Episode 2085
Home Makeover Magic: 10 Budget-Savvy Tips
Selling a house is like a carnival of human behavior, and let me tell you, I had a front-row seat to the madness. Picture this: I had a top-notch security system installed to protect my precious tools while my house was on the market. Every potential buyer walked out of my home, and it was like I was eavesdropping on an episode of 'The Real Housewives of Real Estate.' They'd hop in their cars and start gushing about what they loved or despised about my place. One guy even suggested a price drop of 40 grand while I was just sitting there, probably grinning like a Cheshire cat, knowing that I had other offers on the table. The absurdity of it all! I could practically hear the negotiations play out as if I was running my own secret spy operation. It’s hilarious how human nature plays into home selling, with couples bickering over kitchen choices like their lives depended on it. If you're selling your house, do yourself a favor: keep any discussions in the car. Trust me, you don’t want your negotiating strategy broadcasted to the world. My camera system caught every bizarre moment, and now I'm considering launching a YouTube channel called 'Realtor Spies.' Who knew home selling could be such a comedic spectacle?
Takeaways:
- The key to saving on home improvement projects is to prioritize high ROI upgrades, like garage doors.
- When working with contractors, always get multiple quotes and include a contingency fund for unexpected costs.
- Timing is everything; watch for seasonal price fluctuations in materials to save big bucks on renovations.
- Do your research on contractors and their materials to ensure you're getting the best value for your investment.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Craft
- Made American
- Woodmark
- Kohler
- Bloom Pest Control
To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.
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Mentioned in this episode:
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Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Welcome to around the House with Eric G. Your trusted source for all things home improvement.
Speaker B:Whether you're tackling a DIY project, hiring it out, or just trying to keep your home running smoothly, you're in the right place.
Speaker B:With over 30 years of remodeling experience, certified kitchen designer Eric G. Takes you behind the scenes with expert advice, industry trends, and the latest innovations for your home.
Speaker A:Home.
Speaker B:It's everything you need to know without the fluff.
Speaker B:Now let's get this show started with our host, Eric G. And John Dudley.
Speaker A:Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for home improvement.
Speaker C:I'm Eric G. I'm Johnny D. Hey.
Speaker A:Buddy, how we doing today?
Speaker C:Doing good, dude.
Speaker C:A little cold up here in the mountains.
Speaker C:Different setting, different vibes.
Speaker C:I made a fire last night.
Speaker C:Yeah, you know what?
Speaker C:I was like, wow, I can still make a nice fire.
Speaker A:There we go.
Speaker A:There we go.
Speaker A:Your Pacific Northwest roots come back in use in Colombia.
Speaker C:Yeah, no, that was actually really cool.
Speaker C:I was like, man, I miss making fires.
Speaker C:Although I hated it as a child when I was in third grade and my parents were like, start the fire in the morning.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Funny story, man.
Speaker A:I still got my house sold.
Speaker A:This last week.
Speaker A:It's closed.
Speaker A:I moved.
Speaker A:That's all done.
Speaker A:So now I can tell the story about selling my house and the people that were going through and putting offers or looking at stuff.
Speaker A:I had a very good security system around the perimeter of my house.
Speaker A:Cause I had a lot of tools, right?
Speaker A:So wanted to make sure that nobody was peeking around the property.
Speaker A:If you're selling your house, that is probably the most invaluable tool you can do is to put that around.
Speaker A:Because human nature says, and this happened every time 100% of the time.
Speaker A:People would walk out, they get to the front of their car, they meet with the realtor, and they gush about what they liked, didn't like, and what they thought the house was worth.
Speaker A:So it was like having a CIA bug in the negotiation process, which is helpful.
Speaker A:It's a helpful tool.
Speaker A:They walk out.
Speaker A:And I had this one guy walk out who was gonna put an offer in.
Speaker A:And we had another offer in come in before that we took.
Speaker A:But he came out and goes, I think we ought to offer, like, $40,000 off of it.
Speaker A:And I'd pay full price if I had to.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker A:And I tell you what, the human nature part of that was just fascinating.
Speaker A:People walking out.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Or they'd walk around a corner and go, oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker A:Oh, I'D love to have this.
Speaker A:And then you'd see the husband vs wife discussion of, oh, I want that outdoor kitchen.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I do the kitchen, though.
Speaker A:And it was just this stereotypical husband, wife discussion back and forth that you could just watch as a play by play on my.
Speaker A:My camera system and follow it around.
Speaker C:So if we blur faces, can we create a YouTube channel out of this stuff?
Speaker A:That's idea.
Speaker C:Just throwing it out there.
Speaker A:It's all saved in the cloud.
Speaker A:So that's funny.
Speaker C:Realtor Spies.
Speaker A:Realtor Spies, that could be its own TV show now that we're telling everybody about it.
Speaker C:But somebody's already on YouTube doing it.
Speaker C:Thanks.
Speaker A:There's probably somebody out there.
Speaker A:But anyway, it was just so funny to watch.
Speaker A:And you guys out there selling your houses.
