Even for the DIY Expert...When is it the right time to hire a contractor to do the job

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[00:00:32] Eric Goranson: And here's why. So you spend the weekend hanging drywall, you get it in there, you get your first coat of tape on there and mud, you're good to go, but you're not as efficient as the pros are because they do it every single day. So of course your mud and tape skills, aren't going to be amazing, but here's the thing is where it gets you the different coats in between when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered this is [00:01:00] around the house.

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[00:01:30] Eric Goranson: To find out more information, visit baldwinhardware. com. Welcome to the round the house show. The next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Eric G and we've got a great show lined up for you today. We're going to be talking about. When is it smart to hire a contractor and when is it smart to DIY?

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[00:02:12] Eric Goranson: Cause we've got a bunch of different stuff. We've got videos. We've got the podcast. We're listening on the radio. All the podcast episodes are over there and we have so many other pieces up there. Jeez, I think we're getting close to 450 videos working our way towards 500 of just stuff that's been Aaron on the around the house, Northwest television show that airs on Fox 12 plus here in Portland.

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[00:02:51] Eric Goranson: You can get it for free right there, or you can check out the YouTube videos on around the house, online. com. So when is it smart [00:03:00] to hire a contractor? So here's some things that I always recommend people dive into to make sure that you're doing the math correctly. And one of the biggest ones. Before you start, what is your time worth?

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[00:03:39] Eric Goranson: And it's going to pull you away from family, sporting events, things you want to do. It's going to cramp your lifestyle. It's going to maybe put undue stress on your relationship because it's a summertime project. If you hire a contractor, they're out there five days a week, probably, maybe six. Working on the project and you being a [00:04:00] 40 hour or 50 hour a week working person man That's usually limited to the weekends and then you've got other stuff family barbecues Holidays, whatever else and it's really hard to get going on something for two days straight.

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[00:04:34] Eric Goranson: Maybe it's not worth putting the stress on your relationship of you doing it, whatever that situation is. So think about what are those costs? What is it going to cost you? And that's one of the biggest things. And I know people will sit there and say, I'm going to be my own general and I'm going to bring in trades.

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[00:05:10] Eric Goranson: Are you going to pay the plumber by the hour to go drive? Or are you going to step out of that meeting and go get the parts? Cause. That plumber's charging you by the hour to sit there and wait for you to get the right parts. So how is that going to work? And these are those things that really you've got to be careful with that can be very expensive and it can cost you more money in the long run.

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[00:05:55] Eric Goranson: And maybe you want to bring in that contractor to have it done weeks in advance for you. [00:06:00] So that way you don't have to worry about it. And then next, here's the big one. And this is a hard one. Measuring up your abilities. How good of this are you? Are you just. Really skilled at what you do, or is there going to be a learning process?

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[00:06:35] Eric Goranson: Do you have, if you're on the roof doing a roofing project, do you have the ladders, the scaffold and the fall protection devices, the nailers, all that stuff? Do you have everything to do this job safely? And do you know how to operate this? That equipment. And these are all things that I want you to really consider when you're looking at these kinds of big projects.

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[00:07:18] Eric Goranson: Now one of the ones here too is I want to talk about this because this is probably one of the more important ones right here. And we'll talk about it in this segment and maybe into the next one here. But sometimes you get into projects where it doesn't make sense to do it as a DIY project. One of the big ones that I run into is insulation.

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[00:08:13] Eric Goranson: These guys are buying it direct. They're buying a lot of it. They might have a warehouse full of it, depending on the company you're dealing with. So that many times comes back way cheaper. Then what you'd expect it to be. I also had one with a roofing project come up here recently where roofing project needed to be done.

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[00:09:10] Eric Goranson: This is where these things start to get really expensive, and you're probably just better off writing the check and getting the work done by a licensed, bonded, insured contractor, and that way you get it done correctly, because this is where those things are a really big savings, because especially, all it takes is one injury and you're out.

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[00:09:47] Eric Goranson: Now when we come back here, we've got a lot more to talk about. When is it smart to hire that contractor? And when do you want to take it as a DIY? We'll do that just as soon as Around the House returns.[00:10:00]

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[00:10:40] Eric Goranson: to hire that contractor? And this is such a personal decision, but I want to make sure that I can help you get through this and figure out if it's worth it for you to do it as a project. Or if you're going to hire somebody out first, though, I want you to head over to around the house, online. com. That is how you can get ahold of me.

