78% this morning inside and 88% outside. I hate that. It feels more comfortable when it's raining.
Dropped to 47% this afternoon.
What did you do today?
- Thread starter havasu
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Dropped to 47% this afternoon.
I suppose that's a lot about where you live. I've asked for money up front before, but only so I can buy stuff I need to get started. I'd never do a 50% up front sorta thing. If the job lasts a long time, I just request money weekly as I move along. Had on like that a month ago. It's rare that I have jobs that last that long. Most of my jobs are small.
No one in flooring ask for money up front around here. Well, maybe the stores do. But only providing labor, we don't.
highup, yeah, where I live people tend to be very dishonest. The contractors scam customers and customers scam the contractors. When I had my new septic tank and lines put in, the contractor told me that he'd had to put liens on people's homes and get some sort of thing where the power company wasn't allowed to turn on their power until they paid him first (not even sure if that is legal) bc they refused to pay. He didn't even have a written contract or itemized bill-- just a handshake deal. But, I was told by the health inspector that handshake deals sans writing are "business as usual" around here. No wonder so many people get screwed.
IIRC, there are laws against contractors charging more than 10% up front.
I will say that we did have a good experience with the contractors who did our roof, siding, & poured concrete. Sadly, the business is gone as the lead contractor passed away. The older generation of contractors were more reliable and competent it seems, but the younger ones don't seem to have the same ethics or skill (at least around here).
I'm sad that my good neighbor closed down his flooring business. But, he had knee replacement surgery & it was just harder for him to do-- plus he was competing with the guy who owned half the town (who made deals with rug companies not to sell specific brands to other businesses). Somehow that guy got listed on the wikipedia as a "philanthropist" but everyone who knew him said he didn't have a generous bone in his body. Since his death, his adult children have taken over and started up their own businesses & started fixing up the buildings that he was allowing to fall apart.
IIRC, there are laws against contractors charging more than 10% up front.
I will say that we did have a good experience with the contractors who did our roof, siding, & poured concrete. Sadly, the business is gone as the lead contractor passed away. The older generation of contractors were more reliable and competent it seems, but the younger ones don't seem to have the same ethics or skill (at least around here).
I'm sad that my good neighbor closed down his flooring business. But, he had knee replacement surgery & it was just harder for him to do-- plus he was competing with the guy who owned half the town (who made deals with rug companies not to sell specific brands to other businesses). Somehow that guy got listed on the wikipedia as a "philanthropist" but everyone who knew him said he didn't have a generous bone in his body. Since his death, his adult children have taken over and started up their own businesses & started fixing up the buildings that he was allowing to fall apart.
Daily driver for now. Raining today, 90s for the ne
xt week starting tomorrow
Nick
In Remembrance
Van looks to be in good shape .. xt week starting tomorrow ?
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It quit this afternoon, So now I am on foot. Wife won't be home until about 10 pm.
Nick
In Remembrance
What is xt week ?
I used to ask 10% up front for labor. I bumped it up to fitty %. Especially on large jobs where its going to take a week or more. Keeps the clientele honest. Gets rid of the riff raff.
Out here we have the AZ registrar of contractors. They are backed by stringent state statutes. If you take money from a consumer and don't perform those duties you will be going to jail for a felony.
Any consumer can look u up to see how many complaints you've had on your license. Unlike handymen or unlicensed hacks. There is also a handyman/unlicensed contractor clause wherein they are only allowed to perform jobs of $1,000.00 and that includes labor and materials.
The AZROC does stings where they set up shop at a house and wait for crooks to show up. Then they have the power to arrest you on the spot .
AZ is a right to work state. But not a right to steal state .
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Looks like you could fit 15 foot goods into that van.
Ern, asking for 50% up front in California is a violation of the law. What's the max in AZ? Also, Handyman price does not include material, just labor, provide the homeowner purchases the material for the job.
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Picture split the word "next".
No max I know of Hav. However the AZROC suggests only 10% down. Anyways, if you go to a box store and buy product with installation you pay 100% up front. So why would it be wrong for a contract labor agreement to ask 50%?
Been raining every day. So I took my Caravan to a garage to get the alternator I bought put on. Guy only charged me $50. Plenty cheap enough.
Just replaced the outside door handle on my grandson's jeep wrangler. It was such a bear that I put it away and will replace the other side on another day.
Ernesto, good point on the big box stores. I think maybe the reason is that if the job is not done or not completed to your satisfaction, you can go back to the big box store and get a refund or lodge a complaint. If you just hire a contractor that does not operate out of a store like that, it may be harder to track them down. Look at what happened to Applebear over on the house repair forums. Her contractor took her $ and ran without finishing the job. But then, I don't think her state is as strict with the rules. Here I think there is the same thing that an unlicensed person can do jobs that are less than $1k, but if they try to charge more than that for labor then they are in violation. But, given how there were multiple buildings put up in my town and only two permits pulled in the past few years, it looks like they don't really enforce it much.
Had to take friend's fiance to social security office yesterday. Left at 10am did not get back until 5pm. The girl can not fill out a form to save her life. I think she has a learning disability. It took her over two hours to fill out the forms on the computer & she had to keep stopping to ask for help. In order to get it done, I had to tell her what everything said and tell her what she should put or ask her questions to find the answer. She couldn't understand some simple questions and got confused. She gets overwhelmed when she has to fill out forms. Turns out her adopted parents had been collecting her SS when she was younger so she was already in the system. They told her she needs to file for disability bc of her heart condition. Everyone was very nice, but it took forever. Then she took 20 min to decide what she wanted to eat at IHOP (better than last time where she took 45min). The night before she'd been in the ER with severe chest pain. Her heartrate was erratic, she was nauseous, and had a migraine. I went to sit with her and explain things to her after the nurses/doctor talked to her bc she wasn't retaining anything. Her fiance wouldn't come in because they took her into the room his grandmother died in so he was freaked out. She's waiting for them to schedule the surgery to fix her cardiac septal defect.
I'm about to go take my cat to the vet. Cancer is now on her face and tumor is growing aggressively. The shots she gets shrink/slow the growth.
Had to take friend's fiance to social security office yesterday. Left at 10am did not get back until 5pm. The girl can not fill out a form to save her life. I think she has a learning disability. It took her over two hours to fill out the forms on the computer & she had to keep stopping to ask for help. In order to get it done, I had to tell her what everything said and tell her what she should put or ask her questions to find the answer. She couldn't understand some simple questions and got confused. She gets overwhelmed when she has to fill out forms. Turns out her adopted parents had been collecting her SS when she was younger so she was already in the system. They told her she needs to file for disability bc of her heart condition. Everyone was very nice, but it took forever. Then she took 20 min to decide what she wanted to eat at IHOP (better than last time where she took 45min). The night before she'd been in the ER with severe chest pain. Her heartrate was erratic, she was nauseous, and had a migraine. I went to sit with her and explain things to her after the nurses/doctor talked to her bc she wasn't retaining anything. Her fiance wouldn't come in because they took her into the room his grandmother died in so he was freaked out. She's waiting for them to schedule the surgery to fix her cardiac septal defect.
I'm about to go take my cat to the vet. Cancer is now on her face and tumor is growing aggressively. The shots she gets shrink/slow the growth.
Just had a flooring guy come over to give me an estimate for installation of 1900 sq feet of porcelain wood plank tile, demo 1000 sq feet of 20" x 20" tile and re-tile two bathroom showers, with baseboards. I'm expecting a quote any minute. Any guesses on how much it will cost me?
10 times what it would cost here.
I think it will be more than a $1.