Speaker A:Just one.
Speaker A:If you're out buying, be careful.
Speaker A:Maybe getting a phone call once you get in the car or sit in the car and have the discussion inside the car if you need to have the discussion.
Speaker A:Because this didn't have them inside the house.
Speaker A:It was notified in the listing that there were exterior cameras that worked.
Speaker A:So it was.
Speaker A:There was nothing nefarious here, but it was just funny.
Speaker A:You could hear every single time.
Speaker A:There was just absolute craziness of the discussion of looking over the house.
Speaker C:How funny.
Speaker C:Nah, I actually.
Speaker C:I would love to see some of that.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:There's a rabbit hole for us to dive down, so.
Speaker C:Yeah, late night listening.
Speaker A:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker A:I should make a compilation video of that.
Speaker A:I like it.
Speaker A:I like it, brother.
Speaker A:Today I think we talk about some of the top 10 tricks of saving on your next home improvement project.
Speaker A:Because, holy smokes, things are expensive out there.
Speaker A:I was.
Speaker A:It's amazing how expensive it is.
Speaker A:And for all you guys listening across the country, I went up last weekend after I got everything done, I had to go up and get a truck.
Speaker A:So I went up to the Seattle area.
Speaker A:I'm down in the Portland area.
Speaker A:Gasoline up There is like 4:40 a gallon for unleaded in most places.
Speaker A:And I'm not talking the crazy one by the highway.
Speaker A:I'm talking going by the Costco and that kind of stuff where you get the deals.
Speaker A:It's still four and a half gallons, four and a half bucks a gallon up there, which is about 80 cents more than here in Oregon.
Speaker A:And that just translates to everything, especially when you've got truck drivers having to haul stuff.
Speaker A:And no, you know, now they added that new tariff to 25% to kitchen cabinets and kitchen cabinet parts that are coming out of China.
Speaker A:I think Hardwood flooring and plywood is next where January, that's going to be 50% on that stuff, which is going to really affect the low end price point stuff coming out.
Speaker A:So there's things that are happening out there that we need to be careful of.
Speaker A:So it might be if you're buying some of those products that look like they might be going on the next list, I want to get them sooner than later because 25 to 50% can add a bunch to that budget that you're not anticipating.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And also in thinking about back to the point of buying a house, if you're looking at buying a fixer or thinking you're going to add some equity, but run that budget more than twice and take a look at where that budget might be a little bit low in six months that you thought you were going to redo the kitchen for xyz and now the kitchen is double xyz.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Especially it's going to be different now that if you're working with a local cabinet shop or a national cabinet company.
Speaker A:But let's be honest, big companies like Craft, Made American, Woodmark, all those big brands you see in the home improvement stores, they're having parts built, they're sending off and having all their cut parts done in China and they talk about made in America, but guess what, they're shipping plywood over there.
Speaker A:It's getting cut up and comes back because it's cheaper.
Speaker A:And let's just think about that for just a second.
Speaker A:It's cheaper for them to take a semi truck full of particle board or plywood or furniture board as they call it, send it on a diesel powered or fuel oil powered ship halfway across the world and then cut it and ship it back.
Speaker A:It's cheaper to do that than to pay a guy and a CNC machine in their own building.
Speaker A:That shows you.
Speaker C:How about this a couple weeks ago or something?
Speaker C:I can't do the math on that one.
Speaker C:I'd love to get somebody on here to explain that.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's fascinating.
Speaker A:And that's not even our first one here.
Speaker A:I want to talk about this.
Speaker A:Prioritizing those high return on investment projects like garage doors and things like that we talked about a few weeks ago.
Speaker A:That's a really great way to get the most out of your dollar if you're remodeling, if you're going to go do something.
Speaker A:I've been out looking at houses.
Speaker A:So many people go on and make their own kitschy little thing in the house and it's like nobody wants that if you're thinking about the value, you're actually looking at it going, wow, I'm going to remodel this place.
Speaker A:You don't want to have a. I was street of dreams with my buddy Ty here recently over in the Tri Cities and there was a house for sale next door to that.
Speaker A:These people had done this black and white tiger striped porcelain tile everywhere in the house.
Speaker A:You and I talked about it and it was a million dollar house.
Speaker A:It had a million dollar view.
Speaker A:But there's a $500,000 remodel to take the tile off the floors and the walls and the showers because they on everything.
Speaker A:They bought a container of it and used all of it.
Speaker C:And yeah, it's a tough sell unless you find another tiger person, zebra person.
Speaker A:Whatever person, and then you're gold.
Speaker A:But when you're trying to sell that kind of house, that's a tough one.
Speaker A:That's a tough one.
Speaker A:And then the next one here is the flip side of that.
Speaker A:On that list is skipping those low return on investment ones like we talked about, like those bathroom additions that were bringing back less than 50%.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And again, those are projects that are you're paying for the contractor to come do.
Speaker A:So you'll get a better return on investment.
Speaker A:If you're doing that as a DIY project and you're doing it right, you're.
