Episode 2057
Remodeling 101: Where to Start and Why You Shouldn't Wing It
Let's dive into the chaos that is home remodeling, shall we? Picture this: you’ve got a house that’s screaming for a makeover, and you think you can handle it. But hold on to your tools, because things can go sideways faster than you can say, "I should’ve hired a contractor." This episode is all about the oh-so-fun pitfalls of DIY projects. Eric and his buddy John Dudley share stories that’ll make you laugh, cringe, and maybe even cry a little. From that classic moment when you think you’ve nailed the bathroom remodel, only to realize you forgot to plan for the plumbing (oops!), to the horror of discovering that your “perfect” electrical outlet placement is a giant no-no by code, they cover it all. If you’ve ever thought about tackling a home project solo, you better grab your notepad and take some serious notes because they’re serving up wisdom like it’s Thanksgiving dinner.
And let’s not forget those classic tales of the well-meaning homeowner who decides to do some “light demo.” Spoiler alert: it never ends well. Seriously, if you think you can just tear down a wall without consequences, think again! You might end up with a hefty bill for someone to fix your “creative” handiwork. They discuss the importance of planning from the first nail to the last coat of paint, because let’s face it, nobody wants to be the person frantically calling the electrician at the last minute because you forgot where the new light fixtures were supposed to go. So, if you’re ready to laugh and learn about the wild world of home improvement, this episode is your ticket to the DIY rollercoaster. Buckle up, folks!
Takeaways:
- Starting any remodeling project without a solid plan is like trying to bake a cake without a recipe; it usually ends in disaster and a mess everywhere.
- Prioritizing tasks in remodeling is key; nobody wants to redo work because they forgot about plumbing or electrical needs, right?
- Don't forget to pull permits for your projects; otherwise, you might end up ripping out beautiful work to comply with current codes.
- DIYing can save money, but sometimes hiring a pro is worth it if you want to avoid a headache and actually enjoy your remodel.
- Trust your contractor; they’ve seen it all and know how to keep the chaos at bay, so don’t hover and micromanage every little detail.
- And for the love of all things home improvement, plan the whole project in advance to avoid doubling your expenses due to lack of foresight!
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Aerobroom
- Aroundthehouseonline.com
- Stanley
- Yeti
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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We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/
Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.
Mentioned in this episode:
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Clean up inside and out with AeroBroom
The world's first 2-in-1 sweeper broom and cordless leaf blower combined in one convenient tool to clean your outdoor living spaces. With the Aerobroom, you can use it to sweep just like a normal broom, or you can blast debris from hard-to-reach areas.
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Want even more home improvement tips, tricks, and insider advice? Subscribe to my YouTube channel @AroundTheHouseEricG for project guides, product reviews, and behind-the-scenes content you won’t hear on the podcast. Don’t miss out—hit that subscribe button today!
SiteHype Designs
Visit SiteHype Designs and lets build a website that works as hard as you do! Use Promo Code "Eric G" for your free website audit and 30 minute consultation.
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 here's your host, Eric G. Welcome.
Speaker C:To the Round the House show, the next generation of home improvement.
Speaker C:I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining today.
Speaker C:We have got a great show lined up here and we got one of my good friends, John Dudley in the house.
Speaker C:Former contractor that I met 25 years ago.
Speaker C:Probably we played in bands together.
Speaker C:Now he is the brainchild behind the around the House online website and so many other things.
Speaker C:If you're listening to the show on the podcast and you're hearing site hype Designs, that's this guy.
Speaker C:Brother, welcome to your first time on around the House, Brother.
Speaker D:Thanks for having me, man.
Speaker D:I'm a little camera shy.
Speaker D:Believe it or not, for a guy that stands in front of people and screams his lungs out, dude, this is.
Speaker C:The perfect topic today because I was sitting there last night at my buddy Cam's house and probably some video coming up on that we're walking through, and he's really trying to get this house dialed in because he bought it for the property.
Speaker C: It was like: Speaker C:Having fun with it.
Speaker C:It's totally cool, but it's also a blank slate.
Speaker C:And he's, oh, my gosh, the guy can build some amazing furniture, but he's not a remodeling contractor, right?
Speaker C:So he's like many homeowners.
Speaker C:All right, I got a project.
Speaker C:Where do I start?
Speaker C:And as we've all done it ourselves, if you do that out of order, you end up doing stuff twice.
Speaker C:Like, you go, oh, I'm going to remodel the bathroom.
Speaker C:You do that first.
Speaker C:And then when you go to remodel the next bathroom, you're like, oh, man, I gotta get to the bathroom wall that I just finished to get it tapped into that plumbing that I didn't think about.
Speaker D:It's space.
Speaker D:The blank slate without a brilliant plan is a dangerous playground, my friend.
Speaker D:As we all have learned the hard way.
Speaker D:Like, perfect example.
Speaker D:Like, that's a beautiful wall that now I have to tear out.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, dude.
Speaker C:And we've all done it.
