<p>Are there home contractors anywhere in this country who don’t find it essential to listen to classic rock stations at super high volume (11 on the dial ) in order to paint/plaster/build etc.? </p>
<p>I don’t hate this stuff. Most of it is on my iPod, somewhere, even if I don’t choose to listen to it often. (Or at the highest possible volume. From 8 in the morning until 5. . . .) It’s kind of fun to hear Locomotive Breath, or Layla, or Breakfast in America unexpectedly. It’s just a lot less fun hearing them for the fourteenth time in five days - and knowing that there are at least ten more weeks of this is endangering what’s left of my sanity.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the kindergartener and I now have dance parties at breakfast. So I guess there’s an upside.</p>
<p>Anyway, just wondering: Is this unique to this part of the country? What are they blasting in YOUR house/construction site?</p>
<p>Use this as an opportunity to educate your kids about the Golden Age of Rock and the musical masterpieces which will, one day, be recognized as such. One can get tired of anything, even masterpieces, if you hear it too much, but try to reframe and remember how great the music was when you first heard it, and recapture that feeling, for the sake of your kids, so they can appreciate this wonderful music.</p>
<p>Drywallers and painters around here favor the spanish language stations that mostly play country music. I don’t mind as long as it’s not at top volume.</p>
<p>Interesting. In commercial construction we receive contracts which state “no radios no dogs”. Seems most of the residential guys are country music. When we do residential work it’s no radio. Cannot afford the hassle of ticking somebody off.</p>
<p>Hmmmmmmmmmm, we did our renovation about three years ago, so if I remember correctly, we did have our classic rock lovers (those were the demolition guys who took the second floor off our house and then rebuilt it). Then, the roofing and siding people listened to a Spanish language station. Indoors, none of them listened to music (electricians, plumbers, tile guys, etc.) except for the painter who listened to a pop station.</p>
<p>Yesterday, We had a carpenter and plumber install a barrierfree, shower stall. The only sound I heard was the discussion on how they fitting a 59inch stall into a 58-3/4 inch opening. DW wants to know how was the work coming along, I said, that she didn’t need to know and that is why we hired contractors. She promptly hungup on me, and I heard phone silence but felt the not kind thoughts about me.</p>
<p>I normally listen to one of the NPR classical stations while at a customer’s, or WQXR, also classical out of NYC. I’ve had numerous requests from customers to write down the numeric values/call letters or set them as presets on the customer’s equipment.</p>
<p>I’ve yet to have a customer request that I turn my radio off or get rid of the
classical station. In fact, I’ve had customers ask that I turn on the radio.</p>
<p>A friend of mine highly recommended a particular contractor. The basis of her recommendation was that he loved opera. I hired him. He did. And he also did a great job!</p>
<p>The last time we had contractors in the house was about 7 years ago. I guess their music was so awful we decided to turn into hard core do-it-yourselfers. Last summer, H found a CD on the ground in the parking lot of the local Home Depot - Gary Allan. “Look, honey, what I found - contractors’ music!” H keeps it in his truck to feel like a real contractor when hauling home retaining wall blocks.</p>
<p>A better question: what does your contractor DRINK? We discovered that the kitchen ceiling in our first house was insulated with a mix of the typical fluffy stuff and empy Budweiser cans!</p>
<p>Years ago, I asked my sister if she had any advice about getting a new roof done. She said “make sure you like the same music they do, it’s louder when it comes through your roof.” We hired a rock band that did contracting on the side; they didn’t start until 9:30 but worked until 6, and yes, they blasted their music all day. They were also one half the price of everyone else and did a very nice job.</p>
<p>Recent housepainter loved opera but played hard rock if his nephew was working with him. Good plan to bring his family into the business. On occasion he’d also bring his autistic son, and when I saw how beautifully the nephew spoke to that cousin to make him part of the work-team, too, I could see what a quality family this was. Actually the nephew patterned his speech after his uncle, whom he credits with saving his emotional life… </p>
<p>Housepainter borrowed many books including my copy of Biography of Ben Franklin. I joked that I cut no checks until I get my books back.</p>
<p>He gave me tremendous advice on how to rehang paintings after the wallpainting was done. </p>
<p>He kept my H from going up on ladders when he really shouldn’t.</p>
<p>We disagree through the roof about right-to-life issues, and have to promise not to discuss it or neither of us can work. </p>
<p>He’s one of my favorite people. And to defy ALL stereotypes, my H found him because he’s normally a pest-spray guy who also mentioned he does “other” work. So sometimes he also educates me about entomology. Everyone has a system, too; he doesn’t schedule any painting jobs around August 15 because that’s the date a certain kind of housefly hatches in our region and his phone rings like crazy. He’s always researching new ways to calm down housepest problems while being kind to the ecosystems outside the buildings. He only uses spray as a very last resort, hardly anymore at all. There are many kinder alternatives.</p>
<p>The three guys that built the stone fence in the backyard were hardcore country-rock listeners. I wasn’t paying (neighbor paid, because he wanted stone), so I didn’t care what they listened to.</p>
) in order to paint/plaster/build etc.? </p>