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Shanabana
Citizen
Username: Shanabana
Post Number: 506
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 10:22 pm: | 
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This is getting a little heated and strange, this thread...
I guess by "plans," greentree, you mean an estimate and/or contract that itemizes the work, right? That is also an industry standard, and anyone who accepts a job with a bottom line and very little spelled out in writing is just asking for trouble, as in, "Oh, that's not included." Cha ching!!
The term plans, however, usually refers to drawings, which are also great for everyone to have. The more detailed, the better. These you can usually expect to pay for whether they're by the designer or by the contractor (unless, of course, you do them yourself). |
Kitchenguru
Citizen
Username: Kitchenguru
Post Number: 122
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 10:36 pm: |
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MLJ
Any comments? |
mlj
Citizen
Username: Mlj
Post Number: 269
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 10:44 am: |
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I wanted to know about experiences with this contractor.
As to the point of charging or not charging for an estimate or consultation regarding any contractor/electrician/plumber, etc., they should tell you on the phone before scheduling the appointment. Or ask them. |
Kitchenguru
Citizen
Username: Kitchenguru
Post Number: 123
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 10:54 am: |
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MLJ
Based on this feedback will you get an estimate from Mr Hume and Company? |
mlj
Citizen
Username: Mlj
Post Number: 271
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 11:42 am: |
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undecided |
Darren Say Grrrrrrrr
Citizen
Username: Darrensager
Post Number: 421
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 12:08 pm: |
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A homeowner should NEVER have to ask if a contractor is going to charge them for an estimate. The contractor must tell the homeowner ahead of their arrival.
If I asked a contractor to come over my home for an estimate and then he handed me a bill for his time, I would tell them I wouldn't pay.
Its part of the home improvement business.
I guess some people regard Bob Hume as high as Tom Silva from This Old House. I think he's the only contractor I would pay to just look at my home.
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jeep
Citizen
Username: Jeep
Post Number: 172
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 1:50 pm: |
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A contractor can only secure a job once a estimate is given. It is part of doing business. If Hume charges for estimates it is most likely because he never gets the job. If he gave 8 estimates a day he could make $175,000 a year without doing a job. |
Kitchenguru
Citizen
Username: Kitchenguru
Post Number: 124
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 2:10 pm: |
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I got it from a very reliable source that Hume and Company charges only
when the people requesting the estimate don't own the house since they have not had a closing. Most of the time these estimates go nowhere because the people don't buy the house, so they are usually a waste of their time.
in addition, the estimate cost of $85.00 is credited to the cost of the construction. |
Kitchenguru
Citizen
Username: Kitchenguru
Post Number: 125
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 2:13 pm: |
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That sounds to me like a type of inspection: Do we want to buy this house based on the price of the work involved to raise it to our standards, or is this house overvalued/undervalued to the market due to it's condition. |
Ms. Cooper
Citizen
Username: Ms_cooper
Post Number: 79
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 2:58 pm: |
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I have had a lot of work done by Bob Hume's company. I cannot say enough great things about them, their work, and their respectfulness for my home as well as my time. I learned quickly upon moving to an older home in MW that you get what you pay for in terms of home repair. Not only do they do amazing work, they return calls, show up on time, and clean up to where it looks better than before the work was done. I highly, highly recommend this company. If anyone wants to PL me for specifics, please feel free! |
Jacqueline Casale
Citizen
Username: Jackiecasale
Post Number: 1
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 3:24 pm: |
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I hired RGH development for a bathroom remodel about 3 months ago. I am not only completely satisfied with Bob Hume's work, I would recommend him to anyone interested in a new bathroom. Bob Hume was recommended to me by a close friend who had numerous renovations done including: An addition, kitchen remodel, and 2 new bathrooms. After seeing the finished product, I knew that he was the man for the job. Bob Hume is both fair and professional, and his team is efficient, punctual and clean. ***** |
margu
Citizen
Username: Margu
Post Number: 58
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 3:39 pm: |
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Well, here's my two-cents. I called Bob Hume & Company and a guy by the name of Bill Preston came out to give me an estimate. I asked Mr. Preston to please itemize the construction (from leveling my garage, replacing windows in the garage and maybe putting in sheetrock and insulation, doors, etc. He verbally gave me the estimate about 7 days later (after I followed-up). When I got the figures I knew I couldn't afford the entire job to be done and gave him the go-ahead to do the leveling and window replacements. He told me that the estimate was based on him getting the entire job and he would have to re-do the figures to account for not doing the sheetrock, etc. I don't know about you, but I think this is really unprofessional behavior. I called and spoke to Bob Hume, thinking that Preston was out of line and Hume said that (get this) the cost of fuel was such that starting that week jobs would be more expensive. I gave up. They never called me back either. I think that Bob Hume & Co. are a little overwhelmed and getting the "bends" with their growth. |
Kitchenguru
Citizen
Username: Kitchenguru
Post Number: 128
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 - 4:45 pm: |
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Margu, You don't understand that prices are packaged based on the total amount of work to be done and the individual parts of the job will cost more alone that as part of the bigger job? Let's go back to the appliance store.