Speaker C:You know that electrician that comes in at the Last minute because somebody decided to add light sconces around the fireplace after the project's done that you've been trying to get them to do the light sconces on and they said no.
Speaker C:And then they get it done and go, oh, that would have been awesome to have those light sconces.
Speaker C:Now the electrician's in there poking holes, right?
Speaker D:Poking holes.
Speaker D:Or cutting out a 6 inch channel for 4 foot down on a burgundy wall that you had to 5 co paint because burgundy sucks.
Speaker D:And you're like.
Speaker D:And then it still won't match no matter how many coat.
Speaker D:Now you're painting the whole room again.
Speaker D:All over a sconce.
Speaker D:Love it.
Speaker C:Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker C:Funny story, I was talking to the guy over who's doing a lot of the work on my house right now because I hate drywall.
Speaker C:Probably like you hate drywall.
Speaker C:And it's so nice when you get a guy that's good, he's overdoing the ceilings in my place right now so I can get that thing on the market.
Speaker C:And he was just in a condo project and the glass went beyond the ceiling because the glass went between the units and so we is light.
Speaker C:And it was a Level 5 finish on the ceiling.
Speaker C:And the light when the sun was out during the day cut right across the line of the ceiling.
Speaker C:He goes, you could only spray it.
Speaker C:If you back rolled it, you could see the roller marks.
Speaker C:No matter what paint?
Speaker C:No matter what roller.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:It was a nightmare.
Speaker C:He goes, and if somebody nicked the ceiling, you had to do the whole unit ceiling because it was all open and same kind of thing, you just couldn't ever get it 100%.
Speaker C:And that was an architectural design flaw really because they took the glass up too high to the ceiling.
Speaker C:That just showed every little bit of wave in it or every little texture change from just from a paint roller putting on matte finish paint.
Speaker D:And nobody brought out the airbrush.
Speaker C:That's what I would have done.
Speaker C:And it's funny, I've seen that too where all of a sudden, especially with slab on grade homes where, oh, I'm going to do this now.
Speaker C:And all of a sudden the flooring that just went down and now you're channeling through the concrete a water line to get it through to the other room over there or something like that, or you're adding a circuit and those things can just be so crazy.
Speaker C:And so what I talk about a lot and what I like to talk about is when you're dive into a project, let's say like A kitchen remodel, man, that plan for the whole house, you're better off to really dream the whole house up.
Speaker C:So you know that, oh wait, I'm going to need four electrical circuits in the kitchen.
Speaker C:But if all that electricity from the bathrooms to the bedroom has to go in there, you better leave a space to at least run some electrical over to those spaces so you're not tearing those walls back open again.
Speaker C:Because so many times you end up having to go back and redo it, which means you're paying twice for it.
Speaker D:It's another version of measure twice, cut once.
Speaker D:And if you.
Speaker D:That's exactly it.
Speaker D:We talked a little bit about this before.
Speaker D:If you don't plan from the first screw to the last screw, you're going to get screwed there'.
Speaker D:No, you can't just willy nilly, you can't just focus on the kitchen and then realize, oh, you right.
Speaker D:And you have to compensate for the fact that you're going to change your mind.
Speaker D:These are lessons you don't learn until you've done it a few times or you consult with some good experts or you listen to your show and get some good tips.
Speaker D:Run an extra conduit so you can get it from the ceiling or from the attic space and you don't have to carve a giant hole in your beautiful kitchen backsplash and things like that.
Speaker D:And it.
Speaker D:And again, unless you've done it a thousand times like us, you better plan and then plan again and then think about, think on it for a month and then plan again.
Speaker D:It's always something.
Speaker C:It's always something, always something.
Speaker C:And for the homeowners out there that are like, oh, I've already done one kitchen model, I've already been through it.
Speaker C:Building code changes so often now, like great example, I know you know, Johnny, you've been down in Colombia now for a while, but great example, back when you and I were doing kitchens together, you had to have the outlet in the side of the island.
Speaker C:Got to have that outlet there on the side of the island.
Speaker C:Now because enough people walk past the island and drug the cord off the side of the island, they won't allow you to put that outlet in the side of the island.
Speaker C:So now you need something that's going to pop up in the countertop, some kind of a pop up that.
Speaker C:And they make them to me code now that go through the countertop.
Speaker C:But all of a sudden you were forced to put that side outlet in and you as a homeowner, you're looking at it going oh, we'll just put the outlet in the side of the island, and then you go get the inspection.
Speaker C:And now you've cut a hole inside of your beautiful cabinets on the side of the island.
Speaker C:And the inspector goes, nah, that was good two years ago.
Speaker C:Not good now.
Speaker D:Brutal.
Speaker D:That.
Speaker D:I did not know they changed, but, yeah, that's a suck up.
Speaker D:Yeah, that's an $800 cabinet you got to rip out and replace.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And you probably already got the stone on it.
Speaker C:So now the can of worms comes in to do that.
Speaker C:And we've all seen it.
Speaker C:We've all had to deal with it.
Speaker C:It's just crazy when you see this stuff because again, as a homeowner, you're just going, oh, man, I had no idea.
