In this episode of Fix It Radio, we delve into the complex world of home repair services. Our host shares a cautionary tale of a listener who faced a nightmare with a so-called ‘phantom fixer’, emphasizing the importance of vetting contractors and seeking multiple bids before committing to a project. We explore the nuances of Google reviews and how to read between the lines to ensure you’re making a safe choice in home service providers.
SPEAKER 01 :
Walter? Upstairs! Are you alright?
SPEAKER 03 :
In the floor behind the chair.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is America.
SPEAKER 01 :
Does everybody know what time it is? Fix It Radio.
SPEAKER 09 :
And it is Fix It Radio, Saturday morning, KLZ 560. It is a live program, January the 25th. If you’re listening to a replay, hopefully the weather will be better then than it is now. And I’m not saying it’s super bad weather out right now. It’s snowing lightly. It’s going to snow most of the day today. But I will tell you just quickly, if you don’t have to get out in this, don’t and i mean that sincerely i don’t typically say that because normally you know roads aren’t bad once you get out of your little area you can zip around it’s not a big deal but unless they’ve changed things dramatically in about the last hour and a half i will tell you that the majority of the highways anyways are not in great shape in fact on my way down this morning There were two plow trucks on 225, two CDOT plow trucks on 225 that were over on the side of the road looking like they were having mechanical issues, meaning those two plows weren’t running. There was a RTD bus that had to be repaired. It was over on the side of the road as well. And it was like, well, this is not a good day for our state and regional businesses. transportation district and the reality is most of the highways at least as of about 7 30 this morning had not been plowed and again not that you couldn’t get around the problem is for those individuals that don’t drive very well in the snow and we have a lot of transplants in colorado now It makes it really dicey because, and I’m not trying to be rude here, but those folks, unfortunately, are just in the way and making it really difficult for everybody else because when you get two or three of them side by side that can’t drive and that are doing about 15 miles an hour on the highway, it tends to make things really bad for everybody else that are around them because now you’ve got knuckleheads trying to speed around them, and it was a disaster this morning. I’ll just say it. I’ll say it straight up. Normally not that way. You guys normally don’t hear me complain about things along those lines, but this morning it was literally an utter disaster as far as the traffic end of things go and traveling around. So if you don’t have to get out until things are a little bit more caught up by the local agencies, PLOWS, CDOT, you know, so on, state agencies, don’t. Sleep in, have a cup of coffee, listen to us. We’ll do this plus drive radio following up. And if you want to hang out with us for a while, you are more than welcome to. That’s why we’re here. So, yeah, if you don’t have to get out and about in this. And I know this replays again on Tuesdays from 2 to 3. It’ll be a totally different situation then. And we appreciate you listening on Tuesday as well. Thank you very much. I want to start off today because… This was something that I think one of you as listeners had sent me. In fact, I know it was. This came through on the text line. And that was an article on Nine News. I want to spend a little bit of time on this because a lot of people are looking for people to help them with things around the house. Now, we talk about a lot of things around the house on this program. That’s why it’s called Fix It Radio. I do my best to help walk you guys through different things that you can do on your own. But sometimes there’s things that are beyond what we can do. And that’s true for all of us. I call it waving that white flag of surrender when it’s something you can’t do any longer and you’ve got to have some help. In the case of this particular article, it has to do with a replacement furnace. And this article on 9 News is really talking about be careful of what the Google reviews say that you’re reading because in this particular case, this individual went out, looked at you know basically typed in probably google maps or in google itself furnace replacement near me something like that and a company came up had lots of great reviews and he went ahead and went with that particular company And by the way, this is one of those where if it’s that large of an item, get two bids. Get two opinions on what’s going on. And my daily sponsor during the week, Cub Creek, those guys are well-known for doing second opinions and things along those lines, and it’s a great company, very honest, and I highly recommend them. And if this particular person had done that, they wouldn’t be in the predicament that they ended up in. So they went ahead and went with this company, which they call this Phantom Fixers. In other words, the person or the company that this particular individual hired was more like an HVAC broker. In other words, they don’t do the work themselves. They put out a bid, if you would, on places like, and I’m not joking, Craigslist. where they’re looking for people that will come in and do a particular job. So in their case, they may, let’s just say, for example, they sell 100 furnace jobs throughout the year. They are never installing one single furnace. They are simply brokering the install of those 100 furnaces. So you’re dealing with that company. but they’re dealing with, in this case, maybe 25 or 50 other individuals and or companies that are actually doing the work. They never touch the furnace. They never come inside your home. All you’re doing is handling your transaction with that particular party. They’re doing nothing when it comes to the work itself or the quality control after or the warranty or anything else. So in this particular case, This particular gentleman hired this phantom fixer, I guess we could call it, Company A. And by the time he was done, he had spent $7,000. It took several weeks, not days, weeks to get the furnace installed. And by the time it was done, it was a mess. In other words, whoever did the work was underqualified to do so. Most likely didn’t pull a permit, which you need to do because you’re working with gas lines and things along those lines. None of that took place, and by