Speaker C:Going to eat some.
Speaker C:That's just part of the deal.
Speaker C:You got five years out of it, that's great.
Speaker C:But you might have to redo that tile to get the place sold.
Speaker C:Just like you just had to do with your house.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker C:This was great to get it done.
Speaker C:Update this or do this or.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:All right, guys, when we return, we got more of our top 10 tricks for saving on your next home improvement just as soon as around the House returns.
Speaker B:If you are listening to the podcast, make sure you have clicked the subscribe button on your favorite podcast player.
Speaker B:Around the House.
Speaker B:We'll be right back.
Speaker C:Sam.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show.
Speaker A:This is your trusted source for home improvement.
Speaker A:Everything from construction to design.
Speaker A:Johnny and I have been sitting here talking about our top 10 tricks for saving on your next home improvement project.
Speaker A:And I tell you what, man, it's so interesting out there watching prices fluctuate and styles changing.
Speaker A:It's that time of year that we're going to see.
Speaker A:It seems between October and February are where many of the price changes for like plumbing and cabinetry and stuff.
Speaker A:Because here's what happens.
Speaker A:And I've noticed that everything drives around the kitchen and bath industry show, or what they call design and construction week, because that's in February.
Speaker A:So all the new products tend to come out in February or get announced, whether they're going to be coming out in the summer or the fall.
Speaker A:That's the new stuff.
Speaker A:And so we start to see now where this is the time of year where we start to see any price increases or price adjustments happen.
Speaker A:Rarely do they go down, but usually this time of year is where we see them starting to go up.
Speaker A:And you.
Speaker A:I was.
Speaker A:You're gonna laugh about this one I was in.
Speaker A:And here's another one, just a little side mark.
Speaker A:I want to hit on this.
Speaker A:I was in Seattle last weekend, and I was listening to the radio, and I heard my.
Speaker A:One of my favorite companies, and I'm not going to bring up, up in Seattle advertising kitchen and bath projects that are sitting here.
Speaker A:If you call now, we can get your.
Speaker A:We can get your kitchen or bathroom remodeled for the holidays.
Speaker C:They did?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:No, you got to be desperate.
Speaker A:You got to be desperate.
Speaker A:Don't fall for the trap, guys.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:If they get more than two calls, they're in deep trouble.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:They are.
Speaker A:They are.
Speaker A:You and I know it's, oh, no, here we go.
Speaker A:I don't care if you can get cabinets in three weeks, you're in trouble.
Speaker A:You're in deep trouble.
Speaker A:There's no way you're gonna get a properly done kitchen remodel at the end of October.
Speaker A:Done and done by Thanksgiving.
Speaker A:Ain't gonna happen.
Speaker C:I remodeled houses for 30 years, and the only thing I could be sure of is things go wrong.
Speaker C:And the only thing you get better at is planning for that and expecting that and learning how to accept that.
Speaker C:Sounds too good to be true.
Speaker C:Probably is.
Speaker C:That gets more true and more accurate the longer I live.
Speaker C:Like, guys, Absolutely.
Speaker A:What's funny?
Speaker A:And it's like, I'm sitting there watching.
Speaker A:There's a group that I am kind of an expert in.
Speaker A:It's Ask a cabinet maker on Facebook.
Speaker A:It's one of those big, huge Facebook groups, and it's a great group.
Speaker A:But I tell you what, it shows you all the things that can go wrong in a kitchen and bath project with cabinetry on there.
Speaker A:Because some of it, I'm like, who sent that out the door?
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:What little custom cabinet shop sent this out the door?
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:And then you'll sit there.
Speaker A:I'll sit there and go, hey, does it match your sample that you approve for production?
Speaker A:What sample?
Speaker A:And it's just this searcher yeah.
Speaker C:Cabinetry is one of the most finicky and one of the most problematic pieces of it because even if they did get the finish right and they cut everything to the right size and everything functions correctly, something gets damaged in shipping or shipping gets held up or.
Speaker C:And it's always so many things.
Speaker A:It's always corner cabinet you need.
Speaker A:It's just the.
Speaker A:It's the.
Speaker A:Or the sink cabinet.
Speaker A:It's something you have to go to the next step.
Speaker C:That's the next thing you know, you're two days from Thanksgiving and you've got a contractor that's trying to refabricate the cabinet that was built in a factory.
Speaker C:And he's over there with a.
Speaker C:A router and a handsaw, trying to jig it out so we can make it work and cut down the sideboard and nine.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You're getting a new kitchen that.
Speaker A:That you've had to carry to put together.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It's just never totally.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Don't.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Don't short yourself, guys.
Speaker C:It's not.
Speaker C:Not for that kind of.
Speaker C:Not for that kind of price tag.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Do you want it?
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker A:Do you want a fast.
Speaker A:Which one would you like?
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:You only get one.
Speaker A:Another one on here that I thought was interesting that I had put on this list.
Speaker A:Just kind of working through it.
Speaker A:If you want their best return on investment, opt for the mid range kitchen model over the upscale one.
