prepareyourhomeforsale.biz Blog

Find Handyman III

So, you need a handyman? What do you do? Where do you go? If you have seen any of my articles I do try to help the home owner find a handyman in their area, by showing what to look for in a good handyman company. The hardest part is where do you go to look for a handyman? I would have to say local newspapers is one of the largest spots that people go too when looking for a home improvement or handyman service. The handyman and home improvement professional have become the same now days depending on what size company or expertise the company you are dealing with has. There is a company in the greater Milwaukee area in Wisconsin we will use as a example of a very well rounded and highly trained handyman and home improvement company.

Going with the above example Badges Properties can be found in the local newspaper under handyman, you don’t have to look under just home improvements any more to find people for all kinds of work. Just make sure the company you hire is well rounded, if you find a specialty company you will for ever be trying to find someone for each type of work. For example you call a company who does nothing but gutters, because your down spout became detached and needs to be reconnected. They come out and fix the down spout and now you remember you want a leaky pipe in the kitchen fixed also. While you called a specialized gutter company, they are not going to come in a fix your leaky sink pipe, so again you have to find another person to fix that. Now, lets look at a company like Badges Properties, they could reattach the down spout and fix the leaky pipe and your done! This is a really big tip when looking for home repairs, don’t specialize unless you have to. Find a well balanced company that does everything you need them to do. This sounds so simple, but people get caught up in this all the time, spending alot of time and money, when they don’t need to. Just look into the company you want to use.

Badge Properties is home to the “Fix It Brothers” they have a shared background in general repair, full home remodeling and finished basements, home inspection, home rehab, engineering, marketing, hydroseeding”high end new lawn installations at seed/straw prices”, in short this company has the credentials and tools to do it all for you. I know this is a unusual situation that one company would be so well educated and suited for practically anything to do with a home. There are companies out there like Badges Properties in your area, you just have to find them. Badges Properties “Fix It Brothers” are the kind of people you want to have around for all of your homes needs. The nice part about the “Fix It Brothers” is they are not trying to sell you anything, they only want to help you fix your homes problems. Anther tip, don’t let a company tell you what you need unless you are asking for their advice.

Another area the “Fix It Brothers” shine in is “Pre-Sale Rehab of houses. The tough home market has made sellers to be ready when their houses hit the market. The buyers want a house in perfect shape, even over a year ago, buyers were walking away from sellers even offering cash to fix what they wanted! The new buyers of today are just moving on to the next house and don’t want to fix up the homes they buy, they just want to move in and thats it. Badges Properties actually started off providing this service and now has expanded into a full service home repair company. Here again is the same tip as above, find a good home repair service company that can full fill all of your homes needs, not just one and so forth.

Well, theres your helpful tips for finding a handyman, this is part of a on going series of articles which can be found at our tip blogs and you will want to visit www.houseitemsshop.biz for all of your homes product needs. Please feel free to search for many more self help article in our archives.

The Cost To Seed A New Lawn

The time is now to read about hydro-seeding. Yes, it is winter now, with a blanket of snow to be found in many Mid West states. The time is still now to look into hydroseeding and all of its cost effective benefits for your new lawn. You, see if you live in the Mid West, especially in Wisconsin, you probably have never heard of hydroseed and hydro-seeded lawns and erosion barriers. The hydroseeding process is a simple process of blending high quality seed, mulch, fertilizer and water along with bonding agents. There is a company in the greater Milwaukee area that even adds a water retention agent at no additional cost the builder or home owner. (Badges Properties LLC has a special lawn and erosion control division, which all they do is lawns and erosion control, they are known for using the high quality blend) This is then all mixed well into a green slurry, which creates a very appealing green blanket, in most cases of high quality hydroseeding companies. Stick with hydroseeders listed with the associations of hydroseeding professionals.  Just like any trade there are good hydroseeders and then there are better ones.  If you can find a hydroseeding professional that all they do is hydroseeded lawns and erosion barriers, this would be the one to go with.  This company knows your lawn and is not trying to sell you on schrubs, trees, bushes, lawn cutting services, fertilizing services, you can see how some of these could even be a conflict of interest.   