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[00:11:14] Eric Goranson: This is father's day weekend. Happy. Father's day to all the fathers are acting as fathers and all you out there that are giving fatherly advice To anyone out there. You're appreciated. Keep up the good work Let's keep those kids out there out of trouble and learning how to do things with their hands.

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[00:11:49] Eric Goranson: Drywall at times can be that way. If you figure out your time, drywall is a horrible, I'm not talking just a little repair, but if you're trying to drywall a house [00:12:00] for you as a DIY or this can be an absolute nightmare. And here's why. So you spend the weekend hanging drywall, you get it in there, you get your first coat of tape on there and mud, you're good to go.

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[00:12:35] Eric Goranson: So you get that all done. You're good to go Now you go in and it dries after a day or two depending on how the the temperature the heat humidity all those things going on You sand it you put on your second coat of mud. Well now you're into the next weekend, right? So you're on saturday By noon, you've got everything sanded, you got the second coat of mud on it.

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[00:13:09] Eric Goranson: So the problem that you see with that is a big one. So all of a sudden, what is a week long project for a contractor to come in, you've got four or five weeks in, because for most homeowners out there doing tape jobs, you've got two, three coats of mud. Then you're going to prime with a PVA primer. Then you're going to texture prime again and paint.

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[00:13:47] Eric Goranson: And with the price of drywall being high right now, I think, and I've seen some of the prices that some of the installers, cause I've looked at some drywall prices recently, at least in my area and you, of course, the drywallers aren't [00:14:00] charging full retail. Now, if you've got a small project and you've got a drywall or we're running into the home Depot store, that's grabbing it off the shelf there.

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[00:14:26] Eric Goranson: They're not paying retail like you are or how the little guys are at the home center. So that's where that starts to add up pretty quickly. So I've seen that now, one of the ones that gets really expensive because you have to buy so much equipment is when you're getting into asbestos abatement, lead abatement.

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[00:15:04] Eric Goranson: There's a lot of these little things that happen. So these are things that I really want you to think about. There are thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of equipment that you need to do this project. And as a homeowner, it makes no sense for you to go out and buy it because you need to have that.

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[00:15:36] Eric Goranson: And this is one of those things that in I've learned the hard way, we'll put it this way. Many times with a pickup truck over the last 20 plus years, I've decided, Oh, I'm not going to pay the delivery fee. I'll just go get it. And I tell you what, I have made that bad choice so many times. That I just won't do it anymore.

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[00:16:20] Eric Goranson: So you can ask them for that. But I have learned with sighting, with roofing, With drywall with many of these things, if it's insulation, even sometimes because of the bulk of it and the many trips you have to make to go back and forth, sometimes it's better to pay for delivery. And I have made some horrible mistakes trying with an old Chevy truck that I had with a tailgate on it, eight foot bed.

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[00:17:07] Eric Goranson: That when I got up to over 40, 45 miles an hour, I literally couldn't steer with the front steering wheel. And the front wheels were just coasting. And I literally had no control. It was absolutely unsafe. So spend the time, pay the delivery fee, or if you're going to go rent a truck, get the right trailer.

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[00:17:42] Eric Goranson: Once you drive away from that lumberyard and you've got it going down the road, it's your baby. If you order a delivery when it's dropped off and when they leave now, it's your baby. So especially with expensive stuff, sometimes it's just good to have it delivered. Have it taken care of and save yourself some money.

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[00:18:13] Eric Goranson: And I might make the project just a little bit easier for you. And then a little bit later on, we're going to talk about some other things too, as well. I'm trying to find that right contractor. And of course, if you're gonna hire them, my process and my secret to find them. And I'll tell you the one people that I don't look at, and that's the Better Business Bureau.

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[00:19:02] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is Ron Kiel, the metal cowboy from Kiel, the Ron Kiel band and Steeler, we are rocking around the house with Eric G welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining us today. We've been talking about. When to hire that contractor, when to tackle it as a DIY project.

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[00:19:40] Eric Goranson: And I'm going to give you a few of these just off my list here. So you can get an idea last weekend. We talked about, we did a project installing a pocket door where that door slides into the wall, but I found the ultimate pocket door hardware. This stuff's meant for a solid core door. She can put something heavy duty in there has soft clothes, soft [00:20:00] open pocketdoors.

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[00:20:21] Eric Goranson: Oh my gosh, this was amazing. I finally found a gas can that works and you know how these safety ones out there, the safer they get, the worse they are. They get gas on you. They get it on the lawnmower, the or the pressure washer, your ATVs or whatever you're putting gas in. Sure. Can mix when we talk about that.