the time he was done, he had to have another HVAC company come in and patch up as best could be done the previous work without completely redoing everything because it was such a mess when this particular installer had finished that it was a disaster. And by the way, the 7K, I would tell you, I don’t think is any kind of a deal. It’s not like you got a huge discount. And you can see why, because company A is literally hiring somebody else that they’re then paying, and then they’re charging you, and they’re taking their cut. So in that case, you’re always going to pay more money and get less quality. In my world, where we do property maintenance and things like that, We call these particular, in this case a phantom fixer, we call these third-party providers. So very much the same in my world. A lot of the nationally known companies that are out there, property owners, they will hire one national company to take care of all of their maintenance. thinking they’re going to somehow save money in doing so. Again, keyword, thinking they’re going to save money. They’re doing exactly what this phantom fixer with this particular furnace for this gentleman does. They then go out, and in particular areas all across the country, they find companies, subs if you would, to do the work that they’re going to bill that national company for, no matter what it is. Asphalt maintenance, asphalt repair, striping, landscaping, snow removal, you name it. And keep in mind, they’re trying to get the best deal possible from that company that they’re getting the services from because they’re upcharging it, of course, because they have to to stay in business. And then at the end of the day, the national company, call it whatever you want, the big W, because they’re one of those that does this. They, at the end of the day, think they’re saving money. They think they’re saving money because they’re paying one company versus hundreds across the country, or in some cases, a thousand. But really, at the end of the day, for the little bit of processing and how all of that can be automated today, especially with AI and other things, they’re not saving anything. They’re spending more money. Again, because everything is getting marked up to them in the end. They’d be better off going out and finding their own providers, let their own store managers handle that. So anyways, long story short, this is very well known in certain industries like mine. And it sounds like now it’s making its way into other things. So my point on Fix It Radio this morning, and if you’re listening on Tuesday, is when you go and hire somebody, number one, talk to me first. We have enough connections on most everything that needs done that I can pretty much steer you in the right direction where you don’t have to really go out there and Google anything. If you do find yourself, because you’re out of our area, maybe you’re somebody listening down in Texas, Oklahoma, across the country, Montana, New Jersey, Florida. I mean, we’ve got listeners now pretty much all across the country. Minnesota, I can go down the list. If you find yourself in one of those areas, be really careful when you Google and read the reviews. Because this is something that Google is trying to crack down on. And that is the fake reviews that are out there. They’re trying to legitimize each review. But keep in mind, that’s a big project as well. It’s really hard to determine who’s legitimate and who’s not. in these particular companies are masters at figuring out how to avoid all of the things that google sets out as as deterrence from having false reviews keep in mind this is what they do this is what they’re good at so in turn They then become the middleman. They’ve got all these great reviews, but at the end of the day, the majority of those are false, and they can’t deliver on the products and the promises that they’re promising up front. And I didn’t know this. I didn’t know these things existed in this world until I read this particular article. But what’s happening in my world is now going to happen, it sounds like, in a lot of places. And don’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen with plumbing and electrical and, and, and we go. Tree trimming, pesticide spraying, etc. Handyman, even. So be careful. If you have any questions on who you should hire for a particular job, please let me know first. We’re always here to help with that. I do the same thing for the car end of things on Drive Radio. I’m very happy to do it here for Fix-It Radio. And if there’s something that I don’t have access to, I can at least typically tell you who to call first. or who to contact that would know how to handle a particular situation, and then off we go. I had an example of that with Drive Radio this past week where I had somebody out of the area wanting to know where to find such and such, and I said, you know, I don’t know, but I know who in that area does call this person. And typically I can do that in a lot of different areas. So be really careful on Googling things and doing the Internet search and then looking at those companies. And the other thing I would tell you, because I had this conversation with a listener through the text line a couple of weeks ago, some of our local, what I would call very well-known HVAC electrical plumbers and so on. Let me just say something. When you see them having the ability to run lots of TV commercials and even advertise at ball games and so on, those things don’t happen for free. Meaning, I’m not saying that just because they’re running a TV ad that they’re ripping off the public, but what I’m saying is, typically speaking, If it’s them as an individual company, not some kind of a co-op buy where there’s lots of franchises and so on participating in that particular buy, what I will tell you is if they’re making that kind of money, that kind of profit, then enable them to do that kind of advertising, I would probably not use them. Sorry, I’m just gonna be straight up front about that. I would not use them. Why? Because you have to make enough profit to pay for that in the first place. And yes, we’re advertisers here. I mean, we help advertisers, I guess I should say, but there’s a big difference between the folks that you hear spending money with us during the week and or with me on the weekends versus somebody having a big ad buy on one of your local news stations during the news itself and or running big billboards and they’re across the electronic signs at any of our stadiums in town. Let me just say that because