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After six months of looking at every listing for every darn center hall "colonial" with cheap white Home Depot cabinets and no trees and crappy carpet, I found an amazing house in Southwest Durham! So excited! Getting away from my neighbor who hates me because I am friendly with his ex-wife! Getting away from all the Chris Christie clonebullies who populate NJ! Whee!!
So now I need some referrals....
I found the thread on good car mechanics, so I got that one.
I'm going to at some point want to add a garage and a small bath, so I need a good contractor. I have a great one here in NJ but I don't think his wife would take kindly to him taking off for NC to build a garage and bath.
Need a good roofer -- house will need a roof in the next few years.
Need a good HVAC guy.
Need a good everyday landscaper/lawn guy, and a landscape designer who can help me plan some plantings for the front.
Referral for electrician and plumber -- just in case.
Now all I have to do is get my NJ house ready to sell, load up the kitties into the car and away we go!
Can't help with those referrals as we have new construction, but based on prior experience, I'd get referrals that are current - meaning, get them when you need the work, not years ahead of time.
I assume you've had the home inspected?
Oh wait - we had great landscape design from Garden Supply Co. In Cary. Good and honest.
We've gut renovated our house -- Jkgourmet has seen the after but not the before, it was in rough shape! -- and here are a couple of Durham contractor recommendations:
PLUMBER: We've recently been using GreeneHunt Plumbing in Durham. Two experienced plumbers who've recently gone into business for themselves. Kind, honest, amazingly dedicated. They spent hours wrestling with City Hall to help us get a leaking water line replaced -- legwork I wouldn't have dreamed a plumber would do for us. And their pricing came in far better than larger plumbers. If you need a big/24x7 type of operation with emergency/weekend coverage, Brown Brothers has been in Durham longer than about anyone.
ELECTRICIAN: In Durham, call Mike Cooley, Holt Electrical Service. Run, don't walk, to the phone to do this. We used G.W. May for other work and had a poor experience. Mike fixed up our punchlist of issues. We've also been able to get him out on very short notice when we had an urgent issue.
GARAGE: We decided to do a "big" garage project along the alleyway in the rear of the property; three car with rental or in-law apartment above. We used Ron Greger, R.G. Tec Securities. He did a fine job and was easy to work with. It was also a pricy project (he was the lowest bidder.)
If you are looking for a simpler garage, look at Carolina Custom Builders -- Custom Garage, Builders, Detached Garage, Storage, Carolina Custom | Raleigh, NC. Despite their name, their strength is in building detached garages -- no fuss, no muss. Their prices are reasonable, they use a production system, and they tend to be fast built. On my alleyway near downtown Durham, of the garages that have been built in the past decade, half are custom like mine, and the other half all used Carolina Custom Builders.
OK, here's another referral I'm going to need: A good dentist. Mostly I just need cleanings 4 times a year, as I'm having crowns that need replacing done before I move. But here's the problem: Anything more than a cleaning, and I am a complete wuss. I have gone to dentists that get you loopy with nitrous oxide before even sticking you with the needle my whole life. It's what I'm used to. I'm the best patient in the world under those conditions. I don't want "sedation dentistry" that uses versed or anything like that. I'm not THAT bad. Can someone refer me to someone who still uses this stuff? In my family it's a miracle that I still have all my teeth and I'd like to keep it that way...and not have to fly back to NJ when I need a crown or a root canal.
@Bull City Rising: Thanks for the referrals! The guy who did your garage...is he the kind of GC who could do a small mudroom/small bath with stall shower connecting the kitchen to the garage? There is currently a 4 x 8 storage room with an outside entrance and a small stoop with a door there.
Many if not most Durham neighborhoods have listservs ... some are even searchable back into history. It is also a good way to get referrals especially for the really local people like affordable tree trimmers. I occasionally hear of a little drama, but usually there is just lost pet, crime, neighborhood event news.
OK, here's another referral I'm going to need: A good dentist. Mostly I just need cleanings 4 times a year, as I'm having crowns that need replacing done before I move. But here's the problem: Anything more than a cleaning, and I am a complete wuss. I have gone to dentists that get you loopy with nitrous oxide before even sticking you with the needle my whole life. It's what I'm used to. I'm the best patient in the world under those conditions. I don't want "sedation dentistry" that uses versed or anything like that. I'm not THAT bad. Can someone refer me to someone who still uses this stuff? In my family it's a miracle that I still have all my teeth and I'd like to keep it that way...and not have to fly back to NJ when I need a crown or a root canal.
Thanks.
Dr. Amit Patel. Amazing dentist, not far at all from parts of SW Durham.
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