November 19, 2023 • 23 mins
Ever wondered which home projects you can DIY and when it's smarter to call in the pros? In our latest episode of The Carolina Contractor Show, we’re revealing all our hard-earned wisdom. As two seasoned contractors and outdoor enthusiasts, we, Donnie Blanchard and Eric Smith, navigate you through our day-to-day lives, from the challenges of working in sweltering summer heat to our favorite pastimes like grilling and fishing.
We zero in on when it's wise to hire a contractor for home improvement tasks. Learn about the perks of using an infrared grill for speedy and efficient cooking, the challenges of DIY appliance installation, and why a professional hand is essential for structural modifications, plumbing, mechanical, and electrical work. We stress the necessity of consulting with professionals and the value of multiple quotes before embarking on major home improvement projects.
On the topic of DIY, we examine the potential risks and rewards, especially when it comes to roofing. We'll help you balance the potential cost savings against factors like labor, warranties, and potential injuries. We wrap up by thanking you, our listeners, for the surging downloads and love you've shown us. We're excited to share more insights about the dynamic world of construction and DIY home renovations on The Carolina Contractor Show. Don't miss out!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, general ContractorDonnie Blanchard, brought to you
by GAF, the world's largestroofing manufacturer, gaf.
We protect what matters most.
Let us back on the airs theCarolina Contractor Show.
(00:25):
My name is Eric Smith.
I do inside sales at homebuilder supply in Wilson and
Greenville and I was even ableto determine the doors sitting
behind Donnie.
The reason I say that is Donnieand I usually are across from
each other where we could shakehands, but sometimes we do the
show remotely and he's in hisplace in Burlington.
I'm here in Wilson, but the showwas worldwide and the best
(00:45):
place to start is the website,thecarolinacontractorcom.
We've got links to past shows.
We've got our social mediaconnections.
There you can listen to pastshows in a podcast form.
You got a question about yourhouse.
You can click a link called Askthe Contractor and Donnie gets
those emails and answers them,and sometimes we answer on the
air and you're probably going.
If you're new to the show,who's this Donnie guy?
Well, donnie's a generalcontractor.
(01:06):
He owns Blanchard BuildingCompany and Sure Top Roofing and
he's going to be a TV star inthe future.
He doesn't think so, but I do.
I don't know about you, donnie.
It's been hot as Haiti's herein the eastern part of the state
, and how's it your direction?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Very much the same, sir.
It's really.
This big heat wave in July hasreally put a damper on our
ability to make progress, and Ijust feel sorry for my guys who
have to work outside.
Just a little shade is worth a10 degree swing.
Things have been slow going, tosay the least, but nonetheless
we have plenty of work here andplenty of progress being made.
I really like the fact that youidentified my door in the
(01:40):
background as a Cheyenne pattern.
You're the building supply gurunow.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I wouldn't say I'm a guru.
I just happen to sell a coupleof those doors recently, so I
recognize the design, that's all.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Nice, I'll take it super experienced and I love it
that you're in the constructionworld now, so that gives us much
more to talk about.
To comment on your so-calledmovie star comment not a movie
star by any means, but we arewrapping up season two of 50-50
Flip.
The production will finish inthe next week or so and
everything will be inpost-production and the expected
(02:11):
date for everything to air onA&E and Hulu is in January.
We have a really good show puttogether and I just can't say
enough about how much I'velearned in the last six months.
When you flip 10 houses at abreakneck pace, you don't have a
choice but to learn and youmake really good relationships
with the people because it'salmost like you go to war
together.
I appreciate the kind words.
I'm by far not the movie star,not the star of the show, but it
(02:34):
was a great opportunity to be acontractor on that for this
season.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You are what we call a supporting cast member.
Something else I want to jumpon real quick is you know, an
electric car company that'smoving to your neck of the woods
and there's a lot of money, alot of jobs and stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Just south of us in Chatham County, in the little
town of Siler City, there's acompany called Vinfast and they
basically got a grant of 1.2billion to start this electric
vehicle production facility andthe word is they're going to be
able to crank out as many as150,000 electric vehicles per
year.
The facility is going to takeup over 1800 acres, if you can
(03:10):
wrap your mind around that.
So just a really big deal.
A lot of growth and jobopportunity just south of us in
Chatham County and it soundsreally exciting.
But it also tells us we talk alot about battery development
and technology and electricvehicles and everything and it
sounds like, with a giant grantof 1.2 billion, that that's
where the government is wantingto push the money.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We've said it before so we're not going to go into a
deep discussion on this.
The infrastructure is not thereto do all the things they want
to do and the timelines theywant to do.
And I'm just going to go off ona limb and say maybe some
politicians up in DC and even instate levels have vested
interest in electric vehiclesand battery production.
But 1.2 billion dollars forVinfast, kansas City Royals said
(03:54):
pshh, that's nothing they'retalking about.
Building a new stadium cost 2billion dollars.
You know it'll go over thatbecause all construction
projects go over budget.
It will employ at one point atotal of 20,000 different
contractors and constructionworkers that they'll need to do
this stadium.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You are tried and true.
I've only seen you outside of aKansas City Royals hat, maybe
once ever, and we've been doingthis for four years.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
That's right.
We have to have some distancesbetween us.
We're not that personal in ourrelationship yet.
To give you an idea of 2billion dollars that is higher
than the gross domestic productof 41 countries on planet earth.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Are you glad about that, or does that seem sad?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
no-transcript, I'm really.
I think there's too much publicmoney in sports stadiums and I
realize that they try to alwaysturn it around and say, hey, we
make tax money off propertytaxes and player salaries and
the jobs, but $2 billion?
I'm not seeing that.
I'd rather sit out in mybackyard and just grill and hang
(04:59):
out with a family than doanything else.
Beacon or grill, and you're agrilling, a Fischinata, right?
You've added something, haven'tyou?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
You've gone, maybe, to the dark side, some people
would say I thought you weren'tgonna bring this up, but yeah,
maybe just a tad.
