Contractors I would recommend

[jpinpb]

Have you gotten a quote from Gary Bowen on the walls? We interviewed 3 people to do our pony wall and found Gary to be professional and knowledgeable. He did everything right and I would trust him to do it again. Maybe he’s finally done w/his Ramona project. Last time I talked to him, he was telling me the owners wanted their kitchen granite countertops heated. WHAT??!! Every time he turned around they were wanting some crazy things done, but, you know, you don’t question work. You just are glad to do it.

I always would get other quotes. I came across an ad for wood floors called Mr. Sandless. If your wood floors are on their last legs and have been re-finished too many times, you might not be able to do it again. See if Mr. Sandless can help. Not a recommendation. I did not have him do any work. We got lucky b/c we were able to re-finish ours — barely, though.

I read through what I’ve posted and I would still recommend them all. Good luck w/your remodeling.

[p-dude]

JP, We have not contacted anyone yet. just gathering info regarding contractor. I’ll reply to same thread and write some review once we finish with everything. If anyone has any recommendation for skylight please let me know. Thank you all for contribution to this thread.

[svelte]

Anyone have a good recommendation for an exterior house painter who will work in north San Diego county? (78 corridor)

[CA renter]

Svelte,

That depends on whether or not you’re looking for a fast/slow job, expensive/cheap, good-quality/so-so. We’re using someone on the interior (exterior to be done later), and they were mid-range on price, but work with a fairly large crew, so get things done quickly (which we need because we’re fitting them in between other trades).

You might want to visit the local paint store and ask them (that’s what we did). They usually have a number of painting contractors they can recommend, depending on what you’re looking for. Otherwise, I’ll be happy to send you the info for our painter.

[svelte]

Yes, please send me the name of your painter. Thanks!

[JC]

CA Renter — thanks for the reco on Jerry. He came by to look at all of my electric. He was very honest about what was good and what was ok and what was dangerous. Foruntately, the only dangerous stuff was in my garage and he was able to rip all of it our and do over properly in one afternoon. He was polite, timely and reasonable. And, I *think* my garage was actually cleaner when he left. (Bonus).

[CA renter]

That’s awesome, JC. 🙂

Thanks for the update.

[JC]

Ok, this site is just awesome. Thanks to Piggs, I found a great realtor who also referred me to an awesome broker. I have found a great electrician, a great roofer, etc. Therefore, I am back to ask for recommendations on a good painter for the outside of my home. Any thoughts? Thank you!

[zzz]

jpinpb…have you used Antonio Fletes recently? i’m looking for someone who can tune wood clad windows, both upstairs and downstairs, strip and repaint all windows. its a really labor intensive job, and shockingly i’m having a hard time finding anyone who either wants to do the work, or is even qualified to do the work (meaning they have a clue about how to tune windows)

anyone have a good wood working handyman suggestion?

if anyone is looking at wood clad windows- be conscious they have to be maintained. our south and west facing windows (Anderson) that are 7 yrs old are peeling, cracking and warped from sunshine and lack of maintenance ( inherited mess). and i’m not ripping them all out- its going to cost a small fortune to replace them.

also i have an excellent electrician to recommend.

Dan, owner of Zapp electric. 888.430.9277. licensed.

Dan was someone a good friend / real estate agent recommended- he’s been using Dan for over 10 years both personally at his houses and suggesting to client. i got 4 bids before choosing Dan.

he not only put in new outlets and rewired our sub (fixed the problems) but also did the drywall so it looked like he was never there. he was the most reasonably priced and didn’t give me the runaround like several other electricians. several other guys hemmed and hawed about not knowing how bad some of our wiring was etc and how they needed to do T&M. the other guys also said they don’t do drywall, so any mess they make, we’d have to find someone else to finish it up. he was confident he could fix any of the issues and gave me a fixed price to do the work.

[jpinpb]

Hi zzz

I had contact w/Antonio last month, trying to get an estimate on some work I want done. He was not busy when we contacted him, but he said had work lined up in the next month. So I suspect he’s probably busy now. But you can always try to give him a call. If not, I think I have a lead on a windows guy. That’s next on our list.

Thanks for the tip on the electrician, too.

JC – I am pretty sure Antonio does painting, too. Those jobs he can probably do on weekends. I know he ended up getting hooked up with the guys that did my kitchen. They were impressed w/him and started giving him work.

[edna_mode]

Great thread.

Any personal recos for:
1) replacing furnaces
2) replacing water heaters and the surrounding drywall?

How about tankless water heaters? Anyone have a reco for doing this?

[UCGal]

We used sears to replace our 45 year old nat-gas furnace. No complaints. Our issue was finding a unit that fit in the same spot. Sears had a unit, and was decently priced.

[sdsubie]

We used Airflow heating and cooling to replace our furnace. Their price was competitive and the quality of the work was top notch. Highly recommended.

[edna_mode]

About replacing water heaters:

Is it more typical to hire a plumbing company to buy the water heater for you and they deal with the warranty forever afterwards, or for people to buy a water heater from Home Depot/Lowes and just pay for installation?

The reason I ask is because the water heater itself seems to be $400-800, and I am finding plumbers who will install for a fixed fee, as opposed to paying $2000 for a purchase/install/warranty deal. The former is nearly half the price of the second.

What exactly am I buying, from whom, for what level of service? What I don’t understand is if the water heaters are warrantied by the manufacturer, what exactly I am getting if I pay for the “full deal” from a contractor company that “does it all”.

[Author]

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