September 21, 2025 • 31 mins
Have you ever wondered what mysteries lie beneath your kitchen sink or above your ceiling? The answers could save you thousands. In this eye-opening episode of the Carolina Contractor Show, host Donnie Blanchard and his co-host Eric Smith, dive into the questions that keep homeowners awake at night—and the solutions that could prevent costly disasters.
Drawing from decades of hands-on experience in construction and building supply, they tackle the uncomfortable truth many new homeowners discover too late: houses need maintenance, and repairs are inevitable. But how much should you budget? While the internet suggests setting aside 1-4% of your home's value annually, real life rarely follows such neat formulas. As they explain, you might go years without major expenses, then suddenly face a five-figure HVAC replacement. Their practical advice cuts through theoretical percentages to help you prepare for what matters.
The hosts take listeners on a virtual tour of often-neglected inspection areas—from attics where disconnected HVAC ducts silently waste energy to crawl spaces where copper pipes quietly corrode from the inside out. These simple DIY checks could save you from catastrophic failures. Their discussion of water heater maintenance (never call it a "hot water heater" again!) includes emergency tips that could spare you extensive water damage when failure inevitably occurs.
Perhaps most valuable is their candid conversation about pre-sale home repairs. Should you replace that aging roof before listing? The answer depends on market conditions and comparable properties. Their insider perspective on finding reliable contractors provides alternatives to online reviews that might actually connect you with quality professionals who won't break the bank.
Whether you're a first-time homeowner trying to avoid expensive mistakes or a seasoned property owner preparing for your next sale, this episode delivers practical wisdom that online searches simply can't match. Subscribe now and join the conversation that's helping homeowners across the Carolinas protect their most valuable investment.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, general ContractorDonnie Blanchard.
Hey, boys and girls, childrenof all ages, welcome to the
Carolina Contractor Show.
Do we tell them what we'retalking about before we kick
down the mics?
Donnie, I don't think we saidanything about it.
No, we're talking fantasyfootball.
Really kind of my first year ofdoing it and it was by accident
(00:20):
, but Donnie's a pro at doing,or?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
you're very involved in it.
Yeah, and that makes it evenworse because my team has been
terrible this year and Iactually have a couple of
different teams in two differentleagues and I haven't been on
the up and up.
I did tons of research and whenyou do your YouTube research
and hear all the talking headsand then you actually go to
Vegas, because Vegas alwaysknows what's going to happen-
(00:48):
and it's been the worst year Iprobably had in fantasy football
in about a decade.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Don't want to talk about it, so it hurts you when I
tell you that I enteredaccidentally and let it auto
draft and I'm in second place.
Yeah, you auto drafters driveme nuts.
As we say, donnie, on more thanone occasion, this isn't a
sports show and if we talk aboutthis, as good as it will be,
we're not going to focus onsports.
Maybe we'll do an after theshow show where we just talk
crap about sports for a couplehours, because that would be
really easy to do.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I think that might fly.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
All right.
Well, we're going to have to doan after party show, but today
on the Carolina Contractor Show,we're going to be talking about
your house, especially yourhomeowners, whether you're a DIY
person or you're a newhomeowner or you're an old vet
and you know your house insideand out.
We did a little research andwe're trying to find out
questions that people ask Donnieall the time.
He's a general contractor,people who ask me questions all
(01:34):
the time and I work in lumberand building supply sales.
We just decided to put some ofthese together and maybe there
are questions you have in theback of your mind and, of course
, you can go online and searchfor questions and find answers.
But you know, when you have arelationship or you can talk to
people who are in the field andwork with the materials and
build the houses and stuff likethat, you know you're getting
(01:54):
something that's a lifeexperience, not some AI
generated answer to a questionthat's kind of like one size
fits all and I'm sure in thefield, donnie, you're knee deep
in a job and someone's like hey,I got a question for you about
what?
Do you think you get that allthe time Right?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Oh yeah, yeah, I'm happy to oblige, but at the same
time it's always untimely.
Yeah, cause you're, you're inthe trenches at the time.