So I'll give you the story.
Alright, last week we have todo this big cookout thing.
The folks from the TV show dida seminar on basically flipping
houses to financing portion, howyou can do what they do and
(05:26):
they said, hey, would you liketo cook?
They knew what they were doingbecause they baited me and they
knew I couldn't say no.
So I'm cooking for I don't know50, 70 people and I'm thinking
to myself I'm a charcoal guybecause all my grill folks out
there know that the heat sourcereally matters and a gas grill
is turn a few knobs, push abutton and it lights up and you
cook your food and that'swonderful If you're busy, and I
(05:48):
am busy.
So I basically have to bechoosy when I do choose to grill
.
I've been tempted for duringthe week, if I need to grill
something pretty quick gosh, I'malways gonna get a gas grill.
I'm gonna do it, I'm gonnaresearch it, I'm gonna figure
out what I want, but I neverhave.
It's been years.
So with this cookout in mind.
So I basically caved and wentto the big box store and
purchased a gas grill and I runacross this one.
(06:09):
It's called an infrared grill,so I run across the infrared, I
open it up to see what the bigdeal is about that.
And it has a cooking platebetween the heat source at the
bottom and the actual grillgrates at the top.
And the big deal there is whenI grill charcoal, I grill
indirect, so on my charcoalgrills I have the Kamado Joe,
the green egg and all those.
The indirect cooking platedoesn't let the meat burn, so it
(06:32):
cooks everything a lot slower.
If you're going low and slowand that's usually the name of
the game that intermediate plateis everything.
And so this infrared has anintermediate plate and I bought
it and it said basically itprevents flare ups, so when you
have grease from burgersdripping down there, the flames
don't flare up and burn theburgers.
I hate to go into a longexplanation about this, but I
get excited and and and the dealis, I tried it.
(06:55):
I cooked I don't know 50burgers and 50 hot dogs and I
didn't burn anything.
It was super seamless.
I was very impressed and I willsay that I give a full
endorsement to an infrared grill.
You've got a lot of kids andyou just don't have much time to
grill and you're going to gogas.
That is the way to go.
Quick summary on grill for mygrill folks out there I will say
that the heat source iseverything.
(07:17):
So if a charcoal grill one ofthe kamados or the green eggs,
you can't do ribs any betterthan you can on anything else
with those.
A hack that I have is anelectric smoker.
Electric smokers, basically anoutdoor oven that burns wood
chips.
When low and slow is the nameof the game, like with Boston
butts or barbecue, I can cook aBoston but for 20, 22 hours on
(07:39):
an electric smoker and basicallywhen the, when it hits 160
degrees internal temperature,the pores close so it can't take
on any smoke.
You don't have to continue tofeed it wood chips, but you can
get one of these liquidationstores that every town seems to
have will cycle through electricsmokers once in a while.
It looks like a little dormfridge with little window on it.
The electric smoker changes thegame for barbecue, so you can
(08:01):
catch the barbecue at 99 cent apound at the grocery store.
Throw those on there.
You can feed it wood chips forfour or five hours, go to bed,
you know, let it go all nightand the next day you have
barbecue that all the neighborswill be jealous of we could talk
about that all day, but we didkind of have a subject for the
show.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Today it is the Carolina Contractor Show, not
the Carolina Barbecue Show,though be honest, that would be
an awesome show.
That's going to be our secondshow we'll be doing.
We'll start that up soon.
Let me do a quick summary oflast week, because this is what
got me and Donnie to today'ssubject.
Last week we're talking aboutmainly appliance installs, but
(08:37):
you need a new appliance awasher, dryer, dishwasher, stove
, it doesn't matter and you cango to the big box store and have
them deliver it, install it, oryou can do it yourself, and the
cost were kind of surprising,because some things the install
costs more than the actualproduct, but other things you
might not want to installyourself.
I've bought appliances Donniehas to put them in ourselves, or
(08:58):
had someone do it for us.
What got us talking at the endof the show when we ran out of
time was there are some thingsthat you really do need a
contractor for.
I don't know how long some ofthese big box stores have done
some of these major installslike windows, new roofs, but
maybe you should hire a generalcontractor who's private like
yourself, donnie.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, there's several items that require a contractor
and I think last week wecovered a lot of the things that
were DIY worthy, becausethere's a lot of stuff you can
do.
If you're handy you can do alot yourself.
You can save yourself a lot ofmoney.
But when it comes down to thesethings, I think it's definitely
a good thing to explore Atleast pricing.
At least call somebody out,pick people's brains and get
(09:39):
numbers before you decidewhether or not you'd like to
take it on yourself.
First thing I would say isstructural changes.
So if you're going to blow awall out and open up, say, your
great room to your kitchenusually especially if it's a
house pre 1980, you're going tohave to get in depth with the
way that you transfer thoseloads.
A lot of times, when that wallcomes out, the ceiling joists
will come from the front and theback of the house and they'll
(10:01):
overlap over top of that loadbearing wall.
So a hack that we have is we'llorder an LVL.
Let me default by saying youshould always call an engineer
to size the LVL.
Lvl is the acronym forEliminated Vanir Lumber.
I know, you know that Normallyit's a double LVL.
Nine and a quarter will span,say, 10 feet ish, if you go into
15, 16, 18 feet, you know, 11and a quarter times two is what
(10:24):
you'll need and of course, youbasically do two temporary walls
and you'll take the wall outand cut the ceiling joist, place
the LVL in there and you'llactually hang the ceiling joist
to the LVL.
So that's something that, ifyou're a homeowner, I would not
advise tackling that, because,number one, you're going to shut
your whole house down for aweek or two while you get that
done.
But number two, that'ssomething that requires
(10:45):
inspections, engineers andcontractors.
So there's three people cominginto play there.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
What other big projects would you maybe call a
contractor off?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
the bat.