Speaker A:That upscale one that we're seeing on that report just doesn't pan out for you on the return.
Speaker A:And you can still do the stuff you want, but you just need to be careful.
Speaker A:Maybe you don't spend the money on the Wolf Sub Zero right now, but you put in the.
Speaker A:Instead of a laminate countertop, you put quartz in or one of the more solid countertop materials other than a laminar or tile, and you come out okay with that and not get too upside down in your project.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And again, so many factors.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:What's the neighborhood like?
Speaker C:What are you up against?
Speaker C:But generally speaking, when you go for the upscale, it's because it's like we're talking about earlier.
Speaker C:It's the things you want.
Speaker C:Oh, I really want this corner jacuzzi tub to fit right next to my bookshelf in my shoe closet.
Speaker A:Like, that's cool for you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:I understand you'll pay an extra 40k for that, but the next person walks in is gonna hate that tub.
Speaker C:And they don't have that many shoes.
Speaker C:And you don't get it back.
Speaker A:No, you don't and it never works and never works in your favor.
Speaker A:And we see that so many times.
Speaker A:And then when you're rushing stuff, anytime that you're rushing stuff through, whether it's a window order, whether it's a door order, whether it's cabinetry, those crazy mistakes happen because it even gets worse if you order something wrong.
Speaker A:Everybody gets the chance of the second time.
Speaker A:Ordering is like 10x more because they're in a hurry to get it for you for the holidays.
Speaker A:So they're pushing it through real quick.
Speaker A:They're not checking the details.
Speaker A:Odds are that second time it's going to be wrong again in another.
Speaker C:The faster we try to go, everybody starts getting a little bit sloppy and adequate gets the bar gets lower just a little bit for inadequate and just push it out.
Speaker C:We got to get it out.
Speaker C:And I get it, man.
Speaker C:I'm an impatient son of a bee.
Speaker C:No question about it.
Speaker C:And I want it now.
Speaker C:And I, when I decide I want.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:But the fact of the matter is I can give this advice because I have paid that price a number of times.
Speaker C:Like no, I can do, I can do.
Speaker C:I can get that done in two weeks.
Speaker C:I can do it.
Speaker C:I can do it.
Speaker C:I'm an, I'm a painfully eternal optimist.
Speaker C:And even at my age now, even with all my experience, it'll still bite me in the butt.
Speaker C:That's still.
Speaker A:It still does.
Speaker A:My house was that way.
Speaker A:Oh, if I get this and this and then you find those other progress.
Speaker A:It's crazy.
Speaker A:It's like my house, I was going through it, I'm just jamming through and it was driving me insane because I was working through it, just going, okay.
Speaker A:And then I'd find something stupid.
Speaker A:Great example.
Speaker A:I have Bloom pest control down on my crawl space this last week and I love those guys.
Speaker A:They're based out of Portland here, their crawl space services are pest control.
Speaker A:And they come up and they go, hey man, we found a little tiny leak in a pipe.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:They're not plumbers.
Speaker A:So I'm like, all right, I'm going to get down there.
Speaker A: ken this looked like it was a: Speaker A:Do you ever see those plumbing repair kits where they take it out of almost like fiberglass cast material and you wrap around it.
Speaker A:They had done that on a three quarter inch water line on the main coming in and I think that they had not soldered the elbow correctly and it was dripping and they wrapped it in that.
Speaker A:I get up there, I get, I'm like, what is this?
Speaker A:It was just a little drip.
Speaker A:Drip, yeah.
Speaker A:On the dirt of the crawl space.
Speaker A:It didn't matter.
Speaker A:But when you've got black, thick black plastic down like you're supposed to for a vapor bear, now you got a little pool.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:I get down there.
Speaker A:Had to cut it all out.
Speaker A:It was an hour to do it, but still it's another hour because there's an hour off the schedule of the day.
Speaker A:It's coming from someplace.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:In that position, when you're trying to sell, it's always yeah.
Speaker C:You remember how many 4ams I'd run?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:What are you doing?
Speaker C:I'm sawzalling out a window.
Speaker C:That's not fitting.
Speaker C:It's 4am Dudley.
Speaker C:I'm like, yeah, I'll buy the neighbors a steak.
Speaker C:I gotta get this.
Speaker A:The police are showing up.
Speaker A:We gotta get this done.
Speaker A:We gotta get this done.
Speaker A:On that note, let's try not to break and pay the bills here, brother.
Speaker A:Around the house.
Speaker A:Be right back after these important messages.
Speaker B:We're hitting the pause button to check our blueprints.
Speaker B:Don't start remodeling without us.
Speaker B:Around the house returns in a flash.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for home improvement advice.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker A:Johnny D. And I have been sitting here talking about those top 10 projects, those things that you can do around the house that really can save you things on your next home improvement project, those tips and tricks.
Speaker A:And I tell you what, man, I think one of the most important ones is if you're going to work with a contractor, get the multiple quotes and put in that contingency fund for when stuff goes sideways.
