[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house. We've been talking about when is it smart to hire that contractor? And one of the things I brought up here in the last segment that we're going to continue over here a little bit is sometimes it's higher, it's cheaper to hire things out. Drywall at times can be that way. If you figure out your time, drywall is a horrible, I'm not talking just a little repair, but if you're trying to drywall a house for you as a DIY, or this can be an absolute nightmare.

[00:00:32] Eric Goranson: And here's why. So you spend the weekend hanging drywall, you get it in there, you get your first coat of tape on there and mud, you're good to go, but you're not as efficient as the pros are because they do it every single day. So of course your mud and tape skills, aren't going to be amazing, but here's the thing is where it gets you the different coats in between when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered this is [00:01:00] around the house.

[00:01:00] Eric Goranson: We're on the house shows brought to you by pyramid heating. And cooling Serving in Oregon, the Portland Metro area, and Bend, Oregon. They're your one stop shop for heating and cooling and indoor air quality. To find out more, head to pyramid heating.com, Oregon CCB 5 9 3 8 2 and Baldwin Hardware. For over 75 years, Baldwin Hardware has been supplying luxury door and cabinetry hardware for that person that is looking for bold handcrafted quality for their distinguished home.

[00:01:30] Eric Goranson: To find out more information, visit baldwinhardware. com. Welcome to the round the house show. The next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Eric G and we've got a great show lined up for you today. We're going to be talking about. When is it smart to hire a contractor and when is it smart to DIY?

[00:01:50] Eric Goranson: And even for experienced DIYers out there, sometimes it makes sense to hire that contractor because it could be easier [00:02:00] and save you money in the long run. And so that's what we're going to talk about here today. If you want to find out more about us. Head over to around the house, online. com. And if you're working on any projects out there, make sure you head over there.

[00:02:12] Eric Goranson: Cause we've got a bunch of different stuff. We've got videos. We've got the podcast. We're listening on the radio. All the podcast episodes are over there and we have so many other pieces up there. Jeez, I think we're getting close to 450 videos working our way towards 500 of just stuff that's been Aaron on the around the house, Northwest television show that airs on Fox 12 plus here in Portland.

[00:02:34] Eric Goranson: Of course, it can be streamed anywhere across the U S if you're, if you've got an app, if you want to put that app on your phone, just go over to a Fox 12. Or KPTV on the app store, look it up and you can stream it right there for free. No need to go out and buy any of the other more expensive apps you have to pay for.

[00:02:51] Eric Goranson: You can get it for free right there, or you can check out the YouTube videos on around the house, online. com. So when is it smart [00:03:00] to hire a contractor? So here's some things that I always recommend people dive into to make sure that you're doing the math correctly. And one of the biggest ones. Before you start, what is your time worth?

[00:03:15] Eric Goranson: And I know people go, Oh, I got plenty of time to knock that up. Sure you do. But here's why I always ask, what is your time worth? If you are out there making great money and you can go out and pick up another shift and you're going to make more than what the project costs for that day at work, and you're just going to be doing it on weekends.

[00:03:39] Eric Goranson: And it's going to pull you away from family, sporting events, things you want to do. It's going to cramp your lifestyle. It's going to maybe put undue stress on your relationship because it's a summertime project. If you hire a contractor, they're out there five days a week, probably, maybe six. Working on the project and you being a [00:04:00] 40 hour or 50 hour a week working person man That's usually limited to the weekends and then you've got other stuff family barbecues Holidays, whatever else and it's really hard to get going on something for two days straight.

[00:04:13] Eric Goranson: And so what is your time worth? Is this something that's easy? Is it a big project that you love to do? So there's some personal satisfaction that goes into that But many times people with, with incomes that are pretty decent, maybe it's better to have somebody come in and do it for you. And that is something that's very individual for everybody out there.

[00:04:34] Eric Goranson: Maybe it's not worth putting the stress on your relationship of you doing it, whatever that situation is. So think about what are those costs? What is it going to cost you? And that's one of the biggest things. And I know people will sit there and say, I'm going to be my own general and I'm going to bring in trades.

[00:04:50] Eric Goranson: That's awesome. But unless you're working from home, that is very hard to manage from your office. And these are things that really happen. [00:05:00] If for instance, you hire a plumber and you brought all the pieces in and they're doing a plumbing project in your house, and you're the general, and you're sitting at the office going into a meeting, the plumber goes, Hey, man, you got the wrong part.