Do you think the price of one stove costs the same individually as if you were buying ten (for your apartment building renovation for instance)?
Ten little jobs for $10,000.00 each costs the contractor a lot more(liability, gas, time to move around and set up,ten conversations with ten homeowners instead of one etc.)than one job for $100,000.00 therefore they pass the savings on to you.
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Bklyngirl
Citizen
Username: Bklyngirl
Post Number: 104
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 6:52 am: |
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Hume (or kitchenguru, as you'd like us to refer to you):
Obviously, not everyone you've worked for is satisfied with your work ethic and/or work. Accept it and do something to change that.
You should start by contacting those people on here whom you promised a return visit to finish whatever work you didn't finish previously. Second, regardless of whether you're going to charge for estimates or not, be honest and stay by them.
It sounds like when you come across a potential client who begins to waver a bit about your estimates or costs, then you start playing silly games in order to make the job go away somehow. There's no need for that. Our time is just as precious as yours. Not only are you wasting everyone's time, but you're hurting your reputation as a contractor in the process.
bklyngirl |
Kitchenguru
Citizen
Username: Kitchenguru
Post Number: 129
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 7:59 am: |
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From Kitchenguru: I am not, nor have I ever met Bob Hume.
As you(bklyngirl) said in your earlier post: this is between you and Mr Hume, please don't involve me, I was just trying to provide information. I'm sure we are all aware that this site is mainly for entertainment and you should take everything you read, as greenetree says, with a BIG grain of salt. |
Bklyngirl
Citizen
Username: Bklyngirl
Post Number: 107
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 9:15 am: |
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You've never met Hume!!! Are you kidding me!!! Why interject yourself in the manner that you have into something you know nothing about? You've questioned people's experiences with a contractor, who you've never even met! Provide information? What information can you provide about a contractor you've never met?
Correct me if I'm wrong, mlj, but you didn't ask about peoples experiences with Hume for entertainment, did you? You posted the thread, because he's a contractor you were/are thinking of contacting for a job, right?
The Soapbox thread may be for entertainment, but I don't think this and the 'Please Help' thread are. At least I don't post on them to simply entertain myself.
bklyngirl |
mlj
Citizen
Username: Mlj
Post Number: 272
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 9:21 am: |
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B - you are correct. |
Kitchenguru
Citizen
Username: Kitchenguru
Post Number: 130
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 9:30 am: |
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I questioned your comments because I hire contractors on a regular basis and I am considering hiring Mr Hume as well. If you want to go on record with negative information you must certainly expect interested parties will want clarification. Since I found the feedback on this thread confusing, I will do as I always do--visit a jobsite which Mr Hume's company has recently completed and interview the homeowner about their experiences before hiring him. I thank you for your feedback. I now learned based on what you said that he charges for estimates when the person is considering purchasing a property not when they are a homeowner. |
Bklyngirl
Citizen
Username: Bklyngirl
Post Number: 108
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 10:07 am: |
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Is that what you were after, clarification? You have an interesting approach.
In any event, your sources' information is incorrect, as it pertains to me, anyway. I did own my home at the time I contacted Hume, which is why I was the one looking for contractors to fix MY roof.
Good luck.
bklyngirl |
KRNL
Citizen
Username: Krnl
Post Number: 74
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 10:11 am: |
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B -- Kitchenguru does have something to add since K has worked professionally as/and with many types of contractors. That K has not met Hume is besides the point. K was just relaying information based on K's experience. When we had work done recently I was surprised that our contractor didn't know everyone since they were 2nd generation Maplewood contractors--but I was more interested in getting my job correctly done.
One thing I have learned over time is that in almost every line of business people have different initial reactions to the same person/contractor/doctor/whatever. When folks have a bad experience, sometimes it is because one of the parties is having a bad day, personalities just clash, the contractor is swamped and really doesn't want your busines --or that we lack the expertise to properly judge what we are hearing. Whe the project is completed sometimes we are disappointed because we expected more than we contracted for. (Of course, sometimes we are just dealing with incompetants!)
Anyhow, your experience is one of the reasons people are urged to get more than one estimate. In addition to the $$$$ issues, we find that different contractors will have different approaches, it can be a learning issue for us to decide the approach to the project we may want to take and, which contractor we ultimately believe can comfortably do the job--and live with as the work is in process. MOL can be a wonderful resouce as we share our experiences--good and bad--but we all should be sensitive to the impact our opinions may have on the livelihood of our local contractors.