I know what those numbers are like. And let me tell you, they are far, far, far larger than what people here with us are doing. And when I say far larger, I mean, I can tell you, you could add multiple zeros onto the end of what they do with us versus what they’re doing in those other areas. And some of you would say, well, John, how do you know all that? Guys, I’ve been in business for 40 years in this town. And even I, as an owner back in the day, did some of those things thinking, well, maybe this is a good way to advertise and so on. And I’ve tried just about every single form of advertising in this town you can think of, even collectively where we’ve got, you know, one time there was, you know, 40, 50 repair shops that that I was affiliated with, where we would go out and do big ad buys on different things, TV spots, TV shows. Bus signs, billboards, you name it. I know what those dollars are like, and I know that in that particular case, when you’ve got 40 or 50 people paying for it, yeah, now it becomes fairly palatable and you can make those things happen. But in single individual company, and I won’t name names because I’m not going to do that to anybody on air, but when you can look around and see what those particular advertisers are doing, And when you know that they’re just a local HVAC slash plumbing and electric company, and they can run big billboards at some of our stadiums and run halftime specials and things along those lines, that stuff doesn’t happen for free, and you as a customer are paying for it. And again, that’s not to dog anybody by any means. What I’m saying, though, is if you think you’re going to get your best deal from those folks, you’re not. I can tell you that straight up. You’re not. They have to have the ability to pay for those things or they wouldn’t keep doing that advertisement. So be careful. Again, watch your Google reviews. Ask around. We’re a great resource on that end of things to ask about certain individuals and certain companies and certain things that you might need around the house. And we typically have great resources for those things, even if they’re not advertisers of mine, even on a Saturday morning. I can still help you with a lot of those things. And this was a great lesson. And thank you, whoever sent me this, because I had no idea that these, you know, quote unquote, phantom fixers or third party providers were entering into the trades like they are. but it sounds like well it’s not sounding like they are this is a story about somebody locally that this happened to and it ended up costing them dearly and in the end had a inferior product installed when it was all said and done and to take all of that out and redo it would have been super expensive and little to no recourse in this particular situation because of what happened so be really careful make sure you study who you’re going to be using Ask for referrals, especially if you’re going to spend big dollars, $5,000, $6,000, $10,000. You’re going to replace a furnace or an AC unit or things along those lines. Ask for referrals and make sure that you know what’s going on on the front side so you don’t get caught behind the eight ball like this particular individual here locally did. All right, I’ve got more to cover here in a moment. We’re going to talk about things not to do to your house, by the way, that at the end of the day won’t enable you to make more money on your home if, in fact, you go to sell your house. We’ll get into that here in just one moment. Don’t forget our website, fixitradio.com. We’ll be right back. KLZ 560.
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SPEAKER 09 :
You know, on all of that that I just talked about a moment ago, Charlie and I were talking through the break, and my wife even chimed in. This is why on big things, and my sponsors, by the way, will tell you this. They have no problem telling you, go get three bids. In fact, I’ve got some sponsors during the week that would highly recommend you do that. And even if you’ve got a couple of bids, call them for a second one, a third one, whatever. My door and window guy, Dave from Veterans, he will tell you, go get more bids. Go see where I’m at. I’ll stand behind my prices and my service all day long. Go see if you can match this with someone else. So those are the type of individuals I deal with, and they will be the first to tell you, go get multiple bids. All my shops on drive radio. If you feel like you don’t like their diagnosis or what they’re saying, go get another bid. They have no problem with that whatsoever. So on big purchases, I highly, highly, highly recommend that you go out and get multiple bids for the things that you’re doing. Do not go with that first person. it will most likely cost you more money when you do that. So is this Joe? Joe, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, John, can you hear me?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I can.
SPEAKER 11 :
Go ahead, Joe. John, just a word of caution to your listeners for minor repairs. Obviously, in the automotive industry, they’ve been doing flat rate by the hour. They break job. They’ve got a book number so many hours, and they charge you. And even if the book said six hours and they do it in three, you still get charged for the six. Well, a lot of plumbing companies have gone to flat rate, which is X dollars. If you want to, say, replace a bathroom faucet set, they’ve got a fixed charge, like $175, not including the cost of the faucets, by the way.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right.
SPEAKER 11 :
But I was out of town one time, and my wife called a company at a Castle Rock, and she thought it was going to be by the hour. Well, the guy was there for about 20 minutes to change out a set of bathroom faucets. And not only was it a $175 flat rate for the labor, which didn’t include the material because he had already bought the faucets, they also tacked on a $75 trip charge.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right.
SPEAKER 11 :
So it was a $250 charge for, okay, the guy spent 10 minutes getting there and 10 minutes back and 20 minutes. So the guy, for 45 minutes, we paid $250 for… what would have been 45 minutes worth of labor, including his round-trip travel. So if you’re going to have a small repair, you want to ask ahead of time, do you charge by the hour or is it flat rate? And if it’s flat rate, is there a trip charge on top of the flat rate? You can get a really ugly surprise if you don’t know it’s going to be flat rate.