Speaker C:If you're doing it as a DIY project, that's my first tip of the day here is plan the entire house project out from start to finish.
Speaker C:Because if you've got water and electrical or even H vac going through there, you don't have to tear it out twice.
Speaker C:And then I think the second one and I want to get your take on this is so many people don't pull building codes, they don't pull permits.
Speaker C:They're not looking at it, but it can get them burned.
Speaker C:And these days now, when you're seeing these home inspections being done and you haven't pulled permits, that can really come up and bite you because that home inspector, who isn't your realtor's best friend, shows up and goes, yeah, this kitchen looks brand new, but none of it's to code.
Speaker C:And now you're in the middle of a sale.
Speaker C:Right now you're in a world of hurt because you can't sit.
Speaker C:You're trying to sit there.
Speaker C:Oh, I have to put a brand new kitchen in, but I didn't pull any permits on the electrical.
Speaker D:Kitchen's been here for years.
Speaker D:What are you talking about?
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker D:And those things are really messy.
Speaker D:Put a couple of scratches in the granite, spill some alcohol somewhere, you'd be fine.
Speaker C:Call it good.
Speaker C:Call it good.
Speaker C:Let's go out to our around the house nugget.
Speaker C:Time for an around the house nugget brought to you by Aerobroom.
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Speaker C:Now here's your quick tip.
Speaker C:Today's around the House Nugget is all about cleaning those stainless tumblers.
Speaker C:Like your Stanley or yeti, they get stained up with coffee or tea.
Speaker C:You know how tough it is to get those brown rings out?
Speaker C:They are tough to deal with.
Speaker C:But here's an easy fix.
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Speaker B:We'll be right back.
Speaker A:And the kids these days will never understand what it's like to play an instrument, to be in a band.
Speaker D:What's up?
Speaker C:This is Sticks It Inia and Satchel from Steel Panther.
Speaker C:And you are listening to around the House with Eric G. Yeah, we love Eric G. Eric G. And you should too.
Speaker C:Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.
Speaker C:I'm Eric G. To find out more about us, head over to that killer website that Dudley here designed.
Speaker C:Roundthehouseonline.com.
Speaker C:if you're just joining us.
Speaker C:We got my buddy John Dudley here, contractor that I've known for years.
Speaker C:We start to date ourselves if we start talking the decades.
Speaker C:But he's also a website designer.
Speaker C:He also works with a lot of companies out there.
Speaker C:But today we've been talking about really just trying to get these projects off the ground and finished correctly.
Speaker C:And again in the last hour, we were talking about really trying to plan these things out and plan the entire project.
Speaker C:But Johnny, I had this one project I was working on that the contractor did everything right.
Speaker C:Had a set of plans from the city of Portland.
Speaker C:First.
Speaker D:I don't believe you, but tell me about it.
Speaker C: throom model in this old like: Speaker C:They had old plans of where the bathrooms and the second and the bedrooms up there had been added on stamped by the city of Portland.
Speaker C:So, okay, we assumes there was a stamp on the plans that had been permitted at the time.
Speaker C:Contractor goes in, I got it designed out.
Speaker C:Cabinets are ordered, they're showing up at the job site.
Speaker C:Demo comes in, tear it all out.
Speaker C:They pull the permits, of course, do everything right.
Speaker C:Inspector walks up the Stairs, walks into the bathroom for the rough in inspection and goes, yeah, we don't have any record of the second story addition.
Speaker C:So we are red tagging this thing.
Speaker C: ing needs to be brought up to: Speaker C: So this was that kind of: Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:For the entire second floor.
Speaker D:Just because they brought them in for the bathroom.
Speaker C:Here's the bad part.
Speaker C:Now you had to meet all the sheep shot footings in the basement.
Speaker C:So this had been.
Speaker C:And from what we could tell, but we couldn't prove it.
Speaker C:When the city of Portland converted from electronic from written to electronic building permits, they lost seven or eight years of building permit records.
Speaker C:This was done in the middle of it.
Speaker C:Now, it wasn't these homeowners that done it.
Speaker C:They had bought the house.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker C:So at the time, that added $80,000 to the bathroom remodel.
Speaker C:Because they had to go down in the finished basement and there's posts in the floor.
Speaker C: Like any: Speaker C:They now had to make those like 30 inch by 30 inch footings that were almost 3ft in the ground.
Speaker C:They had to tear all this stuff up to carry the load all the way back up through.
Speaker C:And then all of a sudden, because we had to have thicker floor joists, because guess what?
Speaker C:That was originally framed as storage.
Speaker C:But they didn't make it, didn't meet building code.
Speaker C:So then we had to re insulate the whole space to meet the current building code.
Speaker C:It was a gigantic can of worms and absolutely nothing was grandfathered.
Speaker D:I was just gonna say, how does that so unfortunately fall on them that Portland lost records?
Speaker D:Nothing was disclosed when they bought the place.
Speaker D:Like how did they eat the ball on that?
Speaker D:They must have really loved the house.
