Q. There is rough in plumbing behind the wall where the kithchenette will go, and we'd ask the contractor to put in six to eight oak cabinets, a basic countertop, a sink, and install a dishwasher. Probably need 2 new electrical outlets.

A. It obviously depends on a lot of things. Are you paying for the materials? Are you pulling permits? Does any framing need to be done? If not than it sounds like its basic cabinet installation and minor electrical and a decent amount of plumbing. Depending on your answers to those questions youe looking at anywhere from 1-5k

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Q. I'm seriously considering purchasing one of these soon and I see that both licensed plumbers and heating and cooling pros offer installation. I wanted to know whom should I lean towards (even if it may cost more) and what type of questions should I ask in order to ensure I get a real pro?

A. Call a reputable plumbing and heating contractor for an on site estimate. Do not accept a price quote over the phone. Ask estimator to bring out brochures of various brands. Prices vary primarily due to warranties and installation materials. Heating and Air contractors install forced air units and employ sheet metal workers to do duct work. Plumbing and Heating contractors install plumbing and also install boilers for heating which involve piping. Check with Better Business Bureau prior to calling for estimates. Ask for references from potential contractor prior to signing work contract. Do not buy extended warranties on heater. Manufacturers warranty do not cover labor costs. The contractors installation warranty should be one year from date of installation.

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Q. I cut a chase in sub-floor to change plumbing from a tub to a shower, i covered sub-floor with 1/4 durarock,then cement for a solid base,morter mix to slope floor towards drain i was then going to install a membrane when customers tile installer said it had to be removed and replaced that i installed it incorrectly. It was my understanding that after the membrane he was to install thinset over membrane and then tile ? can someone please help answer my questions i still am not sure if i made any mistakes i was trying to ensure a good base for durable longevity

A. The membrane goes behind the durock, and under the mortar bed, the idea is that the membrane holds all the water in and is the last defense between the wood and durock/mortar bed, thinset wont bond to the membrane, it is meant to be attached to concrete of some form whether durock or the mortar bed...putting a membrane in between will keep the the thinset from attaching properly and in turn would cause a horrible tile job, you will need to rip out everything you did and start over from the frame work, dont be surprised if this customer doesn't call you back for anymore work. i would suggest hiring a sub-contractor who knows how to do the job properly and eat the cost if you want to maintain any kind of reputation. and dont take jobs that you aren't 100% sure you know how to do. i dont suggest shoving the membrane under the mortar bed or making an attempt to "make" it work...if its not done right and it leaks you can face a law suit for future water damage because of poor installation of membrane. It has to be done right.

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Q. I had the plumbers in here on Friday to install a cutoff valve in hopes of getting a new refrigerator soon. I just had a "floating" vinyl floor installed 6 months ago. Good Armstrong high quality flooring. When the plumber moved my old peg-legged (no rollers on this baby) refrigerator he tore and "X" 4 inch by 4 inch section of my new flooring. They want to patch it. I say replace it. If it had been 4 or 5 years old I could live with a patch. I saved a long time to get this flooring installed. I paid cash for the materials and installation. What would you do?? Well good news!!! The plumbing company has agreed to replace my flooring. The President of the Company came out himself and said "if it was my house I would want it replaced too". End of story - problem solved. Thank you all for your answers. And oh Bob, nanananana!!!

A. Of course the contractors will tell you to patch it, they don't have to live with the floor. Is it too much to ask that the appliance be moved properly, is this his first job. A responsible contractor carries a set of furniture, appliance movers to avoid this situation. There is no way to patch this floor without leaving an obvious defect. Demand a new floor and if they don't respond, call the plumbers association and the better business bureau. That's the cost of doing business carelessly. If he broke your sink would you let him patch it, if it's a real business, he has liability insurance. Once you agree to a patch you are relinquishing your claim

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Q. - Quote to replace tub and tub surround - $1,700 - "this would be barring any problems" - Remove and dispose old carpet & baseboards - $300 - Paint entire apartment including kitchen and bathrom cupboards and hallway -$2,100 - Carpet installation (275 sq.ft) and vinyl flooring (275 sq.ft) - $2500 The apartment is a 1-bedroom only 550 sq/ft. it's a rental business and not in the best area in town in Ontario, Canada so I just want it to be nice and simple, not expensive fancy stuff. (for example commercial grade carpet is perfect). There was a heavy smoker living there before. is it possible painting is more expensive becasueof that for example? how much approximately should the above items really cost? THANKS.

A. If the tub quote includes the tub, new plumbing and faucets it is OK. Not good, but OK. The rest of those are nuts. The carpet and vinyl, removal, and replacement is more like 800-1000, unless you are buying high end carpet. Painting a place that small is maybe 60 in supplies and 100 to paint, it will take 6-7 hours to prep and paint. Another 2 hours for the cupboards.