Yep, that's it and um, you know, I've learned to answer my
phone calls selectively, and alot of times when you're really
trying to get something done andyou have some important stuff
going on on the job, I'll justturn my ringer off because, no
secret, if you get a lot ofphone calls, your phone will
(02:31):
work you and it needs to be theother way around.
So I learned all that the hardway, but it has sure made things
a lot better since I starteddoing it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Well, donnie came up with a couple of months ago.
I thought it was brilliant.
He won't take a bow on this,but he kind of said that the
theme of the show is from theconstruction site to the studio
mic and it really resonated withme because that's what we do
all day.
You know, our full-time jobsare related to the construction
business home building business,renovations, things like that
(02:58):
and we take for granted thatpeople don't know what we know.
No different than a guy who'svery familiar as a HVAC tech.
He knows lots of things aboutit that the average homeowner
might find interesting, butbecause it's just back of hand
knowledge to him, he doesn't seethe value of saying, hey, I'll
give you some free advice.
Here's something you might notknow about and that's what we're
(03:18):
going to kind of concentrateabout on today's show.
First of all, hit the websitethecarolinacontractorcom.
We've got links to all the pastshows.
I've mentioned this before.
The average podcast show hasthree episodes and then they've
given up.
We've done this since, was it?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
2018?
.
I started in August of 2018.
We got together on the bignetwork in Raleigh in February
of 2019.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So long time, so we got six years and you've been
doing it for eight years.
The big network in.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Raleigh in February of 2019.
So long time.
So we got six years and you'vebeen doing it for eight years
Just a little more than six, butwe're in it together.
It wasn't terrible, but it wasjust a call-in show and, man, I
like to rerun some of thosefirst few months because I
basically exposed myself to thepublic and people called in and
asked me questions.
Oh my goodness, those weredoozies, but they were fun.
This is kind of what today'sshow is then right, yeah, sort
(04:10):
of yeah, they're just notcalling in but same thing.
Questions came from listenersand we appreciate that, by the
way.
So, yeah, similar setup.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, and you can contact us through the website
thecarolinacontractorcom.
There's a ask the contractorbutton and if you have a
question, a comment, send itthat way.
Also got the YouTube page up.
We put these shows up onYouTube so you can watch them
and judge us, I guess, on how welook, I don't know.
We also have the ability foryou to download all those
podcasts.
(04:38):
So whichever format or serviceyou like to use, you will find
it up there.
Let's go hit a couple ofquestions, donnie, and get this
baby rolling.
Homeowners again ask usquestions about their house and
sometimes we think they'reelementary.
But there's a lot of newhomeowners and they don't know
these things.
When you buy a new house, youkind of forget a big thing, and
that is there will be repairsand maintenance you're going to
(04:59):
have to make, and I neverthought about this.
Someone asked how much do Ibudget?
I was kind of like, well, Idon't know, we just kind of pay
the bill when it comes up, butthere's actually a formula to it
or a percentage, right?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, I don't know that the formula or the
percentage really applies.
I think the figures we talkedabout were one to 4% of the
value of the home.
So when you start thinkingabout spending anywhere from
$4,000 to $10,000 a year, in myworld it's a little different
because I can fix a lot ofthings myself and I know the
(05:34):
average homeowner probably hasto call somebody in, but I'll
lean back on you for this.
I mean, when you think aboutwhat is home maintenance, does
lawn care fall in there?
If you can't mow your own yardand you have to pay somebody, I
get that that's going to add upin the warmer months.
And then you know probably needto pressure wash your house,
get the cobwebs off, but youdon't have to repaint your house
every year.
You don't have to do any kindof servicing with the roof every
(05:56):
year, even though we recommendevery five to eight years have
your flashings and pipe bootslooked at that kind of thing.
But I don't know that thefigures from the internet are
really applicable to to everydaylife.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, and I think what you have to also consider
is you can go several yearswithout needing really any
repairs, even minor repairs, andthen you can have one big thing
blow up.
Your HVAC system could go badand you're like, oh crap, well,
there's a anywhere from a couplethousand to could be over
(06:32):
$10,000 to repair and replace.