The market for contractors in the hydroseeding field in Wisconsin, especially in the greater Milwaukee area is small, but they are there. Again look at the association list and use the members as it will be worth it, just do a search under hydroseed contractor or hydroseeding lawn professionals, if you are in the Wisconsin or greater Milwaukee area, just add it to the search. Make sure they are members not just listed.  Even again look for companies that specialize in new lawns and erosion control via hydroseeding. There are alot of landscape companies who do everything, but very few that actually specialize in hydroseeded lawns. Badges Properties LLC is a company that even has a division that specializes in new lawns and erosion barriers for builders and home owners. There are some builders and commercial developers that don’t know they can now get hydroseeding and hydroseeded erosion barriers installed for much less than even the cost of straw/seed applications. They use these expensive straw roll our blankets and straw, which cost much more than if they would have hydroseeded. Now, if the builders don’t know about how much money they could save, what about home owners? Hydroseeding is the greatest kept secret in Wisconsin. If the people of that great state and the greater Milwaukee area only knew the true benefits and money saving benefits of a hydroseeded lawn. The money savings is really the best to be had and builders can even get volume discounts depending on how many new lawns they need or erosion barriers installed. The cost going as low as 6-6.5 cents per sq. ft for your new lawn, the straw blankets and seed cost twice as much or more.

I still cannot believe the amount of people who are not aware of hydro-seeding. The process is just the best way possible to get a great new lawn. I have seen people spend $350,00 – $800,000 houses and then someone lets a person throw straw and seed all over the yard and called that a new lawn. This is just so hard to think, someone would spend that kind of money on a house and new lawn, only to allow someone to throw unsightly straw and seeds every where. The benefits of a lush green lawn is enough reason alone to go with a hydroseeded new lawn, let alone spending far less for your new lawn increasing your cost savings.  

This next up coming spring of 08 will show how many people have heard of hydroseeding before its to late. Once you have installed a poor quality lawn it will take years to correct it, even worse, have to plow under and start over! There is more benefits to the environment also. The straw blankets have a plastic netting in the middle of it that never will dissolve, some might be biodegradable, but the large added cost of green friendly straw blankets keeps most from using it. This just does not sound like a good idea to cover our ground surface with plastics that will never dissolve. This is one of the reason our land fills are over flowing and plastic is washing up on our beaches. Yes, plastic particles washing up on beaches! So, now we are going to allow people to cover our ground soil surfaces with plastic netting. Hydroseeding a new lawn or erosion barrier is ground, animal and family friendly.  The best way to go green. 

People need to find out about hydroseeding and all of its benefits. Find a hydroseeding professional in your area. Even if the above company Badges Properties LLC is not in your area, give them a call they are so friendly and will probably still help you, they are in the online yellow pages under Oak Creek, Milwaukee area business. Ask your builder if they have heard about hydroseeding, if they tell you it is too expensive, just means they have not looked into it lately or found the right hydroseeding company. Remember use professional hydroseeder members. 

Best of luck with your new lawn and may you find a professional hydroseed contractor in your area

Discount Shopping

House Items Shop II

Thats right a shop just for all of your house items.  The shop is a great new niche shop http://www.houseitemsshop.biz/ is the best place to start looking for all the items you need for your house.  This new house item shop is your one stop shop for anything from the roof to the basement. 

The house items shop is set up so all you have to do is enter the items you want in the search bar.  The shop does the rest.  The shop will bring up items from many different vendors.  Lets say you are looking for a new Sony flat panel TV, all you do is type that in and it brings up from multiple vendors your search results.  The site uses all known sites and vendors that links the customer to, for a fast and friendly shopping experience.  Now, you need some tools to mount the New LCD TV, just type in what name brand tools you want and those items will come up.   The house items shop is just the best one stop shop.

So, no matter what you need for your house you can find it and more at the house items shop.

Also, if you are a webmaster or site owner the House Item shop offers a very nice affiliate program and offers sign ups for your very own niche store.

How To Find A Handyman II

The question of, how do I find a handyman? is crossing more and more peoples minds now days. There are less and less handyman out there. I should say less and less trustworthy and good handyman companies out there. People say it is just plain hard to find one. You can try one of those advertised screening places, but you still don’t know what you are going to have on your door step. Those ads, we find you 4 quality contractors all free to you, types is what I am talking about here.

Those places make their money off the contractors paying for the screening service to list them and use them to give them leads. They just group all the contractors in one spot, so as long as the contractor pays for his or her leads the screening company keeps them on their list of qualified contractors. These places came about as it became harder to find someone to do your home repairs for you.

There is a great company called Badges Properties in the greater Milwaukee area in Wisconsin, which is a company that helps people with all of their homes needs. When it comes to fixing, remodeling, repairing or updating, Badges Properties has you covered. They have other divisions of the company that provide new lawn installation or erosion barriers via a newer high tech system of hydroseeding, gives a sod like lawn in 4 weeks from seed. They also offer services on consulting to the finished product for staging your house for sale. They don’t just provide you with a consult report and refer you to others to do the work, they handle it all. There are not to many companies out there like Badges Properties who handle all your projects from the roof to the basement. They were even wrote about in the local Milwaukee newspaper for handling all sized projects for people. They have been helping people for awhile now with all their homes needs.