Speaker D:And now you can't really sell a damn thing either without disclosing that.
Speaker D:Like it will knock 80k off the.
Speaker C:Price and your ear upside down instantly.
Speaker C:I've seen that happen so many times.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:It's gonna take more than a bottle of whiskey with that inspector to fix that one.
Speaker C:So that's one of those things that you look at and it can go so sideways so quickly.
Speaker C:And the homeowners were doing everything right.
Speaker C:Contractor was doing it.
Speaker C:They had given the building permit for the bathroom.
Speaker C:And as soon as the inspector walked up those stairs, all went sideways.
Speaker C:And so that's something you see a lot.
Speaker C:And I think it's something with your out purchasing your first home or purchasing your second home.
Speaker C: ably would have said it was a: Speaker C: e house is being sold at like: Speaker C:The tax man.
Speaker C:If you tell them you got a 40,000 square foot house, they'll tax you for it, no problem.
Speaker D:Oh, cool.
Speaker C:And they'll put it on the tax record that you have a 40,000 square foot house because they want your money.
Speaker D:Such a shame.
Speaker C:But the building department is the only real one.
Speaker D:It's a shame no one catches that out of all the folks poking around, the house inspector, the realtor, the appraiser, the building folks are the ones that lost the stuff.
Speaker D:So maybe it was up to code back then.
Speaker D:Which means it still would be.
Speaker D:They can't make them up it to code just for adding a bathroom.
Speaker D:I don't know, man.
Speaker D:That's.
Speaker D:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker D:So they did it.
Speaker D:So they spent the 80k.
Speaker D:And I would have fought somebody.
Speaker C:They spent the 80k just to fight.
Speaker D:At least.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:At least I would have felt better.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:It's just a good.
Speaker C:But then they had their whole bathroom.
Speaker C:They had the whole bathroom that was red tag.
Speaker C:So they had their whole bathroom upstairs where they lived was gutted to the studs.
Speaker C:And I think that's the biggest thing for homeowners out there is if you're going to look for a home.
Speaker C:Just because it says it in the real estate listing doesn't mean it's right.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:No.
Speaker D:Do the diligence.
Speaker D:Somebody there looking, check it out.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:And nobody knows to do that.
Speaker D:Heck, I never did that.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker D:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:No, I do now.
Speaker D:When I was buying property.
Speaker D:I will now, but back when I was buying property.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:I remember once out of county to check the real square foot.
Speaker D:Maybe a time or two.
Speaker D:But I'd look online and go away.
Speaker D:It was.
Speaker D:It say.
Speaker D:Yeah, I guess it did.
Speaker D:That was years ago, but yeah.
Speaker D:Ah, man, what a shame.
Speaker C:It's crazy.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker C:And so that's one of those catch 22s.
Speaker C:You want it.
Speaker C: ee it the most are like those: Speaker C: Anything before, like: Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:It was the basement that was finished.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:That's where you start to get into those areas.
Speaker C:And there's a large amount of square foot footage there.
Speaker C:So that's where it gets you caught up.
Speaker C:And it's such a shame.
Speaker C:And you get caught with that, you're in trouble.
Speaker C:And now we're seeing this here, which is crazy.
Speaker C:For instance, you're seeing insurance companies now out there and building departments as well, using satellite or drone technology, hunting these things down.
Speaker C:So technically, if you built.
Speaker D:That's sick.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:So if you build too big of a deck or you build a storage shed in your backyard that's too big, technically your building department can go, hey, man, what's that building out back that just showed up on the scan?
Speaker C:Because those satellites are going overhead, you're.
Speaker D:Going to get on it.
Speaker C:It's crazy that.
Speaker D:It's crazy because we don't have better things to do than scan people's patios.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:It's what happens.
Speaker C:And so again, we can say privacy, all those kind of things, but really they're going after that.
Speaker C:I've had buddies that were doing just doing a window change out and the neighbor called the complaint, or the building inspector is driving by to another project and hey, what you doing there?
Speaker C:It's insane.
Speaker C:It's crazy.
Speaker C:And I got a funny one that.
Speaker D:That should be legal in my opinion.
Speaker D:If you're a building inspector, you got your assignment.
Speaker D:You don't just get to pull into any driveway and start pissing on people.
Speaker D:Go away.
Speaker D:Go do your job that you're assigned to.
Speaker D:You know, you're not the police in a way, but even the police have their regions.
Speaker D:Let's pull up because I'm painting my house and ask me if I'm using lead.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:When we come back, I got a story for you.
Speaker C:And this was a crazy one.
Speaker C:And this was the building department trying to go after me here a few months ago.
Speaker C:Or they were poking around asking some questions.
Speaker C:And this is quite the story.
Speaker C:We'll talk about that just as soon as around the House returns.
Speaker B:Do you want to find out more about the around the House show?
Speaker B:Head to our website that Dudley designed for us@aroundthehouseonline.com.
Speaker B:heck, this is even his song he wrote.
Speaker B:Around the House will be right back.
Speaker C:Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.
Speaker C:I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today.