So I think what it basicallymeans is be prepared.
Your house will need thingsdone to it maintenance so don't
be shocked when something comesup.
Whether you put money aside orbudget it, I agree with you.
You can't really do that,because if I had $10,000 sitting
the side that was the homerepair budget I'd go buy a Les
Paul.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right.
So not to go on and on aboutthe about the uh home
maintenance thing, but I mysuspicion is that those averages
and those percentages wereprobably um, talked about or or
got sort of like what you said.
If you have one big ticket itemthat hits, so I think the rule
of thumb is HVAC lasts for 15years and you get beyond that.
You know you kind of won.
(07:10):
I think my dad got 30 years outof his first unit.
He built his house in 1990 andjust did a replacement recently.
So you know things like that.
You know shingles that we havethese days last 50 years and
they're really strong warranties.
And so when these homemaintenance numbers were thought
about and brought about, it wasprobably back when houses were
(07:30):
poorly insulated.
You know the SEER ratings onthe HVAC weren't as high, so
those units didn't run asefficiently, they didn't last as
long because they rancontinuously with poor
insulation in the older homesand then shingles gosh.
Until this big change were only20 to 25-year three-tab
shingles, and now architecturalshingles have changed the game.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And also consider, if you buy a older house,
something from well, I sit thereand think, well, the 90s wasn't
that long ago.
Yeah, the 90s, the 80s.
If you want to get into ahistoric home because your
spouse thinks, oh, it's sobeautiful, a baseboard, and you
(08:10):
have to go to a custom shop andspend 300 bucks for a blade fee
and then 10 bucks a foot to tryto replace it, an older house is
going to cost you money, notjust because it might be older,
but because some of the featuresof it are no longer made.
And if you're going to copy itor replace it exactly, you're
looking at customization andthat's going to be a lot of
money going up.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Absolutely.
My recommendation is if itain't sentimental stay away.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I think that's an excellent idea, unless you think
you can flip it and I've workedwith some of the people who've
been flipping historic and thecities get involved because it's
a historic property.
So they think, well, I'm justgoing to put vinyl siding and
the city goes, nope, no, you'renot.
And it can be small stuff,outlets, aforementioned trim.
You can get yourself into a bigpit if you don't know what
(08:56):
you're doing.
So I'm with you Don't buyhistoric unless you really know
what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Historical society is like a homeowner association on
steroids, and around here theycall them the hysterical society
.
I'm probably going to get introuble for saying that, but
yeah, what they make you gothrough and do to get that
finished product in my bookisn't worth it.
You could just about do a newbuild, be a lot more comfortable
, and unless it's a location orsentimental thing, yeah, I
wouldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Now what would be some of the um maintenance, uh,
things you have to to beprepared for.
You mentioned HVAC.
Think about how old the systemis, so say it's a new system,
you go okay, I got like 12, 15years, maybe more.
We've always said get systemcheckups, get on a contract.
I am, it's twice a year.
I get a spring and a fallcheckup and that's where he just
(09:42):
goes around and he cleans thesystem and the coils and he goes
inside and he measures theairflow and up in the attic and
all those things.
That's one way you can preventa big thing and it's easy to do.
We're talking a couple of weeksago oh, smoke detectors, carbon
smoke detectors.
That's pretty easy safetymaintenance thing I guess you
(10:02):
could do.
And if you have old ones,they're cheap to replace.
Do you have the combo or justone of each, or what?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I've got one of each.
The combos didn't becomepopular until I don't know less
than 10 years ago, and they werearound, but they just weren't
readily available.
So I have one of each.
And I don't have a lot of gasin my house, so the only thing I
have gas is just my gas logs,which serve me very well if we
have a power outage.
But other than that, I'm allelectric and I'm a big fan of
that.
And to comment on what you justsaid, with the HVAC system, you
(10:30):
system, that biannual checkupthat you have is well worth it.
We preach on the show thatroofing and HVAC are the two
biggest ticket items on yourhouse that are guaranteed to
wear out.
Those are the things you needto take care of, gosh, if you
get an extra.
