Quoted insane prices part deux

[MossRoad]

Part of the problem is that times have changed. Men used to leave the house in the morning, concentrate on work, and then come home. And do that Monday to Friday for 40+ hours. The women looked after the house and kids. Now men are expected to be wrapped up in all that crap, and expected to perform in the workforce. It isn't possible, in my opinion.

And in my mind. If you are working for someone, leave that dammmed cell phone in the truck!

A friend of mine just got a quote to ashalt his fairly large parking lot and short driveway. 4" highway grade, 1" stone, for $10.000 CDN. Seems very inexpensive. Salesman says they are slow and need to find work in the area. Legit or not? As soon as I hear "Salesman" by BS detector goes off! All the materials can only be more expensive than before, so unless they came across a source for slave labor, how can they suddenly do the job so cheap?

My wife and I have both worked full time since before we got married. We both raised the kids. We both cook. She does most of the cleaning. I do most of the groundskeeping and upkeep/repairs, remodel, etc... and we both need our cellphones for our jobs.

The kids turned out fine. The bills got paid. The savings got saved, etc...

My grandpa was a barber. He bought a 2 story house and they lived upstairs while renting out the bottom and cutting hair in the garage. They paid that off and bought a 2nd, then 3rd two story house and rented 2 apartments in each one. My grandma did all the books for his barber shop and their rental business. They both raised her 3 younger sisters, and their own 2 children. They all turned out fine as well.

When I was a kid, I had several friends who's moms didn't work. They stayed home all day. Guess what? They didn't do very much when the kids were in school but socialize with each other. In summer, the kids were running wild in the neighborhood with each other and the moms just had to make lunch.

So I don't buy into the whole mom has to stay home and raise the kids while dad goes to work scenario, because of those observations.

What really matters is having a parent or parents that care about you, and want you.

 

[Industrial Toys]

It doesn't do much good if the man can't make a good living because his efforts at that are mediocre (sp?). I think you have to give work 110% if you want to be successful.

Kind of like trying to support some small brick and mortor business and everytime you go there, they are closed with a sign on the door, for some reason or another. I only do that a couple of times and no more.

 

[MossRoad]

It doesn't do much good if the man can't make a good living because his efforts at that are mediocre (sp?). I think you have to give work 110% if you want to be successful.

Kind of like trying to support some small brick and mortor business and everytime you go there, they are closed with a sign on the door, for some reason or another. I only do that a couple of times and no more.

If you give 110% to your work, you have -10% left for your family. It's not worth it.

I do agree with small businesses that are hard to get ahold of. Someone opened a bait shop a few blocks from us last year. I've never seen any customers. I've never seen it open. There's 1 lake within 2 miles. The couple Saturdays I went ice fishing, they weren't open and I went elsewhere. Yet they put up a big sign in the front that said thanks for a great first year!

Since there's a tattoo parlor next door on one side and a biker clubhouse on the other, I wonder if they had "other" items on sale?

 

[Industrial Toys]

An Italian school friends father once worked cement all summer and looked ater the house in the winter. His wife worked in a factory all winter. That is a good efficient system. Not when the guy is working cement and gets a cell phone call to pick up his kid.

It's probably the way I gre up, but I liked the almost total lack of involvment of my parents and family in my life. In fact, I just hated the odd time, I had to go somewhere as a family unit.

 

[Fuddy1952]

The problem isn't that he is a contractor, the problem is with the MAN you hired. Wifey just mailed in our quarterly business liability payment; over 7K... that's x 4 for a year. All in, I'm pushing 50K a year for insurance. Who do you think pays for that? And how do you think that separates me from the guy you hired?

I fully understood ccdb (cost of doing business) since I had lots of overhead just unlocking the door each morning. Of course that is factored into each job or hourly rate. Some contractors/business people are more on the ball than others.
Some do great work at really low prices. Some are super expensive.
Forty years ago when I bought our old house it needed everything. First I addressed was plumbing decided to just redo everything.
First plumber I called was in an expensive new truck, guy wearing a suit and tie, Rolex watch. He pulls up, never went in, just gave me a price! He leaves, I was about to faint thinking about price, maybe he was good, who knows. Next day I find out from a supply house a good friend I hadn't seen in years was a plumber. He got the job. Old truck, but the job he did has been fine all these years and his price was amazingly low. Expensive doesn't always = quality.

 

[MossRoad]

An Italian school friends father once worked cement all summer and looked ater the house in the winter. His wife worked in a factory all winter. That is a good efficient system. Not when the guy is working cement and gets a cell phone call to pick up his kid.

It's probably the way I gre up, but I liked the almost total lack of involvment of my parents and family in my life. In fact, I just hated the odd time, I had to go somewhere as a family unit.

I cherish every moment with my family. My parents are long gone. My in-laws are now my parents. We spend as much time with them as possible. We've vacationed with them. They had our kids overnight hundreds of times. They attended our kids events. We attended their events. Our kids call them frequently. They stop in unannounced and I love it. Hey, come on in!

I wish my folks were still alive to interact with my kids. They'd have loved them and had lots to offer as mentors.

Our kids talk to us daily multiple times via text. Phone calls weekly at least.

I guess I'm just lucky to have inlaws that treat me like one of their own. :thumbsup:

 

[Steppenwolfe]

weird, something in the rules about a flooded basement not allowed to be mentioned??..

Delete

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I fully understood ccdb (cost of doing business) since I had lots of overhead just unlocking the door each morning. Of course that is factored into each job or hourly rate. Some contractors/business people are more on the ball than others.
Some do great work at really low prices. Some are super expensive.
Forty years ago when I bought our old house it needed everything. First I addressed was plumbing decided to just redo everything.
First plumber I called was in an expensive new truck, guy wearing a suit and tie, Rolex watch. He pulls up, never went in, just gave me a price! He leaves, I was about to faint thinking about price, maybe he was good, who knows. Next day I find out from a supply house a good friend I hadn't seen in years was a plumber. He got the job. Old truck, but the job he did has been fine all these years and his price was amazingly low. Expensive doesn't always = quality.

Expensive or cheap, neither = quality. Hire the man you trust who has the experience, knowledge, and ability to do the job. I'm not afraid to drive my 150 Platinum to the job.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Expensive or cheap, neither = quality. Hire the man you trust who has the experience, knowledge, and ability to do the job. I'm not afraid to drive my 150 Platinum to the job.

You don't show up in a 3 piece suit wearing a Rolex do you?

 

[Steppenwolfe]

You don't show up in a 3 piece suit wearing a Rolex do you?

No... Shoot, I don't even own a suit or a watch. :cool2: BY DESIGN!