Remember when I mentioned that we went to the home show at the MSU pavilion this spring and set up two appointments for home repair work? Apparently, someone forgot to tell the contractors that we’re in a recession and they need the work.
Hubby screened the companies at the show – asking enough questions to determine if they knew what they were doing. He embarrassed me by announcing loudly that he didn’t want any piece of crap wood door and did they carry metal? Hubby is looking to increase security into the house by replacing the side door coming into the garage from the backyard and adding a couple of deadbolts. Company #1 behaved professionally enough and assured him they could get in a steel door. We set up a time for them to come and the night before they called to confirm. The night of I put off making dinner and we sat down to watch TV news, something we don’t do very often, waiting for them (we’re NPR folks). We waited an hour with Hubby becoming more and more frustrated and at the hour and a half mark we ate dinner and wrote them off. Being stood up really ticks Hubby off.
The the second contractor is a pretty large company. They called after 5 on the last business day before the day we set up for them to come and by that time it didn’t work out for them to come over time-wise. They had had at least 3 weeks lead time to make that call. We didn’t pursue. Neither did they. They were the overhead door folks and like I said we had prioritized the side door.
So, as luck would have it, another outfit we’ll call by their initials JRN, came by the house. They do doors and windows. They asked if they could do a free estimate on windows. I said we weren’t interested in getting the windows done in the next year but we were in the process of getting the side door replaced and we’d happily take a quote on that. They set up an appointment and, you guessed it, didn’t show. Didn’t call. Dinner late again. A month later the owner of the company called with what must have been sketchy notes. He said he was following up on the sales call and wanted to know if we were still interested in JRN’s services. He was very nice. I told him they’d stood us up and already missed the sale on the side door, we’d gone elsewhere. I said it would be at least two years before we were interested in doing the windows. He said he would guarantee us their quote plus 3% on the windows for 24 months. I said Hubby was more pissed about the situation than I was, he better talk to him. I handed over the phone and said, “Be nice, he’ll guarantee a price for 24 months.” Hubby went into macho mode and told the guy to lose our phone number and never call back.
This, of course, doesn’t change the fact that we want the work done. We drove over to Hansen’s, a great contractor’s store for siding, decking, doors, railing, moulding, etc. It’s also a large lumberyard. Hubby likes them because he’s developed a relationship with an a very good employee there. Hubby puts a great deal of store into personal relationships with contractors and workmen. He asked for a reference for an independent contractor and Scott whipped out a business card for T.R. He said this guy was awesome and was hurting for work. T.R. had talked about leaving the state and now Scott was getting his name out there as much as possible to try to keep him in the area.
We phoned up T.R. He got back to us right away and came over to the house within a couple of days. Turns out he had (has) his own company doing home repair work. He used to have several full-time employees and now it’s just him and occasionally one of his sons. The recession is hitting the housing market hard all over the place. The door replacement and the addition of a deadbolt into an existing steal door is no problem for him, we’ve ordered the door now and it’s a 4-week wait. He’s even willing to do the install on a Saturday so we don’t have to take time off work. I’d seen some new railing for the front porch that I liked so we also got the install cost on that. Again, a not-this-year project, but information to put in the hat. Replacing the front porch railing has been a goal since we moved in. Whatever work he does for us will be for a very fair price. We will definitely not take advantage of his strapped circumstances as, if his work turns out to be as good as Scott at Hansen’s said it is, we’ll hope to be able to call on him again. Maybe for windows when we’re ready.
T.R. treats Hubby with respect and doesn’t make stupid jokes about what Hubby may or may not be able to do being blind. You’d be surprised how many people do. I hate that crap, so does Hubby. Hubby is EXTREMELY handy. He’s putting in a new linoleum floor in the washer/dryer room now including cutting down tiles with a table saw, measuring and cutting quarter round moulding for the room as a whole, etc. Next we’re considering him re-doing the steps as well so the tiling matches throughout the basement. The tile is cracking in a few places but the main reason for replacing it is just that it’s really dated – 1950s gold.
In any case, the title of this blog post comes from a woman at work who is getting new windows put in. She had a contractor come over, look at the house, and then give her a quote for the entire job ON THE BACK OF HIS BUSINESS CARD. No specifics, nothing. Just a single dollar figure. Give me a break. Are we in a recession or what? You’d think people would be a little more careful right now. He ended up calling them back also to check on whether they wanted to go with his services. Luckily he got her husband, who is more circumspect. She was ready to read him the riot act. Spend over $8,000 for windows and two sliders based on a single dollar figure? Right!
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