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OT: Finding a good home tradesman / contractor


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So, with the little lady moving down to my neck of the woods in a few weeks, we're starting to hunt for houses to buy. Since the housing selection in Baltimore is very mixed, ranging from gigantic mansions to bombed out crack dens that were too shady to make it into The Wire, it's likely that whatever we go with will require at least some modifications. She currently owns a condo, but has never had to hire anybody to do anything more than some minor electrical work. I've never owned anything and have never had to hire anyone to do any sort of work on one, and what I'm worried about is hiring a hack. My own parents are batting about 0.000 in their attempts at hiring help, and though they typically go for the lowest bidder, these sorts of troubles don't seem to be restricted to just the lowballer contractors.

 

So, what sort of things should I look for when hiring someone to work on my house? Am I better off going through a design firm that may charge more, but have a list of trusted contractors that they work with? I have some general ideas about how a business should present itself, but I don't know enough about the building trades to even really know what to ask.

 

Thanks,

-Dan.

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Having been there, done that, and paid dearly along the way, lemme suggest: As far as hiring "the right contractor", I'll suggest to do your homework and don't get in a hurry. Check-up on identified possible contractors... ask for a list of references and talk to their prior customers... check out their work. If you can, talk to the local building inspector(s)... as those folks seem to be fairly in-tune to who they routinely need to closely monitor and who they can sign-off on without going deep and long on the inspections. I'll suggest the best indication to what sort of work they do is what sort of mess did they leave behind. I realize that many, likely most, contractors do what they do to make money... and the more money they can make the quicker, all the better... and you're asking somebody to do something for you... and that can get expensive. That's likely why inspectors exist, otherwise, some will cut every corner they can to get to the point of where the final check cashes. Do your homework... become an educated customer who has at least a 6 out of 10 bs sniffer... otherwise you're a lamb to slaughter.

 

There are true craftsman out there, but I sense those folks are becoming very rare.

 

And have a clear plan that you can articulate... and if you're not up to devising a plan, employ a professional to pull a detailed plan together.

 

Or do it yourself as you can fairly well figure that if somebody else does it for you, the cost of the materials might likely be 10% of the job... with a substantial amount of the supplies you paid for ending up in a dumpster.

 

The more you can incorporate that's "off the shelf", the way less costly it will likely be as one off total custom gets into big bucks quick.

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I've been in business for myself for a little over a year now. First thing is that word of mouth is the best way to find a good contractor. It doesn't sounds as if that's possible, but you can get creative in seeking people to ask, as Mark showed.

 

1. Ask for references and actually check them.

2. Check the local BBB to see if they know the firm.

3. Websites like Angie's List might be worthwhile, but from what I've seen, not so much.

4. Same thing x100 for HomeAdvisor.

5. Ask for an insurance cert. You need to know they're paid up and covered. Be sure the policy has Workmen's Comp if they have 1 or more employees. Liability should be $2M aggregate, $1M per-. If materials will be stored at your property, check that the policy has coverage for theft/damage...in most states you are responsible for loss if they're on your property. Which leads us to....

6. Find out who their biggest suppliers are, and contact the supplier. Ask whether their account is up to date. Most vendors work on a cash 30-day basis. If the contractor is more than 60-days behind, be suspicious. In many states if materials are delivered to your property they become yours, and so does the responsibility to pay for them if the contractor skips out.

7. Go to one of their current job homes. Look around and ask questions if possible. It's fairly easy to see who's working, whether the property is being cared for despite the chaos of construction, etc. The homeowner can tip you off to how things are going...word of mouth.

8. Lowest bidder may be a hack, or may be a hidden gem. The small one-person contractors are more likely to be real craftsmen. Watch out for firms that brag that they're growing. There's a sweet spot in this business if you expand, and it's really hard to find and it also moves. The guys who overexpand are way more likely to have money and employee problems. There's a HUGE problem finding competent help. Nobody is encouraged to go to trade school. Drugs and alcohol problems run rampant.