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[00:20:57] Eric Goranson: And so you'll have to laugh at this one and that's over there as [00:21:00] well. And then we talked about whitewashing wood and vacuum repair, and we talked about different circular saw blades, what to use. And using the right one for the right project. And then we actually built, this is a great project for you.

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[00:21:32] Eric Goranson: We built a steel fence and then boy, we actually installed an emergency gas shutoff valve. So the list goes on and on. That's just off the last two weeks and we're cruising up on 500 videos right now, and it's just a lot over there. So something to take a look at. We have a lot of videos up there for you to take a look and helpfully walk you through the project that you're working on.

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[00:22:09] Eric Goranson: Cause this is one of the things, and my rule for doing projects is if it's a big specialty tool, I go rent it. Now I have a contractor saw actually a couple smaller table saws. I have a two car garage. That is my shop. I don't have the space for the table saw. I would love to have, I doubt most people don't.

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[00:22:44] Eric Goranson: So can those tools be rented or borrowed? Now, the problem I have with borrowing tools is one, you're assuming the liability for everybody when you borrow is specialty tool, and that's where you have to really figure out how that relationship is, what [00:23:00] happens if you bust it up. Den it up, ruin it. Are you now buying a tool?

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[00:23:19] Eric Goranson: I needed to buy this specialty tool and then I'll have it for next time. That's how that project works. And that's one way to do that. But if you've got to go out and buy thousands of dollars and tools. Now, all of a sudden, maybe hiring that contractor makes more sense. Now, my secret is I don't typically go to the big box stores to tool rental places.

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[00:24:01] Eric Goranson: It won't start. It's just worn out completely and there's no way it should have been rented to you. And I've had that from many places in the country. When I hit. Big box tool rentals. It's just what it is. So I like to hit the independent guys Or if you've got a small hardware store chain like I do here I've got park rose hardware these guys every year they've got brand new stuff there and it's all like it's brand new it is In perfect working order when you get it chains are sharp grippers are sharp Everything's ready to work.

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[00:24:52] Eric Goranson: And you're trying to pull and then putting yourself on the pull cord. There's a lot of things that can happen with these things. And you want to find the right place. [00:25:00] And that way it gets it all dialed in. So make sure that you figure out what tools you need. And that's something really to do early on in the project to figure out what you're going to do.

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[00:25:29] Eric Goranson: And maybe you got a buddy that will come help and then you can learn. And that's a learning experience. That's awesome. But maybe it's something you need to bring somebody in to do that or pay for them to do part of it. So that's one there. And then you need to just wrap that all up into the knowledge of the project costs here, what's going to happen.

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[00:26:08] Eric Goranson: Is this something that you have time to tackle or would you rather much rather be out? Sitting on the boat, playing round a golf. Would you much rather have this stuff and enjoy yourself? And there's a lot of great contractors out there. And this is where I really want to start talking about. What to do in hiring that contractor.

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[00:26:44] Eric Goranson: Did you do it again with them? Take a look there. Do your research, find out, talk to the lumber yards. I've said that before in our last episode, talk to the lumber yards or talk to the distributors. Who's your favorite people? It's amazing when you get that. Who's the favorite people? These are all [00:27:00] awesome things.

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[00:27:27] Eric Goranson: They don't know what they're doing. And I'm booked up two years. Why am I paying these guys 5, 000 bucks a month to get leads? And that's just what it is. And I'm talking about. The thumb tacks, the Angie's lists, the Angie, whatever you want to call them, these lead services. Cause here's what happens is you for many of these as a homeowner will jump on there and you're going to go, Hey, I need to have X done.

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[00:28:13] Eric Goranson: So take a look first at your. State, local, whatever contracting agency that does your licensing. There is no standard across the U S where I live. It is Oregon. It's a state thing, California state thing, Washington. It's a state thing, but you get off into the East coast and it's a city thing. It's a County thing.

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[00:28:59] Eric Goranson: [00:29:00] Welcome back to the around the house show the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. We've been talking about when to DIY and when to hire that contractor. And we were given my tips here about where to find that good contractor. Where do you find those guys? And let me get jump into this here real quick.

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[00:29:33] Eric Goranson: That number is 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44 8 3 3.

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[00:30:01] Eric Goranson: Here's what happens when these guys basically, if you want a good rating from them, you need to pay to get accredited. And so you pay whatever that fee is in your area. It could be 750 bucks. That's what it was for me. When I went online and my business was three years old that I had, And this was up in Washington state, three years old.

