And the Estimates are In

So, like I said yesterday, we’re planning on having a few trees removed from the yard.

Earlier this week, we called a few companies out for estimates — Asplundh, an international tree service that you’d normally see doing municipal work around power lines, and two local companies.

Asplundh hasn’t come by yet — they said they’d be coming by next week to check the project out — but the two locals have stopped in and provided quotes.

For the two locals, I should mention that neither of them is the type of thing where it’s some guy with a chainsaw and his brother that’s missing an arm from the “accident” last week — I’ve seen both companies all over the place with multiple bucket trucks and crane type vehicles in tight places.

They’re both appear to be quite reputable.

As far as Asplundh goes, we were planning on green lighting the project even before next week so they’ll probably be coming out too late.

That’s okay, though. I was leaning against them anyway because I’d prefer to use a smaller local company because that’s just the way I am.

And no, that doesn’t mean that I’m one of those folks who refuses to shop at Walmart, though I do refuse to shop at Walmart, my reasoning is because Target is *so* much better.

Back to the trees…

So, in a back-to-back fashion, both companies sent a little french guy covered in sawdust to scope out our situation. Call me politically incorrect but I always thought drywall was their specialty… Apparently, they’re tree experts too.

Both seemed pleasant enough and I got a pretty good vibe from both.

The first quote we received was $2750. And the second was $2950.

Pretty close together.

It was funny, once we got down to the pricetag, I wasn’t standing there in stunned silence (like I had with the roof and the siding).

With the first one, I actually had to bite the insides of my cheeks to hold back a smile… Seriously.

While my wife and I didn’t actually come up with a number in our heads ahead of time like we wanted to (in a feeble attempt to prepare ourselves for pretty much any number), this quote was well within our limits. Yeah, the limits we never actually set.

Thinking about it though, nearly $3k is still a pretty hefty sum so why am I so content with it?

Is it simply because I have the funds available to cover it?

Maybe.

When we had our roof done back in December of 2006, we had saved up $2k and thought we were doing really well. The quote, and cost of the project, was $14k. Yeah, we were stunned. But we had to green light the project to begin solving our ongoing insurance problem.

Even worse, by the summer of 2007, we’d saved up around $6k to have the house sided and, again, we thought we were in really great shape. That quote came in at $26k?! Yikes?!

Again, though, we went ahead and had the work done financing most of it on a credit card. (Thankfully, we did finally resolve our insurance problem!)

So, basically, on the last two sizable home improvement projects, we’ve been caught with our pants down when it came to the actual cost.

I think we’ve almost come to expect it to be that way everytime.

Not so.

We had a decision to make…

Which company should we hire for the job?

The guys that they sent out to give the quote were all but identical — yeah, I admit it, I judge people. Their quotes were so close together that I can’t justifiably base my decision strictly on cost either…

Hmmmm… how to compare the two…

The more expensive place definitely has the nicer looking equipment. Basically, their entire fleet looks uniform — red paint, big white letters, cool looking logo. Plain and simple, from their trucks right down to their wood chippers, their stuff looks sharp.

The cheaper place is a hodge-podge of sorts. White pick-up trucks, various coloured bucket trucks, orange chippers, and a green stump grinder. And the pick-ups are the only pieces with an identifying logo.

Not that presentation is everything, and not that I can relate real well with the tree service contractor type of business, but I know I always have more interest in the RFP’s printed on linen paper over those printed on single-ply recycled toilet paper. One is more professional. Obviously.

On the other hand, again, you can put all the lipstick on a pig (or decals and paint on your equipment) you want but it’s still a pig. Or a pitbull. Or Sarah Palin. Or however that went…

The more expensive place is winning so far…

On the other hand, the cheaper place provided us with the quote on a custom carbon copy quote form. The more expensive place put the quote on the flipside of a business card.

Estimate 1:

Estimate 2:

I know first hand that it’s a pretty big expense to have custom carbon copy forms made up, especailly when they’re not at all essential to the business that you do.

For years I’ve contemplated having custom window envelopes made up for my own company’s invoices but it never made much sense to spend so much for something that I’d only send to companies whose business I already have…

This, on the other hand, is something that they were using to attract new business. And, at some point, they decided that it was worth the expense.

And you know what?

In this case, it worked.

Largely, for that reason, a simple yet fancy quote sheet, that first company is going to be the one that gets my business. From the business side of things, they’re the more professional of the two.

