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Old 07-18-2011, 01:11 PM
 
Location: Newton, MA
324 posts, read 1,086,035 times
Reputation: 274

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We need a few things done on our old house (painting, floors refinished, electrical). I know the advice is to get about three estimates for each job. But, admittedly, I'm feeling lazy about scheduling potentially 9 appointments. Plus, these are just estimates...so who's to say that the cheapest estimate ends up being the cheapest final bill?

I guess I'm wondering whether, if I have a referral from a friend, and if I checked Angie's list and this person has good reviews, if I'd be crazy/stupid to just hire him for the job?
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Old 07-18-2011, 03:26 PM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,124,693 times
Reputation: 10691
Yes and no. If you don't mind potentially paying a lot more than you should, you don't need estimates. If you have referrals from someone and have seen the work done and you are happy, getting estimates is up to you.

We just had to have part of a roof fixed-got two estimates--one from a roofing company and one from the handyman we use for other things. Our Handyman is a licensed contractor but does his contracting work on the side. The roofing company wanted $10,000, our handyman charged us $2500.
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Old 07-18-2011, 04:01 PM
 
Location: Newton, MA
324 posts, read 1,086,035 times
Reputation: 274
wow, that is quite a difference. out of curiosity, were you satisfied with the work of the handyman? Do you know why it was cheaper? Was the roofing company going to do a bigger job? Or did they just cost more for the same job?
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Old 07-18-2011, 04:26 PM
 
15,442 posts, read 21,257,163 times
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Regardless of who you hire, get references and follow up on them. Require a signed contract of the work to be performed and the quality of work you expect.

I recently had sheetrock and painting work done on my old farm house by a fellow I found on Craig's List. The work was sloppy, my antique door stop disappeared on a day the workers were here and a month after they finished the work, my front door was kicked in and my house burglarized of specific things that point to this contractor.

Be careful of hiring anyone who does work on the side no matter how inexpensive they seem to be.
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Old 07-18-2011, 04:28 PM
 
Location: Jacksonville, FL
11,078 posts, read 10,635,175 times
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At a guess, I'd say the roofing company was going to charge more for the same job. Reason being, they were going to bring in a lot more people, as well as the fact that they have a lot more overhead than the average handyman. Being a handyman myself, I can often undercut the larger companies due to the fact that I'm a one-man operation. I don't have the expenses of office space or employees.

As for the original question, a handyman is only as good as his reputation. If the one your friend used has been doing it for a while, charges a reasonable rate, and has good reviews and referrences, you're probably safe using him. As usual, check licensing requirements and proof of insurance.
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Old 07-18-2011, 05:40 PM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,124,693 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NotAPrincess View Post
wow, that is quite a difference. out of curiosity, were you satisfied with the work of the handyman? Do you know why it was cheaper? Was the roofing company going to do a bigger job? Or did they just cost more for the same job?
They were going to do the same job, not sure why it was THAT different but I think that some of it had to do with overhead, etc. and that it wasn't a "big" job to start with so sometimes contractors charge more for small jobs.

We have been VERY happy with the work our handyman did. He has done other projects for us as well. He did a lot of work on some friends' house and it was all very well done there too. He is very good about letting us help and learn too. He installed a tile floor for our friends and showed the owner how to do that and helped him do the layout for their entry way that our friend did on his own then. He has been a fantastic find for us.
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Old 07-18-2011, 05:57 PM
 
15,633 posts, read 26,144,529 times
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When we had our bathroom redone, I had three different quotes and the most expensive guy absolutely would not do what I wanted. He said he'd install white tile in my bathroom, and white tile the floor -- I said I wanted cultured onyx tub surround and vinyl flooring. He said he didn't know anyplace that did cultured marble or onyx, and he only did white tile surrounds and white tile floors in bathrooms, and by the way the bid was $12,500.

I asked every single bathroom you do is white tile on the floor and walls? He replied, yes it is, and by the way, it will take a week and you have to find another place to use the bathroom, because we gut it completely and it won't be useable.

I only have one bathroom.

I thanked him for his time and tossed the bid. He obviously didn't want the job in WORST way.

The guy that did my bathroom told me two prices -- 6K for no water damage and 7K for water damage.... adn we had no water damage. YAY!

He ended up doing a small redo in our kitchen -- and the thousand we didn't spend in the bath, we spent that and more in the kitchen. He had no idea the issues we had behind the walls culminating with our garbage disposal being wired with TELEPHONE WIRE and connected to a junction box right under the window with no header or footer or flashing where the water just poured in on the only electric source for our kitchen.... but now it's done and done right.

The second re-do on the kitchen -- we didn't even call anyone else, because we trust this guy. We're about to embark on a third redo (I should call these phases -- because we're not re-doing the re-dos, we're adding more redoings) and it will be the same thing.

So -- yeah -- you should get a few estimates. You get a feel for people that way, and access to different ideas. The guy we went with actually redid a friends house almost completely, and she loved him because he was the only guy who didn't try to talk her out of her odd kitchen layout she'd had for years and has come to love.
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Old 07-19-2011, 06:30 AM
 
Location: Atlanta, GA
1,123 posts, read 6,520,446 times
Reputation: 569
For me it totally depends on the scale and complexity of the job. For the most part, if it's going to be under $1000 then I will just find someone via Kudzu with a lot of good reviews and have them come out and get a quote. I will typically go with this person if I get a good vibe, they seem to know what they are talking about and the price seems reasonable. For anything over $1k, I will usually get at least 2 bids and if I feel really good about one of them that's it. The key is to do extensive research and be educated and ask questions so you can get a feel of how knowledgeable the contractor is.

I have had extremely bad experiences with handymen, therefore I never use one for a critical job (roofing, electrical, plumbing, structural). I am sure there are some great ones out there, but every one I've used hardly ever shows up, cuts tons of corners and I usually find some error in what they've done.
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Old 07-19-2011, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Nesconset, NY
2,202 posts, read 4,307,542 times
Reputation: 2159
Quote:
Originally Posted by NotAPrincess View Post
We need a few things done on our old house (painting, floors refinished, electrical). I know the advice is to get about three estimates for each job. But, admittedly, I'm feeling lazy about scheduling potentially 9 appointments. Plus, these are just estimates...so who's to say that the cheapest estimate ends up being the cheapest final bill?

I guess I'm wondering whether, if I have a referral from a friend, and if I checked Angie's list and this person has good reviews, if I'd be crazy/stupid to just hire him for the job?
When one interviews a prospective (sub)contractor it's an opportunity to better define the (written) scope of work which should be a part of every contract. Better contractors will ask a lot of questions and offer impartial advice about what should be done and how. When it comes time to request bids all the bidders should be bidding on the same things as written in the bid request.
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