I bought my first home at twenty-four. It was a fixer-upper that was livable, yet it was clear everything would need updating over the course of the next five-to-ten years.
Looking back I think it’s safe to say I jumped into home ownership instead of carefully weighing the pros and cons. I didn’t think through all the things that could make home ownership – especially a fixer-upper – difficult. Whether that was time constraints that prevented me from going the DIY route as much as I would like, financial constraints such as not having thousands of dollars to outsource expensive repairs and renovations, or life changes such as job offers and opportunities in different states.
Thankfully in my case it has worked out so far. Fast-forward seven years later and I’ve learned a lot through owning a fixer-upper. We’ve had ridiculous things happen, such as our basement flooding and our sewer drain-out collapsing leaving us unable to flush **** down the toilet. But I’ve also learned new skills such as how to lay flooring, install trim, and replace outlets and switches.
I also quickly learned there are things you have to hire out. I simply was unable to make time to renovate our bathroom and kitchen, and I ended up hiring out the work. I also clearly could not go the DIY route in repairing a buried sewer drain and had to contract it out.
These two projects highlight exactly why you need to get multiple quotes for home projects and should never settle for one. The first example is my favorite because I saved over seven grand by talking to more than one contractor.
Different Contractors, Vastly Different Amounts for the Same Job
The second Winter in our home we had a big problem: s*** wasn’t going down the drain. A literal s****y situation!
The first time this happened the problem appeared to just be tree roots. It’s a very common problem for people who have any clay for any section of their sewer drain-out (which is essentially the drain that connects from your house to the main sewer line).
But then the problem happened again. This time a camera was ran down the drain and the true problem was discovered: there was a PVC pipe at one section of our drain that had shifted an inch or two, making the opening much smaller than it should be. This inevitably caused clogs.
The first company I had come out was Roto Rooter. Why? They were the first that came up when I did a Google Search.
The contractor came out and ran their camera, telling me I needed to have the road dug up and the section of PVC pipe replaced. It was Winter so it would be more expensive than usual. He said it would be at least $7,000, possibly more.
I asked if I should reach out to the city and see if there is any chance they would pay for it. He said I could but it would be a waste of time because they are not responsible for the drain-out.
Technically nothing he said was wrong. The city is only responsible for the sewer main, not your line to the sewer. But little did I know that Roto Rooter was pushing these repairs and would be part of class action lawsuit in the Twin Cities from homeowners who allege Roto Rooter pushed for these types of repairs even when they were unnecessary, costing homeowners between $3,000 and $17,000 per repair.
This is when I purchased Angie’s List, which I swear by. Here’s why.
I found another contractor who does this type of work on Angie’s List. They were highly rated, and after working with them I knew why. They confirmed the same issue, but said if they had to do the repair they would do it for between $2,000 and $3,000. But what did they do? They went to city hall and talked to the city engineer. The engineer confirmed there was a water main break on my street three years ago (which was before I moved in), and the repair that was made – by the city’s contractor – had no permit pulled.
It was an illegal and more importantly, incorrect repair, and the city was going to make the contractor fix it.
Not only did I not have to pay for the repair, the contractor I found on Angie’s List also got the city to agree to cover all my bills up to this point.
$0 instead of $7,000+.
As a new homeowner with a massive problem I was in a vulnerable spot. One contractor took advantage of the situation with a high pressure pitch. The other went out of their way to make this as affordable as possible.
Always get multiple quotes!
High Pressured Sales Techniques = Hard Pass
We somehow made a bathroom that was in rough shape last about five years. And I’m glad we did. As other homeowners can attest, every year you can delay a major renovation or project is another year where you can sock away money.
I still think one of the best decisions I made with this house was paying someone else to do our bathroom. We have had people refer to it as a “spa” and “an HGTV bathroom.” If you had seen it before you may not believe the change. And I am 100% confident if I had taken the repair on myself it would not have come close to the quality of seasoned contractors. That’s not a bad thing because I think there is a ton of value in learning the skills necessary to renovate a bathroom, but I’m glad I didn’t do it.
But I digress…we obviously were happy with our contractor. Like most of the other great contractors we’ve found, they were on Angie’s List.
The three contractors we got quotes from came from three separate sources:
- Angie’s List
- Personal Referral
- Minnesota State Fair exhibit
We initially weren’t impressed with the contractor we went with. He showed up 45 minutes late and was younger. But after getting the quote and getting to know him and his background, it was obvious he had built a relatively large home renovation company and they prided themselves on their work. Their quote was also the lowest, but not by much.
The Personal Referral gave a quote that was $3k to $5k higher, and we didn’t feel confident he was going to put in the best cabinets and was definitely not worth the premium.