There are many articles out there on finding the right handyman, you just need to stick to the basics. Find people that have been in your area for awhile. Not just years in the handyman improvement business, just been in your area. Someone that is born and raised in your area is proud to be there and is part of your community. You don’t always find this when your dealing with large national franchised chains, yes they are also trying to franchise handyman services now. Solid work and ethics makes for a good handyman company, not a national chain with lots of advertising. The next part is looking into a handyman company that you want to use. Ask for other people that they have worked for, more than one. See what organizations they are affiliated with. Make sure they are insured or ask if they hold any certifications or license. What is there back ground?

These are just a few suggestions to help you find a good handyman company in your area, again if your lucky enough to live in or around the greater Milwaukee area, try using Badges Properties for your homes needs. Maybe you just have a question on a home related matter, give them a call, they are in the online local yellow pages, they are very friendly and really want to help people.

How Much To Hydroseed A New Lawn?

How much to hydroseed a new lawn? Yes, it is winter now, with a blanket of snow to be found in many Mid West states. The time is still now to look into hydroseeding and all of its cost effective benefits for your new lawn. You, see if you live in the Mid West, especially in Wisconsin, you probably have never heard of hydroseed and hydro-seeded lawns and erosion barriers. The hydroseeding process is a simple process of blending high quality seed, mulch, fertilizer and water along with bonding agents. There is a company in the greater Milwaukee area that even adds a water retention agent at no additional cost to the builder or home owner. (Badges Properties LLC has a special lawn and erosion control division, which all they do is lawns and erosion control, they are known for using a high quality blend) This is then all mixed well into a green slurry in most cases of high quality hydroseeding companies. Stick with hydroseeders listed with the associations of hydroseeding professionals. When looking at seeding a new lawn the costs come from different areas.

Using Badges Properties LLC – Hydroseeding division as a greater Milwaukee area professional hydroseeder as an example for the following. They start at 12 cents a square foot and go down the more area sprayed. Your part of the country may be different you have to look around. Badges Properties adds agents to their mix which enhances their product, without adding to their customers cost. Make sure you are comparing Apples to Apples when getting quotes.

You also must be sure the company you pick is using quality top soil and enough of it. Some give low estimates to get the job and then to cut their costs use less top soil and poor quality products. The quality professional hydroseeder will always save you money in the long run, alot more money. When people use just straw/seed it can take so much more time and money to grow. Many times people get scammed by poor quality landscape companies using sales tricks and low prices to just get any job they can. Once the lawn is in it is to late.

The market for contractors in the hydroseeding field in Wisconsin, especially in the greater Milwaukee area is small, but they are there. Look into Wisconsin Hydroseeding contractor, association list and use the members as it will be worth it, just do a search under hydroseed contractor or hydroseeding lawn professionals, if you are in the Wisconsin or greater Milwaukee area, just add it to the search. Just type in Hydroseed Lawn Wisconsin. Even again look for companies that specialize in new lawns and erosion control via hydroseeding. There are alot of landscape companies who do everything, but very few that actually specialize in hydroseeded lawns. Again in a effort to point out a local Milwaukee area company, Badges Properties LLC is a company that even has a division that specializes in new lawns and erosion barriers for builders and home owners. There are some builders and commercial developers that don’t know they can now get hydroseeding and hydroseeded erosion barriers installed for much less than even the cost of straw/seed applications. They use these expensive straw roll our blankets and straw, which cost much more than if they would have hydroseeded. Now, if the builders don’t know about how much money they could save, what about home owners? Hydroseeding is the greatest kept secret in Wisconsin. If the people of that state and the greater Milwaukee area only knew the true benefits and money saving benefits of a hydroseeded lawn. The money savings is really the best to be had and builders can even get volume discounts depending on how many new lawns they need or erosion barriers installed. The cost going as low as 6-6.5 cents per sq. ft for your new lawn, the straw blankets and seed cost twice as much or more.

I still cannot believe the amount of people who are not aware of hydro-seeding. The process is just the best way possible to get a great new lawn for a great price. I have seen people spend $350,00 – $800,000 houses and then someone lets a person throw straw and seed all over yard and called that a new lawn. This is just so hard to think, someone would spend that kind of money on a house and new lawn, only to allow someone to throw unsightly straw and seeds every where. The benefits of a lush green lawn is enough reason alone to go with a hydroseeded new lawn, let alone spending far less for your new lawn increasing your cost savings.