[00:05:10] Eric Goranson: Are you going to pay the plumber by the hour to go drive? Or are you going to step out of that meeting and go get the parts? Cause. That plumber's charging you by the hour to sit there and wait for you to get the right parts. So how is that going to work? And these are those things that really you've got to be careful with that can be very expensive and it can cost you more money in the long run.

[00:05:29] Eric Goranson: So something to think about there. Now, The next one is do you have a hard finish date? Are you doing a project that is coming up that you're trying to get the yard done for a wedding for a 4th of July barbecue Father's Day? Like this weekend? What are you doing? What are you trying to knock out? And if there's a hard date, That's going to put a lot of pressure on you as well.

[00:05:55] Eric Goranson: And maybe you want to bring in that contractor to have it done weeks in advance for you. [00:06:00] So that way you don't have to worry about it. And then next, here's the big one. And this is a hard one. Measuring up your abilities. How good of this are you? Are you just. Really skilled at what you do, or is there going to be a learning process?

[00:06:17] Eric Goranson: Are you gonna have to buy tools? What is that situation? And of course, is this something that you're going to have to learn? Or is it something you've knocked out 10 times before? And this is just old hat for you. And then of course, the next one here is safety. Is this something that's going to put you at risk?

[00:06:35] Eric Goranson: Do you have, if you're on the roof doing a roofing project, do you have the ladders, the scaffold and the fall protection devices, the nailers, all that stuff? Do you have everything to do this job safely? And do you know how to operate this? That equipment. And these are all things that I want you to really consider when you're looking at these kinds of big projects.

[00:06:54] Eric Goranson: Do I want to hire a contractor? I tell you what, I am not a fan of getting up on [00:07:00] big, steep pitched roofs and doing roofing projects. Do I have the ability to do it? Absolutely. Do I want to get up on something super steep and go do roofing? Not a chance. Not even on my house. I'd much rather do that. And so those are things that I'd like you to consider as you're taking on these kind of projects.

[00:07:18] Eric Goranson: Now one of the ones here too is I want to talk about this because this is probably one of the more important ones right here. And we'll talk about it in this segment and maybe into the next one here. But sometimes you get into projects where it doesn't make sense to do it as a DIY project. One of the big ones that I run into is insulation.

[00:07:40] Eric Goranson: When you look at the price of what insulation is, when you go down to the home center, buy it, take your time, come back, install it. If you figure minimum wage for you, I have never had it work out. With the time and [00:08:00] I'm working pretty fast. I have never had that make sense. And times I have gotten installation quotes that are cheaper than the materials, because you see the home centers, they mark the snot out of that stuff.

[00:08:13] Eric Goranson: These guys are buying it direct. They're buying a lot of it. They might have a warehouse full of it, depending on the company you're dealing with. So that many times comes back way cheaper. Then what you'd expect it to be. I also had one with a roofing project come up here recently where roofing project needed to be done.

[00:08:33] Eric Goranson: And the guy and his team were so efficient that roofing project was only a couple thousand dollars more than what the material costs were. If you bought them retail and had them brought out there, I tell you what. And if you're doing this on weekends, a couple grand, by the time you figure out what your time is, and if you've got to have the risk of tearing a roof off a [00:09:00] house and having it open to the weather for a couple weekends at a time, or worse, taking off a week's vacation and burning your vacation so you can knock it out over vacation.

[00:09:10] Eric Goranson: This is where these things start to get really expensive, and you're probably just better off writing the check and getting the work done by a licensed, bonded, insured contractor, and that way you get it done correctly, because this is where those things are a really big savings, because especially, all it takes is one injury and you're out.

[00:09:31] Eric Goranson: I'm walking around on crutches right now from just a stupid injury. And these are things that happen and it happens to the best of us. So it's going to happen to you as well. So just take a look at what that's doing, what it's going to do to cramp your lifestyle and whether or not that's going to be worth it.

[00:09:47] Eric Goranson: Now when we come back here, we've got a lot more to talk about. When is it smart to hire that contractor? And when do you want to take it as a DIY? We'll do that just as soon as Around the House returns.[00:10:00]

[00:10:10] Eric Goranson: What's up? This is Dixit Enya. And Satchel from Steel Panther. And you are listening to Around the House with Eric G. Yeah. We love Eric G and you should too. Welcome back to the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Eric G. We've been talking about, uh, when is it smart

[00:10:40] Eric Goranson: to hire that contractor? And this is such a personal decision, but I want to make sure that I can help you get through this and figure out if it's worth it for you to do it as a project. Or if you're going to hire somebody out first, though, I want you to head over to around the house, online. com. That is how you can get ahold of me.