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Q. I want to get my earnest money back, and I want ALL OF IT !! I made an offer on a house with the intentions of living in it not rehabbing it. The offer was accepted, and we had the home inspected. There are a lot of things wrong with the house. It costs more money to repair these things than I can afford, and besides I'd rather buy something worth the money I would have to spend, rrather than put money into the house for major things. The house needs new windows, tuckpointing all around and a new roof. Here is a letter I wrote to the seller, tell me what u think. HELP !!!! All these problems need to be remedied before this transaction can go any further. If the issues are not addressed we will continue on our search for a home. FURNACE The furnace/central air needs to be properly and completely installed and functioning. The furnace needs a shut off valve, and a plastic exhaust pipe. Debris in the "clean out" area at the base of the chimney should be removed as part of system service. PLUMBING The old steel piping is subject to corrosion on the interior of the pipe. As corrosion builds up, the inside diameter of the pipe becomes constricted, resulting in a loss of water pressure. This piping is typically replaced when the loss of pressure can no longer be tolerated. ELECTRICAL Extension cords should not be used as permanent wiring. This wiring should be removed through out the house. Poor connections between newer wiring and the old-knob-and-tube wiring were observed. All connections of this type should be performed within junction boxes, fitted with cover plates. The installation of a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) is required in the kitchen and bathroom. GFCI offers increased protection from shock or electrocution. STRUCTURE Evidence of termite damage was observed and there is risk of additional hidden damage since termites can do a substantial amount of damage. If the property hasn't already been treated, a licensed pest control specialist should be engaged to eliminate further termite activity within the home. All damaged wood should be repaired or replaced. ROOFING The downspout should discharge water at least 5 feet from the house. Storm water should be encouraged to flow away from the building at the point of discharged. Install downspout at left rear section of house. Stairs leading to basement need hand rails. Drop ceiling in same area needs to be repaired. The fireplace needs a damper. All appliances must stay.

A. Well did you make your offer based on it passing inspection or your obtaining financing? Those are two very common terms when putting down earnest money. Did you understand what Earnest Money was? The earnest money is an amount of money that the buyer puts up to show he or she is serious about purchasing the property. The money represents the buyer's commitment to buy and acts as an unofficial option on the property. After receiving an earnest money check, the seller will usually stop showing the property, and wait to see if the buyer can get a mortgage. Earnest money is important to the transaction because it shows the seller that the buyer is operating in good faith (hence the name, "earnest"). The bigger the deposit, the more reassuring it is to the seller, who thinks, "This buyer is serious.'' It also ties the buyer to the property and keeps him or her from looking for additional properties. When Do I Get The Earnest Money Back? If the sale goes through, the earnest money is used as part of the cash down payment and is paid to the seller. If the sale does not go through because of a reason covered by a contingency in the contract (if, for example, the buyer could not get a mortgage), the seller should sign a release of escrow and the earnest money will be refunded to the buyer. The earnest money should also be refunded to the buyer if the sale does not go through because of a problem on the seller's side. If, however, the buyer backs out of the deal for no reason at all, or for a reason that is not covered by a contingency, return of the earnest money may go to the seller. FSBO (For Sale By Owner) Earnest Money If negotiating directly with the seller without the assistance of a Realtor®, never give the earnest money directly to the seller. If you are dealing with a for-sale-by-owner seller who insists upon earnest money before a contract can be executed, write the check to their lawyer or closing attorney or your lawyer or closing attorney, and write fiduciary agent after the lawyers name. This money will then go into a trust, or escrow, account until the negotiations are completed, the contract signed, and all contingencies met. If the deal falls apart, you'll get it back. But if you give the earnest money directly to the seller, you may never see it again, or you may have to go to court to get it back. Good Luck to you.