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I've been a contractor for quite a few years and the very best way to vet someone is word of mouth. Get a recommendation from someone YOU trust, preferably someone not in the building trades. Meet with the contractor, talk to them for a while, you can get a feel for how they conduct themselves and value you as a client. If you're still not sure, hire them for a small job first. Get them to install a door, or paint a bedroom or something even smaller. That way, if you get ripped off, at least it won't be for thousands of dollars.

 

Any decent contractor will not ask for any payment until they have at least delivered materials to the jobsite. This is the law in some states. If they are running a reputable business, then they have the capital or credit to front some of the cost.

 

You can also find good people at home inprovement stores. Most of them are not allowed to recommend any particular contractor, but they may be willing to share with you which ones are regular customers. I deal with Lowe's a lot. I'm in there all the time becuase I do a lot of jobs. The people at the contractor desk know me, and like me because I spend a lot of money there. I simply couldn't do this if I was shady. Find a building supply store in your area that is busy on weekday mornings, the earlier the better. Go in and watch the people shopping. The guys who walk in, know exactly where they're headed and what they're buying are the people you want to talk to.

 

Don't go for the lowest bidder. If someone doesn't value their own time and efforts, they don't care about your home or your business. And be cautious of anyone who can start right away. Good contractors are busy.

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Great question Dan, with good answers too. Word of mouth is key, reputation can't be faked. Follow up on recommendations. I just had a small concrete job done, but I wanted it done right. The generals I do work for all recommended him, he was maybe 20% more expensive than the rest but he did top quality work, no bull{censored}, and no excuses. In the end, I got a much better quality job for only a little more than the cost of mediocre.

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In my experience, for ANY type of service that's performed where you can't see it, you've got about a 1 in 10 chance of getting it done properly. That includes auto mechanics, electricians, plumbers and contractors.

 

I was in the automotive aftermarket business briefly when I got out of college, so know from personal experience what goes on.

 

I've had to redo a portion of almost all work done by contractors on my own home, including work done by my brother in law (licensed contractor) and nephew (licensed contractor). You'd think they'd do the job right, since we're family, but when I was having my 12x20 woodworking shop built, if I hadn't happened to drop by, the floor was being installed, without the insulation I'd specified. Would have some cold feet working in the winter. The door leaks and the floor has developed a big hump in the middle. Good thing he's 'family' (and yes I was paying the going rate for the job).

 

I recently inherited the family shore house in southern NJ. I made the mistake of having a look at the electrical system. Most of the work done after the house was raised in '93, permitted and inspected. 14-2 on a dedicated line for a washing machine, 20 amp breaker, no GFCI despite the power cord being run across the plumbing. Electric line run from the breaker box with no strain relief, then through a hole punched in the wall directly to the water heater, no junction box, a plastic bag hung over the hole. Wiring under the house hanging on plumbing all over the place. All bearing the electrical inspectors signature. Oh and my favorite. My Dad complained that the toaster would trip the breaker, since it's plugged into the same outlet as the fridge. Electrician nicely installed a new outlet on the opposite wall, where the toaster and microwave are plugged in. SAME CIRCUIT as the fridge, but replaced the 15 amp breaker with a 20. Doesn't trip anymore, but can hear the fridge slow down if the microwave is on, and who knows what wiring is in that 100 year old house? ( I'm replacing knob and tube myself in the spring). Grounded outlets with open grounds, reversed polarity, just ridiculous. All done by licensed electricians and inspected. I found an electrician via a friends recommendation, and he was appalled but not surprised by what he saw. He quoted me $8-10,000 to rewire the house; which I don't have, so will have to do it myself (with permits).

 

Around 1990 I had a local highly recommended painter paint my 1880's house. Very reasonable price, and the job was beautiful. Spent weeks doing prep, scraping, caulking, priming. Saw the current owner who just touched it up last year. Excellent work. That painter now works for another painter as he couldn't compete with lessor painters, who charged less than he needed to charge to do the job properly. That's a real shame, and indicates the root of the problem.

