These are huge ticket jobs and can easily break the bank and for me, very nearly did just that. It inspired me to write today because there are so many of us out there in similar situations. I thought I'd share how I got it all done and perhaps you'll find the story helpful.
Now before I begin, I want to say that these ideas are not going to be popular with everyone. There are those that are going to disagree with the steps taken and I want to say at the outset that I understand. The way I do things may not always be the safest or most prudent or even the smartest. When I need to get stuff done, I go into a survivor mode of thinking. What's the least expensive way to get what I need. So, with that said, if you find these ideas helpful, great, if you don't, I understand.
The ROOF
Getting the roof done on the house was a fluke really. I needed help with installing a new TV antenna. I placed an ad on Craiglist. I can hear you out there screaming "NUTS". I'm the type of person that believes 99.9% of people are decent. I realize that's not necessarily true but strangely when you believe that people are good, they tend to be good. I always insist on local help in my ads. I believe in neighbors helping neighbors and that's a really good way to get to know your neighbors. A man answered my ad who lived just down the road from me. He mentioned he was a roofing contractor and because of the time of year and the economy, he was having a rough time making ends meet. LIGHTBULB! Hey, I need my roof done! So does my best friend who lives about 10 mins away. What price would you give me if I gave you both jobs? Well it ended up costing me $1500 with materials. That's a steal. Re-thinking the CL now aren't you?
Painting
The painting job was particularly painful. I mean, seriously, navy blue? Ugh. I went to Home Depot and got paint. Now I highly recommend you look for the OOPS paint. If you don't know what that is, it's when they mix a paint and the customer decides they don't like it. The discounts are significant. If you're like me and don't care much what color as long as it's not obnoxious (like navy blue) this it the way to go. Walmart also has a lot of Oops paint and very cheap. Like pennies per gallon cheap. Of course, again you're taking chances. You need to be sure you have enough paint or can at least get more if you need it.
I got two big 5 gallon buckets of a kind of cream and I needed every bit of it. Trying to cover that dark paint was brutal. My neighbor at the time, Juan, offered to do the painting for me. He lived right next door so I was all for it. I don't particularly mind doing the work myself, but I have arthritis and really can't paint very long. Well, Juan turned out to be a flake, a huge flake. He would call me and tell me that he was going to work on it that day, then never show. He did tape one room and started the painting but that was it. This is the kind of stuff that happens when you try to do things on the cheap so you just have to try to work through it and expect it or at least try not to be surprised if it happens.
I attempted to do the work myself. It wasn't working out so again I turned to the dreaded Craigslist. I put an ad up and got some kids from the HOOD. Yeah, they were not the types you would invite over for dinner necessarily. But once again this is where you can't make arbitrary judgments about people. These kids turned out to be very decent. They were trying to start their own business and I truly respect that so I was more than happy to help them and actually tried to give them more work. They, like young kids tend to do, decided that maybe that wasn't the business for them. They didn't do the greatest job, but they got rid of the blue as much as humanly possible and despite them wanting to listen to that ghastly rap music while they did it, we had a really good time. We ate pizza, got rid of the heinous blue walls in 4 rooms and the hallway, $200 and done.
Carpeting/Flooring
I would ask you to pay particular attention to my story of the carpeting and flooring in my house. This was something I should have taken care of before I moved in and didn't. It was a huge mistake and I share it with you because I suspect I'm not the only one to make it.
When I bought the house, it was clear it needed new flooring. The problem was, with all the expense, I could hardly afford it. The kitchen was my main concern. It had that awful sheet vinyl and it was peeling terribly. The carpet was intact but filthy. I elected to go to a home improvement store for the kitchen flooring and get the carpets professionally cleaned.
Well, with my arthritis, I did a pretty crappy job on the kitchen, but good enough. The carpet cleaners, great people, did the carpet throughout the house plus the vents for $100. Great deal. Jackie's Carpet cleaning if you're in the neighborhood. When they came, the company owner came to work on them as well. He told me that I was going to have to replace the carpet soon. I think he was being nice. For that entire year, I was constantly ill with sinus infections and coughing all the time. Sometimes there would be traces of blood in my cough. Nothing life threatening, but certainly alarming. There wasn't necessarily a smell or something to alert you to a specific problem. I was just constantly sick. The reason for it?,,,,,THE CARPETING. I didn't know it until I finally got the work done.
The search for flooring contractors was terrible. I tried the big companies, this is a total waste of time folks. 1000 sq ft house and the prices they quoted would have run me $5000 dollars. There may be some people reading this thinking that would be about right. Many of the quotes I got were about that amount. It was not possible on my budget.
Some tips when shopping for contractors (any contractors):
1) Get as many quotes as humanly possible. Most companies are hungry for work, take advantage of that.
2) Get small local companies that don't advertise. Google the type of contractor you need and skip the google ads go for the "yellow-pages" type listings. These are the companies with the best pricing.
3) Craigslist has a lot of small business listings, but they're not always cheap. Check it out because you want as many quotes as possible but don't make the CL your "go-to".
4) Wherever possible go with neighborhood businesses. This keeps your money local and usually works to your advantage budget-wise.
5) MOST IMPORTANT - get the work done out of season. I got my carpets in January after the holidays. Typical dead-time for flooring contractors. Determine their busy season based on the work the contractor does and plan for they're slow season. You'll get much better pricing.
I found my contractors on Craigslist. I did have another guy who I wanted to do the work but, once again, he never showed. So I went with my number two, great folks, good products, not much of an online presence and not the most professional of workers. There was some damage to a wall and they broke a mirror. However, I have to say, I'm in love with my floors. They worked their butts off. Moving the furniture, working with my dogs always underfoot and the most dreadful of jobs ever, pulling up the old carpeting.
I never knew how many sins a carpet could hold until we pulled up the old carpet. I literally gag when I think of it. The carpet in the living room was so rancid when we pulled it up. You couldn't smell it when it was down but WOW when it was pulled up. Horrible. I can't believe I walked on it. I won't get too descriptive but just imagine a cat's litterbox. Say no more?
Needless-to-say, this was the reason for my year-long illness. Once it was corrected, no more coughing, no more infections, no more illness. Even the people at work noticed it. I told them it was the carpet and they were shocked. Folks, if you're living like this, please get it fixed immediately.
Now I'll tell you what I paid. 4 rooms plus hallway, plus new vinyl for the kitchen, $2482.13. Cut it in half folks, it can be done.
I really hope this information is helpful to you. Remember where there's a will there's a way and don't wait when your health is involved. My best friend kept suggesting that I wait on the carpets to hang on to my money but honestly I'm so glad I finally did it. He had the best of intentions and he's usually right. I sometimes get ideas in my head and keep pursuing it until I get it. That can be an admirable quality if directed appropriately but I tend to spend money when I should probably just wait a bit. There's always a balance to be achieved when living on limited means.
