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! :)

Remodeling Bathrooms

As we had an approved Project Loan with Home Depot with a 7% interest rate, I saved it to use for both of the bathrooms. I figured we could get both of them done with the 20k that was approved. So started the ardurous task of picking everything out, including the grout color! It was insane and took up a lot of time even with me being as decisive as I am.

I realized what we were looking to do, was even more extensive than having the house built for us in Texas was. Changing things around took a lot more thought and strategy and planning than the whole house.

One thing Breakwater recommended was for us to get our own electrician and plumber, someone local for both of those trades. I already was planning on that anyway what with the inspection report we had done before purchasing the house. Breakwater said that it would be cheaper and easier if we used our own guys. Made sense to me.

So we picked out everything for both bathrooms only to realize it was really just the 2nd floor bathroom we HAD to get done before the floors were installed. The reason being is that with the 1st floor bath, we did not have to worry about getting to the plumbing to move it around as we had a full basement with a drop ceiling and so could easily get to it. So all attention was placed on the 2nd floor bath.

I then had to wait for HD to send it to Breakwater to get an estimate. Days go by and then I get a call from HD saying I needed to go down and pick something else out, so off I'd trek to HD an hour away to pick out whatever I needed. Then Breakwater would call me and tell me the whole design of the bathroom shower probably won't work because of this or that so I have to redesign it over the phone with her. Then I get a call from HD that I have to explain to her what we did and it just went around and around like this for weeks. WEEKS! I was not happy. All we needed was a 3 way conversation and we'd have it done. I am very decisive, it doesn't take long, I am not that picky, I just need it done at this point. Finally tho', we get everything, HD sends it to Breakwater and we then again have to wait for them to send over an estimate.

After it was all said and done, the final cost was over $29,000!! Holy smokes! We had to apply for the project loan to be larger and that was approved. But that was for just one bathroom! WOW! I thought I could get both done for that amount and actually less! It was a huge awakening, rude one at that. But, knowing we didn't have the money to put out at all for the renovation so the thought of being able to finance it all and at just 7%, was really enticing. It was still overpriced. We were able to whittle it to 28k but that wasn't that much better. But after all the trouble we had gone thru already, we decided to go ahead with it, as crazy as that is but we were wanting it done right and professionally.

They had told us that they could not set up an install date however until I had received the cabinets and I would have to inspect them all. If everything was as it should be, I was to either email them or call them and let them know and then we could set a date. This didn't happen.

Meanwhile, we have moved 3 trucks up here from Delaware, all of our stuff, packed into the 5 bay car garage, beds crammed into the house, the queen in the living room! Clutter everywhere. We have been living in this mess and limbo since June 6th and it's now August 2nd! Almost 2 months waiting for them to get their act together.

Luckily, Breakwater did NOT wait for the cabinets to come. Good thing as they STILL have not arrived yet. So Breakwater started a couple weeks ago. Finally. They started to tile the shower yesterday.

Now, the workers are awesome. I can't complain. Not one bit. They are amazing.
The owners however? I am not happy. See next blog post on "The Importance of Getting Your Own Tradesman".

Removing Carpets

As we have been in the house since June 6th, I knew even before then, that we would have to take out all of the carpets. There was old shag or sculpted carpet in the entire 2nd floor aside from the bathroom and thankfully, not the steps, as well as carpet in the downstairs bedroom.

 

I have 3 cats. Cats and carpet are not a good combination even tho' cats do use the litter box, they also tend to throw up hair balls now and again and at times they may have accidents or as with my half-Persian, have pooplets that might fall off or like with any animal really, they can get ill and have issues.
The problem arises when they have their accidents on your carpet and it goes straight down into the padding and sometimes even into the wood. It is very difficult to near impossible to get that odor out or to remove any trace of the urine or whatnot from your carpet. There are cleaners out there but when you have padding under that carpet, it is still difficult.