 

Anyone I hire to work on my house is going to have me looking over their shoulder. The fact that me, an untrained homeowner, can immediately see the flaws in work performed by licensed so called professionals is appalling. If you can't see what they're doing, you stand a good chance of being ripped off.

 

On the other side, a neighbor (contractor) built a 10x12 storage shed at the shore house for my Dad. The work is absolutely impeccable, with great attention to detail. He really liked my 97 year old Dad and his work for him showed it. I'd hire him, or recommend him, without reservation. All of this is, of course, just my opinion, but based on my experiences. I know there are good, honest, talented pros out there who's work I couldn't approach. Finding them is difficult, without a personal recommendation from someone I trust.

 

Boy, that really turned into a rant, didn't it. Sorry. :-)

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3. Websites like Angie's List might be worthwhile, but from what I've seen, not so much.

4. Same thing x100 for HomeAdvisor.

 

Just so I'm clear, you don't think HomeAdvisor is worthwhile? I hadn't heard of it before, but I'm with you on Angie's List. As far as I can tell, AL is a waste of time.

 

6. Find out who their biggest suppliers are, and contact the supplier. Ask whether their account is up to date. Most vendors work on a cash 30-day basis. If the contractor is more than 60-days behind, be suspicious. In many states if materials are delivered to your property they become yours, and so does the responsibility to pay for them if the contractor skips out.

 

I saw this mentioned elsewhere online. Would suppliers really give out that sort of account info to random strangers? When I worked in retail, if I'd had someone calling about the account status of another client, I would've told the caller to take a hike.

 

Watch out for firms that brag that they're growing. There's a sweet spot in this business if you expand, and it's really hard to find and it also moves. The guys who overexpand are way more likely to have money and employee problems. There's a HUGE problem finding competent help. Nobody is encouraged to go to trade school. Drugs and alcohol problems run rampant.

 

Interesting. I hadn't thought of that.

 

I've been a contractor for quite a few years and the very best way to vet someone is word of mouth. Get a recommendation from someone YOU trust' date=' preferably someone not in the building trades.[/quote']

 

And therein lies the problem - even if I did know people to ask for references (I don't know many who own), I don't trust most people to be as picky or as critical as I am. I see the kind of crap they think is acceptable and I don't want them advising me on anything.

 

When checking references, is it reasonable / or common to ask for references from a range of time frames, e.g. 1-2 each from the last 6-12 months, the last 1-3 years, and the last 3-5 years? I ask, because some problems may not show up immediately and I'd be interested to know about the durability of their workmanship and about how they handle follow-up calls.

 

Anyone I hire to work on my house is going to have me looking over their shoulder. The fact that me, an untrained homeowner, can immediately see the flaws in work performed by licensed so called professionals is appalling. If you can't see what they're doing, you stand a good chance of being ripped off.

 

This is the kind of crap that scares me. My dad can do a passable job at most things regarding home repair (it won't be really pretty, but it'll it won't fall apart), but he's starting to realize that he's a bit too old and a bit too busy to finish the full rehab they started a while ago, so he recently hired someone to take care of the plumbing in one of the new bathrooms. Well, I think I've spent more time measuring where to hang a single picture in my living room than this jackass spent measuring where to drill all of the holes for all of the plumbing. In places where the pipe wasn't placed correctly within the studs and instead stuck out past the studs, he used wooden shims between the drywall and the studs, so he could get the drywall over the pipes. Because of this, the room below the new bathroom, which is only about 8-10' long, has a 1.5" dip in the ceiling. Oh, and there was no trap in the shower drain, which connected to the same drain pipe as the toilet (after the toilet's trap). If you guys saw how bad this was, you'd grab your pitchforks and drive to NY to hunt this guy down.

 

Fortunately, it looks like MD has at least some facilities to allow consumers to check the credentials of their contractors:

http://www.dllr.state.md.us/license/mhic/

 

Thanks for the help, guys. Any other nuggets are more than welcome.