So I'll try to consolidate thisinto saying PME, that's
plumbing, mechanical andelectrical, and if anything's
going to change with yourplumbing, if it's fixture for
fixture and you're going to takea toilet out and put a new
toilet at, you don't really needa contractor.
But I would advise a plumber onthat.
I think we commented last weekthat the toilet is the one thing
that you don't want to screw upin the plumbing picture.
But if you're going torearrange a bathroom or you're
(11:14):
going to add a bathroom, that'ssomething that definitely is
contractor worthy.
From the mechanical standpoint,there's only a handful of people
I've ever met who could changeout their own HVAC system.
So as far as changing out ofHVAC system, there's a lot of
pieces and parts and I think thebig thing there is the warranty
.
If it breaks, who's going tocome fix it?
So I think the peace of mindthat comes with hiring a pro
(11:35):
there is definitely worth theextra money spent.
That's not a DIY in my book andelectrical is the least DIY out
of everything.
I would say and this is just mebeing totally transparent my
most deficient area iselectrical.
I've never taken on electricalprojects because I've always
said you'll burn a house down,it's ridiculous to not just pay
(11:56):
the money for somebody who doesit every day, to put their stamp
on it and do everything theright way.
So any kind of electricalchanges, less you know, changing
out switches and outlets if youhave the ugly old yellow in the
house and you want to kill thebreaker and swap those out.
One thing somebody told me along, long time ago is if you're
going to change out a ceilingfan, it's dead at the switch.
(12:16):
So if you want to change theceiling fan out, you can flip
the switch and there's no powergoing to it.
You don't have to flip breakersand everything.
It's dead at the switch.
But other than that, for theaverage homeowner I would say
it's a guessing game and Idefinitely recommend hiring a
pro.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
This is one thing I do not like messing with and a
lot of people might laugh, but Ihate trying to fix drywall.
Let me play devil's advocateright here.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I don't have a lot of time on social media but when I
do I have a couple of guys whodo drywall repairs and they're
just kind of handyman or youknow folks that are do it all,
and social media has some coolstuff on there and I'll say that
on Instagram there's severalpeople who have done things and
I'm thinking I've been doingthis for 20 years and I've never
seen it done that way.
So if you do choose to take iton as a DIY project, I would
(12:57):
recommend spending a couple ofhours on Instagram.
Don't tell my kids I said thatI would recommend spending a
couple of hours on Instagram.
You'd be amazed at what you canlearn there and it's not rocket
science, but it's still an art.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
There's so much stuff in construction and DIY that I
see a trick or a shortcut and go, oh my gosh, that's fantastic.
I never knew how to do that.
There's so much cool stuffonline you can find Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Absolutely.
The Internet has changedeverything.
I'm not a fan always because Idon't have time to digest all
that, but I will say for thepeople that do upload videos
daily and really play that gameI don't know how you do it, I
don't know where you find thetime, but they do.
It's their full time gig.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
All right, donnie, I got an idea here, so we kind of
were going to talk about shouldyou have a contractor or do it
yourself?
But a lot of these projects youwant a contractor, but out in
the world of the Internet youtend to see a lot of things
saying, hey, you can do this jobyourself.
You would put up a list onetime and I remember it talked
about ways you can save money bydoing it yourself, but they
(13:59):
were listing major projects likebedroom additions and adding a
new rec room or a new bathroomor renovating a kitchen, and I
think the difference in doing ityourself versus hiring a
contractor, the only way yousave money, is you're not
charging yourself a labor cost.
Right?
Yes, basically that's exactlyright.
(14:20):
Okay, so maybe the thing peopleneed to consider about with a
DIY project that's on a bigscale, like a renovation, is are
you really saving money?
This list said a project was abedroom addition slash
renovation.
If you hired a contractor,$36,600.
If you did it yourself, $6,600.
(14:42):
Meaning you'd save almost$30,000 if you did a bedroom
addition slash renovationyourself.
I don't believe that at all.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
That sounds like you got the price from the
contractor, from the mostexpensive contractor in town,
and it sounds like the DIY costis that you milled the lumber
from the trees in your backyard,like you went all out $36,000
to $6,000, that's crazy.
So definitely don't think theDIY savings are there.
And for just a bedroom addition, there's a lot of other things
involved like masonry,electrical drywall, insulation
(15:13):
and so forth Shingles so there'sno way that that fits into that
$7,000 limit.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Have you ever taken on a big project at your house
or something you've done thatyou're like?
I know I'm a contractor, but Ishould have gotten help on this.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Absolutely.
I'm a honeydew expert so Idon't know what you're talking
about.
I'm teasing when I say thatDefinitely.
I think I mentioned a couple ofshows ago that I went on, I did
a keto diet and I knocked mysugar out, so basically knocked
out a 40 item honeydew list inabout three weekends.
I was an animal, but that's thelast time I did that.
(15:48):
I'll say that you sent me thelist and when I saw the 36,000
versus the 7,000 bedroomaddition savings, of course that
number wasn't right.
But I scrolled down the listand I saw a roof replacement on
there and it says what?
The roof replacement $9,079,and the DIY cost is $5,036.
(16:08):
And I'm thinking good luck,because with roofing, if you
don't know what you're doing,you just don't want to do it.
So there's a $4,000 discrepancyroughly.
And I guess if you're justreading through the list you're
thinking well, that's the costof the labor taken out of there
and that's the cost of theoverhead and profit for the
contractor.
And there's a few other thingsthat people don't think about,
(16:29):
like the cost of the dump fee.
So when you take all thoseshingles off, how do you get
them to the dump?
Do you have a dumpster?
Do you basically have twodumpsters and so that could
swing.
That's either $400 to $500, asmuch as $1,000 depending on the
tonnage, and people don't thinkabout that as a dumpster.
Scratch your driveway when theydrop it in there.
What kind of warranty do you get?
We're a certified contractorwith SureTop.
So when someone puts ourshingles on right out of the
(16:51):
pack they're 30 years andthey're prorated.