SPEAKER 09 :
Joe, to your point, make sure you’re asking all of those things. On the front side, I had a listener just a minute ago text in that says, you know, start with some of the people in your church. They’re usually good references. Now, what I will say is maybe for who to call, but just because they’re a business and they go to your church doesn’t mean I’m going to use them, Joe. Sometimes I’m not going to use them for that reason.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, I mean, they may do good work, and, you know, they do good warranty work, but, you know, their pricing, you know, can be totally outrageous. And, you know, I finally found a good plumber down in the Castle Rock area, and I would either, sometimes I would want a fixed price, like how much did you replace my leaking water heater? And, you know, and he would, you know, quote me so much for the water heater and a fixed price for the labor, and I would say, okay. And I would agree to that fixed price for a big job like that. But if you’re calling up, I had one guy come to replace a gate valve faucet on a sprinkler drain down line, and that was an ugly surprise, too. Charged me $125 to unsweat and resweat a faucet on a sprinkler drain down line. So, again, figure out, are they doing flat right? Is it by the hour? Is there a trip charge involved? And if it’s flat rate, what’s the flat rate charge? Because some of them can get pretty outrageous. So that’s my two cents for home repairs.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep. And thank you, Joe. I appreciate that. No, you are spot on. And that’s where, you know, going back to, you know, a lot of suggestions that have come in, even from some of you, definitely, definitely make sure that you’re getting all of your ducks in a row on the front side. Call on the front side. How do they do things? How do they handle things? Are they doing it like… Joe said, and I’ve had several text messages come in that talk about how that is becoming the norm, which, OK, fine. If that’s going to be the norm like it is in the auto industry, that’s fine. Just know on the front side what you’re up against still comes back down to the whole, you know, get three bids. and know what you’re doing on that sides of things before you do anything else so thank you by the way for a lot of these questions that have been coming in as well and as far as the text line goes keep texting i appreciate all the text messages that come in as well and i do my best to answer those as best we can so normally we’d have larry with us by the way we talked about that last week larry if you’re listening thanks for all that you do roads were a little bit dicey this morning and uh texted larry back and forth and said you know just hang out at home we’ll manage things here charlie’s here i’m here we’re good to go so no issues there and uh saying it may be very well become one of those days where you know i am solo so if that’s the case the more of you that call in The better, by the way, because then I don’t have to do as much talking. You don’t have to listen to me. You can listen to each other. So those of you that are listening, please, lines are open, 303-477-5600. You may have some input on what we just got done talking about in regards to how to handle certain things in your home. Now, I will also say this. For some of you in certain parts of our listening audience, and this includes even some distant places, You may not have three people in your area to give three bids, and I’m not exaggerating. Some of you folks that live up in the mountains and some of the rural areas, you may have only one choice. I hate to say that, but you may. I can relate. If you’ve got things in the mountains and in small towns and so on, and by the time you even got somebody from the next big city to come in and help you, you may be paying way more to even do that than to just figure out a… a deal an arrangement with that local company to get things handled because you really are under the gun at that point in time that’s the downside to only having you know certain providers in certain areas and or you not being able to do those things you know on your own and i get it you know some things are limited on what your ability is And it gets above your head. And at that point, you don’t have any choice but to call someone in and have them help you because you just don’t have any other way of doing that. You know, you’re a one man band at that point. You don’t you don’t have any any you don’t have any choice. Scott Wally just said so a professional has the right tools, experience and finishes in 20 minutes. Would you rather have that or want him to take two hours? And Scott, I’m with you on that one as well. So in some cases, if that guy can come in, set price, you know what you’re going to get. He gets a job done right. It’s sort of like your car in a brake job. I’ve known technicians that can get a brake job done in under the time allotted. And I’ve known some that take twice the time allotted. And I will tell you that typically speaking, the technician that’s doing it under the allotted time versus those taking more time are better technicians and have a better job done at the end of the day than that person that actually took more time. So, yes, Scott, thank you for that, because it’s not always the case that if the guy gets it done faster, it’s a bad job. In some cases, that means you might be getting a better job because that person may have done that job hundreds of times over. and knows exactly what they need to do to get that job done quickly. John and Cheyenne, you’re next.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, you made a prime example. Oh, good morning, John. Good morning. You made a prime example, though, of the guy who’s done it 50 times will probably be better than the guy who’s done it five. Correct. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER 09 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 03 :
Or never. I’m sorry?
SPEAKER 09 :
Or never in some cases. Maybe he’s a newbie and he’s never done it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. And then, you know, you just hope if he is a newbie, whoever’s supervising him is checking his work.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And that’s where you can run into problems. But I’m going to throw a shout-out to John. I’ve used two of your sponsors personally, and I’ve not had an issue with either one so far. And that’s Paul at American National. Yep. um kirk at okay for a bunch of mortgage absolutely yeah two great guys and they did exactly and i used you know i went from you third thing is i’m going to say john is absolutely right when he says it it’s not in our area he’s not a sponsor i might be able to get your reference and we’ll just say the mechanic that you recommended in the dallas area from my wife’s uh dallas car Never had a problem. The guy does great work.