Luckily, they’re also the company with the cheaper quote.

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PIAC Post Extension:
The quote form wasn’t the “only” reason we selected the first place. After giving us the quote, the first guy who came out asked us if we were having anyone else come out to give estimates. We said, yes, and told him the name of the other local company.

His response, no joke, was, “Oh, they’re great people. A nice family. They do good work.”

Back in 2007, when our siding contractor asked if we’d had anyone else come to price the project he called our other option lazy and a crook.

In hindsight, I wish we’d hired the lazy guy who was a crook because I can’t imagine he would have put us through the rigmarole the contractor that we selected did. Just thinking about it makes me angry — a two week project took them FIVE MONTHS!?

Basically, this response earned some bonus points for the first guy — not only because he asked the question AFTER he’d given the quote but also because he didn’t bash his biggest competitor in front of a potential customer.

Now, the second guy who came out never asked if we’d already gotten a quote from someone else but he could probably read it in our eyes. Upon delivery of his, um, business card, he mentioned that the cost quote could come down some depending on how much time it took to truck everything away once it’s all cut down.

Hey, that’s their problem, not mine. I didn’t really like that false “tease”.

But he also said that if we paid cash, they’d waive the sales tax… Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to cancel out the terrible quote delivery method…

Anyhow, this afternoon, we called the first place to let them know that they’d “won” and come Monday, the sun will shine upon us a little bit brighter!

(That is, if the sun ever comes out… It’s been raining for over a month, it seems…)

Posted on July 3rd, 2009 at 4:01 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Home Improvements | No Comments »

Big Scary Trees are Threatening my House

Last month I hinted at another home improvement project that we’ve had on the radar for completion this summer besides having the oil tank in the scary basement drained and removed.

We still haven’t had that done and haven’t even called anyone about it yet.

Instead, we’re leapfrogging it.

Our second “project” for this summer, now the first, was/is to have some trees in the yard taken down.

This has been something I’ve been meaning to have done pretty much since day one but it seemed so silly to have work done on the trees when the actual house is what needed the most work.

One tree, in particular, has always kind of frightened me.

It is by far the tallest tree in the neighborhood. It’s trunk is an amazing 104 inches around — trees that wide aren’t real common in New England.

It’s also far enough away from house that, should it decide to tip over, it would have enough momentum to slice the house right in half. Yep, just like that picture (which was taken last week less than 10 miles from my house).

Should it fall in a different direction, say good bye to my garage and the BMW and Cessna parked inside.

In another direction? Well, the trunk is still thick enough a few hundred feet up to slice a neighbor’s house in half too. While that could be a good thing, I’m not certain that my homeowners insurance would cover it…

Making things even more frightening is that it’s a white pine. The needles don’t fall off in the winter so the the entire tree is like a sailboat’s sail in the wind. Also being a white pine, it’s a soft wood.

Really, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

The pine cones are annoying too.

Posted on July 2nd, 2009 at 8:14 pm by Brainy Smurf
Home Improvements | 1 Comment »

A Few Home Improvements on the Horizon…

And let’s not talk about the elephant just inside the front door…

Yes, the room *still* looks like that.

I feel shame.

Anyway, while we aren’t quite up to green lighting a project of that scope (financially), we are on the edge of actively getting a couple of other projects done around the house.

One is inside. The other is outside.

Unfortunately, neither will make our living conditions nicer in the short term…

The first project is something that I’ve been putting off since, wow, October of 2003.

My original-to-the-house coal burning furnace (converted to oil in the 1950’s) died and I made the decision to switch from oil to natural gas.

I had some contractors come in — three outrageously friendly Jamaican guys — to replace the furnace (which was roughly the size of my car) with a much more efficient gas burning one roughly the size of a 19-inch television.

Total cost was $5208 and was certainly not a welcome expense at the time.

Thankfully that was paid off in January of 2005.

So what’s the deal now?

Well, being Type-A, in September of 2003 I had my oil tank filled in preparation for the winter. Normally, that would be a really wise financial move.

I never used a drop of it.

So, for the past 6 years, I’ve had an environmental disaster waiting to happen in my basement.

If my oil tank were in great shape, I wouldn’t sweat it, but that’s the thing… The oil tank looks, well, prone to failure.

