Just another example where shopping around pays off. I really hope people shop around more and more in the future. I know 20- and 30-somethings are used to looking at reviews and hopefully are comfortable getting multiple quotes…might change the tide long term? Regardless there are a ton of people who probably go with the first and (likely) most expensive contractor, so things may not change anytime soon.

Especially with the economy doing so well it’s tough to get contractors vetted and scheduled in a reasonable time. One who I reached out to for our bathroom and kitchen told me he was booked over six months out and said he can’t help me due to my timeline (kitchen is in the rental unit so six months was too far out – lost $).

Definitely recommend Angie’s List. I swear by it!

We’ve had multiple quotes to do the work so far, and the quotes have varied widely, and the expertise and knowledge of the contractors varies widely as well. We had one quote for $22,000 (large well known brand that advertises a lot), while another came in with a range from $13,000-15,000. Still another quoted $10,000 or less, but hasn’t returned our calls. Some seem to have solutions for some particular problems on our existing patio foundation, and others have told us that they can’t do the job because of the problem. It’s exhausting going through this process and even now that we’ve gotten a few quotes – even if we were to choose one we’d be 6-8 weeks out before they can start the job. We haven’t finalized the process yet, but I can see how people could get frustrated and just go with a more expensive quote because it’s such a hassle dealing with something like this.

I think we may have to check out Angie’s List to get recommendations and a few more quotes, thanks for the idea.

One, that is a national chain advertising on TV with (HALF OFF WINDOW SALES all the time), did that same pushy sales tactics. Who on gods green earth is prepared to do a nearly 5-figure repair (their price of course) without talking about it??? I got two more vendors (via the two major home repair stores) and then one referral from my boss. The referral turned out to be 40% CHEAPER than the other three quotes, so I went with him and it worked out great. Also, that referral mailed me the quote… lol! He didn’t give it to me right then and there. So you know he wasn’t going to push me on price (which is a terrible tactic). Two years later, the windows (and aluminum caps) are still going strong and I’m so glad we went with them.

We experienced the same thing with our gas hydronic heater. We had a loud noise coming from something (turned out to be bad ball bearings in the pump), and the major TV-advertising company tried to say the whole furnace was bad and priced us super high on a repair ($4,000+) so we’d opt to go for a new furnace. Another local company (that doesn’t advertise on tv), quoted me at $1,000 for the whole repair (as it required some misc repairs in addition to pump). And after all that, another vendor came out to install our two smart thermostats (as we needed wiring for power line that was super difficult for 2nd floor), and that HVAC vendor was like, “this is a great furnace!” which made me more upset since that big HVAC company was totally lying and trying to get me to replace something that probably has another 10-15 years life left at least.

I have since come to terms with the fact that if the vendor can afford to advertise on TV, they’re going to be super overpriced. Unless you can’t find any other reliable vendor in your area, try shopping around and avoid any home repair company that does tv commercials.