SPEAKER 09 :
And really quick, John, too. I had somebody text in a moment ago about some of the trip charges. Yeah, some of you listening, depending upon where you live, how far they’re traveling, their cost of doing business. I mean, keep in mind, they’ve got typically an hourly worker. that’s in the van, that’s driving to and from. They’ve got the cost of the van, the insurance, all the things that go along with that, the fuel, et cetera. And yeah, you’re likely going to pay a trip charge in some of these cases. Or in some cases, John, they’re going to wrap that trip charge because they’re frankly not as honest as the person charging the trip charge. They’ll just wrap all of that into the actual cost of doing whatever the repair is. Either way, you’re still paying a trip charge.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s like when you hear, yeah, we’ll come out and do a, $39.95 furnace cleaning. You know, you hear that on TV and stuff. Well, they’re going to find something wrong with your furnace because they’re not covering their costs.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, they can’t cover their costs to come out and go back to the office or to the next customer, John, for $39, period. Can’t happen.
SPEAKER 03 :
And if you’ve got a guy that’s charging you a flat rate, say it’s me. I’m 25 miles from Cheyenne, 25 miles from Laramie. So, Either way, I’m paying somebody to drive 50 miles. He’s going to either quote me a higher flat rate or he’s going to say, all right, well, I’ve got to charge you a trip charge. It’s going to cost me an hour of travel time with everything else. So I have to understand that going in. But you’re right when you say three bids because when I was getting bids on my pole barn, you remember last summer, they were all over the place. And then the the contractor I went with came on a reference from our pastor.
SPEAKER 09 :
Got it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Pastor goes, he did a kitchen and he did a bathroom. He’s licensed and everything. And I talked to him and he goes, well, if you want to buy the kid at Menards and I showed him what we were looking at, he goes, buy it, pay it out of your own pocket and then just pay me. But here’s the big thing. He didn’t ask for a dime up front. Wow. Because he said, I don’t want anything up front. Pay me weekly as the job progresses. And that’s better because I was here every day. I was at my house, and I was able to see what was going on and pay him weekly. Like one week he said, listen, I need the cash to pay the concrete contractor. He goes, I could write him a check, but if you could pay me for the concrete once it’s done. I was like, sure. You know, stuff like that because he hired a contractor to do the concrete floor. Things like that, but not weekly. The other three companies that I got bids from, they had billboards and all other stuff and references. They wanted half up front. Why? Do you want half up front? I got a problem with half up front.
SPEAKER 09 :
Half’s too much. I mean, I can see if you’re ordering a lot of product for a customer and you need to get some of that. Even as a business coach, John, I would tell a business, you need something up front to make sure that everybody’s serious. You don’t want to be stuck with a bunch of material that you then have to figure out how to. either return and pay a restock fee or whatever the case may be. So, yeah, you’ve got to get that cost of things covered on the front side. But, yeah, no, after that, it would be, you know, if I was building a pole barn or something along those lines, knowing how quickly they go up, get some percentage up front to get things ordered. Once things are delivered, pop the thing up. And before you put that last nut and bolt or screw in, you get paid.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, and the nice thing was the guy who did it goes to our church. That makes it easy. That makes it easier. That makes it easier, John. Yeah, and he said, I don’t want anything up front. Because his was just the construction and the labor and everything. His wasn’t. I paid for the barn at Menards out of pocket.
SPEAKER 09 :
In his case, and by the way, that’s a good way of doing it, because in his case, he really had no risk. If it shows up, he shows up, he puts it up, off you go. Done deal.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and before he came out and set the site and everything, but didn’t do anything other than Call me when the kid comes in. He went through everything to make sure he had everything he needed. And then goes, all right, we’re going to break ground next week. Or I think it was two weeks.
SPEAKER 09 :
Nice.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, he had two jobs. But that’s the kind of people that you want to work with. People who ask for a ton of money up front, I am leery. Because there’s a guy on that does consumer stuff during the week. And all I ever hear is, I gave him $40,000 and he disappeared. Yeah. And that happens a lot everywhere in the world. If you’re going to put it in an escrow account where you both need signatures if they want half up front. That’s not a bad way of doing it. Sure. Because if a company says no.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, the other thing, too, the other recommendation for all of you listening on anything, by the way, any of these home services might be a little tougher, John, in your particular case than what you did. But in most cases where you’re dealing with a regular type business, company, whatever, always pay, not a debit card. credit card folks pay with a credit card because your ability to go back to to chase or city bank or whoever it happens to be and dispute the charges because of something that came up much much easier to do it that way than any other way yeah and that’s well when we went with menards i put it on a credit card and then paid the bill at the end of the month but by doing that i got enough miles to go to europe that too that’s a whole other conversation john absolutely and then
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, but the other thing was is Menards does this 11% rebate where you get a check back.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, nice. You can use it at Menards again.
SPEAKER 03 :
On the pole barn, I got a $1,700 rebate check, and I was able to use it for a lot of the inside stuff that I was doing myself. And then what’s great about them is every time you make a purchase, whether you use a rebate check or not, you can apply for the next rebate.