Now is the time to get it pumped dry and out of there, you know, before I have the government labelling my property as some sort of environmental wasteland and forcing the whole neighborhood to be evacuated for some sort of clean-up by strange men in space suits.

I have no idea how much this will cost.

I like to think that I could make some money on the deal — heating oil today is worth a lot more than what I paid for it back in 2003 — but from what I’ve heard, that isn’t the way it works.

Some local oil company will come in, pump it out, charge me, and them pump it right back into someone else’s oil tank and then charge them. Hardly seems fair.

The second project, well, I’ll talk about that later…

Posted on June 20th, 2009 at 11:01 am by Brainy Smurf
Home Improvements | 3 Comments »

Photo of the Week: Honeywell T87 Thermostat

As I’ve mentioned before, my home is old. Definitely over 100 years old.

Probably even over 125 years old.

And while my furnace is only a few years old now, my thermostat is probably around 50 years old. That’s just an educated guess. In reality, I have no idea how old it is…

Oh, and you don’t have to email me to let me know that it looks like crap and that I should get a new one. I already know that.

But if you’d seen the room that surrounds it, well, the aesthetic appearance of the thermostat is the least of my problems…

And, hey, the old thing still works like a charm!

Anyway…

It looks like your standard round Honeywell thermostat, right? If you grew up in North America or western Europe, it should be pretty familiar. It may even drum up some warm fuzzy memories.

If you were born in the 1990’s, well, this is how we turned the heat on in the dark ages, you know, before everything went digital and became programmable.

My thermostat is a very early version of the T87 — a model that Honeywell released in 1953. If it were in better shape, it might even be worth something. Apparently one is even displayed in the Smithsonian.

But look closely… There’s a feature on there that isn’t on more modern versions…

See it?

I’ve lived in this house for over six years and I just noticed it earlier this week while researching my BFO post about turning the freakin’ heat down.

At the bottom, just above where it says “Honeywell”, they’ve highlighted a so-called “Comfort Range” between 72 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

Apparently, heating the home in the 1950’s didn’t cost so much…

It’s about as warm as it gets in here during the winter months and I’m still 4 degrees shy of the “comfort range”.

Posted on February 8th, 2009 at 12:31 pm by Brainy Smurf
Home Improvements, Photo, Retro | 1 Comment »

House Number Procrastination

Back even before we had the house sided, I was contemplating having custom house numbers fabricated.

The diminutive selection offered at Home Depot or Lowe’s just wasn’t cutting it and I wanted something that looked nice. Unique. Classy.

At the time, I blamed my hesitation on wanting to wait and see what the house looked like once the siding was up before making a final decision.

That was nearly 2 years ago now.

Hesitation has become procrastination.

Our house still doesn’t have a number on it.

I’m pretty sure that we’re breaking some sort of local law there but because the mail has continued to be delivered, well, I haven’t felt any sense of urgency to get the issue resolved.

Until now — though I’m sure this feeling will soon pass…

Posted on January 30th, 2009 at 7:25 pm by Brainy Smurf
Home Improvements, Motivation | No Comments »

Trying to Acquire Homeowners Insurance

This weekend I took the first step in trying to obtain more conventional homeowners insurance.

What does that mean?

Well, right now, my insurance is bottom of the barrel insurance. When you have no place to go, and no one will take you, what I have right now is what they give you.

It doesn’t cover much (or anything), but it keeps the mortgage company at bay.

In the past, my insurance has prevented me from getting a home equity loan to help make the improvements needed to the house. (Though, looking back, I should almost be thankful for that).

Here’s how it went down — craptastic insurance company demanded that I make improvements to my home, I went to mortgage company for a home equity loan to pay for the requested improvements, everything is going great, and then the day of closing, the insurance company stops it dead in its tracks: not enough insurance to cover the loan.

Nice, huh? Talk about a Catch-22…

The worst part about it, other than the fact that my policy doesn’t cover anything, is that they send you threatening letters every few months and require home inspections each year. I won’t even mention the premium.

Basically, you’re treated as if you own a dilapidated crack house with no running water. Really.

I’ve been with this insurance for 5 years now and, frankly, I’m tried of it.

So why haven’t I switched already?

That’s the $64,000 question…

Not that many people shop around for homeowners insurance on a regular basis, but like with an auto insurance form, one of the first questions they ask is whether or no you’ve ever been cancelled or denied coverage from another carrier.

