Electrical and Plumbing First!

When I purchased the home a few things came up on the inspection report that I needed to get taken care of right away. Luckily, I was able to negotiate the sale price down a little to pay for some of the repairs. In order to do this, though, I had to get a licensed contractor get me estimates of the repair costs. As per the law of all contractors, the estimates were considerably lower than the actual cost. 

My insurance company decided the updated Challenger electric panel that was installed in 1996 is now on the terrorist watch list. It's prone to sudden and unpredictable suicide attacks. It needed to be removed immediately. And with it, the 60 amp AC thug wire that was too small for the load. Electrical repairs are first on my list of renovations to take care of.  The estimate for the electric panel and 60 amp breaker wire was $1350.00, but the actual repair cost was $1475.00. 

American Electrical did the repair. I liked the techs, they were friendly and helpful. Although, it took almost 7 hours to do the work, they got it done like champs. It didn't take long for the house to start getting hot with no electricity. After 7 hours of no power, I think I sweat out about 10 pounds. 

And, unfortunately, they left a giant hole in my wall because the new panel is smaller than the old one. Ill-fitting panels seem to be a common problem that no one tells you about in advance.  So, I have to call out a handyman to take care of that, separate from what I paid to get the new panel installed. However, they installed my new ceiling fan and secured a loose outlet for free. So that kind of makes up for it. 

The garbage disposal also came up on the inspection report as broken. I don't cook enough need a disposal. But, when I turned on the dish washer, foul smelling demon water came up a hell drain into the sink. So that needed to be taken care of post haste. The repair estimate from my inspector was only $180.00. No problem, right? Not really, the actual cost from David Grey Plumbing was $285.00. But the techs were really awesome. They showed up early for the appointment, got to work right away, and finished quickly. And better yet, they tolerated my furry foreman that was watching them intently.

Lessons learned: You are going to underestimate and overpay on all repair costs. Budget for it.