Home Improvement Today?

Luckily for me I am a jack of all trades. I usually play with 480V at work, but know my way around residential. I did have the help of a licensed master electrician do my panel swap out, but I've done everything else in this cluster "F" of an old house

 

honestly, sounds about right to me. roughly 4-8 hours of labor, likely two guys, depending on how they do it, with materials--50'-ish of wire, plus a few junction boxes. don't forget to add roughly 15% markup on material prices--any business makes a profit on the material as well.

can it be done cheaper? absolutely. but no licensed/bonded/insured business will do it cheaper.

nothing is cheap no more!

 

just Youtube it , whats the worst that could happen

 

Well, I mean...

 

My wife learned her lesson. I was at her parents (7hrs away) remodeling the bathroom. She got the brite idea to have the blacktop sealed. Called a few people, got a few quotes and told one guy ok. $3500 and can start tomorrow. He sends out a guy (only been doing it 2wks) with 2 other guys he picked up on the way (day labor, behind the supermarket). Said and done they were here for an hour. Looked good when I got home, but that crap didn't last a year. Needless to say, now I do whatever needs to be done. If you don't know how to do something, You Tube is your friend.

 

Devils advocate here…

What are they doing for that price?
Permit, licensing, inspection, bonding, insurance?
Travel for estimate, parts, finish, billing/collection, warranty?
Materials?
Opportunity cost? (Bigger job)

What would you consider a “good price”?

 

From my angle, there is opportunity here for potential retirement income. Say I’m somehow able to get some form of licensing done for myself as an electrician. Doesn’t need to be fully bonded and insured for small jobs presumably. But what do I know. One guy and a truck, word of mouth, work when I want, don’t work when I don’t want to.

Seems like there is heaps of opportunity out there. $500 for a 3/4 day of reasonably light work isn’t a terrible deal if someone has heaps of extra time.

Right now I’m super time constrained and would gladly pay for help because of that. But I can’t pay full asking retail prices like $2k for shower glass. So I’m stuck doing a hybrid DIY w help approach like most people.

 

Prices also are dictated by geography. Like if you're in the NE or out on the West Coast then prices are going to much more expensive than in other places.

 

So maybe yous guys can help a feller decide. I want to change the color of the garage siding. I'm thinking either a green or a brown. I really like green, but not sure it'll match the brick.





Brick color

 

The worst free, online photoshopping ever.

 

Hmmm, that looks like the manuer spreaders got to the garage.

Green might be it then...

 

Sure, make more work for yourself. Gray is the best choice. Enjoy the time savings and have a beer for me. lol

 

I'm gonna have a beer about it no matter what

 

Dark Grey Siding & Black Trim seem to be the thing now.

 

FTFY

 

gonna have to change the shed too now

 

*sigh*

So I guess the general consensus is keep what I got. I still have a new gallon of it so I can give it a new coat to freshen it up. Trim needs re-coated as well.

 

I'm kind of partial to green paint on houses lately. With white or dark trim colors.

 

Got a question for anyone with some experience...

Long story short, one wall of my house's foundation was installed backwards so what ended up happening from decades of letting the downspouts pour over was what the picture attached showed (the "ledge" made from flipping the blocks resulted in breaking apart). What you see in the picture was fixed after some work on drainage a few years back. Another 10ft or so (to the left of what you see) has not been fixed but I would like to fix it before winter. Can I (should I?) fill the block cavity with something like pea gravel or should I use something different entirely? After filling I was going to trowel on some concrete with a slope and then goop on some waterproofing. Does this plan seem sound? Anything else to add? Thanks all.

 

You can fill the block with expanding foam. Build a curb with bricks and mortar. Then seal it. If you just use mortar for the curb, it will crack.