This next up coming spring of 08 will show how many people have heard of hydroseeding. Once you have installed a poor quality lawn it will take years to correct it, even worse, have to plow under and start over! There is more benefits to the environment also. The straw blankets have a plastic netting in the middle of it that never will dissolve, some might be biodegradable, but the large added cost of green friendly straw blankets keeps most from using it. This just does not sound like a good idea to cover our ground surface with plastics that will never dissolve. Hydroseeding a new lawn or erosion barrier is ground and animal and family friendly.

People need to find out about hydroseeding and all of its benefits. Find a hydroseeding professional in your area. Even if the above company Badges Properties LLC is not in your area, give them a call (414-469-7102)they are so friendly and will probably still help you, they are in the online yellow pages under Oak Creek, Milwaukee area business. Ask your builder if they have heard about hydroseeding or Badges Properties LLC – Hydro-seeding Division. Remember use professional hydroseeder members.

Best of luck with your new lawn and may you find a professional hydro seed contractor in you area.

How To Control Ice Damming

A roof full of snow can lead to ice damming. Many factors lead to ice damming and one of the major cause is lack of insulation and ventilation. You ask how does venting effect snow on the roof? The air in the attic does not flow through the attic area effectively, heating the roof sheathing and the snow above it melts to quickly. This hits the gutter system and then builds ice dams. Some people feel safe because when they had their last roof installed they had ice and dam shield installed. This can give a great since of security but, it does not protect the gutter system.  A good gutter protection system,  such as the Gutter Care II gutter protection system can help to keep your gutters free of debris.  

The ice and dam goes up about four feet from the gutter line. This is usually high enough so the melting snow does not back up under the roof and get into the wall and cause interior water damage and problems associated with water in the houses walls. So, it helps against water damage, it does not control the ice damming problem. This is a part of a series of things that can help with ice damming and prevention of ice damming.

The addition of roof vents and eve vents to help the flow of the air in the attic. When the air flows through the roof freely it is harder for it to warm and cause the snow to melt above to melt to quickly. The addition of insulation goes along with the ventilation. The added layers of insulation control the loss of heat from below to the attic area. These two things help to control ice damming from happening the most.

There is the addition of roof heating wires which can be used to keep the ice from forming and allows the water to flow off the roof and flowing through the gutter system.

Once the ice damming has happened and the roof is so covered in snow the only alternatives are physical removal of snow and or the application of chemical agents to melt the snow and ice. The use of both could be needed in some cases. The chemical agents available can do the job alone if the ice damming is not that severe.

The most important fact about all of this is to stay safe. When doing things yourself, you need to use care. The use of a contractor to handle this type of problem can be the best idea. There are a number of contractors that will help people with ice and snow removal. If in the greater Milwaukee area in Wisconsin, a company by the name of Badges Properties LLC, home to The Fix-It Bros.  may be able to help you with your homes needs. They offer many services and seem to help with all of the home improvement and repair/handyman needs. They can be found in the online yellow pages. They even help large apartment or condo complexes with external and internal needs.

Remember, Safety First.

Hydroseeding Machines / Erosion Barriers And New Lawns

I know it is now time to put the lawn mower away a break out the snow blowers in the Great Midwest. I cannot help myself as I cannot believe how many people have not heard of a lawn installation process called hydro-seeding in the great state of Wisconsin. We are not aware of hydroseeding machines here and there uses for new lawns and erosion barriers. I know we run behind the times on fashion and other new things, but we really need to start thinking here people. People are still using a caveman way of throwing grass seed in the air and covering it with straw, you see it all the time here. I know its hard to believe. Then even using granular fertilizers that can run off and cause harm to other areas. The really bad stuff is rolled out straw blankets. The straw blankets contain a plastic mesh, not to mention we are covering the earths soil with a plastic compound that will never never dissolve. I see it here in Wisconsin all the time, is no one concerned about our wild life and environment.

The real kicker is there is a process called hydro-seeding that is 100 times better than the straw/seed and the grass / straw process uses unsafe granular fertilizers of the past. There are companies Like Badges Properties LLC in the greater Milwaukee area which has a hydroseeding machine for new lawn and erosion barrier installation. This company is willing to work with home owners, landscapers and even gives discounts to developers/builders. They can be found in the online yellow pages. Badges Properties LLC does not advertise much as their product and service is so good people hear about them word of mouth. The only problem is the builders don’t know about them and they keep using large landscaping outfits and paying twice as much by using straw and straw blankets. The home owner gets sod like quality lawns from Badges Properties LLC hydroseeding service.