Speaker C:Hey, make sure you follow us on YouTube.
Speaker C:If you're looking for videos and some fun stuff out there, you can always find it.
Speaker C:Head over to aroundthehouse online.com you can find it there.
Speaker C:Just when you're over in YouTube, just look at around the House, Eric G. And you'll find it right there.
Speaker C:Because we've been putting some great Stuff up over there.
Speaker C:Johnny and I have been having some fun here.
Speaker C:Talking.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker D:Special note.
Speaker D:Special note.
Speaker D:On that note, they should check out the YouTube shorts every day this month because September 2nd.
Speaker D:But there will be a special surprise one day this month.
Speaker D:Can't tell you the day.
Speaker D:Might be the 23rd, but can't tell you the day.
Speaker D:And we will make Eric do a little dance for you while he gives you the tip of the day.
Speaker D:And if you ain't seen Eric dance, you don't know what dancing is.
Speaker D:Tune in daily.
Speaker D:Could be the 13th, could be the 23rd, I don't know.
Speaker D:But there will be a dancing Eric.
Speaker C:Oh, man, that's not a good site.
Speaker D:Oh, man, that's only because I love you, brother.
Speaker C:This is one of those things.
Speaker C:I'm better playing the bass than I am dancing, and I'm not that great a bass player.
Speaker C:So there we go.
Speaker C:We've been talking about planning on those projects and making sure you get them from start to finish and some of the things that can go sideways.
Speaker C:And this was one that was interesting.
Speaker C:I was sitting there.
Speaker C:We had from my TV show when it was over on Fox 12 plus over there here in Portland, we had our Trailblazers night, where the TV station got a bunch of the advertisers or potential advertisers, and we got to spend time in the suite and watch Trailblazers game.
Speaker C:I quit really watching basketball when the NBA stole my Sonics away.
Speaker C:But I'll show up for work.
Speaker C:So show up for work.
Speaker C:And I'm like, hey, not supporting you until you fix that problem.
Speaker C:Not gonna get off on that tangent.
Speaker C:But I show up and this guy shakes my hand.
Speaker C:Hey, Eric, love your stuff.
Speaker C:Love, love.
Speaker C:What's going on.
Speaker C:This is great.
Speaker C:And then starts poking at questions like, hey, man, I love what you're doing.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:Oh, it's really good work.
Speaker C:And so where.
Speaker C:What.
Speaker C:Where.
Speaker C:What part of town are you doing these projects in?
Speaker C:Where you at?
Speaker C:What's going on over my house?
Speaker C:Yeah, okay.
Speaker C:Where is that?
Speaker C:And he's poking.
Speaker C:You're like, okay, my radar's up.
Speaker C:Going, all right, what's going on here?
Speaker D:Portland?
Speaker C:I said, hey, my house in Lake Oswego.
Speaker C:He goes, oh, okay.
Speaker C:And I'm not gonna say the guy's name, but he went, hi, I'm X city of Portland building department.
Speaker C:And I'm like, oh, you were trying to come in and trying to come in and do that.
Speaker C:So I was just absolutely laughing, going, oh, you were poking the bear there a little bit.
Speaker C:Trying to see what was going on.
Speaker C:So I was just kind of like, you kidding me?
Speaker D:Wow, that's a full shot.
Speaker C:And I was like, hey, now, you know, I have really planned out like when I built my shed in the back here in my area.
Speaker C:Local building code says as long as you're under a certain square footage, you can build it.
Speaker C:I can build a patio cover as long as it's under 200 square feet.
Speaker C:So I built it at 199, tried to get away with the stuff, flying under the radar, following the rules, but still, it's one of those things I was like, oh man, he was poking around.
Speaker C:And that's the thing you got to be careful with.
Speaker C:All it takes is if you're the guy going or the girl going, I'm not going to sit there, pull permits, I'll be fine.
Speaker C:All it takes is the guy for popping over next door to your house and drive by and go, hey, what you got going on?
Speaker C:And there you go, there you go.
Speaker D:The old same brother.
Speaker D:You never know who's in the crowd.
Speaker C:Very true, very true.
Speaker C:That's a good one.
Speaker C:Think about it.
Speaker C:I mean it's.
Speaker C:Oh man.
Speaker C:And again, all it takes is the neighbor.
Speaker C:Like in my neighborhood right now, I got three big two million dollar homes getting built right now, that building department is driving past the front of my house every single day, multiple times.
Speaker C:So you look at that and go, man, it's not worth the risk.
Speaker C:Pull the permits on it.
Speaker C:I think it's good anyway just to have it because it defers liability.
Speaker C:You know, if you go to sell the house and the house burns down and you did something that wasn't legal and they can come back and hit you with it.
Speaker C:Because by the way, guys, just so you know, Romex and all the wires that was made stamped on it, you can get it back there.
Speaker C:And there was a project that was.
Speaker D:Yeah, always better to have a great example.
Speaker C:There was a project that you were starting on.
Speaker C:Probably don't even remember because it was probably 20 years ago, but it was a Tacoma house.