(10:50):
Like my dad, he got an extra 15plus years out of his HVAC
system.
Of course, every year it costsmore to replace it because the
price of everything continues togo up.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
But I think in the big picture you know, if you can
extend the life of something bya decade, then that's a win and
I think the getting thosepeople that you trust.
I mean, if anybody's living inthe Wilson County area of North
Carolina, you can contact methrough the site.
I'll tell you who I use.
And the advantage of not onlyhaving that service plan is it's
a discount on labor, it's adiscount on parts and you get
priority.
So if your system goes out inthe middle of winter, he's going
to prioritize you over somebodywho's not a regular client or
(11:22):
not on his maintenance program.
And that comes in very handybecause of course the systems
always go funky in the hottestdays or the coldest days of the
year.
Yeah, that's a really goodpoint.
Plumbing.
I never thought about this whenI first became a homeowner and
when you find a water leakthat's like the scary thing, but
it's something you can checkfor constantly.
(11:43):
Just go around your house andsee if there's any water spots
forming on the wood or whatevermaterial you have under your
sink, your drains.
Look behind the bathroom, thetoilets where you have under
your sink, your drains.
Uh, look behind the bathroom,the toilets, where you have a
pressurized line going in, thoseseals will fail and start
dripping water and if you're notpaying attention to it, it'll
keep going.
Uh, the the drain system itself.
(12:05):
Um, where else could you look,donnie?
Where would you look for waterleaks?
Oh, water heater.
Now I'm lucky because my waterheater is on the first floor and
it's in a cabinet near thefront door but and you can stand
up and work on it If you had to.
You don't have to crawl underanything or get crouched down.
If you look at your waterheater, it's easy to see.
Look for buildup.
It looks like calcium builduparound the connections.
(12:28):
That's going to be a sign thatthose seals are getting ready to
go.
And if you ever have an issuewhere you come downstairs or you
notice it's leaking and it'ssignificant even after you call
the plumber, if it doesn't havea drain line going out the house
or a drain pan that's going tohold it, all you have to do is
grab a hose, connect it to whatyou were talking about, that
spigot, run the hose obviouslyout of the house, and usually on
(12:55):
top of that water heater isgoing to be a release valve,
because some people hook thehose up and turn the nozzle and
they're like it's not draining.
Well, there's a release valveyou just lift up on the top and
that'll allow air in to pushthat out and drain it out, and
that can save you a lot ofexcess water going through the
house, mitigating damage, whichinsurance companies always love.
And when mine went one year, Inot only did that, I called the
(13:16):
guy, bought the hot water heatermyself and got it to the house
and that saved me 75 bucks justdoing that.
And I took my old one.
Well, we took it out together,but I had it already drained and
everything.
So he cut the pipes, we took itout together.
He took 125 bucks off the billCause I did those things by
myself.
So, even though I couldn'treplace it, I saved some money
(13:38):
by doing things by myself,knowing how to do it, and also
got to see him put in pecs,which was cool.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
That is cool and uh, I know we're not world changers
by any means, but it's been along time since I heard anybody
who listened to the show say hotwater heater.
And uh, we, we rode that foryears.
Man, you said you got me on itseveral times because I would
hear people say it and beforeyou know it, you're repeating
what they say.
And I've heard a lot of peoplejust say water heater and a lot
(14:04):
of people have said to me likehey, I heard what you guys said
about that and it makes sense,because you're not eating hot
water.
So, anyway, maybe warm waterheater if it hadn't cycled on
and off.
So warm water heater is legit.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, and it was one of those things.
You're right.
I made a little joke once ortwice that you said hot water
heater and I said no, it's awater heater.
And you said people are makingfun of you on the job site about
it.
That's it, dude, that's it sowater heater Very good You're.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
also you know roofing inside and out.
You're a big proponent ofcleaning out your gutters and
that's a chance also to see ifyou've got granules from your
shingles in the gutters, becausethat's one of the first signs
that your shingles thingssparkle that's probably the best
word I can come up with.