SPEAKER 09 :
Nice. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
So I probably got, you know, it’s 10%, but 10% is 10%. Yeah, sure. Why not?
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 03 :
If you’re spending $1,000, here’s $100 to go spend the next time when you need, oh, I don’t know, I needed 130 foot, a number two aluminum force. Four wire, that ain’t cheap, you know, to have those.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey, John, every little bit helps, including, you know, I recommend this to most of the folks that I coach, and that is, you know, figure out what rewards program you like via credit card. And I always tell business owners they should have two credit cards, one that all the business transactions go on and one that all your personal transactions go on. It helps with all the accounting. But digressing, bottom line, figure out which one you like having the most rewards on. And yes, I know this goes against everything Dave Ramsey teaches, but I don’t care because I still think it’s a great way to be rewarded for the things you’re going to purchase anyways. Dave’s big thing, John, is that when you’re using plastic versus cash, you spend more money. And that may be true for some, although I think most diligent folks and most of the people that listen to this program are pretty fiscally sound and responsible. And I don’t think that’s I don’t like that blanket statement. I still look at the dollar signs itself, not how I’m paying.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, I’m with you 100 percent. And I was watching the guy from Catch Me If You Can. He pays all of his bills with a credit card and then pays that bill off once a month because he says that somebody hacked my credit card. I’m not responsible up to a million dollars.
SPEAKER 10 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 03 :
And if you use it, I’ve heard it on other shows like this, people who have used their debit card and the bank just said, hey, you gave them your debit card, even if it’s in a store, and put in that PIN number, that’s just like paying with cash.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, and we all know, and this is where, and I know some of you out there listening will debate me on this, but your protection on the credit card side as far as having better blanket protection versus the debit card and dealing with your bank or the underwriter for your bank. John, I’ve just found it in the past to be much, much easier to deal with, you know, a Wells Fargo, a Chase, a whoever than it is trying to deal with, you know, your local bank on a debit card.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, for sure. And the other thing I like with the, The only thing I use my debit card for is to go to the bank’s ATM to get cash.
SPEAKER 10 :
Gotcha.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s about it. Gotcha. This way I don’t have to write a check or go into the bank and fill out a withdrawal slip. And I’m never going to withdraw so much. If I need that much cash, then yes, I’ll go to the bank. But usually the debit card can get you a couple hundred at a time from an ATM or something. And that’s the only time I ever use it because the other thing is if your debit card gets skimmed, you’re going to have a heck of a time getting your money back. Where if it’s a credit card on a skimmer, you just say, hey, I don’t have a problem. I got scammed.
SPEAKER 09 :
I need a new card. Shut that one down. Send me another one. And I’m disputing that.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I’m disputing these six charges, whatever, eight charges. Yep. And that’s the other thing is, too, and I don’t know, what’s your thought on a contractor that is doing labor and says, I’d prefer you pay me in cash?
SPEAKER 09 :
I would find a different contractor.
SPEAKER 03 :
Really?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Even if it’s a reputable licensed contractor, they just like cash and they give you a receipt?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, because again, I want that other reward system and the things that we just mentioned. And my feeling is if you don’t have your business set up to where you can absorb that 2% fee that the credit card is charging you, then you’re not a very good businessman and I’ll go elsewhere and do business then.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Okay. Well, that’s fair.
SPEAKER 09 :
And coaching businesses, John, I would never tell someone take cash only. In fact, I’m one of those where you make every means possible where they can pay you any way, shape, or form they would like. If they’d like to pay cash, fine. That’s up to them. But you need to make sure you’re running your business in a way that you can take that tent fee and absorb it and be just fine.
SPEAKER 03 :
Makes sense. That makes sense. I didn’t think of it from that point of view. I just think some of the smaller businesses, you know.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, and really what a lot of those guys are doing, and there’s no secret here, the IRS knows this as well, those particular companies are typically going to run that off the books. That cash goes in their pocket, never makes it to the bank. They’ll use it to buy personal things with, and the reality is that’s off the books, and they’re not paying any taxes on that. Probably. That’s why they’re doing it.
SPEAKER 03 :
The other thing I just wanted to say, it’s a drive radio thing, but I’ve got to run out and move a little snow, so I might not be able to follow you. I’ve got that left front CV shaft on the 11 truck fixed. I got it replaced. Remember I told you the boots were bad?
SPEAKER 09 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
I thought $525 done was a good price. That’s a really good price. Yeah. Yeah. Very good price, John. He told me I could save you on the labor if I just replaced that little axle shaft at the same time. And this way I’m not trying to beat it out of the old one. I was like, this is the mechanic I’ve used for almost 20 years here in Cheyenne. No, he did well.
SPEAKER 09 :
He did well by you. Nothing wrong with that at all.
SPEAKER 03 :
And he’s trustworthy.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 03 :
And what he said is, he goes, it’s a quick job because I had a guy that, again, he had a guy that knew how to do it, so… I dropped it off at 8, and he called me at 11 that it was done.
