Finally, a new beginning (Old Town, Washington: how much, home, buyers)
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"Farrar Carpentry Services, a general contractor in Bangor, said busy contracting companies are booked out for a year and the ones that aren’t should raise warning signs to homeowners. If they aren’t busy, there’s a reason,” Jordan Farrar, owner of the general contracting company, said."
Quote:
Originally Posted by nm9stheham
As a contractor, that sort of statement from any contractor can be fair, or it can be self-serving.. .
I've been looking for a roofer for two months. My experience: I initially hired a roofer who was fully booked for the next 5 months. His lack of care in planning the project resulted in extensive damage inside my house when the roof failed before he thought it would (because he didn't inspect it properly). I figured out that he was overbooking and didn't have any time whatsoever to communicate with me or provide emergency service to correct his error and prevent further damage. He did not have time to write a contract and was unwilling to warranty his workmanship. In his mind, he had to be earning a certain (high) amount of money every minute of the day. The biggest risk is that guys like this don't build extra time into their schedules to allow for BAD WEATHER, which happened often this summer, or other unplanned events. So if he says "I'll do your roof in 3 months," your chances of that actually happening are slim, because in 3 months he'll be backed up with other projects that didn't go as scheduled.
After that debacle I contacted other roofers and I found that the ones who weren't overbooking had time within the next month. They seemed to book out the next three or four projects. I guess they know they'll have steady work and thus don't need to book the entire season.
One problem that I have not solved is that it's hard to get these guys to return a phone call or email or follow up on things like a contract.
I have shoveled snow. I have plowed snow, and I have blown snow.
Two-stage snow blowers are the best in my opinion.
Plowing will gouge the ground, lifting up established lawn grass and pushing it somewhere else.
The first time you plow, lets say that you push the snow back 20 foot. Two weeks later that snow bank you have created is now a mountain of ice and it is snowing again. So the second time you plow you can not push it 20 foot any longer, you can only push it 15 feet when the fresh snow comes up against the previous snow storm's bank. With each progressive storm the place where you can push the snow gets smaller and smaller. About half way through winter you have nowhere else to push to snow.
Snowblowers on the other hand do not gouge the ground and the they can toss the snow 40 foot in any direction you desire.
The biggest problem with a snowblower is if it is windy there is a possibility that you may blow snow in your face as you are trying to steer.
I have to agree with you on these points. The two stage blower will be much better in the wet heavy snow.
The wind always blows the snow in my face, no matter which way I point the chute.
So that newcomers understand; a single-stage snowblower has one spinning device to chew up snow/ice and try to throw it. While a two-stage snowblower has two spinning devices, one low rpm auger chews up the snow/ice and feeds it into the machine, where a second high rpm fan tosses the snow up through the chute.
It is my general understanding that a two-stage snowblower will usually be able to toss the snow much further away.
Two-stage snow throwers are definitely more powerful, besides the two material handling mechanisms, they normally come with bigger engines too. I have an Ariens "platinum" 24 EFI machine - it has a 24in clearing width, 369cc engine, cast iron gearcase and weighs 273lb. I like it, but you do have to muscle it at times, and you're muscling 273lb... not sure if it is the best for a smaller person.
It depends on your available budget of course, but if you're around a good sized town, there will likely be options to hire someone for snow clearing, and you can basically set up an agreement with them prior to winter's start, and they will then visit you with each snowfall to dig you out. So you don't necessarily *have* to do it yourself.
It is my general understanding that a two-stage snowblower will usually be able to toss the snow much further away.
Well, how far do you need the snow to go? I'm not exaggerating when I say the Toro PowerClear can throw it 30 to 40 feet, as the manufacturer claims. It's pretty amazing coming from such a small machine.
I don't deny that two-stage machines are more powerful though.
Well, how far do you need the snow to go? I'm not exaggerating when I say the Toro PowerClear can throw it 30 to 40 feet, as the manufacturer claims. It's pretty amazing coming from such a small machine.
I don't deny that two-stage machines are more powerful though.
Often the snow along the coast is wetter and heavy. The more powerful machine will do better.
I've been looking for a roofer for two months. My experience: I initially hired a roofer who was fully booked for the next 5 months. His lack of care in planning the project resulted in extensive damage inside my house when the roof failed before he thought it would (because he didn't inspect it properly). I figured out that he was overbooking and didn't have any time whatsoever to communicate with me or provide emergency service to correct his error and prevent further damage. He did not have time to write a contract and was unwilling to warranty his workmanship. In his mind, he had to be earning a certain (high) amount of money every minute of the day. The biggest risk is that guys like this don't build extra time into their schedules to allow for BAD WEATHER, which happened often this summer, or other unplanned events. So if he says "I'll do your roof in 3 months," your chances of that actually happening are slim, because in 3 months he'll be backed up with other projects that didn't go as scheduled.