That's showing that thefiberglass mat, which is the
actual roofing, you know thegranules that you find in the
gutter, that's just a sunscreenfor the fiberglass mat.
So the color that you see onyour roof, those granules aren't
.
They don't do anything exceptprotect what really keeps the
(15:07):
water out.
So if you start to see thatroof sparkle, that's a good
indicator.
You need to get it checked outand inspected.
It may have a couple of yearsleft, but a really good point
there.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, it shimmers like a Cinderella, any other
things the average Joe can lookat themselves before it goes bad
.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
If I had to say two things I would check for.
And people don't like going intheir attic and people don't
like going in the crawl spaceand they'd probably prefer the
attic slightly over the crawl.
But depending on the time ofyear, in your attic if you have
your air handler, so your HVACsystem is overhead, it's very
important that you at leastevery year go up and take a look
(15:43):
at it, look at all theconnections, so that
distribution box that has allyour supply lines coming off of
that it's not uncommon to seethose lines come loose.
Or if you're at the mercy ofHVAC tape and it's been a hard
summer and really hot, you knowthe adhesive on that tape is
really prone to turning loose.
So you could be blowing airconditioning into your attic and
it really really cuts down onthe efficiency for what you're
(16:05):
getting in the interior livingspace.
And then underneath the house,especially if you have copper
pipes on an older home.
You want to check that morethan once a year because if you
have well water, a lot of timesthe well water will wear away
the copper pipes from the insideout.
So you're a ticking time bombto have a leak at a joint or
something like that.
So not a bad idea to just gounder there shine a light.
(16:28):
You don't have to get all theway under there.
See if you see any puddles oranything that jumps off the page
.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
But attic and crawl space are often neglected.
You also can check your stillif it has copper pipes, if it's
leaking.
And if it's starting to leak,it probably means your pipes in
your house are leaking too.
That's how I do it personally.
I just check.
You know you're making somehooch on the side, you go, you
know.
This reminds me I need to checkpipes in my house.
(16:58):
Here's a weird question, donnie,and it seemed obvious to me
what the majority of peoplewould think the answer is.
But surprisingly, I've hadpeople ask me and I'm not in
real estate obviously Do I needto make repairs before I sell my
house?
And I'm like, only if you wantto make money on your house and
it depends on what the repairsare.
But yeah, that's maybe a goodtime to call the obvious stuff
you could fix.
But maybe call a pre-sale homeinspector to come through and
(17:20):
say, hey, to get bang for yourbuck, or before you sell, you
need to do this, this and this.
But I was surprised some peoplethink, no, you just put for
sale sign, go to town.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I think that the market drives that and I think
that if the inventory is at ahistorical low, like it's been
for I mean, it's better now.
But rewind, three years ago wedidn't have any inventory and
people were buying anything thatcame on the market.
So the amount of houses thatwere bought sight unseen, with
no home inspection, isdefinitely record setting from
(17:52):
two or three years ago.
But now inventory seems to bebetter.
And if you're competing withanother house at the same square
footage and you want to be thebetter house, if you want your
house to actually move and Iwould say that what I see the
most is people put off theheating and air and the roofing
because, as I mentioned earlier,those are the two big ticket
items.
But if there's anything elsethat needs to be fixed, you know
(18:15):
that is that that that'sdefinitely worthy.
You know, painting the wholehouse things that you'll get
your money back on.
Uh, that being that being said,you know the new buyers may want
a different color.
So you're going out on a limbby just assuming that they may
want that.
But if it's an older home, yougot dogs, you got all these bad,
dirty drywall places, then youknow, um, a paint job is is not
(18:36):
a bad thing, but uh, what?
What I see is that people putoff the big ticket items and I
think it would be a hard sell tosay, hey, call a preliminary
inspector and to tell you allthe things that you need to fix
and then go fix all those thingsBecause people want to test the
water, they want to see if theycan get what they're asking
price before they spend a bunchof money.
(18:56):
So you're calling an inspectorin spending money on him to tell
you that you got to spend a lotmore money.
So I don't know that that wouldfly and you would like to put
faith in humanity as a wholethat people would just do the
right thing.