The hydro-seeding lawn installation process via hydroseeding machine gives you a new sod quality lawn in 4 weeks and costs half the price. Did you get that? Sod quality like lawn in 4 weeks. The best part no harm to animals in plastic nets or old granular fertilizers in our hydro-seeding process. I could install lawns and erosion barriers with seed and plastic netting all day and make tons of money; but I won’t. The hydro-seeding process saves our environment and wildlife. That’s enough reason right there. You want more of a reason, that even some builders don’t know? It is more economical to hydro-seed then use the roll out plastic/straw blankets. That’s right even builders are not aware of the advantages of hydro-seeding. You see most of them have set up deals with landscapers who don’t use hydro-seeding machines because it would cost them to much. You see the hydroseeding machines are costly at first, but really pay for themselves in the end. Badges Properties LLC was able to find out about hydroseeding machines a couple years back and started offering hydroseeded lawns and erosion barriers to builders/developers.

There are actually landscape companies taking advantage of illegal help and paying them very low wages and getting away with it as they pay them in cash, eluding the IRS and not paying taxes. So, instead of buying the hydro-seeding machines, they exploit these poor people for their own huge money gains. The landscapers using illegal help don’t want to tell the builders they work with, that hydro-seeding is better and safer. The builders on the other hand would get a much better lawn at cheaper rate which is safe for all. You maybe asking your self how is it cheaper? You see the landscaper company owner still charges a premium rate for a low quality product. So, the only one who sees the benefits is the landscape company owner. There are many builders that just think it is the cheapest route to get their lawns and erosion barriers put in. When builders are not even aware of hydroseeding machines, how would the general home owner without being told about hydro-seeding and all of its benefits, know?

There are some high quality builders that know about it and just automatically figure since it is new and high tech figure hydroseeding lawns and erosion barriers is expensive, but it is not at all. The people in the southern parts of the country have been using hydro-seeding for many years already. The builders here in the greater Milwaukee area may have also run into high priced hydro-seeders when it first arrived here and just said it’s to expensive. This is really not the case were Badges Properties LLC is concerned, they are so economical other landscapers sub-contract them just for the lawn. The builders would also find this out if they would just take some time and read a letter or take a phone call from a quality hydro-seeding company representative, they would see that hydro-seeding is far better for new lawns and erosion control. The new home owner would be the other one to benefit highly from hydro-seeding. Besides a hydroseeded lawn being very economical for a home owner to put in, it is also less expensive to get and keep a great looking lawn. The straw/seed landscapers don’t want you to know, it costs more in fertilizer and still grows 50% weeds and then you finally get 50% grass. A straw/seed lawn takes 2 years to grow in. hydro-seeded lawns, via hydroseeding machine takes 4 weeks! You do the math on materials and time spent. It is really obvious that hydro-seeding is by far the most economical and best product.

The International Association of Hydroseeding Professionals maintains a list of professional hydro-seeders for the whole country (www.hydroseeding.org.) It is a great source to help find out about hydro-seeding and professional hydroseeders, look for the contractors that have the I.A.H.P. symbol by their company name as these are members the others are just known contractors in that area, stick with the members. In fact there is a company called G&G hydroseeding that is on this list and offers hydroseeding services, who are a professional member. G&G hydroseeding is owned by Badges Properties LLC, so you can reach them both for hydroseeding services. The Wisconsin listings has members right at the top of their list of contractors. Many contractors can have large areas that they will service, so just call and ask.

I really wish some people who would be interested in helping the environment would help spread the word about hydro-seeding, via hydroseeding machine. If you want more info, please leave a comment or e-mail and we can talk about hydro-seeding and it’s benefits to all. People building a house need to ask their builder if they know of a quality hydro-seeder in their area. If the builder is not aware, just check the site above. I even encourage all builders to look into hydroseeding and just because one hydro-seeder is a little high, does not mean all are. I have heard of hydro-seeders going as low as 6.5 cents per square foot for large builders. Think of what you can buy for 6.5 cents. This shows you how cost effective hydro-seeding is. Most home owners are looking at about 8-16 cents depending on what part of the country you live.

I will try to help spread the word, but I cannot do it alone. I could use any help I could get.

Remember Always Safety First.

Christmas Handyman Help

We can use a little Christmas help.  This is the time of year when we join with family and friends.  We even try to join with our co-workers in an effort to spread the Christmas spirit.  When we invite people into our homes for the holidays we invite them with open arms.  It all starts at the front door or maybe even the edge of your drive way.  Just because it is the holidays does not mean that you will not be able to find a good handyman to help you with your needs.  This is when you need the most help.  The Christmas spirit is in the air and we want it all to be just perfect.  No, you don’t have to remodel your whole bathroom; but maybe some new towel bars would be a nice touch.  We just installed a new rail/wall system in our entryway of our home.  I am hoping that it will be done before Christmas eve.

