How much did you guys really save with all this DIY stuff?
I am just asking. I try to not deal with heavy things any more. Because I am old and stuff.
I paid $300 to have the experienced foreman and two college kids drag 500# worth of stove from the store to the second floor of my home. Once I paid for the delivery, they did the assembly and setup for free. When they parked in my driveway the stove was still strapped down to a pallet like it left the factory.
Once they had all the pieces in my living room they said it would probably take about an hour to finish putting together. I asked what they liked on their pizzas, called Papa Johns right there in front of them except for the credit card number part and have no regrets.
Accupuncture is $150/ session for me, it doesn't take too many vicodin for me to have to burn a vacation day tomorrow; and my install has been trouble free from day one.
I don't trust anyone. If I want it done right, I do it myself.
My first stove and install about 10 years ago cost me about $5k. I was working full time and then some and didn't have time to do it myself. The owner of the local dealer shows up for the estimate, we go over in great detail how the install is going to go, where the offsets go, how high, etc. I do all the layout, double check clearances, do all the required framing, cut all the holes, roof prep, all he has to do is show up, place the stove, install the pipe and go home.
Two "skateboarders" show up with none of the right parts for the stove pipe or chimney, so back to the shop they go and will book another day when they have the parts. Week later, they start the install again and realize parts of the stove are missing/don't fit - three week to wait for another stove.
Three weeks later they finally start again, I'm at work and my wife sends me a picture of the chimney install from the outside asking," Is this how it's supposed to look?". The picture shows the chimney out of plumb, with plumbers wrap/strap holding the chimney to the barge board, and the cap in line with the peak of the roof that was three feet away! And these are the
experts.
Fast forward ten years.
A few months ago I went to the other dealer in town to sort out purchase/supply/install of a new stove. After about eight visits to chat about stoves and install, it was clear they weren't any more competent than the last jokers I had used. I still had to do all the roof prep - it's a single story with a
flat roof, they still wanted $800 in labour to do the install! It took me 1 1/2 hours to complete and the hardest part was carrying four feet of insulated pipe up a ten foot ladder.
The added cost of doing the install myself this time was getting the WETT inspection, $150 plus tax. I call a local sweep, he shows up and right off the bat tells me the pad doesn't extend far enough, it's too narrow, you can't cut the corners off on a corner install like that, it's too small....I had to get the BK hearth pad drawings out, take him by the hand to show and explain and
convince him that yes, it actually does meet the requirements, in fact, it was bigger than required. Again, he's supposed to be the
expert!
I know this is a bit of a rant (my dear wife has to listen to them on a regular basis!), but after 25 years in the construction industry as a carpenter running jobs and supervising sub trades, it's not just the money I've saved by doing it myself, it's more important knowing that the job has been done
right.