But I just don't see it a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I agree.
But at the same time, I thinkif you're putting your house up
for sale and you did invest anamount of doing some things like
you decided hey, the roof's 15years old.
I'm going to put on a new roofand I'm going to go ahead and
dump that 20 grand to get theHVAC system updated and maybe a
new water heater, as we talkedabout.
(19:26):
Those aren't items that usuallygive you a super high ROI, or
they give you a very good one,but not a hundred percent or
more.
But put your mind into aprospective buyer.
If they're standing on the curband the realtor said to them by
the way, this house has a brandnew roof with a 50 year
warranty.
This house also has a brand newHVAC system and a new water
(19:50):
heater.
You're going to get somebodygoing.
Oh, as a buyer, I wouldpersonally think, oh, that makes
me feel good because those arebig ticket items.
I know I got 15 to 20 yearsbefore.
I need to worry about them.
What do they want for the houseversus?
Hey, this house is a good pricefor the market and for the
neighborhood, but the inspectorsaid the roof's got a couple of
(20:10):
years left.
The HVAC system is starting toshow some signs and you're and
you might need a water.
Oh, I don't want to put thatmoney, so it depends.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
The flip side of what I said is they're going to want
a $40,000 concession over thosethree items, you know water
heater, roof and HVAC.
So you, you kind of putyourself in a position to have
to negotiate harder because whenthey come back they could get
Joe Ruffer out of Raleigh, somebig guy who has, you know, 40
trucks, and he could come inthere and of course he's going
to be five to $8,000 more thanwe are.
(20:40):
And so then all of a suddentheir negotiation puts you in a
worse position.
So I get your point and youknow it's just kind of
situational.
But if you could replace theroof for 10 grand and somebody
says well, I got a quote for 18grand, I want that off the sale
price, then you're kind ofbehind the eight ball at that
point.
So I guess it could go eitherway.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, you're right, it's it's.
It's not a gamble, but you aretrying.
That's why you need a realestate agent.
That we've we've had them onbefore.
They really know the marketsand can help you out with
something like that.
Um, we could go on for thatlong time.
I want to hit a couple otherthings on the show today.
The best way to find a reliablecontractor I have people walk
into our store and they're doinga project, or they might be
(21:20):
doing a build, but they justdon't know who to contact,
necessarily.
Or you know, hey, can yourecommend somebody?
I'm willing to recommend peoplewho I think are good
contractors.
Right, I don't make anything onthe side.
It's not like a referralprogram, but if someone says,
yeah, I'm looking for someone toput in a deck, do you know who
I could call, maybe to do a goodjob?
(21:41):
I'll give them three names andI don't have any problem doing
that.
What are you doing someone?
What advice would you givesomebody aside from calling you
directly, Donnie?
How do they find a goodcontractor or a reliable one?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah Well, we used to preach and I want to say the
first three or four years of theshow, we preach that you should
call the local inspectionsdepartment because they know who
the you know good contractorsare in town because they see all
their work and so, um, that hasbeen shut down in the last
couple of a few years because,uh, every municipality has taken
the stance that they, they arenot allowed to refer contractors
(22:16):
.
I guess there's some bigconflict of interest there.
So I take that advice backbecause you know the smaller
municipalities, they still maybe willing to give you a little
bit off the record advice, buteverybody's in cover, your rear
end mode these days, it seems.
And I would say what you justmentioned as far as go to the
local building supply, if it's aplumber, you need to go to the
plumbing supply house and justask those folks who they
(22:40):
recommend.
And you know, I don't tell themthe size of your job.
If you've got a big job, a lotof times that's somebody with a
big staff that needs to handlethat.
But if you've got a tinyplumbing job, then you want a
plumber with just him and ahelper and they're going to be a
lot cheaper than the guy with aton of overhead.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
So while we're talking I shouldn't have my
phone.
We talk about it.
But someone sent me a text.
They were listening and theysaid hey, going back to, donnie
mentioned painting and cheaperstuff you can do to maybe
increase the home's value.