When we put those on, becausewe're certified, all my guys
have been trained and we give aformal warranty that comes from
a $6 billion company.
That's 50 years andnon-prorated.
So that's really strong.
So they're trained.
Maybe two in the last 10 yearswarranty claims and they jump on
it and they make it go away.
They handle everything and it'ssort of like insurance until
(17:12):
you need it.
You're just buying air and sosort of like with a roof
warranty If you don't need it,you don't know what you got.
But when you have a warrantywith the number one shingle
manufacturing or I say thelargest shingle manufacturer in
the world, and I say number onebecause I prefer them my guys in
the field always comment on GAFand they say, hey, this is the
best shingle.
I advise people to put this oneon because it holds up so much
(17:34):
better than everything else.
So we're GAF folks all the way.
I just think with a roofreplacement that it's such a
labor intensive thing,especially this time of the year
, that you'd be wise to just paythat $4,000, get your warranty
and move on.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
If someone puts on their own roof, they're going to
reshingle it and they got theshingles from GAF they're the
best and they put it on becausethey're not a certified
installer.
I'm assuming they may havesaved some money right up front
by doing it themselves, butthey've lost the ability to have
any recourse if there'ssomething wrong with the install
(18:07):
and maybe repairs.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Not only that, they have only the warranty, the 30
year prorated warranty on theshingle itself.
So there's nothing includedwith the labor.
Basically, we do a what'scalled a silver pledge standard,
and the silver pledge comeswith workmanship and
Manufacturers defect, so you getboth, and if something's gonna
show itself from a workmanshipstandpoint usually shows itself
(18:30):
in the first two years.
So basically, you're taking alot of ability.
If you want to install your ownroof, you're looking at a
potential back injury, all yourneighbors or friends, family,
being mad at you because you askhim to help you, and it's
probably not gonna be installedcorrectly.
So roofing is the one thingthat I think is the least DIY on
your whole house maybe have toreplace the plywood or the OSB.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Gotta factor that in.
You're gonna need nails, you'regonna need felt, maybe button
caps, whatever you're gonna needto put this in.
You need to understand theintensity of the project before
you do it yourself.
And if a roofer's been doingroof, like your company, for how
long?
Sure, top and around about 13years 13 years, I have a feeling
your guys know how to put on aroof efficiently and correctly
(19:13):
and to meet the requirements forGF.
Versus me and three my buddiestaken a whole weekend to try to
put it on.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Oh, no doubt I trust you fully, though I think that I
think that you would do it.
It just might take you twoweeks for what.
It may take my guys two days.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So Exactly so.
Again, according that she, youcould say $4000 by putting a
roof on yourself.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
You'll spend $4000 at the chiropractor afterwards.
That's just my prediction.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I don't do ladders anymore.
Once I hit 50, I said I'm notclimbing on to the second floor
of a roof, so I'll let somebodyelse do that, and I don't want
to be swinging a hammer or evenusing a nail gun, like you said.
In this current weather whenyou've got heat indexes of 105.
I'm gonna let the pros do itand then I can go to work and
within a couple days my roof'sdone and Billy Joe, jim Bob
(20:01):
across street putting on a roofhimself, is still gonna be doing
it up to two weeks later and isnot gonna have a warranty.
I'm just gonna sleep betterwith the warranty because, hey,
50 years transferable once fromGF.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Sign me up right, they don't even take.
They can take your money, theycan take it slowly.
The finance programs that wehave in place, you know,
basically get a roof for ahundred bucks a month and you
know that roof is not like.
You have to come up with that$9000, $10,000 in a chunk, so
all the way around.
We've got that part of theprocess worked out and I'm sorry
that we spent so much time onroofing, but Definitely get that
(20:35):
question a lot, a lot of peoplethat that's what they want to
know.
Can I do my own roof and I?
You know my vote 1000% is no.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And not to toot your horn for you, but sure, top
roofing dot com is website.
Like you said, you havefinancing options there.
I think what people need torealize with the financing
option is the deal is reallygood, the payments are
affordable, but it also allowsyou to go.
I need a new roof, and sinceI'm financing this, or a little
bit more money, I can get yourteam to put in a new gutter
(21:06):
system to, and you can take careof a lot of things at one time
for very reasonable cost.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, when I got started.
I have the same crew that I'vehad for 15 years, and so I
started as a builder and thenevolved into a roofer.
Another sounds backwards, butwe still do both.
My guys are so well versed inframing, siding, roofing gutters
.
They just there's nothing thatthey can't do and they're very
detail oriented.
So I I'm a very blessed man.
When people crab about laborshortage, I just kind of get
(21:34):
quiet because I have the bestguys and you know their family,
so keep plan on keeping thoseguys around as long as things
are going great and, yeah, justin a good situation over here
with sure top well, I just wantthank everybody for a listen to
the show, because we really kindof picked a subject that we
veered away from.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
But it just seem like this list of how much money you
can save if you do these bigproject yourself was kind of
false to put up, bluntly.
But sure, top roofing dot comof people are interested in roof
.
The show wasn't designed to bea big promotion about it, but
the roof really is the mostimportant part of your house
Because it covers and takes careof everything on the inside.
So if you want to get moreinformation about having that
(22:15):
done, you can go that websitealso.
You can find information at ourwebsite, which is the carolina
contractor dot com.
Maybe next week donnie I don'tknow will just will just hit the
record button and start talkingand see what happens.
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (22:30):
I think it goes better that way.
So I just enjoy talking to you.
It's like you know, we'vedeveloped a heck of a friendship
over the four years and I losetrack that we're on the radio
because I enjoy talking to you.
So, yeah, kudos to you forGetting into the construction
world.
And things just seem to keepgetting better.
Our downloads are double andtriple.
It seems like every two orthree weeks.
(22:51):
I get more and more wherethere's hundreds of more
downloads.
So thank you for the support.
Everybody who is out thereWanted I just a DIY content, the
construction stuff.
So we get our motivation fromyou guys and thank you yes,
definitely.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Thank you everybody For all your support.