-Dan.

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The problem with asking a contractor for references is that they are not going to tell about their crap jobs, you'll only hear the good ones.

 

Check with local realtors. I do regular work for some in my town and I point anyone looking for a reference to them. I get calls to do small jobs for their closing/ moving in situations. Nothing major, but lots of it. I've been working for one in particular for several years, on many properties included some of her rental units and eventually a masterpiece deck on her own home. The point is, she has experienced my work and follow-up service repeatedly, and runs her own highly regarded business; she knows what she's talking about. Most realtors have someone that they trust and regularly call to handle the odds and ends of getting properties to sell. Steer clear of landlords. They generally want the quickest and cheapest of everything.

 

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for older references, but keep in mind that many problems can arise that are not the fault of the contractor.

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Locally anyway, it seems the better contractors are "family affairs"... comparatively small operations comprised of sons, daughters, and spouses working with their parent or grandparent founders of the company, with few if any employees that aren't blood. Oftentimes they utilize specialized subs, but then the subs are generally connected to the family, or at the least have had a long relationship. Only problem is that these contractors are seemingly generally booked out a year or more in advance, and tend to be fairly picky about the jobs they take on.

 

Two summers ago I had my parking lot paved. The contractor who did the job was a family affair... Mom quoted and booked the jobs, dad ramrodded the paving crew. Their oldest daughter and her husband were the key asphalt machine operators... and did anything else that needed done. There were 3 others on the crew... two I believe are sons of the owners, and the third I believe is the brother-in-law of the daughter. They did a beautiful job, meticulous prep-work, on schedule, at what seemed like a fair price, and guaranteed their work. Last summer they stopped by and seal coated the lot... right on schedule as they'd said they would. They even sent us a really nice Christmas card... personally signed by everyone on the crew.

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Just so I'm clear, you don't think HomeAdvisor is worthwhile? I hadn't heard of it before, but I'm with you on Angie's List. As far as I can tell, AL is a waste of time.

 

 

-Dan.

 

The following is my personal opinion and experience:

 

I started my little venture in 2013, and last January made the decision to make it "official". In PA the law states that if you earn $5000 or more doing home improvement work you must register with the state Attorney General. The registration # basically allows them to find you in the event of a dispute.

 

On April 23 I was registered. Within a week I had a phone call from Rob asking me to work with them for customers in my area. He's from Colorado, but assured me they had plenty of work for me. He briefly explained how their system worked. They send me leads when I request them. If they send me a lead, they charge me for it. I can then contact the potential customer to see what is needed. If I contact the customer, I pay again. If I get the job, I pay again...and each phase costs more. Rob assured me that I would be only one of at most three contractors sent to any given customer lead, and that I had total control over when leads would be sent to me. Oh, and there's also a membership fee.

 

Now, to begin with I was curious how they knew to contact me. I then remembered the state registration...they basically troll state agency sites for new licensing and registration.

 

Next, I wasn't clear on the exact terms, as this was explained verbally, and not the way I just wrote it (it was initially posed as if there was only a monthly fee). So I asked for email with the info. I was directed to the website. If you go there and try to learn about cost, you see that you have to actually sign up for the program to see what it costs. That's a red flag for me...if it's good, and fair, you'll post up the costs and terms without any obligation on my part to give you my information.

 

So I contacted a few contractor associates and asked them about it. The responses were universally negative. One guy in particular gave me a lot of details of his nightmare. First, he specified that he only wanted a few leads to start...two or three. They sent him 9, and of course he was billed for all nine. When he attempted to contact the leads, some were people who claimed to never hear of or contact the company. Some were pissed because he was anywhere from the 5th to the 10th contractor to call...and they told him and the customer that three at most would be contacted.