[00:10:57] Eric Goranson: You could take a look at the podcast, of course, [00:11:00] information about the TV show, a bunch of our videos, and so much more over there, including some giveaway stuff that we've got going on. Take a look over there. If you're tuning in before July 3rd, 2024, if you're listening on the podcast, there's some great stuff out there.

[00:11:14] Eric Goranson: This is father's day weekend. Happy. Father's day to all the fathers are acting as fathers and all you out there that are giving fatherly advice To anyone out there. You're appreciated. Keep up the good work Let's keep those kids out there out of trouble and learning how to do things with their hands.

[00:11:34] Eric Goranson: And thanks to everybody out there that is taking on that father role, no matter who you are. We've been talking about when is it smart to hire that contractor? And one of the things I brought up here in the last time that we're going to continue over here a little bit. Is sometimes it's higher, it's cheaper to hire things out.

[00:11:49] Eric Goranson: Drywall at times can be that way. If you figure out your time, drywall is a horrible, I'm not talking just a little repair, but if you're trying to drywall a house [00:12:00] for you as a DIY or this can be an absolute nightmare. And here's why. So you spend the weekend hanging drywall, you get it in there, you get your first coat of tape on there and mud, you're good to go.

[00:12:13] Eric Goranson: But you're not as efficient as the pros are, because they do it every single day, so of course your mud and tape skills aren't going to be amazing. But here's the thing is where it gets you. The different coats of tape. In between that and that's where it gets a little bit ugly because this just kills your time Let me explain how this goes and this is my experience as well as many's out many other people out there Here's what happens.

[00:12:35] Eric Goranson: So you get that all done. You're good to go Now you go in and it dries after a day or two depending on how the the temperature the heat humidity all those things going on You sand it you put on your second coat of mud. Well now you're into the next weekend, right? So you're on saturday By noon, you've got everything sanded, you got the second coat of mud on it.

[00:12:53] Eric Goranson: Now you don't have anything you can do for the rest of the weekend on this project, because guess what? That needs to dry for a couple of days for it to really [00:13:00] get going. So even if you're using 30 minute mud. Which dries quick, it still has that humidity and moisture in it. It's just hardened up a lot better.

[00:13:09] Eric Goranson: So the problem that you see with that is a big one. So all of a sudden, what is a week long project for a contractor to come in, you've got four or five weeks in, because for most homeowners out there doing tape jobs, you've got two, three coats of mud. Then you're going to prime with a PVA primer. Then you're going to texture prime again and paint.

[00:13:30] Eric Goranson: By the time you get through that, you've got a month going, unless you're taking time off or you want to knock stuff out on the weekends and the weekdays, or you're taking off early from work. This can be a multiple weekend job. And sometimes it's just nice to keep that project moving ahead so you can get everything else done.

[00:13:47] Eric Goranson: And with the price of drywall being high right now, I think, and I've seen some of the prices that some of the installers, cause I've looked at some drywall prices recently, at least in my area and you, of course, the drywallers aren't [00:14:00] charging full retail. Now, if you've got a small project and you've got a drywall or we're running into the home Depot store, that's grabbing it off the shelf there.

[00:14:07] Eric Goranson: That's a whole different story because they're going to mark up. That 15 bucks a sheet, but I've seen guys out there that are getting it delivered to their warehouse by the truckload. They're showing up or they're having a big project delivered to the house from the manufacturer. And guess what? That's where you start seeing some savings on it because they're getting a better price.

[00:14:26] Eric Goranson: They're not paying retail like you are or how the little guys are at the home center. So that's where that starts to add up pretty quickly. So I've seen that now, one of the ones that gets really expensive because you have to buy so much equipment is when you're getting into asbestos abatement, lead abatement.

[00:14:42] Eric Goranson: Those are not great DIY projects for a number of reasons. One, Is you need to buy a bunch of safety equipment. You need to have test equipment. You need to have all those things to make that safe. There are air handlers that create a negative air pressure [00:15:00] in there. So the asbestos or lead paint doesn't go out into the room.

[00:15:04] Eric Goranson: There's a lot of these little things that happen. So these are things that I really want you to think about. There are thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of equipment that you need to do this project. And as a homeowner, it makes no sense for you to go out and buy it because you need to have that.