Speaker A:Think about how many times you get into, especially here, like in our area.
Speaker A:Dry rot in the Pacific Northwest is big, where something's been leaking for 20 years and nobody knows.
Speaker A:And you go to swap out a window and it's like, all right, we gotta do siding and some two by fours while we're at it.
Speaker A:Now, because you're reframing stuff, it happens more often than you think.
Speaker A:Because back in the 60s and 70s and even 80s, they weren't flashing things correctly.
Speaker A:And that water.
Speaker A:All somebody has to do is Ms.
Speaker A:Mix, Ms. A little bit of that caulking.
Speaker A:They're in a world of hurt.
Speaker C:Happens a lot in the Northwest.
Speaker C:That's where all my remodel experience was.
Speaker C:And you just knew what was behind those walls.
Speaker C:Especially in the older houses, this turn of the centuries, up to the 30s, always something.
Speaker C:You're like, oh, no, man.
Speaker C:Including one dimensional lumber or full dimensional lumber changes how, you know, everything's gonna fit and.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And what's so fun for me, and this is one of the things I love traveling across the country, giving seminars and doing things like that, is I've enjoyed seeing how people build things in other areas.
Speaker A:So we build things one way in the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker A:But if you go down and watch a new construction house in Phoenix, for instance, I've watched it down there, and I'm watching them pour concrete slab on grade, where up here we have crawl spaces slab on grade.
Speaker A:And they're just pouring right on the dirt.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And there's no ins.
Speaker A:Now up here we have to have insulation and steel, and they're.
Speaker A:They're just basically pouring it right on the dry dirt.
Speaker A:And I was like, holy smokes.
Speaker A:That's not how we do it here.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's way different.
Speaker C:I did.
Speaker C:I was in Arizona for eight years and did some construction there.
Speaker C:Yeah, man.
Speaker C:That's that there are no crawl spaces.
Speaker C:There's rarely a basement that's too hard.
Speaker C:It doesn't happen.
Speaker A:It just doesn't happen.
Speaker A:So they do that there.
Speaker A:And the other thing I was watching too, is these builders, they were actually.
Speaker A:They had the drywall work done before they had windows in.
Speaker A:And I'm watching them here on the west coast, you've got to have the house dried in first before you can even start on the electrical in there.
Speaker C:And it's automatically dried in the desert.
Speaker A:Until it's monsoon season.
Speaker A:And then they've got 10 inches of water in two hours.
Speaker A:But, yep, if you hit that one, you're in trouble.
Speaker A:But I tell you what, I was so shocked in the dirt that was blowing inside these homes, I'm like, I don't know if I want that in my H Vac system.
Speaker A:I don't know if I want that on my freshly painted walls because they haven't put windows in yet.
Speaker C:It's so difficult to get.
Speaker C:Not only to keep that out, but to get it all out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And even in a really well built sealed house, that dirt is so fine, dude.
Speaker C:And you get those haboobs and huge windstorms.
Speaker C:It gets in everywhere.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:Look at that go, man.
Speaker A:I don't know if I want that.
Speaker A:And then you go down to like Florida, for instance, or the Gulf coast states where they've got all those hurricane regulations now, which I like.
Speaker A:But there's cables that come from the foundation that go all the way up through the top plate and Tie into the rafters, and you've got everything holding it down.
Speaker A:I'm like, man, that is awesome.
Speaker A:They should be doing that everywhere for earthquakes and everything else, but it is well built for that.
Speaker A:And I think we could mix some of those.
Speaker A:Those projects.
Speaker A:I think you could sit there and put some of that technology into the west coast for earthquakes and things like that.
Speaker A:That might help out if they thought about it a little bit more.
Speaker A:But my point being, with this little bit of rant about how they build things is also, when you're out there talking about sometimes you'll have a builder that comes in out of another area.
Speaker A:Oh, I just moved up from here.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Be careful.
Speaker A:They might not have the subs lined up.
Speaker A:And number two, they might be building things on a way different program than what's going to pass in your area, especially with building codes and trying to get away from stuff.
Speaker A:Just because they were down in Texas doesn't mean that they're a great contractor.
Speaker A:And it doesn't mean that they don't know how to build things to protect a bit against the moisture or whatever's in your area.
Speaker A:Just as if you were in Florida and somebody came out from Seattle.
Speaker A:You should be asking those same questions.
Speaker C:Yeah, different is different.
Speaker C:And if you want a real drastic example, come to Colombia.
Speaker C:You're like, what, that?
Speaker C:Huh?
Speaker C:How is that going to work?
Speaker C:Yeah, dude, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I see down here when.
Speaker A:I was working in a.
Speaker C:Things like, there's things we count on.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Like, I had to go to three places and explain what plumber's putty was to these people.
Speaker C:They're just like, no, just silicone cockpit drain into the sink.
Speaker C:And I'm like, dude, I need plumber's putty.
Speaker C:Dina?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:What's putty?
Speaker C:What's putty?
Speaker C:You're like, oh, boy, it's gonna be a long day.