This is still a little bigger project than towel bars;  but will get noticed by everyone who enters.  When people come to your home you want your home to feel warm and inviting.  Fixing small things around your home helps give this feel.  A broken bathroom door knob which allows the door to swing open when someone is on the thrown is not going to give people a warm and inviting feel,  maybe screaming and shock!  I know family and friends are coming to see you and not your house; but your house is you.  Take a strong hold of pride of ownership.  When your front door light is burnt out and is only hanging by one screw, its time to fix it.  The are so many little things around the house that you can use a good handyman company for.  You don’t always need a general contractor who charges  a $100 dollars per hour just to talk to him or her.  The large property management and complex associations fall into the contractor pit alot.  They could get a good small contractor or handyman company that could cover all their needs and spend 25-50% less just because they did a little searching.  You can do the same.  You still need to be careful and research the background of the people you want in your home to do your work.

I can’t but think the bigger the company you go with the less you will know about the people you are letting into your house.  You see lets just look at one of these so called online screening sites for contractors and handyman work.  Take note,  your not paying the screening company for them to find you a honest and true craftsman.  So,  who is paying the screening company?  That’s right the same contractors and handyman company that they told you about.  Really seems like a conflict of interest to me.  These screening sites are popping up like crazy so someone must be paying their bills.  The other thing out there is the big flashy ads and hounding sales people.  The large replacement window companies are great for that.  I will stop there, what I am trying to say is the large places are not paying large money to the people they are sending you and that leads to high turn over.   A smaller company will know its people and you might even have the company owner working on your house.

I have tried to write a couple articles on consumer protection and scams.  I write this article now as I know people want to have things just perfect for friends and family.  The haste to get things done can lead people to the wrong person to do their work.  The Christmas time of year is a special time of year that can really be destroyed; because the guy the big name company with all the flashy ads and hype sent out,  came back and did his own house call and your gifts and belongings in your home was his fee.   There are many good people out there doing high quality work for reasonable rates.  They are sometimes a little harder to find because they don’t have big flashy ads in the phone book or full page ads in your local newspaper.     In the end you will be happy that you spent a little time to find the right handyman for you.  Try to find someone that friends or family have used or just find out what you can about a company before you just hire them because they had the biggest ad or listed first on a big name online search engine.

There can be hazards of hiring a small company as they may not have the tools or knowledge you thought they had.  These smaller guys don’t last very long and makes the percentage of them finding you small.  The true small company knows how to treat people as their business depends on it.  If you have to dial a toll free number to find your handyman odds are this is not a direct line to the business owner.   You hear it all the time,  what happened to customer service?  The person answering that same toll free handyman number,  has no idea who is going to show up at your house!  Everybody likes to make fun of small cities or towns where there’s one or two plumbers or handyman,  but you never hear those people say, “yeah, Fred the plumber took my TV and all my Christmas gifts” or “Yeah, I just got ripped off again by Joe the handyman.   These people know each other and live in the same communities who have pride and respect for one another.  It also helps you know exactly where Joe lives if he would rip you off,  but Joe’s not going to do that because he wasn’t sent to you from some screening service.   Heck, you might have even went to school with Joe and now your kids go to school with Joe’s kids.

Look for companies with good names,  Badges Properties LLC and Home Improvements.  This name makes a statement.  Not a flashy franchise name and look at our big flashy ads and toll free number.  The company with a good name or family name is the one that will stand behind there badge and name to give you the service you need and want.

Remember, Always Safety First.

Don’t Get Scammed

This article is in a on going series under “Save Money On Your House”  on my site “Houses To Go”.   I will jump right in here,  I was having a conversation with one of my clients, when she asked if we were bonded or not?   People see this in the telephone book all the time in ads.  These ads are just another advertising tactic by usually large contractors with big advertising budgets.   You don’t have to be bonded to show you are a quality and honest company.  Now,  I am sure all the companies selling these bond / insurance policies will have something different to say.  Many years back when people would give full payment down for materials and labor, back in the day where there were more honest then dishonest contractors a few would run off with their customers money.  These people then had to track these companies and sue to get any money back and have them arrested.  The advent of a company being bonded for construction work was invented to give the consumer piece of mind and put more money into a bonds companies pockets for premiums.  Let’s be honest,  who do you really think is paying the premium on the bond, that’s right you.