[00:15:18] Eric Goranson: And then you need to have to do or not to deal with it effectively and legally in your area. And in some areas, it's not legal to even deal with it. So you need to really figure out what those codes are and how it's done. Many times it just doesn't make any sense to do that as a DIY project. And here's a little funny story for you guys too.

[00:15:36] Eric Goranson: And this is one of those things that in I've learned the hard way, we'll put it this way. Many times with a pickup truck over the last 20 plus years, I've decided, Oh, I'm not going to pay the delivery fee. I'll just go get it. And I tell you what, I have made that bad choice so many times. That I just won't do it anymore.

[00:15:55] Eric Goranson: And here's where you run into issues. Anything over you've got an [00:16:00] eight foot bed on a truck or a trailer, anything over about three feet of length, you're just going to fight it. Let alone if it's 14 or 16 feet long. Just pay the 75 or whatever the delivery fee is and have it delivered. And if you're doing to the lumber yard, many times, if you spend so much, they'll drop it off for you anyway.

[00:16:20] Eric Goranson: So you can ask them for that. But I have learned with sighting, with roofing, With drywall with many of these things, if it's insulation, even sometimes because of the bulk of it and the many trips you have to make to go back and forth, sometimes it's better to pay for delivery. And I have made some horrible mistakes trying with an old Chevy truck that I had with a tailgate on it, eight foot bed.

[00:16:48] Eric Goranson: Trying to haul 14 feet of sighting that I gotten back in the day. And it wasn't 16, so it wouldn't have fit, but it was 14 foot lengths of sighting that was a special order that I picked up [00:17:00] on a closeout deal. It was awesome. However, should I had it delivered? I had so much weight on the back of that bed of the truck.

[00:17:07] Eric Goranson: That when I got up to over 40, 45 miles an hour, I literally couldn't steer with the front steering wheel. And the front wheels were just coasting. And I literally had no control. It was absolutely unsafe. So spend the time, pay the delivery fee, or if you're going to go rent a truck, get the right trailer.

[00:17:27] Eric Goranson: Deliveries is one of those things too, that's just like when you hire a contractor, when you're not. When in doubt, if it's a big load, have it delivered, try to negotiate a delivery on that and get her taken care of because it's just going to be so much easier. And then you're not liable. That's the thing.

[00:17:42] Eric Goranson: Once you drive away from that lumberyard and you've got it going down the road, it's your baby. If you order a delivery when it's dropped off and when they leave now, it's your baby. So especially with expensive stuff, sometimes it's just good to have it delivered. Have it taken care of and save yourself some money.

[00:17:59] Eric Goranson: Now, when we come [00:18:00] back, we're going to talk about one of the things that I think is very important on whether you're going to hire a contractor, or if you're gonna do this project yourself, it's going to come down to tools. And I've got some secrets for, if you want to tackle as a DIY project that might help you out.

[00:18:13] Eric Goranson: And I might make the project just a little bit easier for you. And then a little bit later on, we're going to talk about some other things too, as well. I'm trying to find that right contractor. And of course, if you're gonna hire them, my process and my secret to find them. And I'll tell you the one people that I don't look at, and that's the Better Business Bureau.

[00:18:32] Eric Goranson: I know shocker, right? We'll talk about that in so much more, just as soon as around the house returns, don't go anywhere.[00:19:00]

[00:19:02] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is Ron Kiel, the metal cowboy from Kiel, the Ron Kiel band and Steeler, we are rocking around the house with Eric G welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining us today. We've been talking about. When to hire that contractor, when to tackle it as a DIY project.

[00:19:25] Eric Goranson: And before we get back into that, I wanted to talk about something that we haven't talked too much about. We will tease about it here in the show, but I really wanted to talk about some of the videos we've got over and around the house online because I've got a lot of videos there that can help you with that next project.

[00:19:40] Eric Goranson: And I'm going to give you a few of these just off my list here. So you can get an idea last weekend. We talked about, we did a project installing a pocket door where that door slides into the wall, but I found the ultimate pocket door hardware. This stuff's meant for a solid core door. She can put something heavy duty in there has soft clothes, soft [00:20:00] open pocketdoors.

[00:20:02] Eric Goranson: com. This thing is awesome. It's like a really nice drawer glide. But it goes in where that pocket door is. And I tell you what, it is wonderful. And it goes in super easy, heavy duty, and you don't have those kind of clattering walls around it. So it's something that's super heavy duty. And then we talked with these guys.