And again, websites thecarolina contractor dot com and
we can't wait to talk to younext week on the carolina
contractor show.
Thanks for listening to thecarolina contractor show.
Learn more at the carolinacontractor dot com brought to
(23:27):
you by G A F.
We protect what matters most.
If you suspect a severethunderstorm or hail storm is
damaged, your roof contact suretop roofing.
They'll inspect your roofdocument any damage and repair
it quickly.
Sure top roofing, your local GA F master elite certified
(23:47):
roofer.
Visit sure top roofing dot com.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, general ContractorDonnie Blanchard, brought to you
by GAF, the world's largestroofing manufacturer, gaf.
We protect what matters most.
Let us back on the airs theCarolina Contractor Show.
(00:25):
My name is Eric Smith.
I do inside sales at homebuilder supply in Wilson and
Greenville and I was even ableto determine the doors sitting
behind Donnie.
The reason I say that is Donnieand I usually are across from
each other where we could shakehands, but sometimes we do the
show remotely and he's in hisplace in Burlington.
I'm here in Wilson, but the showwas worldwide and the best
(00:45):
place to start is the website,thecarolinacontractorcom.
We've got links to past shows.
We've got our social mediaconnections.
There you can listen to pastshows in a podcast form.
You got a question about yourhouse.
You can click a link called Askthe Contractor and Donnie gets
those emails and answers them,and sometimes we answer on the
air and you're probably going.
If you're new to the show,who's this Donnie guy?
Well, donnie's a generalcontractor.
(01:06):
He owns Blanchard BuildingCompany and Sure Top Roofing and
he's going to be a TV star inthe future.
He doesn't think so, but I do.
I don't know about you, donnie.
It's been hot as Haiti's herein the eastern part of the state
, and how's it your direction?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Very much the same, sir.
It's really.
This big heat wave in July hasreally put a damper on our
ability to make progress, and Ijust feel sorry for my guys who
have to work outside.
Just a little shade is worth a10 degree swing.
Things have been slow going, tosay the least, but nonetheless
we have plenty of work here andplenty of progress being made.
I really like the fact that youidentified my door in the
(01:40):
background as a Cheyenne pattern.
You're the building supply gurunow.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I wouldn't say I'm a guru.
I just happen to sell a coupleof those doors recently, so I
recognize the design, that's all.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Nice, I'll take it super experienced and I love it
that you're in the constructionworld now, so that gives us much
more to talk about.
To comment on your so-calledmovie star comment not a movie
star by any means, but we arewrapping up season two of 50-50
Flip.
The production will finish inthe next week or so and
everything will be inpost-production and the expected
(02:11):
date for everything to air onA&E and Hulu is in January.
We have a really good show puttogether and I just can't say
enough about how much I'velearned in the last six months.
When you flip 10 houses at abreakneck pace, you don't have a
choice but to learn and youmake really good relationships
with the people because it'salmost like you go to war
together.
I appreciate the kind words.
I'm by far not the movie star,not the star of the show, but it
(02:34):
was a great opportunity to be acontractor on that for this
season.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You are what we call a supporting cast member.
Something else I want to jumpon real quick is you know, an
electric car company that'smoving to your neck of the woods
and there's a lot of money, alot of jobs and stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Just south of us in Chatham County, in the little
town of Siler City, there's acompany called Vinfast and they
basically got a grant of 1.2billion to start this electric
vehicle production facility andthe word is they're going to be
able to crank out as many as150,000 electric vehicles per
year.
The facility is going to takeup over 1800 acres, if you can
(03:10):
wrap your mind around that.
So just a really big deal.
A lot of growth and jobopportunity just south of us in
Chatham County and it soundsreally exciting.
But it also tells us we talk alot about battery development
and technology and electricvehicles and everything and it
sounds like, with a giant grantof 1.2 billion, that that's
where the government is wantingto push the money.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We've said it before so we're not going to go into a
deep discussion on this.
The infrastructure is not thereto do all the things they want
to do and the timelines theywant to do.
And I'm just going to go off ona limb and say maybe some
politicians up in DC and even instate levels have vested
interest in electric vehiclesand battery production.
But 1.2 billion dollars forVinfast, kansas City Royals said
(03:54):
pshh, that's nothing they'retalking about.
Building a new stadium cost 2billion dollars.
You know it'll go over thatbecause all construction
projects go over budget.
It will employ at one point atotal of 20,000 different
contractors and constructionworkers that they'll need to do
this stadium.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You are tried and true.
I've only seen you outside of aKansas City Royals hat, maybe
once ever, and we've been doingthis for four years.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
That's right.
We have to have some distancesbetween us.
We're not that personal in ourrelationship yet.
To give you an idea of 2billion dollars that is higher
than the gross domestic productof 41 countries on planet earth.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Are you glad about that, or does that seem sad?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
no-transcript, I'm really.
I think there's too much publicmoney in sports stadiums and I
realize that they try to alwaysturn it around and say, hey, we
make tax money off propertytaxes and player salaries and
the jobs, but $2 billion?
I'm not seeing that.
I'd rather sit out in mybackyard and just grill and hang
(04:59):
out with a family than doanything else.
Beacon or grill, and you're agrilling, a Fischinata, right?
You've added something, haven'tyou?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
You've gone, maybe, to the dark side, some people
would say I thought you weren'tgonna bring this up, but yeah,
maybe just a tad.
So I'll give you the story.
Alright, last week we have todo this big cookout thing.
The folks from the TV show dida seminar on basically flipping
houses to financing portion, howyou can do what they do and
(05:26):
they said, hey, would you liketo cook?
They knew what they were doingbecause they baited me and they
knew I couldn't say no.
So I'm cooking for I don't know50, 70 people and I'm thinking
to myself I'm a charcoal guybecause all my grill folks out
there know that the heat sourcereally matters and a gas grill
is turn a few knobs, push abutton and it lights up and you
cook your food and that'swonderful If you're busy, and I
(05:48):
am busy.