Speaker C:These guys were trying to DIY it, but they were putting cabinets and stuff in.
Speaker C: And it was like an: Speaker D:My house.
Speaker C:Yeah, it had a crawl space, fire electrical or something down there.
Speaker C:And the guy started sanding his own hardwood floors.
Speaker C:And he sanded through and is getting into the soot on the backside.
Speaker C:And so it had burned all the subfloor out and it was just left to the oak.
Speaker C:And so they started getting into it, and they went downstairs, and the guy that had owned it, that was an electrician beforehand, had covered it up with drywall down in the crawl space under the kitchen.
Speaker C:We.
Speaker C:We never knew why they covered up the fire damage, didn't repair.
Speaker C:But how did they catch it Was the previous homeowner, because the guy had rewired it and drilled through all the floor joists to put the wiring in.
Speaker C:So he knew it because he had put the wires in, and the wires had the date code on it.
Speaker C:So they went back, and they were like, I don't know how we can catch the guy.
Speaker C:And I looked at it.
Speaker C:I went, this wire was put in was made during.
Speaker C:When the time guy owned a house.
Speaker C:You just bought it.
Speaker C:So went back through the realtor and said, hey, we're gonna have to.
Speaker C:We got a problem.
Speaker C:And so he ended up paying for that to be fixed correctly.
Speaker C:But there's a lot of little tells if you're trying not to get caught.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker D:I don't.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:And he probably didn't.
Speaker C:Why?
Speaker C:Because you had quoted it.
Speaker C:And he decided to do most of it himself.
Speaker C:So there was a homeowner up there that was.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, he dropped those like a bad habit.
Speaker D:That just means you're in my way the whole time.
Speaker D:I can't.
Speaker C:Well, let's talk about that for a minute, man, before we go out to break here, because I think that's an important one.
Speaker C:So many times you're starting that big project, and you're a homeowner, right?
Speaker C:And you being the contractor and the homeowner goes, I want to do demo.
Speaker C:I want to do this.
Speaker C:I want to do that.
Speaker C:You're putting up every red flag for that contractor, going, oh, there goes my schedule.
Speaker C:There goes my project.
Speaker D:And now you're hovering, and there's liability to it, and there's doing things wrong, and it's costing me time.
Speaker D:And it.
Speaker D:Look, I love it when the client feels involved and a part of the project.
Speaker D:It's their project.
Speaker D:It's their baby.
Speaker D:I want to make them happy.
Speaker D:That's absolutely my job.
Speaker D:But if you don't trust me to get that done the way you tell me without standing over my shoulder and poking at stuff and asking the question, wouldn't it be better to do it like you.
Speaker D:You can't.
Speaker D:You're gonna.
Speaker D:You're gonna piss off a contractor.
Speaker D:You're gonna get your way sometimes, and things are gonna turn out worse for it 80% of the time.
Speaker D:Not saying everybody doesn't got common sense.
Speaker D:But, guys, trust your contract.
Speaker D:If you're gonna use a contractor, find a good one.
Speaker D:Get good references.
Speaker D:Look at his old work.
Speaker D:Drive by houses he's worked on, like, legit.
Speaker D:Look at his work.
Speaker D:Don't just let him show you some website from somebody else, because they do it usually the guy with the biggest, longest, loudest truck.
Speaker D:And then, man, it's like sending your kids to school.
Speaker D:Like, you gotta trust that the teacher's gonna do the right thing.
Speaker D:And if you find out halfway through second grade that the kid's beating everybody up because the teacher's not keeping them in line, maybe it's time to look for a change and get rid of that contractor.
Speaker D:But too many chefs in the kitchen doesn't serve anybody.
Speaker D:It's just soup, and it's not good.
Speaker C:Excellent point, man.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:And I know that's hard.
Speaker D:I know that's hard because there's so many people been burned by so many bad contractors and, yeah, you know, plumbers showing up drunk.
Speaker C:Well, you know, before we go out to break here, that's one of the things that you see.
Speaker C:90% of the contractors out there are great people, but it's that small percentage that ruins it for everybody that, you know, you find out you got the guys insulating upstairs in the attic space, that you go up there and it's like, where'd all these beer cans come from?
Speaker C:Because it was hot and they were drinking beer up there while they were doing it.
Speaker C:Those are things that happen that drives you crazy.
Speaker C:We're gonna go out to break, guys.
Speaker C:When we come back, we got a couple more stories you can probably learn from.
Speaker C:We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.
Speaker C:Don't go anywhere.
Speaker B:This segment was brought to you by our friends at Aerobroom.
Speaker B:Check them out@aerobroom.com do you want to find out more about the around the House show?
Speaker B:Head to our website that Dudley designed for us@aroundthehouseonline.com.
Speaker B:we're taking a quick break, but don't touch that dial.
Speaker B:Save the chimney sweeping for Santa's commute.
Speaker B:We'll be back faster than you can slip on that icy walkway this winter.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home home improvement.
Speaker C:I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today.
Speaker C:If you're just joining us, we've been talking here with my buddy John Dudley, former contractor, website designer.