[00:20:21] Eric Goranson: Oh my gosh, this was amazing. I finally found a gas can that works and you know how these safety ones out there, the safer they get, the worse they are. They get gas on you. They get it on the lawnmower, the or the pressure washer, your ATVs or whatever you're putting gas in. Sure. Can mix when we talk about that.

[00:20:39] Eric Goranson: And then, of course, we talked about some quick father's day gift ideas. And then another one we went into is we went into how to sharp, sharpen those loppers for trimming trees and bushes. And then we tested out a wire stripper, and this was funny. And I learned something off these Amazon wire strippers that it doesn't go very well sometimes.

[00:20:57] Eric Goranson: And so you'll have to laugh at this one and that's over there as [00:21:00] well. And then we talked about whitewashing wood and vacuum repair, and we talked about different circular saw blades, what to use. And using the right one for the right project. And then we actually built, this is a great project for you.

[00:21:12] Eric Goranson: Dad's out there or even moms that are handy DIY cornhole set. I show you steps to make a DIY cornhole set. So lots of different stuff we went through and installed a box gobbler. We talked to my buddy, Roger Wakefield, the expert plumber, of course. Lot of right stuff. We went through and talk with stiletto tools.

[00:21:32] Eric Goranson: We built a steel fence and then boy, we actually installed an emergency gas shutoff valve. So the list goes on and on. That's just off the last two weeks and we're cruising up on 500 videos right now, and it's just a lot over there. So something to take a look at. We have a lot of videos up there for you to take a look and helpfully walk you through the project that you're working on.

[00:21:51] Eric Goranson: So that's the cool thing with that. We've been talking about really what to do on these projects. And more importantly, how to hire the contractor. If you need to, [00:22:00] when it's a DOI project, when is it something that you need to hire help for? And that's super important. So in this segment here, I really wanted to talk about tools.

[00:22:09] Eric Goranson: Cause this is one of the things, and my rule for doing projects is if it's a big specialty tool, I go rent it. Now I have a contractor saw actually a couple smaller table saws. I have a two car garage. That is my shop. I don't have the space for the table saw. I would love to have, I doubt most people don't.

[00:22:30] Eric Goranson: And so what's cool with the small ones that go in the corner, you can get them out of the way and that works out really well. But if I've got some big projects where I got a lot of ripping to do time to go down to the tool rental store. And rent that. And that's where that really starts to make sense.

[00:22:44] Eric Goranson: So can those tools be rented or borrowed? Now, the problem I have with borrowing tools is one, you're assuming the liability for everybody when you borrow is specialty tool, and that's where you have to really figure out how that relationship is, what [00:23:00] happens if you bust it up. Den it up, ruin it. Are you now buying a tool?

[00:23:04] Eric Goranson: And then you have a broken one and you repaired that one or replaced it. So think about what that is. What is that value there? For me, if I can, if it's a tool I might use and cool, that's part of the, I wrapped that into the project costs. Okay. That's just part of the project. It's just like buying more lumber.

[00:23:19] Eric Goranson: I needed to buy this specialty tool and then I'll have it for next time. That's how that project works. And that's one way to do that. But if you've got to go out and buy thousands of dollars and tools. Now, all of a sudden, maybe hiring that contractor makes more sense. Now, my secret is I don't typically go to the big box stores to tool rental places.

[00:23:39] Eric Goranson: I like to go to my local people down the street, and this is one of those things that really helps you out because, sorry, home centers, you guys, in most cases, That stuff is worn to shreds. I can't tell you how many times I've rented stuff there and the tracks are worn on the track. Oh, or [00:24:00] it's just sliding around in the dirt.

[00:24:01] Eric Goranson: It won't start. It's just worn out completely and there's no way it should have been rented to you. And I've had that from many places in the country. When I hit. Big box tool rentals. It's just what it is. So I like to hit the independent guys Or if you've got a small hardware store chain like I do here I've got park rose hardware these guys every year they've got brand new stuff there and it's all like it's brand new it is In perfect working order when you get it chains are sharp grippers are sharp Everything's ready to work.

[00:24:30] Eric Goranson: And if not, they fix it and repair it take it out of service and they get it, right? So that's really where that goes on because when you've got machinery that isn't working, right, that's how people get hurt. You're sliding that track around. You're sliding the Bobcat around because someone didn't replace the treads of the tires, or you've got, I tell you what, I can't tell you how many times that I've seen compression issues or start issues.