 

Then the billing problems. Each and every issue was a fight. He shut off the leads completely. Still got leads. Still billed for them. His wife spent hours on the phone arguing the charges. The monthly billing was coming to three or four hundred bucks, and he was maybe seeing one paying job per month out of this. He cancelled, and you guessed it....still got leads, still got bills, still got the runaround BS when he called about it.

 

He also related that the company was renamed from ServiceMagic a few years ago, but essentially the same business as the prior company name. Curious as to why the rename.

 

I received calls from Rob for over a month. About 2 per week. I never answered any of them, as I was doing my due diligence and didn't want to be disturbed with more sales pitch. After about 5-6 weeks I emailed him that I was no longer interested.

 

A little internet research will show you the same problems over and over....for almost 10 years combined. It'll also show you the customer's side of this, which seems like a lot of complaints of problems with bad contractors supplied by a site that advertises thorough vetting.

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I've heard lots of negative feedback about big-store-supplied installers/contractors, too. Like when Home Depot advertises to carpet your whole house for $99, plus the cost of carpet, it's cheap for a reason.

 

I guess this doesn't really help you much. I'm with Audiopile on the family businesses, though. The very few contractors that I recommend and family owned and operated businesses, and smaller operations. The biggest one (my go-to reco) has about 4 or 5 employees who aren't blood related.

 

And if they're booked a year in advance, I'm certain they are worth the wait. You don't have to look far to find a contractor horror story. The real question is: How long would you be willing to wait, or how much more would you be willing to spend, to avoid a nightmare situation?

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I agree about big-box installers. From what I see around here, most of these outfits are not vetted by the stores, and the stores have just about no real connection with the contractor when something goes wrong...it's you hiring the contractor, not HD, for instance. As for pricing, just read the fine print on the installation pricing. They cover "basic" installation, which is a very narrowly-defined piece of work. It's nearly impossible to get the flat pricing and have a complete job with cleanup and removal of old material, trim reinstalled and touched-up, etc.

 

By way of example, back in 1999 I needed a re-roof. HD's price was $16,000, and this didn't include stripping off the old roofing, or fixing a basic carpentry problem that was causing a leak. By comparison, a local outfit quoted and completed the work for $10,000, including reframing a roof panel to drain properly (ending the leak), copper open valleys (HD would do woven), Ice and water shield (HD would only do 15lb felt for the 16K price), replacement of several gutters, and widening the ridge vent opening (extra cost by HD). In short, HD's price would have been double ($20,000!!!!) for the same work, IF they would have done it...and they refused. Their guys only shingled.

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I

By way of example, back in 1999 I needed a re-roof. HD's price was $16,000, and this didn't include stripping off the old roofing, or fixing a basic carpentry problem that was causing a leak. By comparison, a local outfit quoted and completed the work for $10,000, including reframing a roof panel to drain properly (ending the leak), copper open valleys (HD would do woven), Ice and water shield (HD would only do 15lb felt for the 16K price), replacement of several gutters, and widening the ridge vent opening (extra cost by HD). In short, HD's price would have been double ($20,000!!!!) for the same work, IF they would have done it...and they refused. Their guys only shingled.

 

This brings up something else that concerns me - for a lot of projects, I don't really know what details to expect or to ask for. I don't know how big a ridge vent opening should be, or what sort of flashing or weatherproofing materials should be used. I could probably catch more obvious problems with electrical or other sorts of wiring, but beyond that, I'm kind of clueless. I watch This Old House and see these guys putting on half a dozen different layers new-fangled products (that most likely were given to them for advertising purposes) and I just know that if I hired someone to do the same job, they probably wouldn't use half of that stuff - and I wouldn't be able to say if any of it is really worthwhile in the first place.

 

I'll obviously research stuff, but I don't want to be "that client" who just read something on the internet and now considers himself an expert, but I also don't want to get a crap job.

 

And if they're booked a year in advance, I'm certain they are worth the wait. You don't have to look far to find a contractor horror story. The real question is: How long would you be willing to wait, or how much more would you be willing to spend, to avoid a nightmare situation?