After that debacle I contacted other roofers and I found that the ones who weren't overbooking had time within the next month. They seemed to book out the next three or four projects. I guess they know they'll have steady work and thus don't need to book the entire season.
One problem that I have not solved is that it's hard to get these guys to return a phone call or email or follow up on things like a contract.
This is a worthwhile post and opens a few areas of discussion that may be of use. It illustrates that it is not reliable to judge based on work backlog alone. And anyone can tell you that they are booked out for a long time to try to impress you.... you have no way to directly check up on that. We get backed up at times and turn away work, and then other times we sit and nervously wonder when the next job will come in. Contracting is feast or famine, but that does not change one's skill and knowledge and general dedication to good work.... or lack thereof.
Similarly it is not sufficient to judge a company on it's size alone. The largest residential roofer in the Outer Banks area could respond quickly but I learned that a lot of the emergency jobs were handled by calling in anyone who could say the word 'shingle', and who usually came in for a quick patch and then moved on as quickly as possible. The response time was good but the quality was not. So be aware of that aspect of larger companies; they are used to subbing work out and some unfortunately get into the habit of 'throwing warm bodies' on a job. (That is something we don't do because we lose quality control, and it is usually inefficient.)
IMHO, a better 'filter' is the willingness of a prospective contractor to briefly discuss the scope of the work, the steps involved, and any pitfalls or exceptions they may anticipate. An experienced contractor will know the steps by heart, and will have formed a plan in his mind based on a visit or if the customer gives an adequately detailed description. There may be a few good contractors who are not good at such discussions, but most are.
Another good 'filter' IMHO is to find out if the owner is a working member of the crew. If so, they are much more likely to be intimately knowledgeable on the work, and will more likely be personally invested their work, and be careful of their reputations.
What is hard is to filter out is the 'good talker and smooth operator' types. I wish I had a silver bullet to share for that problem.
As for responses, if you run a contracting business hands-on and as part of the crew (and I think that most of the best guys do that), then when the calls come in during the day, you can be up on a ladder, moving materials or equipment, involved in a task that requires 3 or 4 people coordinated together, or any one of other dozens of tasks. It is very disruptive to drop the tools and grossly inefficient to stop a task involving 3-4 guys to pick up the phone for who knows how long a conversation. Honestly, I don't answer calls much during the work day for this very reason. That leaves the late afternoon and evening to return calls as well as arrange for extra help or materials, or do planning. So contracting is not an 8 hour a day job by any means. It is commonly 11 hours per day on average for us in our busy times, and sometimes doing that 6 days per week. So the expectation for the same type of response as a retail business is just not realistic; it is in the nature of contracting work, not so much the people involved.
As for contracts, contracting trades just aren't the types who are naturally good with such things, and sometimes customers want something a lot more formal than is reasonable for the work. Contracts, and using them, are 2 way streets, and as the guy who in our business handles all the contracts (only with big customers), doing them well is very time-consuming and just does not work at all in the residential building trades. A simple estimate or quote form is all you should reasonably expect, IMHO. (And I don't even demand that if I am given the scope and cost estimates. We worry more about schedules and insurances.)
As for warranties, realize that in house work you cannot take the area apart first to inspect the whole situation and be 100% accurate in your estimates. So any wise contractor is going to take exceptions and be unwilling to warranty anything beyond their immediate work. They cannot be responsible for other existing problems that are hidden, and for knowing or estimating things they cannot see. Only Superman and his x-ray vision can solve that one!
nmstheham, thanks for expanding on the discussion about contractors. I have a couple of things to add.
In my post I said the roofer was unwilling to warranty his workmanship, not his price. This is a big red flag.
I found that the size of the quote was directly related to whether the roofer was willing to do a contract, the time spent talking to me and inspecting the roof, the level of detail of the project planning, etc. The lowest quote was $2200 for the labor. For that I got an out-of-state roofer, no on-site inspection before the job (photos only), no contract ("I usually just give you a bill at the end"), and no follow-up after the roofer expressed his interested in the job. The roofer did have good local references from someone I know. The highest quote was $4300 for labor. For that I got a local roofer, careful inspection of the roof, lengthy discussion of the materials, a contract, warranty on the workmanship, the roofer would obtain the materials I didn't already have, and follow up by phone to discuss the job---but then an unwillingness to negotiate the price. That kind of time spent on the quote and communication with the customer costs money.
I'm going to go with a roofer in the middle between those two. My advice is to look for red flags. In my case, the initial red flag---which I didn't pick up on---was that the roofer said I had "two to three layers of shingles" on the roof, but he didn't go up on the roof or use binoculars to verify that. There was actually only one layer and the roof failed quickly following windstorms that tore the shingles off. That was clear at the time of the quote because the bare sheathing was visible in many places (with binoculars or going up on the roof). So you have to get some technical knowledge of the work you want done so you know what questions to ask.
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