The minute you say “Yes”, you’re disqualified and hurried out of their office as if, well, as if you reside in a dilapidated crack house with no running water.

Back in October of 2002, Allstate dropped my coverage after just 29 days and gave me 40 days to find a new carrier.

With a strike like that against you, I soon found out, it was an impossible task.

My coverage lapsed.

With nowhere else to go, one very rude insurance agent gave me a route to take — the FAIR plan.

As I said, it sucks.

Now, before you start pointing out that my entry room is a little rough around the edges and that it kinda looks like a dilapidated crack house with no running water, let me list out why, exactly, Allstate cancelled my policy.

• The roof of the dwelling is damaged and lifting/buckled.
• The soffits/fascia/eaves are damaged and needs paint.
• The renovations are not completed.
• Your chimney is crumbling, separating, in need of tuckpointing.
• The foundation of your dwelling or garage is crumbling.
• The siding or frame exterior of your dwelling is damaged, has peeling paint.
• One or more trees on your property poses a risk to your property because it is overhanging.
• The windows of your dwelling or garage needs paint.

The lack of correct singular/plural grammar is theirs, not mine. The windows “needs” paint. Nice…

Anyway, as you see, those are all exterior issues. Every single one of them.

And what have I spent in excess of $40k renovating?

Yes, the exterior.

The roof is new as of December 2006.

The soffits, fascia, and eaves are all new as of August 2007.

The renovations are complete — at least the exterior ones are.

The chimney was torn down when we had the roof done in 2006.

The foundation was tuckpointed by the company we had tear down the chimney — brickwork is brickwork, right?

The siding is now vinyl — no peeling paint there.

The largest tree branch threat was cut down by the utility company because it posed a larger threat to their power lines than it did to my house.

And I’m not sure how the windows ever could have used paint — they’re all vinyl and have been that way since I bought the house.

So over the weekend, I contacted a local insurance agency — one that blew me off five years ago. I didn’t want to contact them specifically but, logistically, it made the most sense.

Hopefully they’ll call me back today asking for more info and further down the line, I’ll receive some good news.

My current policy expires December 18.

I’d rather not take it down to the wire…

Posted on November 10th, 2008 at 7:21 pm by Brainy Smurf
Home Improvements, Insurance | 4 Comments »

Shame as a Motivator

When I woke up this morning, I told myself that this was NOT going to be another wasted weekend. I was all geared up and ready to go outside and rake, rake, rake, until both hands were covered with blisters.

Then I noticed that it was raining. Ever tried to rake leaves in the rain?

Yeah, it doesn’t work at all.

So my next target became *that* room.

Yes, that one. The room I’m ashamed of:

Off to the right hand side, behind the yellow bin and the plastic penguin, there was a big pile of crumbled plaster on the floor. You can’t see it, but trust me, it was there.

I cordoned off the room using the shower curtains, which you can see, put on my 49-cent dust mask, you know, for protection, and brought in a snow shovel from the garage and a shovelin’ I went.

I filled the air with the finest dust you’ll ever see (or breath) while also filling 8 trash compactor bags full of crumbled plaster and broken pieces of the wooden lathe that once held the plaster up.

I know that doesn’t sound like much, and it’s really not, but plaster is freakin’ heavy.

Each one of those bags, which I only fill half way due to the weight, weighs well over 60 pounds.

Backbreaking work, really, which is probably why we never “finished” the job when we tore the walls down in the first place.

Once I’d cleared the room, I broke out the shop vac to get all of the fine dust (that had settled) up and out. Yep, I even vacuumed — that’s worth über bonus points with the wife!

It was at this point, she mentioned that we should get a new rug for the room. Not really wanting to throw money at the room, as a temporary fix and all, I was hesitant, but she twisted my arm and off we went to a super discount store that if I were still in high school, well, I’d never admit to having been inside. Ever.

The store is called Ocean State Job Lot.

This place makes Walmart look like Neiman Marcus — you know, the store where Sarah Palin shops…

Yeah, it’s rough.

But it’s always had some decent, not great, but decent area rugs. And today, it didn’t disappoint!

We walked out of there with a modern looking patterned 8′ x 11′ rug for $125. We could’ve gone the oriental route, but I’ve never really liked how “busy” they look.

Maybe that’s just me.