 

That's a good question and I guess I'll have to wait and see what my options are.

 

-Dan.

 

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This brings up something else that concerns me - for a lot of projects, I don't really know what details to expect or to ask for. I don't know how big a ridge vent opening should be, or what sort of flashing or weatherproofing materials should be used.

-Dan.[/color]

Maybe you could source a retired contractor type person in your area, and commission that person to be your brain-trust in the matter.

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I had my family room ceiling raised to the rafters (brother in law again). My father in law knows a retired guy who did plastering and sheetrock all his life. I suck at spackling, so was happy to hire him. The guy did unbelievable work; he didn't even bring sandpaper, no dust, no mess and invisible sheetrock joints. Spent about 4 hours the first day, then an hour so the next 2 days. Asked me for $200 bucks when complete; I insisted on $400. If I'd done the work, the house would have been a dust filled mess for a week and I'd have never gotten close to his results.

 

So yes, finding someone who's retired and has a lifetime of experience and skill development can be a good way to go, especially if you know someone who's used them before.

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Mark's retired brain trust idea is actually a great idea. Juist because a guy's too old to do the heavy lifting doesn't mean he's not a valuable asset.

The other day (well a week or two ago) I was surfing Youtube videos in an attempt to gain some insight into improving my bass playing. I happened across a series of videos of John Entistle showing his techinque that I believe were done shortly before his death. What I'd have given to have accessed those videos in my teens or 20's. Shortly after starting in on viewing those videos, I was plowing snow, and thinking... about all sorts of stuff... that happens for me when I'm plowing snow, or dozing, or dealing with piles in the shop, or sorting bolts, etc... Anyhoo... I got to thinking about Craig's post in this thread concerning the lack of drive to attend trade schools (before Craig made the post), and Don's comment about robots building a lot of the stuff that rolls off the end of the belt, and my perceptions that craftsmanship skills are being lost to the wind (becoming extinct)... and a thought crossed my mind about doing some sort of Wikipedia thing for craftsmanship... all those devil in the detail things that may be of no use ever in the future, but the brain trust is seemingly fading, and if there ever is some time in the future that the "old knowledge" is deemed important... it's available, and doesn't have to be re-invented. Kind-of like where would we be if the Library of Alexandria hadn't burned?

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That's a really cool idea, Mark. The internet is great (and Lord knows I'd have killed for the Entwistle tuorials when I was a kid) and there's a lot of what you mention out there...but it's all over the place, so a site that could manage to organize, edit, and present such info would be brilliant.

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I have been known to read community college carpentry textbooks when looking for information about home renovations, outbuilding construction, and so on. Sometimes at the library, sometimes reading excerpts on Google books. There is a surprising amount to learn, but it is all very accessible. I particularly like the books that were written in the 60s or 70s. They were written assuming the people reading them were interested in the job and not morons.

 

Another place I find really interesting information like that, but now more in the automotive field, is old issues of Popular Mechanics from the 1940s. Again on Google Books. I wish I could find something like a 1940s version of the 1980s magazine "Elektor" so that I could improve my tube amp knowledge and practical AC theory (I'm still unclear on basic concepts like inductance, reactance, impedance). I grew up in the 1980s where it seemed all the hobby magazines (Electronics Today) were TTL going digital and not looking back.

 

For electrical, my local utility produces a small book for homeowners which is easy to read and summarizes the codes homeowners need to know. By contrast, the Home Depot 1-2-3 books are pretty but the information is not very deep. I once borrowed one when I couldn't quickly figure out how to do some wiring I needed to do. I wanted to switch a stair light from three locations, reusing existing 14-3 wiring between two of the locations, with the middle (existing) location being run "power to the fixture". I got to the relevant section in that book, and it basically said, "Gee, what you're trying to do is hard, you should hire an electrician". What a stupid book. I got out a pencil and paper instead.