SPEAKER 09 :
Nice. Good job.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I don’t know what time he pulled it in, but he started. I dropped it off at his shop at 8 o’clock, and he was done at 11. That’s how you do it. I’m figuring two hours labor, if that. But like you were saying earlier, the guy that’s done it 50 times will get it done quicker than the guy that’s done it five.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 03 :
John, I appreciate it very much. Thank you.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you for all the input as well. Several of you texting as well along these lines. I’ll answer those here during this next break. I’ll be right back. This is Fix It Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
All right, we are back. Fix It Radio, KLZ 560. Several of you texting in, by the way, talking about our sponsors here. And A, how comfortable you are using them. B, how really spot on they are with what they do. And everything is above board and done exactly the way they said. Thank you, by the way. I appreciate that. I will pass that along to the folks that we have as our partners here during the weekend and during the week. And I appreciate that. I like always enjoy and like hearing that from you all. And I also know and I tell every one of my sponsors this. If something doesn’t go well, I will most likely hear about it before they will. So, yes, we are very picky in particular about the individuals that we partner up with. especially when it comes to home repair, car repair, things along those lines, because I just know how overly difficult that can be if you don’t have the right person helping you out. So I’ve got, and I won’t be able to get to all these, I don’t think, today, but nine renovations that can devalue your home. I’ll get to a few of these, because, you know, people are always looking at doing different things. I got a text message from somebody a moment ago asking about doing some different things in the basement and remodeling and things like that, and I get questions along these lines all the time, and I am one that believes keep your home updated, don’t over-update. And some of what we’re going to talk about here, this is the first one on this list, by the way, don’t overly personalize your design. Now, if you’re going to be in your forever home and you don’t think you’re ever going to sell it, keyword there, think, you know, I guess knock your socks off, do whatever you want to. Just know that when it comes time to sell, if you have overly personalized it for you, the next buyer may not like it. So in my mind, I’ve always thought with the idea that when, because you guys know me, I’m a seller, when I go to sell this, what does the next person coming in think? What do they look at? How does it appeal or not to them? And I know that one of the things that I think is really difficult in today’s world, and my wife reminds me of this all the time, is, you know, you’ll follow some of these quote unquote designers on social media and they’ll tell you what all the current things are. And, you know, this color is in and that colors out and don’t do this with furniture and do that instead. And on and on you go. And I will tell you straight up, if you follow any of those, you’ll be changing your house around about every two years because those guys and what they feel is in changes that rapidly. And I am not exaggerating. I’m one to say stick with what you know as being tried and true neutral type colors that coincide and fit with the overall theme and design of your home. And what I mean by that is, you know, some homes have more of a ranch type look to it, you know, rustic look. Some, of course, in the mountains near us are more of the cabin look. Some homes in our area are very modern. Some homes are kind of a combo. Some are very traditional. You know, some I go down the list, all the different designs that are out there. And my point with that is I’m one that feels make your inside as much as you possibly can match the outside. So, I mean, that doesn’t mean that, you know, you can’t do some personal things on the inside of your home that you really enjoy. But my point is, if you’ve got a more modern looking home and you want to do some rustic things inside, yeah, that doesn’t really go together. you know putting up a bunch of you know log furniture and things along those lines inside of a modern home doesn’t really go well and it’s not going to show well down the road so again i’m one where and sometimes you might need a little help with this this is where there’s plenty of people out there for very little money can come in and help you with what some of your designs need to be but i’m one that says do with your home what what what’s meant to be in it and keep that theme going and don’t deter much from it. I’ve looked at tons of homes over the years, have bought and owned a lot of homes over the years. And I have toured some homes at times where you just go and look at a room, could be a bedroom, could be a bathroom, could be the family or living room. And you just look at it and think, man alive, this is out of place. And by the way, it could be done very nice. It could have done a really great job. And you’re like, this doesn’t go with the overall theme of the house. Now, I’ve been in other homes where you look at the outside, you walk in, and you’re like, wow, somebody did a really good job of matching all of these things and making everything flow really well. And by the way, those are the homes that typically do better and bring a higher price when it comes to sell. So be careful. Don’t overdo things. Don’t over-personalize things. The next one is bedroom conversions. Be careful converting a bedroom into something else that can’t be converted back. So you take a bedroom and convert it to a home office. You change the doors out. You put a glass door on instead of a regular door. Maybe even put a double door, French doors on it, things like that. All of a sudden now the bedroom is no longer a bedroom. Even though it may be listed as one, it’s really not usable as one. A lot of people will take bedrooms and turn them into home gyms and things like that. Again, as long as things can be converted back to the original bedroom, you’re fine. But be careful in what you’re converting that to and how permanent that may or may not be. Garage conversions. This is another big one. A lot of folks will turn their garage into, again, home office, gym, things along those lines. And keep in mind, the next person coming in may actually want the garage, especially on a day like today. They want to park inside. I’m one of those, by the way. I want the garage. I like parking inside. i’m very spoiled i’ll be