to get a Mr Fixit--handyman through the electrician to come and help me with some of the other items in my house. I also found out through all of these men, just how much things were suppose to cost. I realized then, just how much I was being overcharged by Home Depot and their vendor/installer, Breakwater Building & Design. I'll get into that later as to what a nightmare it has been with them. I just wish I had talked with my local tradesmen a week before I got involved with Home Depot and Breakwater, it would have saved me thousands of dollars that I was ripped off.
 
In the end of this fiasco with the big companies, was the true pleasure it has been in working with the local guys. They are fairly priced and will treat you right. Friendly and forthright, all of them out here in the country are handymen and know how to fix most anything and if they don't, they know who they can recommend to you to get it done and not cost an arm and a leg.
 
Gotta love the local boys! :)

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