The bonds cover things like bond for work completion,  in other words your contractor runs off half way through the job.  Again, many years back people paid in full then lost that money and then had to hire someone else.  Now days  most people only put 25-33% down and then more as the work is completed.  Hence you can see no reason if you do it this way to have someone who is bonded.   You never gave them your money so you still have it!  You would still have to find another contractor to finish your work anyway.  The bond company gives you the remaining money to complete the work, they don’t find you another contractor who won’t scam you.   So,  you can see how some one saying they are bonded is just a “warm fuzzy advertising tactic now days”  the only ones who still demand being bonded is government contracts and that everyone can see makes all the difference when we are paying $500 dollars from a shady contractor, for one toilet seat.  Well,  being bonded really made all the difference here,  NOT!

Now, the next type of bonding is for performance.  example,  shady window contractor sells you services to reduce your old window drafts,  shows up with a caulk gun and a tube of caulk and charges $15,000 and tells you that you have new windows now.   The bond is then paid out to have you find a real contractor and have real windows put in.  Here again,  only put down 33%  and then only pay at the end if you got the real replacement windows you thought installed.  Here again,  no reason to be bonded,  just use common sense.   You need to take the time to look into who you are using for your home improvement work.  I have seen people ask,  are you bonded and insured?  Reply by shady contractor is not going to be “why no, I am here to just take your money and run”.  They are going to say yes,  problem here is most people just say “ok” and never look into anyway.  The ads in the phone book can say anything the person wants it to say,  they can say their bonded and insured for 400 hundred billion dollars,  if no one checks it don’t make a difference.  Hence, it is more of a advertising tool then anything else.  

People need to use contractors that they have heard of through others and see their work.   I had a person once even say “I am going with you, because I was standing in your work”.  This person used a bathroom at a friends house that we had remodeled for them.  She was going with us because she talked too and had seen our completed work which was of the highest quality, we did not tell her this, she saw it with her own eyes.  The large contractors out there always have in their ads that they are bonded,  you see when they bid on government work,  remember they have to be anyway.   The smaller high quality contractors have their prices set so low already buying bond would cost them more money then what it is worth.  Remember,  the big contractor sales people don’t tell you that you are paying for their high priced bonding and insurance, fancy ads on TV, radio and news paper.  Think about who is here?  That’s right you again. 

People just need to use their heads when picking people to do work on their homes.  The guy with the big fancy ads and trucks is not always the best.  People just don’t seem to get this one at all.  No,  I am not saying the guy in the 1975 rust bucket truck is the answer either.  Many large contractors spend thousands and some even millions on advertising in a effort to win people over.  Remember,  the bigger they are,  the larger crews they need.  You may ask yourself so?   Big crews normally equals high turn over and unknown back grounds on many of their employees.  Remember people,  your never going to see their work crew until they are working on your house.   In the home improvement arena many people are not Harvard and Yale graduates here, your lucky if the work crew even went to college at all.   I have heard of roofing and other crew jobs especially landscaping companies using all illegal crews and you don’t want to know where they find these people and their back grounds.  I have even had our customers say that they were afraid to let some of these contractor crews in their house.   So,  bigger is definitely not always better in this case.   You have areas where you need to be more careful then others.  I have seen many roofing guys call themselves a roofing contractor because they have a truck and roofing gun.  These guys even scare me.  The higher end trades, plumbers, electricians, home inspectors all have to be certified or hold a license.  When these guys try to scam someone they know their credential’s and living is on the line.  Again, remember anyone can say they are certified, if you think they are not, just go on line, state sites list people who have been state certified or may be decertified.   

There currently are not any certification or licenses for home improvement/handy man companies in many areas.  Show me the last certified or licensed painter or landscape company you have seen or used.  There are people out there that are over kill and end up paying way more for services,  example, the person who wants a bonded, insured, licensed, certified electrician to come in an change a light bulb or light switch in their house.  Sure, the electrician will provide theses services  at $65-$150 per hour with a automatic trip minimum most of the time equal to one hour of time.  The old saying a fool and his money are soon parted.  Now, if you are replacing or updating your electrical services to 100 or 200 amp service,  yeah,  you should be looking for a good electrical contractor.   There is a time and place for everything.

I have for many years provided and performed many repairs and improvements so yes, I understand not all people know a wrench from skill saw.  Hence, why I also get hired just to consult for people and let them know what they need done.  I save people thousands this way, they already know what they need before the contractors line up ten deep at their door steps.  I also keep a small secured network of trusted individuals that have provided high quality work for reasonable prices.  When I look for contractors, I first ask around my network of trades people I use.  Now,  it’s my business to have this network of people at my disposal, but you also can check around by asking friends and family.  Also, remember these so called screening companies you see online all the time,  the contractors they use have to pay them to get them to use them.  Sure sounds like a conflict of interest to me.  Now, free sites or forums run just to help out, thats different.  You have to be careful that someone on the forum is not just a shady contractor posing as a home owner.  You still  have to use common sense.  I would not use those screening companies just has to be a conflict of interest,  if a contractor pays money to the screening company to get customers,  come on people, that should be red flags to all.  A small contractor or consultant on the other hand will only use the best people as their business depends on it,  not a paid subscriber based fees by thousands of contractors.   