So I basically have to bechoosy when I do choose to grill
.
I've been tempted for duringthe week, if I need to grill
something pretty quick gosh, I'malways gonna get a gas grill.
I'm gonna do it, I'm gonnaresearch it, I'm gonna figure
out what I want, but I neverhave.
It's been years.
So with this cookout in mind.
So I basically caved and wentto the big box store and
purchased a gas grill and I runacross this one.
(06:09):
It's called an infrared grill,so I run across the infrared, I
open it up to see what the bigdeal is about that.
And it has a cooking platebetween the heat source at the
bottom and the actual grillgrates at the top.
And the big deal there is whenI grill charcoal, I grill
indirect, so on my charcoalgrills I have the Kamado Joe,
the green egg and all those.
The indirect cooking platedoesn't let the meat burn, so it
(06:32):
cooks everything a lot slower.
If you're going low and slowand that's usually the name of
the game that intermediate plateis everything.
And so this infrared has anintermediate plate and I bought
it and it said basically itprevents flare ups, so when you
have grease from burgersdripping down there, the flames
don't flare up and burn theburgers.
I hate to go into a longexplanation about this, but I
get excited and and and the dealis, I tried it.
(06:55):
I cooked I don't know 50burgers and 50 hot dogs and I
didn't burn anything.
It was super seamless.
I was very impressed and I willsay that I give a full
endorsement to an infrared grill.
You've got a lot of kids andyou just don't have much time to
grill and you're going to gogas.
That is the way to go.
Quick summary on grill for mygrill folks out there I will say
that the heat source iseverything.
(07:17):
So if a charcoal grill one ofthe kamados or the green eggs,
you can't do ribs any betterthan you can on anything else
with those.
A hack that I have is anelectric smoker.
Electric smokers, basically anoutdoor oven that burns wood
chips.
When low and slow is the nameof the game, like with Boston
butts or barbecue, I can cook aBoston but for 20, 22 hours on
(07:39):
an electric smoker and basicallywhen the, when it hits 160
degrees internal temperature,the pores close so it can't take
on any smoke.
You don't have to continue tofeed it wood chips, but you can
get one of these liquidationstores that every town seems to
have will cycle through electricsmokers once in a while.
It looks like a little dormfridge with little window on it.
The electric smoker changes thegame for barbecue, so you can
(08:01):
catch the barbecue at 99 cent apound at the grocery store.
Throw those on there.
You can feed it wood chips forfour or five hours, go to bed,
you know, let it go all nightand the next day you have
barbecue that all the neighborswill be jealous of we could talk
about that all day, but we didkind of have a subject for the
show.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Today it is the Carolina Contractor Show, not
the Carolina Barbecue Show,though be honest, that would be
an awesome show.
That's going to be our secondshow we'll be doing.
We'll start that up soon.
Let me do a quick summary oflast week, because this is what
got me and Donnie to today'ssubject.
Last week we're talking aboutmainly appliance installs, but
(08:37):
you need a new appliance awasher, dryer, dishwasher, stove
, it doesn't matter and you cango to the big box store and have
them deliver it, install it, oryou can do it yourself, and the
cost were kind of surprising,because some things the install
costs more than the actualproduct, but other things you
might not want to installyourself.
I've bought appliances Donniehas to put them in ourselves, or
(08:58):
had someone do it for us.
What got us talking at the endof the show when we ran out of
time was there are some thingsthat you really do need a
contractor for.
I don't know how long some ofthese big box stores have done
some of these major installslike windows, new roofs, but
maybe you should hire a generalcontractor who's private like
yourself, donnie.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, there's several items that require a contractor
and I think last week wecovered a lot of the things that
were DIY worthy, becausethere's a lot of stuff you can
do.
If you're handy you can do alot yourself.
You can save yourself a lot ofmoney.
But when it comes down to thesethings, I think it's definitely
a good thing to explore Atleast pricing.
At least call somebody out,pick people's brains and get
(09:39):
numbers before you decidewhether or not you'd like to
take it on yourself.
First thing I would say isstructural changes.
So if you're going to blow awall out and open up, say, your
great room to your kitchenusually especially if it's a
house pre 1980, you're going tohave to get in depth with the
way that you transfer thoseloads.
A lot of times, when that wallcomes out, the ceiling joists
will come from the front and theback of the house and they'll
(10:01):
overlap over top of that loadbearing wall.
So a hack that we have is we'llorder an LVL.
Let me default by saying youshould always call an engineer
to size the LVL.
Lvl is the acronym forEliminated Vanir Lumber.
I know, you know that Normallyit's a double LVL.
Nine and a quarter will span,say, 10 feet ish, if you go into
15, 16, 18 feet, you know, 11and a quarter times two is what
(10:24):
you'll need and of course, youbasically do two temporary walls
and you'll take the wall outand cut the ceiling joist, place
the LVL in there and you'llactually hang the ceiling joist
to the LVL.
So that's something that, ifyou're a homeowner, I would not
advise tackling that, because,number one, you're going to shut
your whole house down for aweek or two while you get that
done.
But number two, that'ssomething that requires
(10:45):
inspections, engineers andcontractors.
So there's three people cominginto play there.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
What other big projects would you maybe call a
contractor off?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
the bat.
So I'll try to consolidate thisinto saying PME, that's
plumbing, mechanical andelectrical, and if anything's
going to change with yourplumbing, if it's fixture for
fixture and you're going to takea toilet out and put a new
toilet at, you don't really needa contractor.
But I would advise a plumber onthat.
I think we commented last weekthat the toilet is the one thing
that you don't want to screw upin the plumbing picture.
But if you're going torearrange a bathroom or you're
(11:14):
going to add a bathroom, that'ssomething that definitely is
contractor worthy.
From the mechanical standpoint,there's only a handful of people
I've ever met who could changeout their own HVAC system.
