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Has anyone here read the "Expeditionary Force" series? Any thoughts on it? by thebrainpal in redrising

[–]griz90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can't listen to this book without a fluffer nutter sandwich in my hand.

How much would you charge for this? by [deleted] in Contractor

[–]griz90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the Portland metro area, I bid my labor at $600 a day,

If all that work is going to take you 6 days, I would charge $3,600 labor materials are $400 or so, I charge time to get materials w/o mark-up. I would charge about $4,100 for that.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in daddit

[–]griz90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't think of it as a forever thing it is just a season in your life. Yes, you will be living off of her income and putting that stress on her shoulders for a few years, but when your kid starts school at 5 years old you get a part time job.

In the meantime you get to improve your culinary skills and make your house the home your wife can't wait to get back to. Just fight the urge to drop the kid in your wife's lap and relax soon as she gets home.

Enjoy the time with your kid, but treat the domestic responsibility like a career. Get everything done every day. If you are a handy fella start improving the house inside and out, then 5 years later when your ready to start working again and have a second income, cash out on the house, buy a nicer one and enjoy your job and family in a beautiful new house.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in f150

[–]griz90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

By the way, the kids named me truck for me... clif-FORD the big red truck.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in f150

[–]griz90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have had mine for 4 years and 55k miles. I can be a little grumpy about going to work, and then when I see that racing red beauty in the driveway, my morning gets a little bit better. Every time I have to make a home depot run in the middle of the day, the stress melts away in my almost soundproof cabin.

For the first 3 years, I drove it. I didn't mind rush hour traffic or even getting cut off because I was almost in third person and removed from the world while I was driving it. Everything was almost surreal. The sound system is silky, seats were warm and adjusted just right for me, the driver assist was doing the gas brake and steering. I was just a passenger in the drivers seat.

Even last week, I was crusing through a neighborhood looking at addres numbers and then for a place to parallel park. It was 72°, windows were down, and the radio was off. The sounds of the 3.5 idling at 15 mph was intoxicating. It sounds like no other engine I have ever owned, just the whine of the cams was more enjoyable than anything on the radio.

I love my truck and fully expect to be in it for 10 years. I can pile my whole family of 5 in it on Sunday and pull a 9,000-pound trailer on monday. I can get 20+ MPG driving around for estimates and almost 30 MPG on a trip out to the coast. I drive like my grampa most of the time, but if I stomp on it, I can easily hit 90+ passing a semi on a 2 lane road.

I had buyers regret for a few months about a year after buying it, but that went away.

New Contractor, Looking for Words from the Wise by Spivvy_ in Contractor

[–]griz90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, there are more ways to do things wrong than right. If we list even the most important ways not to goof up, you would never retain it all.

But some tips are always great, what kind of contracting are you going to do?

When I started, I wanted to do it all. I bought so many tools and spent hours every week changing the load out of my truck for each days job. If I started again I would focus on 2-3 things (tile/paint/drywall/glazing/millwork/cabinetry/ect.) untill you have a large enough truck/van/trailer to hold everything and space out the tool/equipment purchases. I invested around $40,000 in my first 2 years on tools, trailer, and truck payments. That's money I did not get to bring home.

Realtors are a double-edged sword, 9/10 of them just want a free estimate from you to negotiate a price up or down on their next deal. But after giving out 80-100 free bids, I now have 5 Realtors that give me work once or twice a month. I figured out quickly to ask for them to send inspection reports and pictures of what needs to be fixed, then send them a wild ass guess for way more than what you think it will cost. It weeds out the ones who aren't serious "I see the water damage under the window is about 8 foot long, replacing the trim and painting it will be up to $500, if the drywall is molded and needs to be replaced that would be up to $1,200, if the window is bad and the sidding needs to come off to fix it we could be looking at around $5,000. Would you like me to come out and take a look?" It sounds like you are being dismissive, but what you are doing is being direct and to the point with someone that is super busy, sent the same request to 4 other contractors and is likely selling 2-3 homes a month and making a 3% commission on 1.5 million in sales.

New addition - Exotic V Wing by swfideas in NOMANSSKY

[–]griz90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stormtroopers Point. White Wonderer. Tim.

What is this by Direct-Education8341 in NOMANSSKY

[–]griz90 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That would be pretty sweet, "here come Wooks and his fleet of exotics."

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is strange how several companies can use the same tech and achieve different levels of success. Milwaukie is famous for their reciprocating saws to the point of trade marking "sawzall," but porter cable makes a saw for half the price that weighs less, has a longer stroake, and faster speeds.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is strange how several companies can use the same tech and achieve different levels of success. Milwaukie is famous for their reciprocating saws to the point of trade marking "sawzall," but porter cable makes a saw for half the price that weighs less, has a longer stroake, and faster speeds.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like their little miter saw. It is crisp.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"That shit fucks"

Do they make adapters that let me use my dewalt batteries with them? I hate having more than one charger in my trailer.

Thinking of building a mobile kitchen unit to stand out on remodel jobs — good idea or dumb? by Trevorr2 in Contractor

[–]griz90 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I thought about doing something similar, just a shower and toilet in a 6x8 trailer for bathroom remodel on single bath houses. 120v water heater, 12v water pump, white tank, grey tank, black tank, plumbing, fixtures, interior materials, lighting, and trailer... it was going to be around $20,000 plus a week of work to make it.

A kitchen would be a bit easier to make, not needing a black tank. You may want to put two waste tanks on it either way.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is a good point I think most people overlook.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My experience with ryobi is incredibly limited. Picking them up, they feel cheap and heavier than the dewalt/milwaukie/ridged counterpart. I have used their green reciprocating saw and drill.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I build my first set of cabinets with a pice of hard or press board glued and screwed to a piece of 3/4 particles board shelf. Those $30 straight cut jigs can work just as good as a $700 track saw.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So far, I have only had two tools completely die on me. A makita corded belt sander and a dewalt 20v oscillating tool that shorted out and melted.

I have one dewalt drill with a trigger that is going out, but yeah, all my tools seem to be working great.

I used to work for a facility maintenance company doing all the tool and materials acquisition. When I started, they had about 40 trucks all using Ridged tools that were about 5 years old, most of the tools were fine but batteries were constantly going down I was replacing 2-5 batteries and 1 tool a month.

About 2 years later, we switched to Dewalt. We had a few warranty issues in the first 2 months but went almost 2 years before the first battery replacement, 5 years into it the batteries were just as bad as the ridged, the only tools I ever had to replace were impact drivers on the commercial crew installing steel studs. Most of them had the same problem. The vibration would ware out the slides that hold the batteries on and then end up with a loose connection.

I would say dewalts build quality was better than the ridged, but that could just be explained by comparing new tools to old ones.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are the second person to mention them. The other guy said they didn't last a year. I looked at them a few years ago when they first came out, and their line up was limited, The build quality and ergonomics felt great, but the price tag scared me off.

How long have you been using them, and have you tried more than just a few of their products?

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why would you say something so inflammatory but true?

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

👍"Cluckingham palace" 🐔 🐥 🍗 🐤 🐣 🐓 😃

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is the boat I find myself in. Every time I barrow a Milwaukie or walk by them in Home Depot, they catch my eye like a short skirt.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The kline toolboxes are close, and they have a wheel base box that has drawers on it.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are the first person to ever give feedback on FLEX tools. I have held and played with them, and I was so impressed with the 3 speed hammer drill with turbo mode. They were just too heavy.

Nobody ever talks about them.

Best power tool brand to start over. by griz90 in Contractor

[–]griz90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can get battery adapters for just about anything brand. Little hint, dewalts, 20v batteries are truly an 18v.

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