Fix Air Leaks Around Doors and Windows – Are You Cooling Your Neighbors Space?

The Case of the Door that Would Not Close

Recently, in a meeting with my web designer, she complained about the gap in her front door and the fact that it was allowing so much cold air out of her home.  After a brief inspection of the door, I concluded that my friend was doing more than her fair share to cool Mother Earth.

What was the problem you may ask? Warped door jambs?  Missing Insulation?  Threshold loose?  NOPE, none of the above.  My friend’s problem was the result of two screws that had come loose.  Not to the point where they were sticking out and noticeable but just enough to let the strike plate slide forward preventing the door from closing tightly against the weather-stripping. The result of these two loose screws could easily add up to hundreds of dollars on her electric bill over the course of a year.

As a General Contractor, I am asked into homes to look at renovation projects and often see things like the loose screws mentioned above.    I mention the various things that I see to the home owners and the responses I get typically fall into one of two categories; 1) oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to fix that, or 2) Oh man, I have never seen that before, I’ll have to look into it.  Each response, while different, are essentially saying the same thing; “thanks for pointing that out, I’m not going to do anything about it right now”.  Knowing the normal reaction, I asked my friend why she chose to fix the “minor” “maintenance” issue.  “I do not wish to pay for cooling my neighbor”.  Now here is someone that truly understands the indirect costs of home ownership.

In Florida, your utility bill, or how much you pay to cool your home, is one of biggest drains on your bank account.  I was a bit shocked to learn that you might be paying as little as $0.35 cents per hour and as much as $0.75 cents per hour to cool your home (all depending on how old your AC unit is and how much you are currently paying for electricity).  I found a great article to explain to me how to calculate how much I was paying to cool my home per hour; check it out yourself.

My friend had the right idea; see a problem?  Fix it before it becomes a major problem!  Picture yourself getting up from your couch every hour, walking to the front door and reaching into your pockets and pulling out $0.60 and just throwing it out the door.  After a short 24-hour period you will have thrown out $14.40.  Would you reach down and pick this up or would you want to wait a few more days?

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Lead Generating Companies

The other day I was driving in my truck and I hear an advertisement from a well-known company offering a place for listeners to go and check up on contractors.  Not five seconds after this commercial started to play, my phone rings.  On the other end of the line was a sales person offering me the opportunity to get QUALIFIED project leads from folks right here in my work area; all for mere pennies on the dollar!  If that is not proof positive that there is a lot of money at stake in the lead generating business I don’t know what is.

We have all heard the heart-breaking story of the single parent or the elderly that gets beaten out of their hard-earned dollars by the mean old contractor.  I can already hear some of you saying to me, “Marc, we NEED companies like that because contractors are notoriously corrupt”.   If this is your thought process, believe me when I say, you are not alone, but also listen to me when I tell you this is a bunch of hogwash!

Have you ever heard the old saying, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”?  Growing up, I heard that one and many more from my grandfather.  I didn’t understand him at the time because granny made me as many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as I could eat and never charged me a penny for them (well, she would steal a kiss or two).  I learned it’s meaning as I got older.

In the referral game, a 3^rd party is putting their greedy little mitts into the cash flow.  To you, the customer, they tell you it will not cost you a penny for their services, but just as my granny always managed to get her kiss on my cheek, these companies have ways of getting paid without you knowing about it….

Let’s say a contractor agrees to use one (or more) of these “lead generating” companies.  Finally, after driving all over 3 counties and talking to anyone that would hold a door open long enough for the contractor to say hello, they get their first “qualified lead”.  This means he beat at least 20 other contractors to the customer and the customer actually wants a job done.  So, in addition to all the gas spent driving around, and time wasted talking to all those other “customers” that really didn’t want any work done; the contractor now gets the opportunity to “bid” on a job that actually exists – with 20 other contractors!  Yea!  Oh, and let’s not forget, the contractor had to pay for that lead (and all the other bad ones).  Do you think he might be inclined to add a little extra onto your bid to help offset some of his prior losses?

This is but one method that these companies employ to get paid for their services.  Keep in mind, they got paid by EACH and EVERY ONE of those contractors that wanted that lead!

And what about that contractor that made it to your door?  How do you know they can even drive a nail into a piece of wood?  I bet you that lead generating company told you they had those contractors checked out, didn’t they?  Folks this is a topic for another day, but the short story is; don’t believe it.

Another “saying” that my grandfather had was, “you have to do your own work”.   Most customers like the lead generating idea because someone else is supposed to be doing their work for them!  Checking out the contractor to make sure they have proper licenses and insurances.  Sending out a quote form for a job and getting the estimates back and maybe they will even offer to come and wash your car on Friday.  Point is, don’t believe everything they say.  You can do each of these things yourself; here’s how.

How do I research a construction company?

License and Insurance Requirements for a Contractor

Licensing:  In the state of Florida, all state certified contractors will be listed on the State’s web site under the department of business and professional regulation.  Simply go to http://www.myflorida.com/directory/ and click on the link to “business and professional regulation” and on the next page click on “verify a license”.  At this point it’s going to ask you for some information about the contractor; Company name, phone number, the city or county they work in or the license type. If you don’t know the answer to one of these search options, call the company and ask them.  Any reputable contractor will have no issues giving you the information.

