You Get What You Pay For-When It Comes To Renovations

Recently we completed a renovation for clients, it was an interior renovation only and mostly cosmetic.

We had to bring in Electrician and Plumbers and our own carpenters to a lot of the work, but when it came to us bringing in a painter the homeowner refused to pay the prices that we found for them. We got multiple quotes and the homeowner still believed that the prices were to high.

Once our work was completed the homeowner brought in their own painter to finish the job, a painter that they found that fit their smaller budget.

Later when I returned to talk to the homeowner and pick up the final payment I asked about how their painting ended up with the painter that they hired.

It didn't go well, to the point the homeowner had asked the painters to leave before the job was completed and they were now finishing the job themselves and actually repainting a lot of the area's that the painters had already completed because of the poor workmenship.

At the time when I had presented the prices to the homeowner they had made comments that "those prices are ridicules, its just paint for crying out load!"

Now I stood there listening to my client trying to justify to herself and (trying to justify to me) about her choice, but the bottom line is that she was now painting the house herself and if you look at the work that was completed by the painting contractor (that doesn't have to be redone by the homeowner) and the cost of the homeowners time and their own materials that they had to buy to finish the job, my painters were actually cheaper in the long run. That doesn't even talk about the wasted time from everyone involved and the job is still not finished.

The old saying "You Get What You Pay For" is true. There's a reason that some trades are cheap and other trades are not, one party is paying for quality professional employee's that take time to do the job right with a high degree of quality, the cheaper trades pay employee's less (because they have less experience) and want to get in and out quickly so the costs don't run up.

No matter if it's your contractor bringing you a price from a sub-trade or you hiring a trade on your own the lowest price is usually not the right choice, especially a sub-trade that is significantly lower then its competitor. There's usually a reason that they are cheaper and those reasons are usually not good for you and your home.

Remember You Get What You Pay For!

Rob Abbott

Tired Of Picking The Shingles Off Your Lawn?

In the last big wind storm that roared through Southern Ontario a lot of people were picking up shingles from their lawns, some of the shingles were theirs and others were their neighbours.

When these extreme weather events happen it is a glaring reminder that asphalt shingles are the cheapest form of roofing for a reason, they don't survive very well in them.

There are different levels of asphalt shingles, shingles that are guaranteed to last longer then others, but no asphalt shingle is guaranteed to survive the wind storm that just happened. The scary thing is that these extreme weather events are becoming more frequent.

When you look at your roof now and you see the plywood because your shingles are lying at your feet on your lawn then you need to ask yourself several questions;

1. Since I have to spend money repairing the shingles on my roof do I want to put the money back into asphalt shingles or do I spend the money on something more robust? Depending on the level of damage to your roof your insurance company might pay for an entire new shingled roof. That means that if you wanted to change the roofing product then you would have part of the cost covered already.
2. If I can't afford anything but asphalt shingles then maybe I should take some steps to protect the interior of my house for when this happens again; If you can't afford to put anything but asphalt shingles back on your roof or you are unwilling to spend the money needed to put something else on the roof then you should at least spend a little extra money to protect the interior of your house from water damage that will happen when high winds take off your new shingles and the rain pours on top of your roof deck. Having your roofers install a waterproof membrane over the entire roof deck before the shingles are installed will ensure that you only have to replace or repair the shingles and not the drywall or other finishes in your home. A waterproofing membrane self adheres to the roof deck and will not rip off in high winds, in fact the the roof deck itself would have to be ripped off for the membrane to be removed from the roof.
3. If I'm going to spend the money and move away from asphalt shingles what are my options? There are many options to asphalt shingles, options that are guaranteed to survive a wind storm better then what is there now.

Steel: There are a lot of steel roofing products on the market, they also vary in price and how well they survive. Even the cheaper version of steel roofing products survive better then asphalt shingles because they resist the wind in curling and pealing off the roof deck. The more expensive steel roofing comes with a guarantee to survive hurricane force winds as long as its installed properly.

Enviroshake: These are a green product that has been made to look like cedar shingles but are made from a recycled material and made to be robust. Installed properly they will stand up to some of the strongest winds.

Slate: Though not that common in Ontario Slate roofs last a lifetime. They are heavy and they lay flat, their weight helps resist the wind from picking them off the roof.

Concrete roof tiles: These are becoming more popular these days as people are looking for an alternative, they are made out of concrete which gives them weight like slate and are attached to the roof in a way that doesn't allow for a lot of lift from high winds.

Some configurations of roofs lines depending on which way they are pointing will cause a cyclone affect as the wind passes over the roof, as it does this the wind gathers speed and pulls the asphalt shingles with it tearing them off, once a couple of shingles start to come up its like rolling up a carpet and more singles above them come off with them. This affect can actually happen more then once even with  new replaced shingles, I've actually seen this happen multiple times to homes until they were forced to replace the shingles with something more robust, they installed a steel roof and its never happened again.

If your thinking about a new roof think about something other then asphalt.

Rob

Village Builders Inc.