What do you LIKE and DISLIKE about living in Knoxville? (Alcoa: construction, restaurants)

[High Altitude]

Here is what I like about Knoxville and the surrounding areas.

Knoxville isn't the best at anything, plenty of other places have the best outdoors, or night life, or restaurants, or theatre or pro sports, or weather, or shear amount of choices available to you or best whatever....... but Knoxville is good at everything and you get it for a pretty low cost of living.

Knoxville is a very high value place to live for what you get vs what it costs to live here.

You get a lot for your money, probably more than any other place I have been to.

[Ktrek]

One of the things I don't like about Knoxville is trying to get services done. Painters, electricians, plumbers, carpenters etc. are hard to find and when you do find someone they always take longer and cost more money then you might spend elsewhere. I also hate Papa Johns here. I've stopped using them because they never have enough help and I got tired of waiting for over two hours for my pizzas to arrive. Unacceptable!

Otherwise, I do enjoy living here. If I had it to do over again I would have purchased a new build home. My house is only ten years old but the owners never put any money into it and almost everything has had to be replaced or repaired.

[DaveinMtAiry]

Originally Posted by Ktrek

One of the things I don't like about Knoxville is trying to get services done. Painters, electricians, plumbers, carpenters etc. are hard to find and when you do find someone they always take longer and cost more money then you might spend elsewhere. I also hate Papa Johns here. I've stopped using them because they never have enough help and I got tired of waiting for over two hours for my pizzas to arrive. Unacceptable!

Otherwise, I do enjoy living here. If I had it to do over again I would have purchased a new build home. My house is only ten years old but the owners never put any money into it and almost everything has had to be replaced or repaired.

I have read the remark about contractors in TN before but I gotta tell you it's not exclusive to your area. I'm in Maryland and have been trying to get a bathroom remodeled. So many didn't even respond to my request, but several came out and took an hour to look over the job and then never submitted a bid. This happened on my last big project as well. I only wanted 3 bids but I probably had to contact 8-10 contractors. On the last one I just got one bid, it was in line with the number I had gotten earlier, so I hired him.

As for Papa Johns they suck everywhere.

[High Altitude]

Originally Posted by Ktrek

One of the things I don't like about Knoxville is trying to get services done. Painters, electricians, plumbers, carpenters etc. are hard to find and when you do find someone they always take longer and cost more money then you might spend elsewhere. I also hate Papa Johns here. I've stopped using them because they never have enough help and I got tired of waiting for over two hours for my pizzas to arrive. Unacceptable!

Otherwise, I do enjoy living here. If I had it to do over again I would have purchased a new build home. My house is only ten years old but the owners never put any money into it and almost everything has had to be replaced or repaired.

Its TN. No one is in a hurry. Drives me crazy, but I have adapted over the years. Also, if you have a cell phone number from another state or place with a different area code, most people won't call you back. They don't recognize it and aren't use to people from all over with different numbers. I have run into this constantly. I find if I am super specific and spell it out to them when leaving a message, that I live here, moved from here, this is my cell number, but I do live here etc.. it helps.

I hear people talk about not being able to find contractors, but I haven't had too many issues. I tried doing a handy man business a few years ago, but I found most people are very unrealistic in what things cost so stopped doing it. It wasn't worth my time.

[Barking Spider]

Originally Posted by High Altitude

Its TN. No one is in a hurry. Drives me crazy, but I have adapted over the years. Also, if you have a cell phone number from another state or place with a different area code, most people won't call you back. They don't recognize it and aren't use to people from all over with different numbers. I have run into this constantly. I find if I am super specific and spell it out to them when leaving a message, that I live here, moved from here, this is my cell number, but I do live here etc.. it helps.

I hear people talk about not being able to find contractors, but I haven't had too many issues. I tried doing a handy man business a few years ago, but I found most people are very unrealistic in what things cost so stopped doing it. It wasn't worth my time.

I think that is quite an exaggeration. Knoxville has a huge amount of people that have moved here from other areas, and they bring their cell numbers with them. I would say that over 60% of my clients have phones that are not 865 area code.

[High Altitude]

Originally Posted by Barking Spider

I think that is quite an exaggeration. Knoxville has a huge amount of people that have moved here from other areas, and they bring their cell numbers with them. I would say that over 60% of my clients have phones that are not 865 area code.

Thats what I would think too, because so many people now living here must have cell phones from other states, but it hasn't been my experience as a customer calling contractors. I really wish it wasn't.

Of the contractors that have answered calls, after we talk a bit lots have told me, I wasn't even going to answer this call because I didn't recognize the area code or if they don't pick up and call back later, they will sometimes just say I didn't answer your call because I didn't recognize the area code. I have heard that over and over the last 8 years.

People aren't use to having lots of people around with different area codes here, not yet.

If you go some place and they ask for your phone number, if you don't tell them "area code" before you spout off the numbers, they will automatically assume that the first three numbers you say are the first three numbers after 865. Then when you get to the last numbers it messes everything up on their computer and they realize what is happening. I always say, area code first to avoid confusion.

Some systems are set up where it doesn't matter, as long as the person keeps typing in digits, it just keeps pushing them to the left, but not all are like this.

Where I moved from, everyone when asked for a phone number will say the complete 10 digits, even if they have a number with a local area code.

So it would be like if the number starts with 865, they would still say their number is 865-xxx-xxxx because so many people everywhere have numbers from all over the nation since most people don't have land lines, just cell phones.

It is just a little thing I notice after living here compared to bigger cities in other states.

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by High Altitude

Where I moved from, everyone when asked for a phone number will say the complete 10 digits, even if they have a number with a local area code.

So it would be like if the number starts with 865, they would still say their number is 865-xxx-xxxx because so many people everywhere have numbers from all over the nation since most people don't have land lines, just cell phones.

It is just a little thing I notice after living here compared to bigger cities in other states.

And I have seen this when I lived in Houston, Mobile, Memphis, and here in little ol' Bristol. For the most part it is because the 'locals' are spread across state or county lines, in Houston it was because the city itself was split into multiple area codes. From what I've seen people in these areas tend to always give the entire ten digit number too, and it has little or nothing to do with how many transplants have moved into the area.

[NYS2Tennessee]

Originally Posted by Barking Spider

I think that is quite an exaggeration. Knoxville has a huge amount of people that have moved here from other areas, and they bring their cell numbers with them. I would say that over 60% of my clients have phones that are not 865 area code.

I agree.
Almost everyone I've met here that I've exchanged numbers with has a not local area code.
I've run into problems with my area code, it's only one digit off from 865 though so I'm constantly correcting people or finding out they had written it wrong.

[Brian]

It is the same way here in the Atlanta area -- I recently had to get the septic tank pumped out. It took me a week to find someone to do it.

I never had this problem when I was living in the Knoxville area.

[Beretta]

Like: Proximity to Smoky Mountains and specifically Cades Cove (one of my favorite spots on earth); being able to be out of the city and in the gorgeous country side so quickly; pretty affordable housing; UT Vet School

~You know I could go on with this list for days~

Dislike: Alcoa Hwy (I find it not a safe drive); the zoo makes me sad, I don't dislike it but it makes me sad; so many fast food restaurants,