So as far as changing out ofHVAC system, there's a lot of
pieces and parts and I think thebig thing there is the warranty
.
If it breaks, who's going tocome fix it?
So I think the peace of mindthat comes with hiring a pro
(11:35):
there is definitely worth theextra money spent.
That's not a DIY in my book andelectrical is the least DIY out
of everything.
I would say and this is just mebeing totally transparent my
most deficient area iselectrical.
I've never taken on electricalprojects because I've always
said you'll burn a house down,it's ridiculous to not just pay
(11:56):
the money for somebody who doesit every day, to put their stamp
on it and do everything theright way.
So any kind of electricalchanges, less you know, changing
out switches and outlets if youhave the ugly old yellow in the
house and you want to kill thebreaker and swap those out.
One thing somebody told me along, long time ago is if you're
going to change out a ceilingfan, it's dead at the switch.
(12:16):
So if you want to change theceiling fan out, you can flip
the switch and there's no powergoing to it.
You don't have to flip breakersand everything.
It's dead at the switch.
But other than that, for theaverage homeowner I would say
it's a guessing game and Idefinitely recommend hiring a
pro.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
This is one thing I do not like messing with and a
lot of people might laugh, but Ihate trying to fix drywall.
Let me play devil's advocateright here.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I don't have a lot of time on social media but when I
do I have a couple of guys whodo drywall repairs and they're
just kind of handyman or youknow folks that are do it all,
and social media has some coolstuff on there and I'll say that
on Instagram there's severalpeople who have done things and
I'm thinking I've been doingthis for 20 years and I've never
seen it done that way.
So if you do choose to take iton as a DIY project, I would
(12:57):
recommend spending a couple ofhours on Instagram.
Don't tell my kids I said thatI would recommend spending a
couple of hours on Instagram.
You'd be amazed at what you canlearn there and it's not rocket
science, but it's still an art.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
There's so much stuff in construction and DIY that I
see a trick or a shortcut and go, oh my gosh, that's fantastic.
I never knew how to do that.
There's so much cool stuffonline you can find Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Absolutely.
The Internet has changedeverything.
I'm not a fan always because Idon't have time to digest all
that, but I will say for thepeople that do upload videos
daily and really play that gameI don't know how you do it, I
don't know where you find thetime, but they do.
It's their full time gig.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
All right, donnie, I got an idea here, so we kind of
were going to talk about shouldyou have a contractor or do it
yourself?
But a lot of these projects youwant a contractor, but out in
the world of the Internet youtend to see a lot of things
saying, hey, you can do this jobyourself.
You would put up a list onetime and I remember it talked
about ways you can save money bydoing it yourself, but they
(13:59):
were listing major projects likebedroom additions and adding a
new rec room or a new bathroomor renovating a kitchen, and I
think the difference in doing ityourself versus hiring a
contractor, the only way yousave money, is you're not
charging yourself a labor cost.
Right?
Yes, basically that's exactlyright.
(14:20):
Okay, so maybe the thing peopleneed to consider about with a
DIY project that's on a bigscale, like a renovation, is are
you really saving money?
This list said a project was abedroom addition slash
renovation.
If you hired a contractor,$36,600.
If you did it yourself, $6,600.
(14:42):
Meaning you'd save almost$30,000 if you did a bedroom
addition slash renovationyourself.
I don't believe that at all.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
That sounds like you got the price from the
contractor, from the mostexpensive contractor in town,
and it sounds like the DIY costis that you milled the lumber
from the trees in your backyard,like you went all out $36,000
to $6,000, that's crazy.
So definitely don't think theDIY savings are there.
And for just a bedroom addition, there's a lot of other things
involved like masonry,electrical drywall, insulation
(15:13):
and so forth Shingles so there'sno way that that fits into that
$7,000 limit.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Have you ever taken on a big project at your house
or something you've done thatyou're like?
I know I'm a contractor, but Ishould have gotten help on this.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Absolutely.
I'm a honeydew expert so Idon't know what you're talking
about.
I'm teasing when I say thatDefinitely.
I think I mentioned a couple ofshows ago that I went on, I did
a keto diet and I knocked mysugar out, so basically knocked
out a 40 item honeydew list inabout three weekends.
I was an animal, but that's thelast time I did that.
(15:48):
I'll say that you sent me thelist and when I saw the 36,000
versus the 7,000 bedroomaddition savings, of course that
number wasn't right.
But I scrolled down the listand I saw a roof replacement on
there and it says what?
The roof replacement $9,079,and the DIY cost is $5,036.
(16:08):
And I'm thinking good luck,because with roofing, if you
don't know what you're doing,you just don't want to do it.
So there's a $4,000 discrepancyroughly.
And I guess if you're justreading through the list you're
thinking well, that's the costof the labor taken out of there
and that's the cost of theoverhead and profit for the
contractor.
And there's a few other thingsthat people don't think about,
(16:29):
like the cost of the dump fee.
So when you take all thoseshingles off, how do you get
them to the dump?
Do you have a dumpster?
Do you basically have twodumpsters and so that could
swing.
That's either $400 to $500, asmuch as $1,000 depending on the
tonnage, and people don't thinkabout that as a dumpster.
Scratch your driveway when theydrop it in there.
What kind of warranty do you get?
We're a certified contractorwith SureTop.
So when someone puts ourshingles on right out of the
(16:51):
pack they're 30 years andthey're prorated.
When we put those on, becausewe're certified, all my guys
have been trained and we give aformal warranty that comes from
a $6 billion company.
That's 50 years andnon-prorated.
So that's really strong.
So they're trained.
Maybe two in the last 10 yearswarranty claims and they jump on
it and they make it go away.
They handle everything and it'ssort of like insurance until
(17:12):
you need it.
You're just buying air and sosort of like with a roof
warranty If you don't need it,you don't know what you got.
But when you have a warrantywith the number one shingle
manufacturing or I say thelargest shingle manufacturer in
the world, and I say number onebecause I prefer them my guys in
the field always comment on GAFand they say, hey, this is the
best shingle.