Speaker A:When I was in El Salvador, I'd go down there.
Speaker A:I probably have spent, what, six weeks in El Salvador over time, building down there and watching a mix concrete on the dirt.
Speaker A:They literally just had a hard pan of dirt, and they would go in there and just sit there and level out this little area of dirt.
Speaker A:And that would be where they were mixing concrete.
Speaker A:And they'd mix it up right there and then shovel it right into the.
Speaker A:Into the wheelbarrows.
Speaker A:And it was just interesting.
Speaker A:But they used for roof trusses because there's no snow load or anything like that.
Speaker A:Roof trusses were made out of re.
Speaker A:Welded rebar, and that's what they did.
Speaker A:It was absolutely amazing to see that.
Speaker A:And I'd never seen trusses made out of rebar, but that's what the whole roof system was made out of.
Speaker A:And then you put basically you tied off metal roofing to that, and that was your roof system.
Speaker A:So I was completely blown away at how that worked.
Speaker C:That's craziness.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's how they build down there.
Speaker C:Rebar trusses.
Speaker A:Rebar trusses.
Speaker A:They were this triangular shaped trust system, and they just basically had bent rebar down as a squiggle down the side of it and then tack welded it on there.
Speaker A:And it was rebar crazy.
Speaker A:Like, it basically looked like.
Speaker A:And to me, that stuff's pretty flexible.
Speaker A:It wasn't tied off, so it wasn't like you were doing pilings and you had to drop the cage down in there.
Speaker A:But this was rebar trusses that were welded up.
Speaker A:They were pretty strong up on it.
Speaker A:And it held us.
Speaker A:First time I got up on it, I'm like, yeah, I don't like this at all.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:And the local guys go, you'll be good.
Speaker A:You'll be good.
Speaker A:And there wouldn't be two of us up there.
Speaker A:Let's put it that way.
Speaker A:So that one was crazy.
Speaker A:Now, the other one I want to talk about here before we go out to break, which is making sure that you're choosing those more neutral, timeless designs for broader appeal.
Speaker A:And like we talked about earlier, if you're going to go crazy with the new Kohler avocado green toilet or something like that, make sure that you.
Speaker A:That's for you.
Speaker A:And know that you might have to change it out.
Speaker A:Even in my house, I had my.
Speaker A:My home office was this moody, purplish gray.
Speaker A:Looked like a thunderstorm cloud on the walls.
Speaker A:Yeah, I had to paint that back to white to put my house on the market.
Speaker A:I wasn't stoked about it, but, you know, I had to redo a lot of my crazier colors in there because it made the room look small.
Speaker A:I like the kind of moody den feel of it, but mass appeal.
Speaker A:So just remember, when you get crazy stuff going on, even though you like it, most people probably don't.
Speaker A:And not that you're building it for the next person, but you just want to make sure that you're okay with having to tear out what you're going to do if you're going off the reservation a little bit with colors and styles.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Like I said, that's part of the deal.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Say you're keeping it for five years, paint your bathroom whatever color you want, because that's, that's a gift to you.
Speaker C:That's for you.
Speaker C:Be willing to accept the consequence that you're gonna have to swap the avocado green toilet.
Speaker A:One of the other ones here I thought was a great tip for people is do your research and, and leverage kind of this industry data that we talk about, like on the show here when you're negotiating with contractors, because we, you know now what the prices are out there.
Speaker A:If you're seeing if you're doing a great job of understanding where the materials are coming from, how much the labor is versus that you can really dial in your choices to get the best value.
Speaker C:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker A:However common, I will say this, and this is one asterisk to doing this.
Speaker A:If your contractor likes to use brand A for Windows and you're saying, I want you to use brand C that they've never used, you could also be causing a problem where you're owning some liability if things don't work out.
Speaker A:Because now, and I've always said this with cabinetry, I've seen so many homeowners walk in to a custom cabinet shop and demand that they want this finish on the cabinets, and then when it turns out horribly, they want the cabinet maker to do it.
Speaker A:And I'm like, you specified that.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's your fault.
Speaker A:That's not the cabinet person's fault.
Speaker A:You demanded to do this.
Speaker C:Yeah, as a contractor, you really got to cover your butt on that stuff.
Speaker A:Johnny, let's run out to break real quick.
Speaker A:I want to dive a little deeper into this, and we need to get out to break so we can pay the bills here.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.
Speaker A:Stick around foreign.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for home improvement advice.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker A:Hey, if you want to find out more about us, head over to our website@aroundthehouseonline.com and if you're a contractor, designer, inventor out there, make sure you check out our Pro Insider podcast.
Speaker A:It's its own podcast over there you can find on your favorite podcast player.
Speaker A:And Johnny and I have been sitting here talking about really diving into the things that you can do to help make sure that you get the most out of your next home improvement project.
Speaker A:And if you were joining us before we went to break, I tell you what, if you're especially on the radio out there, one of the biggest things that I see, and I know, Johnny, as a contractor has had to deal with this on so many projects is the homeowner being their worst enemy?