[00:24:52] Eric Goranson: And you're trying to pull and then putting yourself on the pull cord. There's a lot of things that can happen with these things. And you want to find the right place. [00:25:00] And that way it gets it all dialed in. So make sure that you figure out what tools you need. And that's something really to do early on in the project to figure out what you're going to do.

[00:25:09] Eric Goranson: So next up, do you know how to use them? Some of these tools, are you drilling into concrete and you don't have a HEPA vac and you're going to get silica dust everywhere. Are you not familiar with using a lathe or a table saw or a planer? What is your learning curve on this stuff? Is it something that you want to learn?

[00:25:29] Eric Goranson: And maybe you got a buddy that will come help and then you can learn. And that's a learning experience. That's awesome. But maybe it's something you need to bring somebody in to do that or pay for them to do part of it. So that's one there. And then you need to just wrap that all up into the knowledge of the project costs here, what's going to happen.

[00:25:46] Eric Goranson: So really take a look at your tools, make sure you've got all the bits, pieces, blades, all that stuff. And that you're good to go. And that's part of the process of deciding whether you're going to do this as a DIY project or hire a contractor. And we were [00:26:00] talking about it earlier, and this is again, something that's going to come down that I really want you to think about, and this is really on the person doing the project time.

[00:26:08] Eric Goranson: Is this something that you have time to tackle or would you rather much rather be out? Sitting on the boat, playing round a golf. Would you much rather have this stuff and enjoy yourself? And there's a lot of great contractors out there. And this is where I really want to start talking about. What to do in hiring that contractor.

[00:26:28] Eric Goranson: So the first thing I do is if you're like, all right, Eric, I got it. I am not doing this project. I'm going to hire someone to do it. So depending on the project, this is where you want to start doing your research. First off, ask your friends around, go, Hey, You had that done last year. Who did it for you?

[00:26:44] Eric Goranson: Did you do it again with them? Take a look there. Do your research, find out, talk to the lumber yards. I've said that before in our last episode, talk to the lumber yards or talk to the distributors. Who's your favorite people? It's amazing when you get that. Who's the favorite people? These are all [00:27:00] awesome things.

[00:27:01] Eric Goranson: Now, the places I don't go anymore, I don't go to any of the paid referral services because here's the issue in many places in the country. The best contractors that really know what they're doing are not on those referral websites. They're not, they're MIA because they have decided, I don't want to be out there competing with these brand new contractors that are underbidden jobs.

[00:27:27] Eric Goranson: They don't know what they're doing. And I'm booked up two years. Why am I paying these guys 5, 000 bucks a month to get leads? And that's just what it is. And I'm talking about. The thumb tacks, the Angie's lists, the Angie, whatever you want to call them, these lead services. Cause here's what happens is you for many of these as a homeowner will jump on there and you're going to go, Hey, I need to have X done.

[00:27:51] Eric Goranson: And then your phone or email starts ringing off the hook. So they're selling your name to these people. And some of these [00:28:00] companies do a great job of vetting. Some don't do much. Some, I question if they do it at all. And you might have somebody that's unlicensed, uninsured, and have some horrible reviews that are out there knocking on your door, trying to do that.

[00:28:13] Eric Goranson: So take a look first at your. State, local, whatever contracting agency that does your licensing. There is no standard across the U S where I live. It is Oregon. It's a state thing, California state thing, Washington. It's a state thing, but you get off into the East coast and it's a city thing. It's a County thing.

[00:28:37] Eric Goranson: It's township thing. It's all of that. It is. The wild west in some areas, but you want to find out who the licensing organization is for your area. As far as what is a good resource. We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns.

[00:28:59] Eric Goranson: [00:29:00] Welcome back to the around the house show the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. We've been talking about when to DIY and when to hire that contractor. And we were given my tips here about where to find that good contractor. Where do you find those guys? And let me get jump into this here real quick.

[00:29:17] Eric Goranson: Hey, if you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house, online. com. And that's where you can get ahold of me here at the station. Or you can just give us a call here at the studios and leave a message here. If I'm not here, you can go ahead and leave a message and I will be the one that calls you back.

[00:29:33] Eric Goranson: That number is 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44 8 3 3.

[00:29:41] Eric Goranson: All right, guys, the one place that I don't keep in mind when I'm dealing with contractors, you can look, but I wouldn't weigh it much, especially if it's good is the better business bureau. And, and I'll tell you here why. And I'm on a crusade against these guys, but they have hung me out in the past and I [00:30:00] never had any complaints with them ever.

