The Home Ownership Thread

[RedLantern]

Fast, cheap, good. Pick two at the most.

 

[brokencycle]

Fast, cheap, good. Pick two at the most.

Often pick zero it seems.

 

[Numbernine]

I know I have complained before about the obscured pricing models that the home improvement industry still use, but it sure is obnoxious. Just found some recessed lights I like from No 8 and Flos, but they don't even have a local seller, so I have to call them directly. They're probably out of my budget anyway, so I'm not going to bother.



I'm on month 5 of the planning process because the GC can't even come to me with a schedule and with all the quotes from the subs done. I have been calling up various trades to get estimates directly, and I think I'm ultimately going to GC it myself.

There you go

 

[double00]

anybody using low voltage lighting indoors?

 

[lordsuperb]

Fast, cheap, good. Pick two at the most.

I must've hit the jack pot with my contractor, because he's all of the above.

 

[jbarwick]

Fast, cheap, and good are all relative to the person making the decision. In my case, I picked good and cheap.

Good being what I have seen from a selection of pictures posted from various other people who used this person as a remodel.

Cheap is on a scale of having someone is a booming housing market do the work. It was bid at over 50% less than another guy but I knew the other guy was overpriced based on his bidding of plumbing in comparison to what I have had done in the past. For comparisons sake, the WAY over priced guy had a bid in to replace nail pops, retape some drywall seams, and paint for $6,000 in a hallway and stairwell. I has another bid of less than $1,000 for the drywall and am debating on having a painter come in due to the ceiling height in the stairwell.

Also other companies wouldn't even look at the job because it was "too small"

 

[lordsuperb]

Fast, cheap, and good are all relative to the person making the decision. In my case, I picked good and cheap.

Good being what I have seen from a selection of pictures posted from various other people who used this person as a remodel.

Cheap is on a scale of having someone is a booming housing market do the work. It was bid at over 50% less than another guy but I knew the other guy was overpriced based on his bidding of plumbing in comparison to what I have had done in the past. For comparisons sake, the WAY over priced guy had a bid in to replace nail pops, retape some drywall seams, and paint for $6,000 in a hallway and stairwell. I has another bid of less than $1,000 for the drywall and am debating on having a painter come in due to the ceiling height in the stairwell.

Also other companies wouldn't even look at the job because it was "too small"

Hmm my contractor hasn't figured all that out yet. He gives me a set price he wants to make and I pay him in cash. He goes above and beyond the call so I will always throw in extra. I want to make sure the little guy keeps coming back.

 

[Numbernine]

Do residential contractors not have liquidated damages clauses? God knows I've had that beast hanging over my head enough times.It will get your ass in gear.

 

[jbarwick]

I never signed an actual contract but have enough documentation to confirm we entered into a contract for X, Y, and Z to be completed for $X. Any cost overruns could be attributed to the old "We can only estimate what it will cost" and since normal projects tend to go over, there is a reasonableness to assume it will go over. If it was something like 2X our initial agreement without any modification to the project to warrant that then there could be some sort of breach.

Then again...I am not a lawyer.

 

[idfnl]

I must've hit the jack pot with my contractor, because he's all of the above.

I manage my own projects so I get all 3 out of the box

 

[jcman311]

Do residential contractors not have liquidated damages clauses? God knows I've had that beast hanging over my head enough times.It will get your ass in gear.

I've worked on projects (when I used to moonlight as a laborer) where LD's were $100,000 a minute. Lovely projects on the main runways at airports. That is about the highest I've seen. But no, in my limited use in residential contractors I have not seen them (or put them) in contracts yet.

 

[Numbernine]

While working in the boiler room at Intels D2 facility my fitter bumped the cooling water pump breakerwith a ladder on a motor control center.They told us later it cost $5million an hour. We introduced Intels geniuses to the concept of switch guards, a .50 cent piece of pvc pipe

 

[jcman311]

Finally might have found a new home. Putting in an offer that we are willing to walk away from if they counter. We think it is rather overpriced. Anyway, I guess we'll find out in the next day or so.

Well with only a few hours left in the day, I think they are just going to let it expire. F them. Now it just gives me more motivation and experience in order to convince the wife to build.

 

[brokencycle]

Well with only a few hours left in the day, I think they are just going to let it expire. F them. Now it just gives me more motivation and experience in order to convince the wife to build.

There was a house we liked this last time we searched. It was overpriced by about 10-15%. The market value was just below a nice round number, so I put an offer just over it, so a little more than 10% less than list knowing that the lower number would just upset them. Predictably, however, they countered, so we just told them to **** off. They ultimately sold the house 60 days later (in a market where average time on market is <10 days) for less than our asking price. Felt good.

 

[idfnl]

Well with only a few hours left in the day, I think they are just going to let it expire. F them. Now it just gives me more motivation and experience in order to convince the wife to build.

You should consider moving somewhere else. Chasing markets isn't usually the smart move.