Speaker A:Because if you're out there demanding that something be done one way and you don't really know what you're talking about, one, you're owning liability on it.
Speaker A:And many times a contractor is going to go, oh, you're going to be that client and they're going to add 10 or 15 or 20% because they know that you're going to take so much extra handholding to get through the project, it's going to be a little sketchy.
Speaker C:It's called the pain in the ass fee.
Speaker A:Yeah, it is.
Speaker A:And we've all done it.
Speaker C:That's not to say.
Speaker C:That's not to say.
Speaker C:Don't ask legitimate questions.
Speaker C:That's not to say don't tiptoe around your contractor.
Speaker C:It's your dollar and it's your project and you're the boss.
Speaker C:But be respectful.
Speaker C:Just be respectful, human to human.
Speaker C:Are you sure it's okay?
Speaker A:Questions.
Speaker A:It's okay to ask questions.
Speaker A:But when you're micromanaging the project or you're pretending to know more than they do and they actually know more than you do, it's okay to go, hey, wow, that tile install looks horrible.
Speaker A:What's going on?
Speaker A:That's one thing.
Speaker A:But you also need to keep in mind that many times a great contractor, you're coming in, it's somebody walking in on Da Vinci's art and the painting's not done yet and you're judging it by what?
Speaker A:There's a fine line there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:As hard as it is, you can't because the contractor has the plan in his head.
Speaker C:And the last thing you want to say is, don't you want to do X, Y and Z?
Speaker C:First one of these, you've hired the.
Speaker A:Wrong contractor or the contractor said yes to the wrong homeowner.
Speaker A:And that's the crux of the problem right there.
Speaker A:That's the thing.
Speaker A:And the other thing here too is I want to bring up, just as a side mark to that as well, is do your research on those contractors.
Speaker A:Make sure they're licensed, bonded, insured.
Speaker A:Make sure that, oh, I tell you what, my ex decided to bring in some house cleaners that she found off of next door or something like that.
Speaker A:They did more damage to the house.
Speaker C:Than, oh, that's right, your shower.
Speaker A:Yeah, they had done so much damage to the house, it took me another two days to fix the stuff that they destroyed.
Speaker A:And they were just cleaning.
Speaker A:And again, she tried to save money.
Speaker A:I Had no say in it, really.
Speaker A:And when they left, I had days of work to put things back together that they were just doing stupid, reckless stuff that didn't need to happen.
Speaker A:Get the right people for the job because it's going to cost you more money if you don't.
Speaker C:Check the licensing, get some referrals, see some photos from other projects.
Speaker C:Common sense.
Speaker A:The other thing is, too, is to bundle projects together.
Speaker A:If you're going to do it in phases, say, hey, I'm going to hire you to do the master bath remodel and the kitchen remodel.
Speaker A:That way the contractor can have the electricians and some of that stuff come in and do it at the same time, right?
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:Because if you break that into two projects, one, it's going to take twice as long.
Speaker A:Two, you can actually save some money because when the electrician shows up and they're doing all that work, sometimes they're doing stuff that has to go through the kitchen area just to get to the bathroom anyway, depending on where things are located.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's always better than a restart because and including the fact that on a lot of those restarts, what you did for the bathroom now has to change for the kitchen.
Speaker C:So it's not only restarting a new project for the kitchen, but whatever was done on your previous project, you might have to do twice now.
Speaker C:So always.
Speaker C:Yeah, if you can put them together, plan ahead, get it all done in one shot.
Speaker C:Way better.
Speaker A:And pay attention to the specifications.
Speaker A:You've got an older house, so many of these new ovens and stuff take four wires for the oven now instead of three.
Speaker A:So they got to have their own dedicated neutral.
Speaker A:They have to have their own dedicated ground, and they won't work without them.
Speaker A:So that's where that can be a big issue, because all of a sudden now you're running a new ground wire from that kitchen oven placement all the way back to wherever the panel is.
Speaker A:That can be a problem.
Speaker A:That can be a big problem.
Speaker A:That can cost you a ton of money.
Speaker A:I've had electrical changes because the homeowner went and changed oven brands and then the electrician shows up and goes, well, this oven won't work without this, especially with stuff coming out of Europe.
Speaker A:So be very careful.
Speaker A:Sometimes those things happen.
Speaker A:So read those specifications before you get the project going and have everything.
Speaker C:And that's a quick 500 bucks.
Speaker C:It's a quick 500 bucks.
Speaker C:And if it happens more than twice.
Speaker C:It adds up.
Speaker A:It adds up.
Speaker A:I had one where the panel was on the other side of the house.
Speaker A:It was a cliff house kind of thing.
Speaker A:And they had a ten grand bill to wire things because they had to go through all these places to run electrical.
Speaker A:And they were ripping open walls.
Speaker A:They were ripping open up underneath the house.
Speaker A:Because it was one of those.
Speaker A:It was in Seattle where you have those cliff houses up there.
Speaker A:It's same in Portland.