[00:30:01] Eric Goranson: Here's what happens when these guys basically, if you want a good rating from them, you need to pay to get accredited. And so you pay whatever that fee is in your area. It could be 750 bucks. That's what it was for me. When I went online and my business was three years old that I had, And this was up in Washington state, three years old.

[00:30:22] Eric Goranson: And I looked online and somebody goes, Hey, you have a C plus. And I'm like, really? We've never dealt with them at all. Never talked. Sure enough had no con they had a C plus. And it didn't say that we had any complaints or anything, but then I call them and they're like, Oh yeah, you need to be accredited.

[00:30:35] Eric Goranson: You need to pay us 750 bucks. I'm like, what happens if I don't? And they said, then we don't have enough information to give you the a wait a minute. So that was the BBB shakedown. Now, I think it was ABC did a whole story. If you Google search that up on a YouTube or whatever, you could find it there. They did a whole expose on them going through and bringing up and with some famous names like Disney Wolfgang Puck, all those kinds [00:31:00] of things of their experiences with this as well.

[00:31:02] Eric Goranson: So it's just not me that had this experience, but. Basically, these guys wanted me to pay to get a good rating. I'm not going to do that. And that also gave you some benefits of if you had a bad rating, they would come in and make sure that things would get smoothed out. So you wouldn't. Get a bad review.

[00:31:18] Eric Goranson: And to me, it just seemed like one big shakedown. And that's some of the problems that, like I said earlier, that I had with some of these referral services is that I have stood there on speakerphone standing next to a contractor. When some of these brands or referral services go, Hey, you just had a complaint because you didn't get back to these people.

[00:31:37] Eric Goranson: 200 bucks. We'll bury it in the back. So nobody'll ever find it. Guess what? I don't want to, as a consumer, I don't want a lead service saying, Hey, if you we're going to hide this. Because that's there to review them on if somebody I want to deal business with. So these are the things that happen with this.

[00:31:53] Eric Goranson: And this is why I think you just need to get in. And the other one is do not start talking to people on next door either. That can [00:32:00] be tough. Holy smokes. In my area, if you want to find a bad contractor that is working, that is unlicensed, bonded, insured. Go on to my local next door page. Cause they are filled on there with people out there.

[00:32:12] Eric Goranson: And then you see later, they took my money. Guess what? You didn't do your research. And that's one of the things that I really want to make sure out there is that you got to do your due diligence. There are thousands, a majority of contractors out there are awesome, respectable community members, great business people.

[00:32:31] Eric Goranson: They know what they're doing and they're making the world a better place. But what you got to do is make sure that you don't find that percentage point. Whatever that is of the bad ones out there that are ripping people off. Great example. If you saw here a few years ago, we had her on the show. This was a something that we covered exclusively, but in Colorado, there was the bad contractor there that went in and went into my friend Amber's we're friends now, but went into her place.

[00:32:56] Eric Goranson: They came in and absolutely tried to [00:33:00] repossess a bathroom because they did absolutely horrible work. I saw the pictures. I have the pictures. These guys look like eight year olds that were blind doing tile work. This was the worst tile job I've ever seen. I don't think I could have done it this bad if somebody would have paid me to make it look like I did it that bad.

[00:33:15] Eric Goranson: That's how bad this was. So many of you probably saw this. This went viral. It was covered by news organizations. Inside Edition did stories on it. And so what happened was is the homeowner, Amber, who is awesome, she said, well, guys, we're going to stop here. We're done working here until we get this figured out because it was going bad and getting worse.

[00:33:35] Eric Goranson: These guys were trying to get paid early and I'm going off the court records that I read and my interpretation of them. So this isn't hearsay here. This is just what I saw. And so what happens is she said, stop, they wanted to get paid. And basically I think we're trying to shake her down for money in my opinion.

[00:33:54] Eric Goranson: And they got mad, went over to her house and the neighbor who's a friend filmed [00:34:00] them coming into the house after they're told not to go to the house. And they went in husband and wife team went in with a sledgehammer and started to quote, Repossess the bathroom. Long story short, I know people that turned around and went out there.

[00:34:14] Eric Goranson: People from the Global Tau Posse Facebook group, William White, all these different guys that have been on the show before have gone out there and helped her out, figured it out, tore it out. It was completely done wrong. It was a horrible job that they did. That they were trying to fix. They had to gut it and start over.

[00:34:29] Eric Goranson: Played through the legal system. And I think if I remember correctly, he was charged with a felony. She ended up getting, pleading down and getting some, he got some jail time over that. So this is stuff that you can't have happen. Now, this guy here. I think probably you'll end up leaving. He's not able to get a Colorado contractor's license, I believe.

