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getting a deck built around my pool....any tips?

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SteveJ34:
Lowes and Home Depot in reality just use local contractors and then take a cut for the jobs they are able to farm out.

From those contractors I have spoken to directly in my local area at least, they have cut into contractors pockets deeper which has reduced those that will even take the work from them and thus, the wait time to get larger projects completed along with the quality of craftsman you will receive is no better than doing your own homework, IMHO.

An alternative to Angieslist is http://www.servicemagic.com/ which is a competitor to angieslist but has no cost to you as the contractors themselves pay for the leads they receive.

You still have to do your own homework in terms of calling references, etc

I sourced a couple of local contractors from servicemagic including one for sheetrock repair and texture that I have been very pleased with. They were happy to perform just the tasks that I wanted without trying to upsell me on paint and other tasks that I am up to completing myself.

Good luck!

hulkster:
thanks for the servicemagic tip.  i found two contractors in my area and i just got done giving one of them a call.  on a side note, the guy was really nice and totally caught me off guard with our conversation:

me: "hi, i'm looking for someone to come out to my house and give me an estimate on building a deck/fence around my pool and was wanting to know what your schedules were for sending someone out.

him: "we'd be glad to come out and give you an estimate...we pretty much have an open schedule all week, except we don't do estimates on Thursday's and Friday's"  (today is thursday)

me: "......uh.....well...."

him: "that was a joke, i'm just kidding."

ha!  really caught me off guard...didnt expect that first time.  good stuff.

myntik1:
free potentially useless advice.

Ask the contractor for pictures of RECENT work.  You don't care if he did incredible work back in the day before his substance abuse problem, you want to know the quality of the work he did last week

xar256:

--- Quote from: myntik1 on July 03, 2008, 08:43:14 pm ---Ask the contractor for pictures of RECENT work.  You don't care if he did incredible work back in the day before his substance abuse problem, you want to know the quality of the work he did last week

--- End quote ---

+1  Also ask for references, someone you can call up and see/check out his work, and his work experiences.  Check the BBB for complaints.  Nothing is foolproof though.  If you get a bad vibe at any point...Walk away.

Food for thought too.  If the contractor is a small company, and he's available at the drop of a hat for estimates or beginning work, it means he's not busy.  If well known places are busy/have backlogs, that may be a red flag as well.  imho

Do your research.  Even if you can't do the work yourself, educate yourself so you know if the contracter is cutting corners or screwing you over.

Good luck.  Oh yeah :pics

hulkster:
well i called the local contractor and he told me that it would cost $14 a square foot.  i did a rough measurement of the area i want decked off and it comes to about 800 sq feet.   :o  yeah, sucks.  thats like 10,000 bucks.  thats JUST for the deck...no fence.  i guess i could get another estimate but crap thats expensive.  at this point im thinking that i might just get like one section built for now...then wait a year and build the next section and stuff.  i dont know...i've kinda lost the will to get a deck now  :-[

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