Speaker A:You got these houses that are out on the bluff, like in Burien or wherever else like that.
Speaker A:And they're out there and they had to go off those pylons and work around it and fall protection device for the electrician and all that stuff.
Speaker A:It was ten grand bill for those ovens and the guys.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:I just changed the oven.
Speaker A:Guess what.
Speaker A:Yeah, you change the oven.
Speaker A:But now this takes a whole different electrical and you can't just pull that.
Speaker A:It's not like it's a commercial project with conduit.
Speaker C:Oh, man.
Speaker C:Brutal.
Speaker C:That's a tough lesson.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's a tough lesson.
Speaker A:And the last one I want to talk about here too, which is important, and this is what this show is really all about, is you tackling those DIY friendly tasks to cut labor costs.
Speaker A:Now here is the thing.
Speaker A:Here's a big important one here.
Speaker A:And you agree with this, I'm sure, Johnny.
Speaker A:But I'm curious to get your take.
Speaker A:If you're working with a contractor, you need to sit down and make sure they're okay if you're gonna do demo, if they're okay if you're gonna be painting, because many times they will charge you more because they know that they're gonna have to come back and finish taking all the nails out of the studs from your demo day, or fixing the wall that is now out of whack because you decided to, like on hdtv, get the big sledgehammer out and start swinging with the wall to take the drywall out, where you could have just had a framing hammer, poke some holes and pull it off without doing all the damage.
Speaker C:It's a cute notion and generally a mistake made by younger owners.
Speaker C:Like, look, honey, our first house.
Speaker C:I'm gonna smash this wall with a sledgehammer because that's what I saw on tv.
Speaker C:And you know, the first thing you do is chop through a piece of a strip of romex.
Speaker A:Knock the base plate loose off the concrete that wasn't down there or whatever.
Speaker C:Hit a chunk of copper and water floods your brand new living room.
Speaker C:Like, I thought you could do this, honey.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And then enters the relationship part of remodel.
Speaker A:I tell you what, I Had that with a stud finder.
Speaker A:One time rental house that I had.
Speaker A:We were renting in the house for a year years ago in between houses to get the kids through school.
Speaker A:So we didn't take them out of their school district, didn't want to change, take them out of their school district in the senior year.
Speaker A:Stud finder keep going through.
Speaker A:Awesome double stud here.
Speaker A:Great place for the tv.
Speaker A:Nope, that was not a double stud.
Speaker A:This was in the den area I had.
Speaker A:It was nice day.
Speaker A:So the window was open with the screen open air in the house out.
Speaker A:I was doing some projects.
Speaker A:I put that leg bolt in and that was a 3 quarter inch CPVC cold water line.
Speaker A:Go to the tub.
Speaker A:Of course it was that water shot out of there so far it went across, hit the window screen, popped the window screen out on the deck.
Speaker A:I didn't get 2 gallons of water on the floor because I went and turned it off real quick.
Speaker A:And of course I go out to shut the water off and it's a CPVC shut off as well.
Speaker A:So I bust the handle off on that.
Speaker A:So now I gotta go out to the street and turn it off.
Speaker A:It was just those comedy of errors.
Speaker A:I got it fixed, but it was just like really?
Speaker C:Couldn't put a nail plate.
Speaker C:Couldn't put a nail plate over that.
Speaker A:Yeah, maybe, yeah, no.
Speaker A:And of course it was cpvc which is so difficult to work with anyway.
Speaker A:Just no fun.
Speaker A:But those are the things that happen and those are the things that sometimes can cost you more money if you're trying to do it.
Speaker A:Sometimes contractors will look at you and go, I don't want you touching it, I've got this.
Speaker A:And if you demand it, they're just going to charge you more.
Speaker A:So you're not saving yourself any money.
Speaker A:So have a very honest conversation.
Speaker C:Almost always the case, unless you have previously been in the trades and you're like, no, I was an electrician for 10 years, I can run my own Romex or whatever.
Speaker C:That, that's the exception.
Speaker C:But yeah, usually saying I want to do this and this, either the price is going up or I'm not working with you.
Speaker C:It's you're only going to hurt yourself.
Speaker C:And like you just said, you're not saving any money by doing that.
Speaker C:And generally speaking, as a contractor, I could always explain that to the customer.
Speaker C:Look, it's.
Speaker C:You can do the demo, but it's not going to save.
Speaker C:It's not going to.
Speaker C:You want to demo a whole kitchen for maybe a save 100 bucks?
Speaker C:Like really?
Speaker C:Okay, okay, yeah.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:It just doesn't work well.
Speaker A:And the ones that do you, they either know your skills or they just don't care.
Speaker A:And they're like, okay, that's fine.
Speaker A:And those are warning signs as well.
Speaker A:Those are warning signs.
Speaker C:It's all about the relationship, man.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:And that's a good note.
Speaker A:Johnny.
Speaker A:We're out of time for this hour.
Speaker A:It's time to go out to break, and we do have a second hour of the show coming up.
Speaker A:I'm Eric G. And you've been listening to around the House.
