All Forum Posts by: George W.

A electricians more money than a general contractor because it's a skilled job and they have a professional license to do it. In NJ home improvement contractors are not allowed to do electric. theyre not insured for it either. 

 Good. If someone isn't pulling permits to flip a house they're probably cutting corners. Ultimately permits and codes are about protecting the people that occupy the space. Flippers do some shady work on houses often and it gets missed because they don't pull permits. 

Never understood why people want such flashy new vehicles. Autos are just money pits. New car loans and prices are insane. I always buy them with cash used.

I got a old beater 4x4 8' f150

A superduty with utility body 

And a gas saving car

Is investing in your home state not an option? I know that some people invest all over the place but personally I wouldn't ever buy anything more than a few hours drive from residence. 

If I was gonna buy something on the other side of the country I'd want to go see it myself. I wouldn't trust a real estate agent, contractor or property manager I've never met in person to tell me a properties worth buying.  

Probably the best thing you can do is start saving up money now. When you turn 18 don't max out credit cards and don't take large auto loans for a car/truck that looses value. Try to keep your debt to a minimum in general. Always pay yourself first, put a good part of your pay in your savings to invest on every check. 

Even if you get a stable job, mortgages use debt to income ratios and if your income isn't high enough you could have no debt and still not qualify because of the lower income. Best way to have a higher income is experience, knowledge and skills. 

Does anyone in your family invest in real estate? Maybe they will mentor you. You could learn alot through something like that. 

Personally I know people will disagree with this but, at 15 do not get a job working in fast food. Try finding a job at a company where you will start learning real applicacle life skills maybe a farm or a small mom and pop type place where you do many different tasks. Maybe you can find someone to introduce you to construction if working with hands is interesting to you. 

If you learn young about credit cards, taxes, loans and bills in general you'll be ahead of most people your age. 

 What kind of hvac system do you have? hydronic heat (hot water). forced hot air with air conditioning? A heat pump? Is this unit geothermal? Doesn't seem that you really have much info on that. Without knowing what kind of system you have, how would you even know that the second company is right?? 

I think that you should learn a little more about the type of system that you have installed because it would be very easy for any HVAC contractor to rip you off if you don't even know what kind of system you got.

A basic tip is that a picture of this pump would be worth a thousand words. 

Your best bet would probably be a perimeter drain and a sump pump going outside far away from the house. 

 I'm not saying that an architect is going to give a exact bid on the project but they will be able to give you a very realistic range for the given area. Most contractors won't even look at a plan until after it's preliminary drawn. So it would only be logical that an architect would be able to design a building to go within a certain budget for their customer. 

I wouldn't do it. Everyone has a brother or cousin who does some sort of trade for free. They're usually hacks doing it for free beer. 

Let's say this guy is even licensed, is he insured? Because if not and he burns your building down your Sol. 

Depends he get outta jail yesterday lol?