don't know whether it's the heat,sun, humidity,insects,inferior grade materials/shoddy workmanship or just getting older/lazier or it's getting harder to do it myself, but upkeep on my house/yard is freaking ridiculous. it's non-stop and more than a full time job. don't remember it being anywhere near as bad in other parts of the country, fix one problem and 3 more pop up. if it isn't the house it's the yard. my house is not that old, imo, built in 89 by artistic homes. you can tell where someone else did some work by the difference in quality of workmanship, specifically tiling, plumbing, electrical and carpentry. I hate to be one of those homeowners that stands over the shoulder of workers but each time I haven't, I've regretted it. don't mean to dis any of you tradesmen but If I have to re-do something myself they did to make sure it was done right with quality material, then imo they have no right to call themselves pro's. latest for instance I moved my dryer from inside, venting thru roof to the garage on an outside wall and hired a so-called electrician to run a new 220 line and asked him to tie it in to the existing dedicated 220 line that it used to be on. had a bad feeling, got a diff electrician to check it out, the first guy tied it into the hot water heater and used a sub grade wire to boot, gotta pay one pro to correct the work of another. he would have eventually burnt my house down. gotta put some blame on myself for not checking licenses,referrals more carefully.
nacho
as I am from the same area as you , I will agree, service and peoples pride and drive to provide a good service has gone out the window. from going out to eat to having like you said a pro do work. Now it is not every one just lately the people I call or go out to eat (Dam AC guy) there a few things I don't mess with, electric and lp . it is tough out there, but peoples customer service and quality have gone in the toilet, and if you complained they try to make it your fault.
be safe
I think a lot of it has to do with the economy and is happening in all fields, even medical. when people became clients and not patients the writing was on the wall. doing Rn home care I've been told flat out go to their house and don't come back unless you admit them for care, whether they need it or not, "find a reason/diagnosis we can bill insurance for" it has cost me 2 jobs so far. in a right to work state the honest guy is often the unemployed one and the one that does whatever corporate tells him to do keeps his job/benefits and feeds his family. there are some honest individuals/businesses out there, just look for the ones struggling the most financially.
Exactly, the economy has alot to do with it. Once we started seeing our clients more concerned with price verse quality-professional-competent service we knew our days in business were numbered. Larger businesses don't experience this as much as a smaller business do nor does it have the same effect on a larger business as it does a small business since most larger businesses doing over 3 Million per year automatically factor in complaints, half ass work, speed, and client loss at around 25-30% into there day to day operations. The volume a larger company does factoring in the 25-30% loss and an annual 25-30% gain solely based on "cheap" pricing keeps they on a level playing field. A small business can't use this same logic since they don't have the volume. The economy being what it is has forced alot of "lone rangers" who worked for others in the past to go out on there own since they "think" they know what they are doing, and figured there old boss did it, why can't I, but at the end of the day they don't last 3 years, due to incompetence.
Trust me, I know what you mean with the up-keep. Only exception is I have two places to do the upkeep on. Technically three including rental house..
Fortunately I have a nice big yard, Unfortunately I have a big yard that requires something to be done almost daily to keep up with it
Between mowing, blowing roof off, trimming hedges, pressure washing, mowing creek bank, trimming tree limbs, its like it never stops just on the outside. And it is about a one month nightmare when these oak trees dump leaves. Every time my wife throws it in my face I don't do enough house work, I firmly let her know she doesn't do ANYTHING on the exterior..
Then we have the house in Steinhatchee. It was for all of my family to use. Well, my dad died 5 years ago, my mom is handicapped and doesn't even go up there any more, my wife doesn't go w/o me, and my sister is a bi.....So I am left with that to upkeep. People always say to me "must be nice to go away almost every weekend". What they don't understand, is every weekend I go up there its at a minimum 1/2 day of general maintenance/upkeep. Thats just to do the minimum necessary to keep the place livable, because I refuse to let it look like some of the redneck places around me. Hell, my place looks better than most and I am not there but on every other weekend, and my neighbors place looks nice, and he is dead. Up there once again, its mowing, trimming, pressure washing, seeing about the boat, inside maintenance, etc..
Its like I go up there and I have 2 choices...work around the house all weekend, and make it look nice, or do the minimum and go have fun. I choose the latter. I do make a couple work weekends around there where all I do is work, trimming trees, hauling crap to the dump, etc. But that kind of stuff I got to do in cooler weather, and then its hunting season. I am only one person, and I can only do so much
I really wish I had about three more sons.....