They said what are some otherthings real quick I can do if
I'm not going to do a big ticketitem, maximize return on my
(23:14):
investment when I go to sellthat house?
And of course you said paintingit.
Painting always improves it,because we're talking curb
appeal.
Painting covers mistakes orproblems too, but for the most
part it looks fresh and it evensmells good.
What other quick things do youthink of top of your head?
Sorry to spring that on you.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Quick things Garage door replacement.
It doesn't sound sexy but ithas a big time ROI and you know
you definitely get your moneyback and then some out of a
garage door.
I do recommend going insulatedbecause in the summer makes a
big difference on how yourgarage feels.
The other things that youreally get your money back out
of are kitchens and baths.
(23:55):
But I know that we had talked awhile back that you replaced
your front door and as simple asthat sounds, you know it does
make a difference.
And if you're not talking aboutROI, you just want more curb
appeal for a sale, then that'ssomething quick and easy that
you could do.
Getting into energy efficientfeatures, those are.
Those are a little bit morecomplex.
It's not a, it's not majorsurgery that you got to do, but
(24:16):
you know that that's always agood thing to do and actually I
didn't replace the door.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Oh, you painted it.
Painted the door barn red, verytrendy, and I also got a storm
door put in on the side.
But yeah, painting your doorit's not hard to do if it's in
good condition and it reallychanges the whole face of the
house.
Just that one thing.
Even more than bushes Now, I'veseen canary yellow and lime
(24:41):
green front doors and blue doorspopping up, and unless you're
at the beach it don't work.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, we did that on the show and I had no say in
that because I don't pick paintcolors, but when we did the TV
show, every house had either ared or a uh, yellow, canary
yellow front door and it worked.
You know, certain, certainpercentage of the population
likes that and I'll say that Icaved on that just a tick, but I
didn't do red or yellow and wehave a flip house on the market
(25:07):
right now.
It's beautiful.
I mean, I think I sent youbefore and after.
Maybe I didn't.
If I didn't, I will, but we, ifI didn't, I will.
But we did a uh, navy, blue,navy, ish blue door and um it
it's a white house with blacktrim with a blue door and it
really sets it off, but itdoesn't pop like red and yellow,
but, um, definitely nice subtlefeature.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Um, and they have a specialpaint color, by the way, called
barn red.
I was so thankful when my wifesaid, hey, I want to paint the
door.
What color?
Barn red.
Walk to the paint storeLiterally barn red.
I'm like these people know whatthey're doing in the paint
store.
Yeah, they do Last question,donnie, that I thought about and
you're going to have to put ona different hat and then go into
(25:45):
a past life.
But luckily we've had a prettymild year when it comes to
tropical storms and hurricanesand hopefully it'll stay that
way.
But when things happen, peoplehave to call their insurance
company and the worst thing iswhen you find out you're not
covered by something.
Floods is a very common thing,so a very common question people
(26:07):
probably have homeowners in theback of their mind is will my
homeowner's insurance cover thatand I know this is a past life
for you, but what do people needto know about their homeowner's
insurance?
Cover that and I know this is apast life for you, but what do
people need to know?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
about their homeowner's insurance.
Well, you really need to be ontop of your coverage amounts,
because that's one of thosethings when home prices increase
.
To qualify for replacement costcoverage even if you think you
have plenty of insurance, youmay not.
You think you have plenty ofinsurance, you may not you have
to carry 80% of the perceived orthe estimated cost of the house
(26:40):
.
So if it's a half milliondollar house, you have to have
at least $400,000 in insurancecoverage.
If you don't carry enough, whatthat does is put you from
replacement costs, which iscalled RCV replacement cost
value to actual cash value, acvand what that means is they're
going to depreciate your claim.
So if you get a claim for$100,000 to fix your house,
they're going to depreciate itby how old the house is and
(27:02):
several other factors.
And if they depreciate that$100,000 by 30 or 40 grand,
what's going to happen is yourecover that If you have
replacement costs and you carryenough coverage, you're going to
get that depreciation backafter you finish the repairs.