 

By the way, any job I spec will get a steel roof with a Valspar Weather-X coating and a continuous ridge vent. Roof venting is very important for longevity. Adding a continuous ridge vent to an existing roof, while covering it, is easy. You seal up the old holes with plywood (cut the new wood and the old wood at the same time for a perfect fit) and 2x4 bracing, then run a circular saw along the ridge for the depth of the plywood on both sides...rip out the old ply and there's your hole, ready for tin. If you go shingles, at least get the fiberglass ones, they should last better than asphalt.

 

The devil's in the details, though. The screws need to be tightened down properly to seal, you need caulk applied right for things like your antenna mast, satellite dish, etc..I hired a crew to do mine, they also custom bent flashing on a brake to fit down from the drip edge and drain nicely into the eaves troughs. I spec'd ice guards for the whole length of the roof, both sides....my neighbour didn't, she had a sheet of ice come off the roof where "nobody ever goes" and almost kill her kid the other day.

 

Another source for good information is TV. Do you get Mike Holmes' show where you live? He's great, he goes into disaster homes, rips out bad work, explains why it is bad, and does it right. And explains why he's doing it the way he does it.

 

Wes

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A poignant reminder that willful ignorance is not unique to our day and age.

 

I have a number of apple boxes of repair manuals for old motorcycles... I've been working on pruning down my likely widow's estate auction pile over the past couple of years, with the realization that women generally live longer than men, and I love my wife and I don't want to burden her with some likely auctioneer being overwhelmed to the point of auctioning off pallets of stuff by the ton, or similar. Anyway... so these boxes of really good stuff for some day long gone by (I think) are sitting here. I'd willingly give them to anybody that might want them... but I can't imagine who... or do I just shovel them into the wood stove and be done with that throwing knowledge to the wind as well as all the other boxes that have passed before?

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The sad thing is, the world doesn't really want craftsmanship that much anymore. Everybody wants everything built yesterday, for as little as possible. Everything is concrete and steel and covered in Dryvit, which is a real shame because we have tools that older craftsmen would have given and arm for. Kind of like music. The technology we have is mind-blowing, but we're just making so much crap with it.

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The sad thing is' date=' the world doesn't really want craftsmanship that much anymore. Everybody wants everything built yesterday, for as little as possible. Everything is concrete and steel and covered in Dryvit, which is a real shame because we have tools that older craftsmen would have given and arm for. Kind of like music. The technology we have is mind-blowing, but we're just making so much crap with it.[/quote']

 

People all want quality...they just think they can get it at Wal*mart prices if they don't know any better. Then they buy a house, either one built by a hack or a good one that's been abused by DIY'ers and hack contractors, and eventually understand that quality still takes time and money, and that it's worth both to have a home that'll outlast a laptop. Or they move and the cycle continues....

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I'm living in a cheap, then DIYer abused home right now. At least it is a simple home with "good bones". But man, everywhere I look, the job is 90% done. For example, there is nice, big, wood casing around some of the doors. But the miters weren't cut right (his saw must have been off), so he tried to fill the joint with filler. The filler was smeared for an inch on each side of the joint. And it is nowhere near the same colour is the wood. Presumably they aged differently.

 

Changed the front door this year. Old one never closed right. Found out why...no shims, no nails, no screws. It was held in by stud friction, door casing, and brick mold. Put the new door in, narrowing the opening by 5" (wider door, no sidelight). Added extra studs to suck up the space, had to rip out and replace about a foot of drywall on either side to make it look right. Turns out the drywall in the corner had no wood behind it. No wonder the joint kept cracking.

 

The DIY electrical is sloppy (bent nails instead of staples!), but at least clearly visible. One good choice the previous owner made was to run everything in a T-bar ceiling plennum. There's a good 3 inches below the floor joists, lots of room in there. Although I can't believe he just ran NM cable loose on top of the T-bar for the pot lights.

 

I'm planning to retire in this place. Fixing about one thing a year. Roof is done, half the windows and doors are done. I'm glad it's a simple box, complex shapes add complex problems.

 

Wes

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