NOTE:  This same process can be done for contractors that hold “local” licenses, however, the process may not be available online.  You may need to call the local government agency for verification.

Insurance:  This one is the easiest of all.  When you have selected your contractor, ask them to provide you with a copy of their General Liability and Workman’s Compensation insurance policies.  Folks, we must have these insurances to do our job.  I can have copies of these certifications sent to you within a few hours.  And make sure you don’t fall victim to the contractor that tells you they are exempt from having workman’s compensation insurance (once again, another topic for discussion)!  If you have questions, call your insurance agent and ask; If they don’t know, chances are they know someone that does.

Project Quotes:  Now things get a little trickier.  For me to provide you with a project quote I’m going to need a bit of information.  Which means I’m going to be asking you questions about your project.  Which means you need to have spent some time thinking about your project.  And, you should spend some time talking to your spouse about your project; I definitely will.   The more you know about your project the easier it will be for me to assemble the needed information and provide you with a firm fixed price quotation.

What does a contractor need in order to provide you with a firm fixed price quotation?

• First off, they need to know what you want to do; be specific.
• Secondly, they need to know when you want the job to be done.
• Third, they must know who will be making the buying decision.
• And finally, they need to know what your investment budget is for your project.

I will address each one of these in more detail in later blogs.

When you provide me with definitive answers to these questions, I am happy to provide you with a rough estimate to complete your project.  If you want a firm fixed price quotation, we would move to the design agreement which will get plans drawn up by an engineer or architect.  I use those plans to prepare a detailed takeoff, solicit bids from subcontractors and material suppliers and get answers to any questions I may have with the building department before construction startsl.

As you can see, there are many steps involved to arrive at the firm fixed price for your job.  You have work you need to do and I have many questions that need answers.  You should not push this work off to a lead generating company whose only interest is adding more zeros to their bottom line.

When you take the time, you will find there are many qualified contractors out there waiting for your work.  I hope you will take that time to look for them because I like to see the good guys (and girls) win.

My best to you all,

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The Successful Marriage between Contractor and Customer

Any construction project is like a marriage; you have the bride and groom or the contractor and the customer and the ring or the project.  The bride can be the most beautiful woman of your dreams but if the groom doesn’t show up on time to the wedding there will be problems.  Likewise, the groom can be very hardworking but if the bride does not appreciate his work he will be left feeling empty and confused.  Finally, as every bride and groom knows, there is that one perfect ring out there that was made just for them!  And no other project will do.

In keeping with the marriage analogy above, I will attempt to offer some project counseling to the would-be brides and grooms of this world.

To have a successful marriage, I think you must start with three things; 1) a foundation of trust, 2) a willingness to compromise, and finally 3) open communication.

The contractor establishes trust by answering the initial phone call or returning it the same day, showing up to the initial sales call dressed professionally and arriving on time, and prepared to discuss the brides ring.   This initial trust is built on by providing a timely estimate, answering all correspondence in a timely fashion and generally showing interest in the bride.

The customer establishes trust by having done some basic research as to the type of ring they would like, making sure they are present for the first meeting and making sure to minimize outside distractions.  The bride will continue to build trust with the contractor by answering questions in a timely fashion, valuing the contractors time by not looking at other rings that you know you either cannot afford or do not want, and generally showing interest in the groom.

Compromise comes naturally to the groom.  The contractor should have no preconceived notions about your ring and as such be willing to look at other possibilities.  However, once the bride has narrowed her search down to one (maybe two) rings, she should focus her attention to that ring.

The contractor may need to offer some education to the bride on the topic of rings.  Some rings are just too big for the hand in question, some rings don’t have enough spark in them, some rings are too fragile for everyday wear and some offer no room for future growth.  A good husband will carefully listen to the bride as she establishes what ring qualities are important to her.

Once the bride has made her desires known to the contractor, she should have developed enough trust in her future groom to listen to and take his counsel to heart.  Keep in mind that husbands spend an inordinate amount of time shopping for rings and most are considered experts in this area.  Some amount of butterflies in the stomach are considered normal at this stage of ring shopping, both for the contractor and the customer.  However, if the bride strongly believes the groom is not looking for the ring she described it may be a sign that he is just not that in to you.  Ultimately, the perfect ring, should adequately reflect the dreams of the customer with the realities of the groom.

Proper communication is never-ending.  We have always heard that a contractor and a wife should never go to bed mad at one another and I couldn’t agree more!  Over the years, I have found that most disagreements about rings result in misunderstandings by one party or both.  Modern technology has only added to this misunderstanding as emails and texts don’t always convey the “meaning” that was intended.  Both the customer and the groom should go to great lengths to make sure they know what the other party understands.  Assuming can lead to hurt feelings and broken rings.

Stay tuned for in depth “counseling” on each member of the wedding party.  Next week we will take a closer look at what it takes to be a great bride!

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