Speaker C:He helps contractors get through their business day and help them really get things dialed in.
Speaker C:But today, we're talking about stuff that's going to help you get through that next project.
Speaker C:And if you're just joining us, go back and make sure.
Speaker C:If you're listening to us on the talk media Network on the radio out there, grab the podcast.
Speaker C:On your favorite podcast, Blair.
Speaker C:Just look for the around the house show.
Speaker C:But we've been talking about those things that trip up these projects that keep you from getting them finished.
Speaker C:And so many things come down to planning.
Speaker C:But, man, I tell you what, I have seen some nightmares when it comes to homeowners trying to help out contractors to get the job done.
Speaker C:And one of the biggest ones was on a job site that my buddy was doing in Seattle, and he was helping out.
Speaker C:And the home.
Speaker C:It was a basement remodel.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:Seems pretty simple.
Speaker C:Homeowner had hired a temp worker.
Speaker C:I don't know if it was a cash deal or whatever it was, to do some stuff upstairs, like going through boxes and throwing stuff away.
Speaker C:And the temp worker, who didn't have any conversation other than three or four sentences with the contractor that was working, came downstairs and went, hey, man, I got some trash can.
Speaker C:I threw that in the dumpster.
Speaker C:He was doing the right thing asking.
Speaker C:He goes, yeah, go ahead and throw in the dumpster.
Speaker C:That's good.
Speaker C:A few minutes later, the kid falls off a ladder, gets hurt, has to go to the hospital.
Speaker C:So now what happened is the kid tried to file a worker's comp claim on the contractor because he had gotten direction from the contractor on how to do something.
Speaker C:So my buddy, the contractor had to go through about eight administrative court hearings with the state of Washington going, that wasn't my guy.
Speaker C:And he finally had to go through three appeals through this whole process.
Speaker C:Cost him a boatload of money just to get through that because he had attorneys and everything else.
Speaker C:But this kid's medical bill was trying to show up on his workers comp insurance, which as an expensive part of an overhead for a contractor.
Speaker C:And he had nothing to do with this guy other than saying, yeah, it's.
Speaker D:Okay to throw in the dumpster wearing sweats.
Speaker D:And I would have just bought another dumpster.
Speaker D:That's what they do in Philly.
Speaker C:Ooh, I get what you're saying there.
Speaker C:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:But, you know, it's that insane.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:And so this is where contractors, when you as a homeowner and you talk to them going, hey, I want to do part of it.
Speaker C:This is why you see the eyes get wide.
Speaker C:This is why you see them going, I don't know.
Speaker C:This is where some contractors go, I want out.
Speaker C:I want nothing to do with this.
Speaker C:It's because of some of these things that happen.
Speaker C:And especially in states like Washington state or Oregon where things get a little sketchy and it gets really gray when you start putting somebody's gig worker into a job site that the homeowner hired and has nothing to do with the remodeling contractor that's working.
Speaker D:I fought for about three years for one of my guys that stepped off a four rung ladder, a four rung ladder that he put against the house unsafely.
Speaker D:And he said when he stepped off it wrong, he developed plantar fasciitis that lasted for three years and so did his pain pill addiction.
Speaker D:That's why they like to do that.
Speaker C:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker D:Even no names.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker D:But with all the gall of I'll sue you and take everything you got.
Speaker C:I'm like, well, and man, I tell you what, I've been standing too much on the ladder.
Speaker C:And again, talk about wearing.
Speaker C:You got to wear the right boots for that if you're going to be on the ladder all day.
Speaker D:But right.
Speaker D:This is guy.
Speaker C:That's what I mean.
Speaker C:It was just there.
Speaker D:This is a guy been doing carpentry for 30 years, 25 years, something like that.
Speaker D: remodel at the time, the old: Speaker D:Stepped off a four step ladder.
Speaker D:Yeah, this stepped off six inches off the ladder.
Speaker D:Not the other 25 years of abuse.
Speaker D:Yeah, surely it's absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's just that stuff that always gets you.
Speaker C:But again, and then what happens is people, people go, oh, that can't be that big a deal.
Speaker C:All of a sudden.
Speaker C:That can add thousands of dollars a year in overhead for the business owner who's the remodeling contractor that panic attacks.
Speaker C:It's crazy.
Speaker C:It's crazy.
Speaker C:I want to wrap a bow around this really well as we're getting into the last half of this last segment, but I think really for homeowners, if you're out there listening to us and you're like, man, I got these big projects.
Speaker C:One plan it out too.
Speaker C:If you're hiring a contractor, work with their designer, work with their team and let them do what's best.
Speaker C:It might cost you more to try to do some of these things as a DIY project because that homeowner contractor relationship is touchy.
Speaker C:They don't know your skills.
Speaker C:You have done your research.
Speaker C:You know theirs.
Speaker C:But when you say I want to do demo on the kitchen, they're like, oh my gosh, there's going to be a job site mess.
Speaker C:All the nails are still going to be left or screws are going to be left in from the drywall.