I advise people to put this oneon because it holds up so much
(17:34):
better than everything else.
So we're GAF folks all the way.
I just think with a roofreplacement that it's such a
labor intensive thing,especially this time of the year
, that you'd be wise to just paythat $4,000, get your warranty
and move on.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
If someone puts on their own roof, they're going to
reshingle it and they got theshingles from GAF they're the
best and they put it on becausethey're not a certified
installer.
I'm assuming they may havesaved some money right up front
by doing it themselves, butthey've lost the ability to have
any recourse if there'ssomething wrong with the install
(18:07):
and maybe repairs.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Not only that, they have only the warranty, the 30
year prorated warranty on theshingle itself.
So there's nothing includedwith the labor.
Basically, we do a what'scalled a silver pledge standard,
and the silver pledge comeswith workmanship and
Manufacturers defect, so you getboth, and if something's gonna
show itself from a workmanshipstandpoint usually shows itself
(18:30):
in the first two years.
So basically, you're taking alot of ability.
If you want to install your ownroof, you're looking at a
potential back injury, all yourneighbors or friends, family,
being mad at you because you askhim to help you, and it's
probably not gonna be installedcorrectly.
So roofing is the one thingthat I think is the least DIY on
your whole house maybe have toreplace the plywood or the OSB.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Gotta factor that in.
You're gonna need nails, you'regonna need felt, maybe button
caps, whatever you're gonna needto put this in.
You need to understand theintensity of the project before
you do it yourself.
And if a roofer's been doingroof, like your company, for how
long?
Sure, top and around about 13years 13 years, I have a feeling
your guys know how to put on aroof efficiently and correctly
(19:13):
and to meet the requirements forGF.
Versus me and three my buddiestaken a whole weekend to try to
put it on.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Oh, no doubt I trust you fully, though I think that I
think that you would do it.
It just might take you twoweeks for what.
It may take my guys two days.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So Exactly so.
Again, according that she, youcould say $4000 by putting a
roof on yourself.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
You'll spend $4000 at the chiropractor afterwards.
That's just my prediction.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I don't do ladders anymore.
Once I hit 50, I said I'm notclimbing on to the second floor
of a roof, so I'll let somebodyelse do that, and I don't want
to be swinging a hammer or evenusing a nail gun, like you said.
In this current weather whenyou've got heat indexes of 105.
I'm gonna let the pros do itand then I can go to work and
within a couple days my roof'sdone and Billy Joe, jim Bob
(20:01):
across street putting on a roofhimself, is still gonna be doing
it up to two weeks later and isnot gonna have a warranty.
I'm just gonna sleep betterwith the warranty because, hey,
50 years transferable once fromGF.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Sign me up right, they don't even take.
They can take your money, theycan take it slowly.
The finance programs that wehave in place, you know,
basically get a roof for ahundred bucks a month and you
know that roof is not like.
You have to come up with that$9000, $10,000 in a chunk, so
all the way around.
We've got that part of theprocess worked out and I'm sorry
that we spent so much time onroofing, but Definitely get that
(20:35):
question a lot, a lot of peoplethat that's what they want to
know.
Can I do my own roof and I?
You know my vote 1000% is no.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And not to toot your horn for you, but sure, top
roofing dot com is website.
Like you said, you havefinancing options there.
I think what people need torealize with the financing
option is the deal is reallygood, the payments are
affordable, but it also allowsyou to go.
I need a new roof, and sinceI'm financing this, or a little
bit more money, I can get yourteam to put in a new gutter
(21:06):
system to, and you can take careof a lot of things at one time
for very reasonable cost.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, when I got started.
I have the same crew that I'vehad for 15 years, and so I
started as a builder and thenevolved into a roofer.
Another sounds backwards, butwe still do both.
My guys are so well versed inframing, siding, roofing gutters
.
They just there's nothing thatthey can't do and they're very
detail oriented.
So I I'm a very blessed man.
When people crab about laborshortage, I just kind of get
(21:34):
quiet because I have the bestguys and you know their family,
so keep plan on keeping thoseguys around as long as things
are going great and, yeah, justin a good situation over here
with sure top well, I just wantthank everybody for a listen to
the show, because we really kindof picked a subject that we
veered away from.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
But it just seem like this list of how much money you
can save if you do these bigproject yourself was kind of
false to put up, bluntly.
But sure, top roofing dot comof people are interested in roof
.
The show wasn't designed to bea big promotion about it, but
the roof really is the mostimportant part of your house
Because it covers and takes careof everything on the inside.
So if you want to get moreinformation about having that
(22:15):
done, you can go that websitealso.
You can find information at ourwebsite, which is the carolina
contractor dot com.
Maybe next week donnie I don'tknow will just will just hit the
record button and start talkingand see what happens.
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (22:30):
I think it goes better that way.
So I just enjoy talking to you.
It's like you know, we'vedeveloped a heck of a friendship
over the four years and I losetrack that we're on the radio
because I enjoy talking to you.
So, yeah, kudos to you forGetting into the construction
world.
And things just seem to keepgetting better.
Our downloads are double andtriple.
It seems like every two orthree weeks.
(22:51):
I get more and more wherethere's hundreds of more
downloads.
So thank you for the support.
Everybody who is out thereWanted I just a DIY content, the
construction stuff.
So we get our motivation fromyou guys and thank you yes,
definitely.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Thank you everybody For all your support.
And again, websites thecarolina contractor dot com and
we can't wait to talk to younext week on the carolina
contractor show.
Thanks for listening to thecarolina contractor show.
Learn more at the carolinacontractor dot com brought to
(23:27):
you by G A F.
We protect what matters most.
If you suspect a severethunderstorm or hail storm is
damaged, your roof contact suretop roofing.
They'll inspect your roofdocument any damage and repair
it quickly.
Sure top roofing, your local GA F master elite certified
(23:47):
roofer.
Visit sure top roofing dot com.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.