the first to admit it i’ve been parking inside of a garage now for several decades and i enjoy that walking out climbing in turning the key, hitting the button, whatever, driving out, not having to scrape windows, not having to wipe off snow. As you guys all know, I use the garage mats, which really this time of the year, I can’t stress enough how well those things work this time of year. You go out on a day like today and get everything all slushed up and snowed up and so on, and you pull back into the garage and everything drips onto the mat. You clean the mat off periodically, and all that stuff’s not all over your garage. Fabulous. Cannot stress enough this time of the year how well they work. Anyways, I’m digressing. Be careful what you do in converting your garage around. I’ve seen people take the entire door out, wall it in, put a door in it, entrance, exit door, and all of a sudden now to put that back to a garage becomes a lot of extra work. If you want to use your garage as a different space, fine, but still leave it as a garage. If you want to make it a home gym, things like that, you want to park outside and do that instead, great, knock your socks off. But make sure you still have a usable garage at the end of the day. I talked about this a moment ago, but over-improving or over-building a home. Yes, you need to know where, and this is where realtors can help in a lot of cases. What are the homes around you selling for? What’s their value? And you have to be careful not to tick up too much above that value. Because things I’ve learned over the years, you never want to be the most expensive house in the neighborhood. Now, if you’re somebody that lives out in a rural area and you’re all on 5, 10 acres and you’re the most expensive house in that area, that’s not what I’m talking about. That’s a whole different world at that point. I’m talking about in a regular traditional neighborhood. You do not want to be the most expensive home in the neighborhood by overbuilding. One of the other things that’s in this list is this also comes into how much landscaping have you put in. Don’t overdo that. Some people really like the landscaping. They can get so much intricacy even into the landscaping where it’s like, yeah, this is great, but now who’s coming in and maintaining it after you? Maybe you love being out in the yard and doing all that stuff. Maybe the buyer doesn’t. So again, landscaping is also one of those areas, just like the inside of the home, where it needs to go and flow with the home and not be overdone to the point where it’s now a deterrent from the sale of the house, not an add-on. They actually even put something in here about pools. Now, what I will say is in certain parts of the country, pools are fine. In fact, it’s almost a want, a need. Arizona, for example. Some of you that are listening to me down in the Texas area. It is changing in Colorado. There’s a lot more pools now in Colorado than there used to be when I was growing up. So it’s not as bad as it used to be, but just know that in a lot of cases, the pool may not add any value to your home. You may love it. It might even make it sell easier, but you’re not going to get your money dollar for dollar back out of that pool. That’s just not in Colorado. That just doesn’t happen. So something to think about in this front range area and even some of you that are up in Wyoming, Nebraska, northern areas, they’re typically not going to do as well, pools I mean, as it will in some of the other areas where we’ve got listeners. Again, Florida, down south, Texas, Arizona, and so on. Also, be really careful of… Unpermitted additions. Now, what I will say when it comes to unpermitted additions is I’m one that feels like it depends on how it’s done. And there’s some, I think, gray areas. And I know people argue with me that there’s never a gray area. If a permit’s required, then you need to go pull a permit. Well, that’s up to you. I’m not going to tell you what to do. That’s your call. What I will tell you is, and what I’ve learned from experience is, if everything is done above board… two building specs and would pass inspection and so on, the chances of you having anybody ever ask and go look if a building permit was pulled is slim to none. That includes basement refinishes and so on. And especially if it’s been decades back. Now, if it was just done a year ago, yeah, that’s getting a little dicier, and you probably ought to go ahead and pull a permit if you’re going to sell within the next two to three years. If you’re not going to sell for a decade or more, do whatever you feel like you need to do. And this is me talking in regards to what I feel is overreach of a lot of city, county governments. In some cases, in my opinion, they want permits for things that, frankly, shouldn’t need a permit. None of their business, in my opinion. There are some cities and counties that will even make you pull a permit for putting something that’s freestanding up like a gazebo or something along those lines. Total nonsense. And would I pull a permit to do those sorts of things? No, I would not. Utter nonsense. None of their business, in my opinion. So, again, this is up to you. Some will even, by the way, make you pull a permit to put a hot tub in. That’s another one where as long as it’s wired up correctly, everything passes code. The electrician does things the way they’re supposed to. Do I feel like you need to pull a permit for a hot tub? And I know this is me talking. No, I don’t think you need to. And I may take some flack for some of this and for what I’m saying along these lines, especially from some of the folks that are in government. But way too much government overreach on a lot of these things, in my opinion. Way too much them sticking their nose into what you’re doing and things that, frankly, they don’t need to know. So that’s one of those where, yes, large additions and things like that, yes, those should be permitted. Some of these smaller things, like I just mentioned a moment ago, do they really need to be permitted? That’s something you’re going to have to decide for yourself and might even want to have a conversation with whoever your realtor is when it comes to getting some of that advice. All right, folks, that’s it for today. I appreciate you all listening. Remember, you can always go to our website, fixitradio.com, and when it comes to recommendations on things to do around the house, please always text me and ask what I think about a particular service provider, and I’d be happy to help you out. We’ll be back with our next program. Don’t go anywhere. This is Fix It Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 05 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