Speaker C:It's not going to be cleaned up to what they want it.
Speaker C:And so they're still going to probably charge you.
Speaker C:They're not going to take off that demo bill off there because they still need to make sure things were demoed correctly.
Speaker C:And so you can actually cost yourself more by doing this part wrong because they're going to upcharge it in that pain in the butt factor and go, oh my gosh.
Speaker C:Or that contractor just goes, yeah, I'm out.
Speaker C:I don't want to be sharing the job site with you as your own self contractor.
Speaker D:The old joke used to be, if the client wants to help, it's double.
Speaker D:And we weren't really joking.
Speaker D:But the worst was when they were like, yeah, okay.
Speaker D:You're like, I still gotta do it.
Speaker D:Even for double.
Speaker D:It hurts.
Speaker C:I still gotta do it.
Speaker C:Ah.
Speaker C:So really just be careful with that.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And one of the other things is if you're gonna do it as a DIY project, that's awesome.
Speaker C:But pull the permits.
Speaker C:And sometimes you can actually.
Speaker C:Because like, insulation's a great one.
Speaker C:For instance, I can almost hire an insulation company to come in and insulate the attic for the price of what the insulation is.
Speaker C:So if you.
Speaker C:There's so much markup in that, I've had it where it's 300 difference.
Speaker C:And I'm like, I'm gonna crawl up and carry these three pallets of insulation up into the attic myself and spread them out, crawl around and it's 300 bucks.
Speaker C:Take my money, come do it.
Speaker D:I don't even walk down the insulation aisle in Home Depot.
Speaker D:I refuse.
Speaker D:Like, it makes me itch and choke.
Speaker D:I can.
Speaker D:I spent three days as a 17 year old doing insulation and I walked off the only job I ever walked off.
Speaker D:I was like, I can't no more.
Speaker D:My whole face was round and red.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah, no.
Speaker D:I don't know how you guys do it.
Speaker C:Can't do it.
Speaker C:Can't do it.
Speaker C:And so drywall can be one of those things as well.
Speaker C:I've had it where the drywallers get the drywall cheap enough.
Speaker C:Our beach house out there, what was it?
Speaker C:It was for us to get a price on half inch drywall to have that delivered in the house.
Speaker C:The difference between my brother and I Doing it and having a guy come in and hang it, tape it, butt it, texture it, prime it for the whole house.
Speaker C:The difference was $2,000.
Speaker C:And I'm like, no, knock it out.
Speaker D:Trust us, folks.
Speaker D:We're old guys and we've tried all this stuff.
Speaker D:We've tried the shortcuts.
Speaker D:We've tried to do it ourselves.
Speaker D:And if we've learned anything, it's work smarter, not harder.
Speaker D:And it is always worth the money on certain things.
Speaker D:If you love to paint away till your heart's content, but things that are just going to frustrate you and make you hate your own project and inevitably really not like it when it's done.
Speaker D:Like, you should like it.
Speaker D:Like, let the good guys do it.
Speaker D:And so you can just show up and dance and cry in your new kitchen and be excited about it.
Speaker D:Because a lot of the process is frustrating, as it will be if you aren't good at what you're doing.
Speaker D:Really, it takes the luster off and wrecks it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And, Eric, what's a good way?
Speaker D:Let's say somebody's got a project out there, they're trying to start planning it.
Speaker D:They're thinking what they want.
Speaker D:They want the bathroom to look like this.
Speaker D:They want this kind of tile.
Speaker D:They want arch ceilings, peaked roof, flat roof, whatever.
Speaker D:They've got a contractor in line that's helping them through some of the details and starting to plan it out.
Speaker D:What's a good way for those folks to also reach out to you or us and say, hey, here's what the contractors recommend.
Speaker D:And you guys got any second opinions?
Speaker D:That part of our insider deal?
Speaker C:Yeah, part of the insider deal.
Speaker C:If somebody joins you around.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Head over to the website, all the deals.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:So if you sound stupid or oversell, but it seems like it would be cool if they could go, hey, we trust you guys because you're not out to make any money off us.
Speaker D:Our contractors tell us this.
Speaker D:We think this second opinion type of thing, that could be helpful.
Speaker C:Yeah, great point, buddy.
Speaker C:So here's the thing.
Speaker C:You're around The House Insider.
Speaker C:$4 a month go to aroundthehouse online.com, our website.
Speaker C:And part of that, you get my email address where I've helped a couple of people over there.
Speaker C:I had one of our insiders over there, she was building an awesome deck and she had a plan for it.
Speaker C:I got her lined up with the right contractor and walked through the products with her because she was wanting to know, how should I build this?
Speaker C:Brother, thanks for coming on the show today.
Speaker D:Oh, man, thanks for having me.
Speaker D:Let's do it again soon.
Speaker C:We will.
Speaker C:I'm Eric G. You've been listening to around the House.
Speaker D:Adios Undiscovered.
Speaker A:Any way out beyond the mean Love is a love song let's be lovers we're all over the radio Take my hand out Nowhere to go all over the radio with you.