Once home, we unrolled the rug. It’s not exactly what either of us had in mind, I’m sure, but it’s a definite improvement. From there, I decided to “hide” the largest windowless wall with the photo backdrop that I used on Halloween night.

Then we moved an extra couch into the room. (Who has an “extra” couch? Seriously…)

And, finally, I plugged in the arcade game for a quick game.

Here’s how it looks now:

Not great, I know, but still, it’s an improvement.

And to think, it only cost us $125 to take it to that unfinished-but-sorta-finished basement look!

And can I just mention that I suddenly find myself getting some decent use out of January 2007’s dumbest purchase? How about that!

Oh, one more thing, why does the carpet smell like Elmer’s glue? That’s gonna fade, right?

Posted on November 8th, 2008 at 7:46 pm by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Home Improvements | 4 Comments »

So, the Cat’s Out of the Bag…

I’ve been living in squalid conditions for over a year.

Rice and beans, beans and rice, right?

I was too “busy” paying down my debt to notice, right?

Cutting corners, you know, to save money?

That’s how I can justify how horrible that room looks…

Please?

Well, not exactly.

While I am horribly ashamed of that photo of the entry way to my home, the rest of the house isn’t like that at all.

If it were, I mean, dontcha think I’d be a prime candidate for the police to come barging through the door with a camera crew in tow for a taping of the show Cops?

The setting is almost too perfect. All it needs is a plaid couch with cigarette burns in the cushions and domestic beer cans strewn randomly about the floor…

My crime would be driving without a front license plate. (Did you know that they’re required?)

“Suspect is a white male of average build. Last seen driving a late model BMW in the vicinity of Gargamel’s castle…”

But now that I’ve shamed myself on the internet (what was I thinking?), it’s time to get things moving on this room (and entire first floor, while I’m at it) and set up a budget for 2009 to pay for it all, which I’ll start in November.

In the months ahead, I have one bill to pay that will likely be paid from my savings account. My horrible homeowners insurance premium is $902 (ouch!) and it’s due on December 18.

Aside from that, though, the month-to-month finances should remain consistent from here on out. No trips planned, no weddings scheduled, no huge holiday expenditures on the horizon, and we never really spend much for our birthdays (which are in the summer anyway). Basically, it’s an empty schedule.

Also, in an effort to speed things up even more, I’m going to try to get my wife on board — wipe out her credit card and boost her savings. A lot.

But my savings need the most work…

Resorting back to what worked so well while paying down debt, I realize that the only way to go is to make it automatic and then, if anything is left over, keep throwing that on to the pile too.

At the height of my pay down, it wasn’t unusual for me to make 7-8 payments to the same creditor in a week’s time. I’ve got to grow my savings the exact same way. If I find $5 in my winter coat pocket, that’s enough to initiate a transfer. Just do it.

So what’s my ultimate plan?

I’d like to be able to save up at least 1/3 of the cost of the remodeling cost before we get started. I’m not saying that I’ll use it all at the onset of the project, but for peace of mind, if nothing else, I want to have it available before I commit myself to such a huge debt load.

The remaining 2/3 would be financed on credit cards.

I know, I know, if you’re new to this site, that must sound crazy. Who’s willing to charge that much?

Well, that’s the method we used on the siding project and it was a whole lot more cost effective than the more common home improvement loan route we took for the roof the year before.

If you’ve got the right cards, the right offers, and a zero balance, you can borrow tens of thousands of dollars at well under 5 percent. No bank or contractor can offer financing that approaches that.

So, to begin, I’m going to continue the auto savings plan I started this month where I’m transferring $400 per month into an ING savings account. I may not reserve it for a vehicle purchase anymore, but I’m not going to cancel the transfer series either.

I was also planning to step up my extra mortgage payments from $50/week to $165/week to keep me on pace to have the mortgage paid off by 2015, but now, instead, I’m going to send that to my savings account plus what I would have been contributing to my savings account anyway and all of my passive income.

All together, on a good month (you know, when my clients actually pay their invoices), that would be around $2310 going in to savings right off the top. That’s freakin’ huge.

Basically, almost $10k every 4 months.

Sounds lofty. Borderline un-realistic.

Probably is.

I’m not really sure, I’ve never not had huge bills to pay…

The plan starts next week.

Posted on October 29th, 2008 at 8:46 pm by Brainy Smurf
2009 Goals, Finance, Home Improvements, Life, Savings | 8 Comments »