<p>My advice for those starting a remodel is to use the forums at thathomesite.com. There is a lot of good information there. Unfortunately, I still made some mistakes. One was not paying attention to what last year’s contractor was using to stick the tiles to the shower wall! Another mistake I made was using limestone (Durango) for the floor. The tile designer at the tile store never mentioned that it was a delicate material, etching at the very thought of anything stronger than distilled water. I would never use anything but ceramic tile now. I have a shower niche in that bathroom with crema marfil marble shelves. They are a little etched from shampoo!</p>
<p>To the OP…did you save the receipts and info from when your boiler was serviced/cleaned? When we have had warranty issues, we needed to submit these documents. We did NOT have to do anything else. If we had the receipts, the vendor had to deal with whether or not the job was done…as WE had done what we could to have it done.</p>
<p>Agree with you NYmom–I’m looking at ceramic tiles to replace the crema marfil. We built our house 5 years ago and the only real problem has been the tile in the master bath.</p>
<p>Even the professionals fall into these traps, if it makes you feel any better… There’s always at least something that goes wrong on a construction site. Something that looks terrible, some material that fails to meet specifications, some seal that won’t keep water out.</p>
<p>No, thumper, I don’t have any receipts to document the cleaning(s). They are free under the service contract that is included (free) under my contract for oil delivery.</p>
<p>I was thinking about that 175-page spec… it seems to me that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen–no contractor is actually going to read that many pages before they bid.</p>
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<p>I’m a member of Angie’s List. I think it’s too expensive, but it’s pretty useful. It’s especially useful to find out who NOT to use! Unfortunately, sometimes even a top-rated contractor messes up. We hired someone to put up a fence, and he placed a supporting board in a location that made it impossible for my next-door neighbor to open her gate. Needless to say, she was not happy. We called and e-mailed several times for him to come and fix it, got several excuses, and two weeks later hired someone else to fix it. A week after that, the guy shows up unannounced to fix the fence. Sorry, you get an F.</p>
<p>I still feel more comfortable checking someone out on Angie’s List (and Washington Checkbook) than just pulling a name out of the yellow pages.</p>
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<p>They’re supposed to. And they do. We hold pre-bid meetings where they can ask any questions about the specification documents (most of them are pretty standard, so an experienced contractor can pick out the important parts… a lot of the things we put in there are the construction equivalent of “cape does not enable user to fly,” but we’ve seen some pretty dumb stuff happen on sites) and I’ve had plenty of contractors ask me questions about the specifications, or have found conflicts between the specifications and drawings and have pointed them out to me. You’re right-- it puts HUGE liability on the contractor, which is why I would NEVER want to be a contractor, but these guys read this stuff cover to cover because if they miss something important, it affects their bottom line drastically.</p>
<p>I nearly died laughing at the donut bag and Jerry Garcia HVAC guy. Can you send him my way? We lived for 2 years with about 1/3 of our house not having active heat. When my Step D, her H and infant nearly froze in the guest room, I looked carefully in the basement and finally found the damper which had shut off the trunk line to that part of the house. My builder doesn’t know a thing about how things work - I think he’s a fake altogether, because I asked him about it, and he never showed it to me (probably didn’t know it was there.)</p>
<p>The joys of homeownership…I am not handy at all.</p>
<p>I don’t even trust my own reviews on Angie’s List! A few years ago I gave outstanding marks to a contractor who did some exterior work–paving and replacing some underground drainage. He actually returned phone calls and kept appointments (rare in my neck of the woods), was on site every day supervising his workers, finished on time, and seemed to do fine work. A year later a small crack appeared in the driveway (with a weed blossoming out of it-feisty little devil), and I called him to come take care of it before it got any larger. He never returned any of my calls. I know lawyers have the worst reputation of any profession, but I have rarely encountered a contractor in any field who managed to combine competence, ethics and courtesy. I look forward to the day I’m back living in a condominium, where at least exterior maintenance and repairs are not my responsibility.</p>
<p>The story about the donut bag brings up some warm and fuzzy memories of our move-in week which happened almost 10 years ago. I can tell you that after that we became *very good *plumbing experts :D</p>
<p>Fences - we built them. Landscape - we planned and installed it (and even did our neighbor a favor by installing a French drain where his ladscaping co. conveniently “forgot” to put one). Electricity & wiring - H is my hero in this field; we have more outdoor lights than one can imagine! Sprinkler system - been there, done that. I know all local codes and regulations… And if you ever need advice on epoxy grout…I’m at your service :)</p>
<p>I have to say that the only contractors that we ended up hiring were the tree removal company, the stump guy and the septic people (all did fantastic jobs). We simply did not want to mess with a 100 yr old dead Douglas fir; the stump… DH decided to take a stab at it, but seeing the enormity of the task, DH decided to hand the job to the pro. Septic system - the County requires it to be checked by a certified pro.</p>
<p>It’s true–you need to become something of an expert yourself first so you at least know what to look for and what questions to ask.</p>
<p>Then after you become an expert, you can forget it all because (if you’re lucky) you’ll never have to use that knowledge again.*</p>
<p>*Unless you decide to go into the business yourself!</p>