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Q. I hired an unlicensed contractor for my bath remodel based on his representation that he was licensed but later found out he in fact was not. His work was grossly defective and I decided to sever the relationship less than half way into the project. Problem was I had already given him a $4000 check payment which was more than 1/2 the total of the cost of the project. I place a stop payment on the check and told him that I had done so. I offered to pay him a lesser amount but felt the $4000 (he already has $1000 deposit) was too much considering his defective work, work that I had to hire someone else to tear down and redo completely. He cashed the check the next day (even though he said he would give it back to me). The bank initially gave him cash for it but later reversed the transaction. Two weeks later (he thought he got away with the money initially) he called demanding the $4000. Now he is suing me for the $4000 canceled check. We went to small claims and I am stunted that the judge pro tem ruled in favor of him for almost $3000. I thought I had done my research and everywhere I read tells me that unlicensed contractors are NOT entitled to money as they are conducting an illegal activity. Have I missed something or miss understood the code/laws in my research? The contractor admitted in court he was unlicensed so there was no question that he needed a license to remodel my bath. Can an unlicensed contractor sue for material costs? I countersued him for fraud, my deposit and penalties but the judge only gave me about 15% of what I asked for. There was no explanation as to his judgement on the amounts given. Can I ask the court for the reason behind the amounts given? I plan to appeal the judgement. Any advice, thoughts or insight anyone has on the judge's decision and what I should do now would be greatly appreciately. Thank you! Thank you all for your thoughts. Just wanted to answer some questions on your comments: I'm in the state of California. You're right, I should have done my homework so this was a lesson learned. The mistake was done, now I need to figure out how to fix it. The unlicensed contractor was a referral from a friend so I let my guard down and didn't press for his license number until it was too late. I didn't realized the work was defective until a friend came by to inspect the tub installation and told me he didn't install the plumbing and the tub up to code. I have no experience in plumbing nor installing a tub to know the difference myself, although there were clues I should have picked up on instead of trusting the unlicensed contractor. After my friend told me that the installation wasn't up to code (for example there was no 2x4 support for the tub and that the tub was suspended off the ground and only supported by 6 drywall screws drilled thru the tub to the wall) I was ext I was extremely worried as my bath is on the 2nd floor. I called in 3 other contractors for their expert opinion. All 3 were unanimous in their critics of the way the bath was done and said it is definitely not up to code. That there was no way to savage the work and that it must be torn down and rebuild the correct way. This all occurred a day or two after I had already given the unlicensed contractor the check but before he cashed it. I have tried to work it out with the unlicensed contractor, even confronted him with what the other contractors had said. After much pressing, he admitted he installed it wrong and that he took shortcuts. I can't trust him to do a good job any longer and decided to cut my losses. For those of you who think I purposely hired this person so that I get free labor - this has cost me much more than any savings I would have had. Most contractors do not want to finish/clean up someone else's mess and they charge more for the tear down and redo. Aside Aside from monetary value, this has caused me an enormous amount of stress, time take off from work, and the hardship of living in demolition-state home for a few months, and now the headache of going to court. If you've ever lived in your home while it's being renovated, you'll know what I mean. My place is very small and all the dust and debris has settled everywhere making it almost unbearable to live in. It was a huge mistake in hiring this person and by no means did I hired him with any intent of getting free labor. So yes, lesson learned. Now need to focus on how to resolve. I'm more interested on the law/codes of unlicensed contractors or anything that can help me on the appeal. Again, thanks for your feedback. I appreciate any insight/knowledge you have in regards to the law/codes of unlicensed contractors.

A. There are right ways and wrong ways to handle a dispute. You handled it all wrong. 1. It is up to you to check the license of the contractor. They have a hard copy that they can present and you can check it via the internet with the state contractors' board or licensing agency. If he was unwilling to provide the information before the contract was signed, you could walk away. If he did not have a license you could walk away. You did not do the homework so you signed a contract with a guy who was not licensed. That was your mistake. 2. There are tons of websites that have evaluations of contractors. You just type in the name of his company and the info is right there for you to see. Read the evaluations. If he is as bad as you say, others probably said something about him previously. If you did not look for this kind of info, that was your mistake. 3. Never pay in advance of the work other than the initial payment. Many contractors need an advanced payment to buy materials. You gave him $1000 up front. If you were unhappy with the work, you certainly should not have given him another check? (Or are you saying his work was good until he got the second check, then his work was suddenly bad? Does not sound like it.) 4. In every contract there is a clause as to remedies if there are problems. I bet you never read it. OR, surprise, there was no such clause in the contract so you had no legal way to fix things. That should also have been a clue that something was funny. There are standard contacts and if he did not use one, that was also a clue that something was funny. 5. Your BIG mistake was bouncing the check on him. Regardless of his legality in doing contract work, that does not justify you bouncing a check. There are other mechanisms in place for dealing with an illegal contractor and you should have used those mechanisms. You should have demanded the check back in writing and if he went and cashed it, then you could have sued him rather than the other way around. Too late now. Remember, appeals are about how the judge did the case, not on the facts of the case. You have to show that the judge did something wrong in procedure or according to the law. You need to hire a lawyer now as you have created a big mess for yourself and only a lawyer is going to get you out of it. (Or you can just take the loss and pay more attention next time.)

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Q. Our contract specifies that we are to hire our own painter. The painter came and painted when requested to do so. After this our contractor had to re-open the wall to install a shower valve that was missed during installation. The contractor now expects the painter to repaint for no additional charge, and claims this is completely "normal". No mural, just prime & one color of paint.

A. I am a 37 year experienced painter and we call this "extras"...The builder subcontracted the work out to the painter, and the painter did his job..we usually allow one free touch up after a job is completed and the owner does a ":walk through"..however this is simply a touch up..any new patches, possibly new door or window replacement or moving them, or any other structural damge to the drywall etcetera is considered an "extra" and the contractor should pay the paint sub the extra monies torepair something the builder overlooked..the same as any leaks in the plumbing etcetera, if the drywall is cut out to repair the leak, or for any reason in that manner..the contractor has to pay for it... We do not continiously repair other peoples mistakes for free..Our one time free touch up is a touch up from a few marks, handprints on thewal etcetera..but does not include free patching and repairs...The contractor created the problem so he is responsible to pay the painter....

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