Charge me to give you money? No, thanks.

Ok, let me just say one of my personal peeves is not paying a contractor to give an estimate.  I understand that many people need a problem diagnosed first, and that a licensed professional should be compensated for his or her time.  But I have projects that I know about–I just want a quote on doing it, and no, I don’t want to pay you for your time.  Welcome to the real world of business where we often invest our time, advertising dollars, etc. in search of the elusive customer.  I only wish I had $10 for every non-buying customer I have pursued in my life.  Charging for an estimate is right down there with mortgage companies that charge you to get on a program where you make an extra payment or two over the year.

 On a separate note, I’ve been working down in the basement.  The wood subsills around the windows were totally rotted out.  Old newspaper–too decrepit for me to find a date–had been stuffed in the space in a poor attempt to insulate.  Any way, I bricked in one of the sills and also tuckpointed around the electrical panel, where I know we’ll have work done soon.  It’s kind of fun to work with my hands for a change; too much working my overloaded mind.  The end of my day at the office is marked by a small stack of paper on the desk; the end of a day of renovation is marked by a new wall or something else that’s tangible.  Heck, I could quit my job as an attorney and become a mason–maybe the world would be better off?

Speaking of craftsmen, I saved about $100 a month ago by fixing a shorted-out phone by myself.  While cutting away the bad, unused lines I found the original phone lines–a pair of twisted wires many decades old.  When you renovate, you just have to ask questions like, “Who installed those?”  “What family lived here?”  “Did some teenager in the 40s hide their conversations from his parents like we teenagers did in the 70s?”

Last thoughts:  Larry for Colorado Electric is great; I’ll probably go with him.  He’s filled with stories of how safe the District used to be in the 50s and early 60s, before the riots.  How much changed once MLK was killed!  Finally, 40 years later, this city is starting to come out of its funk (having Marion Barry as a addicted mayor didn’t help!).  And speaking of quotes, Michael and Son Services was $1000 more (that’s 33% more!) than another company in its bid to replace the lead service line from the property line to the basement.