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I've always been told I was easy to work with, looking at some of these prices I didn't know how easy to work with I was!
By "easy to work with," I mean work with their schedules, thier down times, etc. I re-hab a lot of houses and sub out a lot of work. My policy with subs is, "let me know when you're not busy, and I let them know the projects I have going. So I might get a call from a plumber, "Hey, about that new drain stack you were talking about last time I was there ... I'm in the neighborhood and have a few extra hours on hand."
You'd be surprised the kind of bargains you get working like that.
My neigbor spent $2K getting a large tree removed. I spent $300 getting two very large trees and three medium-sized tree removed. The difference? By buying a chain saw ($300) and keeping the firewood-sized logs for myself, only requiring him to haul away the brush, and waiting 'till off-season I saved a bundle. Had I wanted to rent a commercial chipper, and spent five bucks for a bag of lawn fertilizer I would have saved the money he charged for the hauling and had garden mulch for next spring. (The nitrogen in the lawn fertilizer fuels the compost process, and the P & K add nutrients to the garden -- thanks to Tim McVeigh it's difficult to get bagged nitrogen any more.)
Of course, you're in a bind, timing wise.
So shop around. And really, try the "roof credit" route.
Harvey.
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