Well, it’s hard to write these articles, because I never know if people have followed the series of articles.  So, I have to repeat information to ensure that people still get the message.   As I have stated before, my sites are free, so you get information that in-person people have had to pay for, obviously their information is more detailed to their exact needs.  These articles have to cover a large general area. 

Have a home question, just ask.

Remember Safety first.

SEO Hype And Money Making Blogs

SEO Hype And Money Making Blogs

October 23, 2007 on 9:25 pm | In Your House Selling Tips | No Comments The SEO and blogs world has become a haven for get rich scams. The old scam was buy my product and get rich. The scam is just shifted into buy my SEO blog secrets and get more traffic to your blogs and then makes millions. Let me tell you this is just a bunch of s–t is what it is. The first people into this game have got their millions already and your not getting it. These so called gurus and their secrets are just a lot of hot air. The person who runs this site said it best in one of his articles right here on bigblogmonkey. He said, if these SEO gurus had the secret to millions of dollars in blog traffic, why would they be selling it so cheap. You have seen the TV info/ads scams, buy now and instead of $300.00 you can have the whole package for $19.99. You see what I mean?This is no difference. The thing is the money makers are not stopping there. There are many article writing sites who publish your article and pay you for. On the surface people think wow! I heard people who write for magazines and their articles get $1,000s for just one article. Not the case with these online publishing sites. You spend hours writing a quality content article and they give you pennies for it, yes, I said pennies. I have written for two of these types of places. They turn around and either sell your articles for 1000 x more then what you got paid for it or get their advertisers to pay good money to have their online ad placed next to your article.There is a common theme going here. The rich guys that are running these SEO cons and writing sites are laughing all the way to the bank. See they pay one writer 15 cents for one article and then sell it for 5-10 dollars. This does not seem right. The thing that gets me is they think this just fine. The true kicker is when they call it a common good for all if everyone would just write more for the site. If I had the servers and the space, I would love to have a true publishing site, where writers would actually get paid for their articles, not ripped off.The SEO guru game is still by far the best. People want to think that big search engines running pay per click ads is going to buy them the next million dollar home. You are not going to have a couple ads on your blog and then rush out and buy your import sports car from the profits. Now, if you had the 50-100 SEO programmers on your staff and ran over a 1000 blogs with high rates for advertising you might then be able to get that sports car. One blog with the best ratings may buy you a pack of gum off the profits of a month.The Guru ad profits must be slowing now days as they need to sell their so called SEO secrets in ebooks for 50 bucks. Yes, I am going to tell the whole world how I made millions and now sell it to you for $50 bucks! Does this sound right? Are these guys gurus or just your high tech con men. They are just praying upon people and their desires to succeed. People want to believe so hard, that they will buy anything from anyone, who sounds like they know what they are talking about.

The days of the honest business person are gone. People believe the sales person who is the best looking and has the biggest and spends a ton on ads. This is who people are buying from these days. I can give people the best service and product at the best price and still not get the job because of the big scammer places. This is the same thing the SEO gurus use to scam millions. They never lose money. They tell people there are no ways to say they will make millions as they did. They can only give you the info. and the rest is up to you! Want to buy a bridge? It’s the same concept, you can pay for that bridge, but it’s still not yours! You have just been scammed.

The public TV ads about online scams are long over due. Do people really think the 3rd king of Arabobob wants to give them 10 million if they give him a 10k donation to his kingdom first? Now, I just made that up totally and this is the type of scams online that people are falling for everyday. I could offer to remodel a persons entire kitchen for $5,000 and they would tell me they have to think about it! But a unknown person wants a check for $10,000 online and they send the check. What is going on?

I offer articles on a variety of topics. I find myself in the public service area as of late. I just could not pass up the chance to write this. It is not my home improvement or how-to, I know. I also have been branching off into the “scammer” public safety type articles as I cannot sit by anymore and just keep letting people get scammed.

I try not use names of scams or scammers as they are also the first to sue you, to scam more money out of people. Remember, scammers don’t have to be small time little scammers. The best ones make themselves look honest and caring. These are the best ones. They drive fancy cars and even belong to the same health clubs as you.

I will look into maybe a new site dedicated to exposing scammers.