It isn't the deepest, darkest, coldest day of winter, but the temp did drop to 14 degrees last night. I woke up to the house at 55 degrees. I know lots of good frugalers think that is a perfectly acceptable indoor temp, but I was feeling the chill in my bones. The furnace had not kicked on at 65 as it is supposed to, so we took fast hot showers and got dressed quickly. Both DD and I have been battling cold symptoms, so this was not a help. I am home now, and while away, the lovely man from One Hour has been here, done his magic, and the house is a toasty 66 again. Best of all, we have another five years on the warranty so no out of pocket expenses. It is the same unit as central air, so I see from the note he left that a once over was done for that part of the system. While we probably did not get the lowest cost we could have on either the heating-cooling unit, or labor when installed, we have had good regular service from this company since we moved into the house. I looked on the service tag, and we failed to schedule the fall tune-up, so this was our own fault.
I like that we are local for something as intimate as our home and for something we rely on much of the year. It got me thinking about the services we tend to use locally, and what ones do we look for the best price. Car service-no brainer as it is DH's work place, Plus, even before he was back working there after a five year gap, he trusted the mechanics because he knew them.
We shopped for the best price on yard maintenance-healthy weed control. We struggle with crab grass and all kinds of invasive weeds. We have not had great luck and even caught them lying about a certain product used on the grass. We have kids and pets galore through our yard-I don't want poison! I am switching to a small local business owned and operated by a former high school classmate. Our girls are in school and Show Choir together. He's a past soccer coach for DD#2 and coached with DH when the kids were young. He just added this service to his menu of landscaping and while actually quite a bit more, I trust that he will have the same standards for this as he has in other parts of his life.
We did shop for the best price and value when we replaced the roof, the windows, and siding. All will be around for decades, so no long term relationship needed. Most "things" we tend to look for best price and value, but services, as I think about, we tend to look more at the trust factor. Maybe we are silly and throwing money out the door. What are your thoughts? Do you always look for best price, or do you wave away cost for a personal connection at times?
My handyman is very local, its Den. He won't pay for any repairs. LOL. He may blow us up one day. Really, that's the running joke here.
ReplyDeleteSome things are just out of hubs depth and furnaces fall there. Plumbing though...I'm waiting for place to flood.
DeleteTheHub and I are handy with some things but some things are beyond us (or we have gotten too old and it hurts our bodies to do some things) so we do hire things out. I know how to paint and have painted every house (inside and out) we have ever lived in but I no longer have to prove to myself I can do it. My painter is reasonable (not the cheapest) who does a quality job, cleans up after himself and does not charge us to move furniture that needs to be moved before painting. I did the same thing you did with lawn weed and pets control. He is not the cheapest but he is also not toxic. I have the same type of relationship with our HVAC guy and plumber. I also have a general handyman who is not only the best ever but he is the cheapest and the fact that he wears white short shorts and a wife beater tee shirt does not bother me like it does others who use him.
ReplyDeleteWow. That's a vision. Appliance repair and maintenance falls under the area of "save in other areas" for me. DH would take tw-four times longer swearing the whole time.
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