The State Fair Exhibitor is what I want to highlight. This was a big company, and they used extremely outdated sales tactics.
It was almost shocking to hear the pitch. It included:
- Telling us they do not install bathroom fans and that we do not need one (crack the window open, even in the Winter! In Minnesota…?)
- You have one style of floor tile to choose from. That’s it.
- You can pick out a sink and vanity at Home Depot and they’ll install it for you.
- They only do bathrooms, no kitchens, so we’d need to hire a second contractor for that.
Like I said, this is a very big company that does tons of volume, meaning…people are actually saying yes to this.
This wasn’t even the worst part. We had to decide whether we would hire their company at that moment. Once he left the quote was gone and they would not come back out.
Are. You. Kidding. Me.
I would really love to see this business have a huge drop-off in business. It has to be people in their 50s and beyond saying yes to this because I know few, if any, 20- or 30-somethings who would feel compelled to say yes to someone using such a ridiculous high pressured sales tactic. Felt like a freaking timeshare presentation. Total waste of time.
I have more examples, and I’m sure if you talked to other homeowners they would have their own stories where getting multiple quotes paid off. It may take more time, but if you are paying potentially thousands of dollars for a home project, repair, or renovation, you owe it to yourself to talk to at least three contractors before deciding. You’ll save money – sometimes LOTS of money – and ultimately are more likely to be happy with the decision.
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I live in a small twin home in SE PA (what everyone else refers to a duplex), and we needed to replace all of our 14 windows (3 were the original single pane wood and chain pulley, 4 cheap vinyl replacements had popped their string pulleys and snapped shut, and one was missing a pane since move-in, and I wanted all windows to be same age and brand for resale purposes down the line). So I ended up getting 4 quotes.
One, that is a national chain advertising on TV with (HALF OFF WINDOW SALES all the time), did that same pushy sales tactics. Who on gods green earth is prepared to do a nearly 5-figure repair (their price of course) without talking about it??? I got two more vendors (via the two major home repair stores) and then one referral from my boss. The referral turned out to be 40% CHEAPER than the other three quotes, so I went with him and it worked out great. Also, that referral mailed me the quote… lol! He didn’t give it to me right then and there. So you know he wasn’t going to push me on price (which is a terrible tactic). Two years later, the windows (and aluminum caps) are still going strong and I’m so glad we went with them.
We experienced the same thing with our gas hydronic heater. We had a loud noise coming from something (turned out to be bad ball bearings in the pump), and the major TV-advertising company tried to say the whole furnace was bad and priced us super high on a repair ($4,000+) so we’d opt to go for a new furnace. Another local company (that doesn’t advertise on tv), quoted me at $1,000 for the whole repair (as it required some misc repairs in addition to pump). And after all that, another vendor came out to install our two smart thermostats (as we needed wiring for power line that was super difficult for 2nd floor), and that HVAC vendor was like, “this is a great furnace!” which made me more upset since that big HVAC company was totally lying and trying to get me to replace something that probably has another 10-15 years life left at least.
I have since come to terms with the fact that if the vendor can afford to advertise on TV, they’re going to be super overpriced. Unless you can’t find any other reliable vendor in your area, try shopping around and avoid any home repair company that does tv commercials.
Just another example where shopping around pays off. I really hope people shop around more and more in the future. I know 20- and 30-somethings are used to looking at reviews and hopefully are comfortable getting multiple quotes…might change the tide long term? Regardless there are a ton of people who probably go with the first and (likely) most expensive contractor, so things may not change anytime soon.
We’re going through this whole thing right now. We’re planning on adding a screened in area under our deck so we can enjoy being outside without worrying about the bugs around our home (with a wetland behind our house).
We’ve had multiple quotes to do the work so far, and the quotes have varied widely, and the expertise and knowledge of the contractors varies widely as well. We had one quote for $22,000 (large well known brand that advertises a lot), while another came in with a range from $13,000-15,000. Still another quoted $10,000 or less, but hasn’t returned our calls. Some seem to have solutions for some particular problems on our existing patio foundation, and others have told us that they can’t do the job because of the problem. It’s exhausting going through this process and even now that we’ve gotten a few quotes – even if we were to choose one we’d be 6-8 weeks out before they can start the job. We haven’t finalized the process yet, but I can see how people could get frustrated and just go with a more expensive quote because it’s such a hassle dealing with something like this.
I think we may have to check out Angie’s List to get recommendations and a few more quotes, thanks for the idea.
Especially with the economy doing so well it’s tough to get contractors vetted and scheduled in a reasonable time. One who I reached out to for our bathroom and kitchen told me he was booked over six months out and said he can’t help me due to my timeline (kitchen is in the rental unit so six months was too far out – lost $).
Definitely recommend Angie’s List. I swear by it!