As you may know, my wife and I have been going through the process of getting some quotes for home improvements on our house. It's been a stressful few weeks for us, and though we finally have some movement on one of the projects, the others are still in limbo. We decided on a vendor for our new roof the other day and in a shocking turn of events, they are going to be starting the job within the week. The papers have been signed, the financing has been acquired, no turning back now!
Big purchases like this freak me out. I make decisions worth more money all the time at work, but when it's my own money, that is a different story. It has actually been a bit of an adjustment playing the game on a personal level versus a business level. You see, in the public education system for most services you aren't able to haggle. There are competitive bidding practices, and certain processes that have to be followed to get bids on large projects.
I didn't know that when I first started working in my job and I was soon given a lesson in it by my superior when he explained the concept of prostituting a bid. It's also part of the reason that vendors aren't allowed to give gifts or things like that to customers that are more than $50 in value. Apparently that is the magic number over which they think people could be swayed to make a decision one way or another.
As I indicated though, it was that mindset that put me at a disadvantage when I started negotiating with roofing contractors to get our roof replaced. The idea of taking a bid from one vendor to see if another vendor could beat it felt dirty and wrong to me. However, it appears that outside of the public sector, this is absolutely acceptable. In fact, thanks to the vendor we ended up going with, it is almost expected.
If it hadn't been for him indicating he could take the other bid we were getting to his superior, I never would have thought to counter his initial offer. I'm glad I figure it out. I suck at negotiating anyway, but I feel like my time in the public sector has really stifled and skill I did have at it.
We got the quote for new flooring in our upstairs area as well. It's not the most pressing upgrade, but we wanted to get an idea of cost anyway. The first bid came back at $13,000. Which honestly, seems a bit high to me. It was from the same bidder that had the highest roofing bid too, so I don't know if that is just a theme with them or if flooring just costs more than I had thought.
I think if we got with a nice Luxury Vinyl Plank, I might even be able to do the flooring myself. At least mostly myself, with a little help from my brother's in law. The biggest issue is the fact that I don't want it to take forever and leave our house half done for a long period of time. You see all too often people who start a renovation and then never get around to finishing it.
Finally, we are still waiting on quotes for our windows. At this point I am pretty nervous about where those are going to fall. We only have seven windows in our house to be replaced, but I have a feeling it is going to be more expensive than the $15,000 we spent for the new roof. I'm also really not too keen on pulling out another loan to cover it. The ten year loan was enough to make my heart beat a bit too fast. Of course we hope to pay it off long before the ten years is up, but I've never been a fan of borrowing money in the first place.
The hope is that at least the roof and windows will pay some dividends in resale value if not energy savings over the years.
Since I can't count on Crypto to cover the costs, I guess I have to handle things the old fashioned way. Either that or start selling my body on the street corner. Which actually is probably the most old fashioned way.
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LOL, I'd go broke if tried that.
Feel ya on the cost of the renos. The wife and I were talking the other night about some of the improvements we need to make to our place. Nothing pressing, except sump pump backup power. But still, we just talked ourselves into tabling until after the first of the year.
Don't sleep on the sump backup. I know it's a big investment, but trust me, putting it off and dealing with a flooded basement is so much worse!
Expensive things like that are always a wrench, but then people will happily take finance to buy a new car that will quickly lose value. You just don't want to be ripped off or end up with a shoddy result. I hope it all works out for you.
BTW Young people may wonder what that big piece of paper you have in the car is for :)
Haha, yeah, that's why my wife took the picture of me with it! We had zero cell service and I was able to find where I needed to go. You are totally right about big investments like that.
First off what’s that relic in your hand? An actual map….🤣
As you know I am a licensed contractor. I’m a little different from most contractors in several ways though. I have never in over 30 years of business advertised anywhere. I’m also more of a specialist area, doing mainly custom handmade cabinets, furniture, bars, walk-in closets, etc. so I really don’t compete against box store premade cabinets. While I am higher priced than the premade garbage available my prices are not much higher especially for the quality I deliver. If you are calling me for work, you have either already had work done by me. Have a friend or relative that has, or are a neighbor of people I’ve done work for. People that advertise waste tons of time going on estimates that they never sign. My time is way too valuable for that.
I would highly recommend not doing vinyl flooring, it looks cheap and doesn’t hold up over time. Tiny dings and tears happen and it’s time consuming repairing it. The only place that I even recommend or put it down are in finished basements where moisture is a concern. Flooring prices are fairly easy to get, contractors have an install price per square foot. Just make sure they are apples to apples including all the same work. Example rip up (if required) subfloor prep, how they are prepping the underpayment. If it’s raw wood what quality (meaning grade of wood) they are using, and what topcoat they are applying and how many layers they are putting down. Windows is a very big spectrum of price. There are way too many manufacturers of windows with several different grades. Be very careful. Example the Anderson windows that you can buy at Home Depot or Lowe’s are not the same window true lumber yards and contractor suppliers sell. They are made completely different and in a totally different plant with much cheaper materials. That one will be the hardest to figure out price wise. The advice I would give you on new windows is always use new construction windows not replacement windows. There is no such thing as a quality replacement window they don’t exist!!!!! While it is cheaper, they all leave air leaks, if installed incorrectly they can cause damage to your house structure that you won’t see till it’s way too late, causing greater out of pocket cost.
If you have any questions or want me to look over any proposals/estimates, I’d be glad to help.
That's kind of how my buddy started too, but he has gotten a bit bigger now. I don't question the quality of his work, but the prices are just nuts. Are you saying any vinyl flooring? I was looking at the luxury vinyl plank with the multiple layers. I had heard that stuff is supposed to be better. Anything millwork related that's what my buddy used to specialize in. Part of me feels like he bid so high on the job because he didn't really have the time to do it. I don't know.
That’s great that you know someone like that, we are a rare breed. As for the vinyl flooring, they do make better stuff today but it’s still vinyl and they all have the potential to do everything described in my last comment. Vinyl is soft and pliable, not a good choice for holding up. I’m not telling what to do, I’ve just seen too many vinyl floors that don’t hold up or look good that aren’t very old.
Right now we have carpet and I think my wife is kind of over it, so I am not sure what the other options are. I don't think hardwood is much of an option at this point.
Take a look at engineered flooring. It’s a real wood surface attached to a laminate substrate. It installs like laminate which means you and someone else can do it. I did that in my mom’s house about six years ago. It took me 2 days to do 4 rooms and a hallway.
Thanks for the tip! I will check it out!
I wouldn't worry about a new roof I would invest in a Satnav! 🤣
It's a done deal now!
what the roof or the electronic map?
The roof, they are putting it on today.
Nice job
Wow man, tough times. That must be so frustrating. $15,000 would wipe me out
We ended up having to get a loan. We should be able to manage it well, it still sucks though. The joys of home ownership!
A map!! I do love maps. It's actually getting hard to find maps for some places.
As for the roof...$15,000 doesn't sound that high to me. When we first moved in our current house I checked out prices on a new roof...two estimates pretty close to each other. One for $12,000 and one for $14,000 (back in 2024). We decided to wait. A lot of stuff going on around here, some of it health related. We don't want construction crews disturbing our peace.
Good luck with the project.
My wife was looking in the glove box and I said I don't think there is one in there, but lo and behold, there was. Thank you! Unfortunately, we waited too and now with the price of oil going up and stuff the manufacturers are taking advantage and raising their prices.