As for potential problems with a roof--sometimes it is very difficult to know before beginning the work exactly where the source of the problem might be and it is only after you begin to open up the suspected area that you find the root of the problem. It is pretty easy for a contractor to quote a complete re-roof job, a repair can be more complex.
As I noted earlier, we have worked with Hume a couple of times and found his work completely satisfactory.
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Bklyngirl
Citizen
Username: Bklyngirl
Post Number: 109
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 10:37 am: |
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I agree with most of what you wrote, KRNL, and I think most who have participated in this thread do as well.
However, mlj's inquiry is about Hume, in particular, not about contractors as a whole. I, too, have worked with a lot of contractors. In fact, if you're a homeowner, chances are you've had your fair share of good and bad experiences with contractors. To impute your experience with many contractors on one contractor - positive or negative - without even knowing him, is inappropriate and somewhat irrelevant.
While we should pass on our experiences with local and not local contractors with a certain sensitivety to their livelihood, we should nonetheless not be afraid to share our bad experiences with people who request them out of fear that their livelihood may be harmed. In other words, I would never suggest to someone not to work with a particular contractor simply because I didn't like his/her attitude. I will, however, share the type of experience I had with Hume, because I'd want to know that if I were looking for a contractor.
bklyngirl |
jeep
Citizen
Username: Jeep
Post Number: 173
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 10:49 am: |
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The bottom line here is right now it is a contractors market. There are more jobs out there than contractors who can do the work. A contractor that charges for an estimate is a crook. If a contractor tells you up front they charge for an estimate don't use them. A contractor who charges more because gas prices are up is a crook.
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Shanabana
Citizen
Username: Shanabana
Post Number: 533
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 9, 2006 - 11:32 am: |
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I can understand why a contractor would charge for an estimate if the potential client didn't yet close on the house. This make sperfect sense. We called a big company to look at stuff before we closed, so we could get a number with which to negotiate with the seller. We went with someone else. We ended up doing most of it ourselves.
Jeep, I agree one shouldn't get estimates for a fee if you are a home-owner.
However, I'm not sure the market is as flush for contractors as you believe it is. How many contractors would EVER have the opportunity to give 8 estimates a day? VERY few. One just doesn't get that many calls...
Some contractors get lots of work because they rush through jobs and don't care about whether there's, for insance, paint on the windows. Some get tons of work because they're in the area for a while and get recommendations. Still it is VERY hard to achieve profitablility in the contracting business, partly because it's difficult to know how long it will take an individual to complete a task, and not every guy on a crew posesses the same skills.
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pmart
Citizen
Username: Pmart
Post Number: 173
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 9:33 pm: |
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Prior to buying my home, I sought out estimates for a new roof. I was informed by all of the roofers that I contacted, that they would need to charge me for the estimate because I was not the home owner. That didn't make sense to me then, but now it seems logical, since it has taken me 4 years to replace that roof and I will be going with someone that I didn't even call the first time around.
I used RGH this year for a pretty big job. He did not charge me for an estimate and I found Bill, Bob, and their office staff to be very respectful and attentive. My calls were returned within hours and they complied with my requests to fix things differently. Thus far I have been pleased with the finished product. If you're interested in any of the particulars, feel free to contact me off-line. |
Richard Kessler
Citizen
Username: Richiekess
Post Number: 142
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, June 11, 2006 - 10:17 am: |
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We had Bob Hume's company repair our garage last year and they gave a free estimate, arrived on time, worked straight through everyday, and finished as planned. I found Bill Preston to be very nice and easy to deal with. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 8009
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, June 11, 2006 - 11:53 am: |
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When my garage had a stroke a few weeks ago, Hume was one of the places I called to take a look. Bill called me right back (on a Saturday) and promised to come first thing Moday morning.
As it turns out, Alan at Elite Doors was able to get things fixed (for now) so I cancelled Bill. But I was impressed with the response.
As for the garage, it is unfortunately on life support and will need a very expensive operation within the next year or so....
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SO1969
Citizen
Username: Bklyn1969
Post Number: 339
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, June 11, 2006 - 2:23 pm: |
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I had a good experience getting an estimate from Bill Preston.
He gave an estimate (no cost). He provided it in short order, in spite of the fact that he knew he was the 3rd of 3 bids I was getting for the project. His proposal was more detailed than the other 2 proposals.
He also seemed to have a good deal of knowledge of homes of our type/age.
We went with someone else for reasons I won't go into, but this thread is reminding me that I wanted to try to throw some other business Bill's way for doing such a professional job on the estimate.
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