comical DIY incident

no worries mon

Recent involvement on a partial DIY installation/remodel where a big box co delivered a new refrigerator. Seems the doors were reversed from what the HO had requested, which is no big deal. The instructions clearly indicated how to swap the orientation & the door/refrig had the tabs with threaded openings, but the HO did not want to do it themselves or let us handle the change. They called Sears and asked it be changed only to be informed they must have ordered it incorrectly. You'd have to know these folks as we do - a teacher and an executive - and that set a fire under her bonnet!

She even tried explaining that the instructions show how to swap the door orientation.

A second delivery was made(G).

The dishwasher came from another big box store. I got suckered into picking it up for them so they could avoid the $65 delivery charge - thinking it would save $ because it was on my way. 45-minutes it took for them to bring it to the front of the store and what a time we had because it was pre-paid and not by me. The packaging (not that there's much in the way of protection - four corners with styrafoam and the remainder shrink-wrapped) was busted and falling away - exposing the finished surfaces!

Some wiring behind the old dishwasher that ran from the basement to disappear into a wall (countertop receptacle) was chewed by a rodent to a point where the copper was laid bare. Good thing they'd opted for a pro to do the install - pros catch things like that.

The elec range had been hard-wired. The new one was coming from yet a third big box store. Aluminum wiring with no goop on the ends to prevent oxidation. Copper conductor to the rescue. Another pro catch.



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Your story reminds me

of several odd incidents that were somewhat similar. A kit remodel by a big box contractor was like something out of a theme park haunted mansion. Cabinets crooked, countertop askew and a chip in their very expensive sink. HO called us in to disconnect and remove the sink, which stayed that way for a very long time while the HO & big box store fought. They eventually prevailed, but stated they'll never go back.

Another one dealt with the aftermath of a dishwasher installation - again, by the big box installing contractor. Drain connection at floor leaked and ran under the Pergo flooring they'd had installed too. Took a while, but it surfaced once the flooring was toast. Same drill - as in the Big Box store refused to take care of the mess. However, the botched connection point was something covered quite well in the mfgrs installation instructions. After lawyers were involved and I was deposed for testimony, the Big Box guys bellied up to the bar. But, they lost another customer in the process.

We've run into a number of other incidents similar to these ones. So, it's not always a DIY incident. HO's looking to save bucks don't realize there's a valid reason why the pros cost more and get snookered into thinking they're getting the same quality - both in materials and skilled labor. You & I know they're not. Our industry has failed miserably in promoting itself while big box retailers have spent millions promoting the notion that we don't bring much of value into the equation. A fool and his money.......

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Run with the ball!!!

So go ahead then give them a year interest free!!!! Or 6 months or whatever we quote a monthly payment on virtually every job!

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The value of a skilled professional can save you money,

A landlord called a few years back, he had a big box install a new boiler, said to save him big bucks on his fuel bill. The installation, which looked terrible, but worked fine cost him just as much to run.

The boiler was a gas fired 225,000 btu unit, which seemed a little large for the foot print of the basement with two stories of house on top of it, total square footage of 1500. The tenant said the heater ran all the time, giving him a $1200 bill on very cold days. This is Philadelphia, PA with an average low of 35 degrees.

The basement was a dungeon, filled with crap,and cob webs (ick) so you see the landlord, tenant, and big box didn't notice the 2.5 inch feed and return mains exiting the rear of the house.
These pipes fed the oldest radiant floor slab I had ever seen, unfortunately the building was long gone just a nice 10 inch thick 30X40 foot slab, now that is global warming.

I took the high road, I quoted the landlord a price to fix the problem at $4200, we installed a 70k boiler, deleting the radiant panel, and all of the insane piping mains feeding it.

See the dead man had installed two large gate valves above the original boiler, he must have know a big box installer would one day close those valves thus not needing to drain the system.
Oh the fuel bill dropped to just $104 on next billing period, so the landlord got a payback in just 4 months.
This landlord is my best customer, he never asks for a quote, just pays the invoice, and that is good.