[00:34:49] Eric Goranson: So he will probably move to another state and be a contractor. And that's the risk of having someone like that show up at your house working. And so this is where that due diligence is [00:35:00] such a key to make sure you find the right person. So one of the things that I recommend too, is check with your local licensing or state law enforcement.

[00:35:10] Eric Goranson: Contractor licensing agency. See if you can get them on the phone. In many states that I've worked with in the past You can get them on the phone and say, Hey, what about triple a construction? I'm making a name up. What do you think about them? They'll look back and go, Oh, wow. Jeez, they've been around for 30 years and they've had two complaints, which in 30 years is completely reasonable because you do have to remember too, there's some crazy homeowners out there as well.

[00:35:35] Eric Goranson: So a perfect record. Is great. It's just okay to see how companies have dealt with a couple of bad complaints. Now I know of ones here that I've worked in the past where maybe the, the generational handoff didn't go so well and things went sideways. And I've seen that where all of a sudden a company was perfect.

[00:35:54] Eric Goranson: And then. Maybe the kids take over something all of a sudden they get four or five, six complaints, which is a big [00:36:00] deal. That's a problem. So this is really where you want to make sure that's all dialed in. Now, here's some of the rules that I have before we go wrap this up here and get to the rest of this.

[00:36:09] Eric Goranson: Is that I want you to make sure and take a look because the day you sign, they do your research, see if their license bond are insured. The day you're signing the contract, I want you to also make sure and double verify again, that is because on the day, generally speaking, I'm not an attorney, but generally speaking, if you, on the day of the sign, the contract, they had insurance for the job in that many times has you covered for that first part of the project.

[00:36:33] Eric Goranson: So you can be covered because that was in place at the time. So that can help you a lot. So I always say, verify that when you're signing the contract, that should be very detailed. All right. Now the last little bit of this I want to get into before we run out of time here is some of the stuff where they're going to hire a contractor, not liability concerns.

[00:36:54] Eric Goranson: Is it going to reduce your liability to hire somebody to come do it? Great example. You got that big tree in the front [00:37:00] yard and you're like, no, I'm going to take that down myself. I got a chainsaw. I I've dropped trees before I'm going to do it. Is the liability so big that you could drop it across the street, take out the neighbor's house, power lines, utility lines, whatever is the liability so big, it's just not worth your risk to do it.

[00:37:19] Eric Goranson: You doing a big natural gas project and you're not sure of your ability. You're renting a backhoe to dig across the lawn, there's utilities there. Maybe it's smarter to have somebody come take that part on to reduce your liability so you don't cause a big issue. Those are things that you got to be really careful with.

[00:37:37] Eric Goranson: So take a look at your liability concerns and make sure that you address that correctly. And then take a look at what building code is in your area. Sometimes you need somebody very detailed to help navigate that. And that can be the problem when you're dealing with like, Foundation issues, additions, tying the old house into the new.

[00:37:56] Eric Goranson: These are things that are really taking [00:38:00] somebody with experience and you need their 20 years experience to help navigate and get through there. That's another one. Now here's my list of things that I recommend that you let the pros handle that aren't great DIY projects. And we talked about some of the things that might save you money, but this is the stuff that I think that if you're going to cost more, it's worth it.

[00:38:17] Eric Goranson: HVAC work. Most of the time, it's going to save you money. And you're going to have a better tune up when you have those people come out and work on your system. If you've got a carrier or train or name the name, the brand, if you bring out one of their train service tax, unless you've been doing it forever, unless you're current, it's just worth the few hundred bucks to have them come out and do the service.

[00:38:39] Eric Goranson: That's just going to save you money in the long run. And it'll probably extend the life of it out. So you're actually going to have something that's going to last longer, like changing the oil in your car, same kind of thing, major electrical projects, like panel replacement, maybe it's a on demand generator hookup.

[00:38:54] Eric Goranson: These are things that are very, very complex. And there's a lot of building code that you need to understand. [00:39:00] That's hard to understand for the lay person out there that doesn't do it every single day. So all of those are big. And that could even be hooking up a car charger where you think you can do it.

[00:39:09] Eric Goranson: And, uh, one that can come back and actually power your house. Like what the Ford lightning can do. That is very detailed and there's a lot of tricks to that. You need to understand. So it works correctly. I'm Eric G and you've been listening to Around the House. Thanks for tuning in