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[00:30:35] Eric Goranson: You need to pay us 750 bucks. I'm like, what happens if I don't? And they said, then we don't have enough information to give you the a wait a minute. So that was the BBB shakedown. Now, I think it was ABC did a whole story. If you Google search that up on a YouTube or whatever, you could find it there. They did a whole expose on them going through and bringing up and with some famous names like Disney Wolfgang Puck, all those kinds [00:31:00] of things of their experiences with this as well.

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[00:31:18] Eric Goranson: And to me, it just seemed like one big shakedown. And that's some of the problems that, like I said earlier, that I had with some of these referral services is that I have stood there on speakerphone standing next to a contractor. When some of these brands or referral services go, Hey, you just had a complaint because you didn't get back to these people.

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[00:31:53] Eric Goranson: And this is why I think you just need to get in. And the other one is do not start talking to people on next door either. That can [00:32:00] be tough. Holy smokes. In my area, if you want to find a bad contractor that is working, that is unlicensed, bonded, insured. Go on to my local next door page. Cause they are filled on there with people out there.

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[00:32:31] Eric Goranson: They know what they're doing and they're making the world a better place. But what you got to do is make sure that you don't find that percentage point. Whatever that is of the bad ones out there that are ripping people off. Great example. If you saw here a few years ago, we had her on the show. This was a something that we covered exclusively, but in Colorado, there was the bad contractor there that went in and went into my friend Amber's we're friends now, but went into her place.

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[00:33:15] Eric Goranson: That's how bad this was. So many of you probably saw this. This went viral. It was covered by news organizations. Inside Edition did stories on it. And so what happened was is the homeowner, Amber, who is awesome, she said, well, guys, we're going to stop here. We're done working here until we get this figured out because it was going bad and getting worse.

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[00:33:54] Eric Goranson: And they got mad, went over to her house and the neighbor who's a friend filmed [00:34:00] them coming into the house after they're told not to go to the house. And they went in husband and wife team went in with a sledgehammer and started to quote, Repossess the bathroom. Long story short, I know people that turned around and went out there.

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[00:34:29] Eric Goranson: Played through the legal system. And I think if I remember correctly, he was charged with a felony. She ended up getting, pleading down and getting some, he got some jail time over that. So this is stuff that you can't have happen. Now, this guy here. I think probably you'll end up leaving. He's not able to get a Colorado contractor's license, I believe.

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[00:35:10] Eric Goranson: Contractor licensing agency. See if you can get them on the phone. In many states that I've worked with in the past You can get them on the phone and say, Hey, what about triple a construction? I'm making a name up. What do you think about them? They'll look back and go, Oh, wow. Jeez, they've been around for 30 years and they've had two complaints, which in 30 years is completely reasonable because you do have to remember too, there's some crazy homeowners out there as well.

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[00:35:54] Eric Goranson: And then. Maybe the kids take over something all of a sudden they get four or five, six complaints, which is a big [00:36:00] deal. That's a problem. So this is really where you want to make sure that's all dialed in. Now, here's some of the rules that I have before we go wrap this up here and get to the rest of this.

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[00:36:33] Eric Goranson: So you can be covered because that was in place at the time. So that can help you a lot. So I always say, verify that when you're signing the contract, that should be very detailed. All right. Now the last little bit of this I want to get into before we run out of time here is some of the stuff where they're going to hire a contractor, not liability concerns.

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[00:37:19] Eric Goranson: You doing a big natural gas project and you're not sure of your ability. You're renting a backhoe to dig across the lawn, there's utilities there. Maybe it's smarter to have somebody come take that part on to reduce your liability so you don't cause a big issue. Those are things that you got to be really careful with.

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[00:37:56] Eric Goranson: These are things that are really taking [00:38:00] somebody with experience and you need their 20 years experience to help navigate and get through there. That's another one. Now here's my list of things that I recommend that you let the pros handle that aren't great DIY projects. And we talked about some of the things that might save you money, but this is the stuff that I think that if you're going to cost more, it's worth it.

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[00:38:39] Eric Goranson: That's just going to save you money in the long run. And it'll probably extend the life of it out. So you're actually going to have something that's going to last longer, like changing the oil in your car, same kind of thing, major electrical projects, like panel replacement, maybe it's a on demand generator hookup.

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[00:39:09] Eric Goranson: And, uh, one that can come back and actually power your house. Like what the Ford lightning can do. That is very detailed and there's a lot of tricks to that. You need to understand. So it works correctly. I'm Eric G and you've been listening to Around the House. Thanks for tuning in