 

Not only the pet issue but there is also a lot of other issues that comes along with carpets: allergies, dust, dirt, and food and liquid spills can get trapped within the fibers of your carpet. If you can get a great vacuum to get them out, awesome! If not, it will build up and carpet fibers get worn, etc etc.

 

Carpets are not made to last for the long term.

 

I found the better thing to do instead of having carpets installed, is to get those throw carpets. That way you can lift them up, clean them from the back side, you can clean the floor under them and you are able to get messes out of them so much easier.

 

Some people just toss carpet down, some are taped, some tacked or seamed to another. This carpet was tacked down. I've had carpet taped down to a terrazzo floor when I lived in Florida. That was in base housing on a military installation and the problem with that was that when you move in there, any changes you make, you have to remove and put the house back to how it was when you moved in. So when the time came to move away, we had to remove the carpet and then there it was. Carpet tape residue. My good friend David had come over and I still remember to this day of how he was scraping it off with a razor blade to get it off. What a pal!

 

This carpet however in this house was tacked down. It came up easier than expected as some rooms it was just placed there and the baseboard was not utilized to help hold it in tact.

 

Now, before I go any further, I want to say when we were thinking about having those floors redone, carpet removed and then put in that new kind of porcelain tile that looks like hardwood, we thought of Home Depot and that they do install. Awesome!? Well yes and no. So I am going to start this series of Home Improvement topics and to catalog the issues and events as they have been unfolding.

 

For now, we'll focus on the carpet part of it.

 

So anyway, as you may have read of where I was having issues in finding any local tradesmen who were willing to come up here to help get some items addressed, I did manage to find an excellent electrician who had an assistant with him who ends up is like a Jack of all trades! :) Love it!

I'll get into the importance of getting to know your local tradesmen in another post.

 

But Jack, we'll call him for now, offered to take the carpets as he could use them himself. So I agreed and he came out and pulled them up and took them away, including the padding! Awesome! There are some carpet nails then that he is removing as well.

You may not realize it, but carpet really helps to absorb sound. Without them in here, the place now echoes more.

 

When I went to Home Depot to put together this huge project as it encompasses the whole second floor, well over 1,000 sq feet, we sat down with the people at my local store and we proceeded to pick out everything :) Everyone there is so friendly and helpful! They put together a great plan and then they set up for the payment to open up a credit card and we'd be able to have 2 year no interest as well. Then they set up a date. Now I was up here at the house for 3 weeks ahead of time before we officially moved up, so that I could see about having the floors done before we had any furniture to move around. Good idea! Except....yea, there is an except....Home Depot was booked and they were not able to get a date until 26 July! This was early June. Yikes! So they said they would try to get me in by the 18th and later, yes they were able to.

 

One thing I realized is that if you are in a hurry, don't rely on Home Depot.

 

This whole thing hinged on our bathroom upstairs getting done. That was a separate project and so I'll get to that in another post.

 

Home Depot wanted to charge me over $1,000 to take the carpets out and dispose of them. That was way too high when I could have Jack do so and he would take them away as well for nothing and they were going to someone who could use them! So I let Home Depot know they could take that part off cause I was able to remove the carpets and they wouldn't have to.

 

After picking out the tile and grout for the floors and whatnot, the total of the bill was just over $20,000. Yep, that's very expensive. What is nice is not having to pay up front and no interest and then we could just pay it off before then, but ouch! High price tag but we do have a lot of square footage.

 

Still....it's a lot. Well it is down to 19k since Jack removed the carpets.

 

I had hoped I could get both bathrooms done for under 20k as originally we were able to qualify for a project loan through Home Depot at 7% interest. Nice! But as we had issues with the computers there at Home Depot and wanted to get this order in for the flooring as soon as possible, the lady there talked to us about applying for the credit card to make sure we get that install date firmed up. So we did that and then had the flooring put on the credit card instead of the project loan which we saved for the bathrooms.

 

So we then focused on the bathrooms as a separate project.