If you don't carry enoughcoverage, then that depreciation
(27:22):
just goes away or the insurancecompany keeps it, rather
because you do not get thatmoney back.
So having enough coverage isprobably number one priority.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
If I had to say and I think it's also important to
get an insurance broker becausethey can find the best deals.
But sometimes the insurancebroker is going to find someone
that'll cover your house butthey might not be local or
someone you can easily visit andcontact, versus going to a
insurance agent in town andsaying, hey, here's where I live
(27:50):
, here's my house.
They'll look at your house andsay what do you recommend?
And they might go do you knowyou're in a floodplain?
Or they might say you don'tneed this.
We would recommend, you know,dinosaur insurance because, or
whatever.
But you know, having thoseinsurance agents come out and
look at your property, look atthe history, look how storms
affect it, they'll see allthings around your house that
(28:13):
could be issues that they canpoint out and they'll be very
specific of what you need.
But you just need to know whatam I covered for?
Ask your agent.
They should be willing toschedule a time to go through it
and let you know clearly whatyou're covered under.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
And have that conversation at least every two
or three years because, like Isaid, the value of houses all
shot up what 20%, 30% last fewyears.
And the three coverages youhave to be aware of are A, b and
C.
Coverage A is your house.
Coverage B is other structuresor, you know, accessory
buildings, things like that, andif you don't ask for extra
money on those then they thevalue of your house.
(28:47):
Uh say, I'm sorry, if yourcoverage A is 500,000 for your
house, then your automaticcoverage B by default is 10% of
that number.
So that means you only have50,000.
And I mean I've got a 40 by 60shop that we're working on right
now.
So, when it's all said and done, if I had a half million on the
house, 50,000 wouldn't touchthe shop.
So you may want to ask forextra coverage on that.
And the coverage C is personalproperty.
(29:09):
So if you're sitting on$100,000 in jewelry, then you
need to make your insuranceagent aware of that, because
they have extra endorsements andthings like that.
They will.
They will cover that.
You know, if you live in a umarea where, uh, you're tied into
city sewer and you've had asewer backup, that's an X,
that's an endorsement.
That's something that you haveto ask for specifically.
Or you know sewer backs up andyou don't have coverage for that
(29:32):
and you don't figure that outuntil you've got a lot of you
know what to clean up.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
So Know the ABCs of insurance.
It sounds like Ooh, that's good, I know my alphabet.
Next week we'll work on numbersand maybe a little bit of math,
but uh, hey, if you have aquestion about your house or
something we were talking about,um, please go to the website,
the Carolina contractorcom.
We've got the ask thecontractor button right there.
Again, johnny is Johnny.
Donnie is a Johnny.
(29:58):
We need to talk after the show.
We found a replacement.
Donnie's a general contractor,so he can answer a lot of these
questions and we love gettingthem.
So if you got something that'sbuzzing around your brain you
want to know, please contact usand again, go to the website,
thecarolinacontractorcom.
You can see the past shows andhit the YouTube page and hit our
(30:23):
IG, because we've got a couplethings going absolutely crazy on
there.
We were stunned hundreds ofthousands of views all of a
sudden and more and more peoplefollowing us, and we're very
thankful for that.
So thank you, thank you, thankyou.
We put a lot into this and it'snice to see some.
That's working.
On my end, full admission here.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I got to do a better job about getting these YouTube
videos up, because that's myresponsibility, but we're
getting there.
And it's tough when you'rerunning a couple of businesses
with three children and just awhole lot going on and at the
end of the day, some days I'm onfire and some days I ain't got
anything left in the tank.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
So that's the truth.
We just make it look easy.
They don't know what goesbehind the scenes.
You don't want to know how yourlaws and your hot dogs are made
and you don't want to know howwe make this show happen.
But we're glad you do like it.
We hope you catch us next weekon the Carolina Contractor Show.
Thanks next week on theCarolina contractor show.
Thanks everybody.
Bye, johnny, see you there.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina contractor show.
(31:40):
Visit the Carolinacontractorcom.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with
your host, general ContractorDonnie Blanchard.
Hey, boys and girls, childrenof all ages, welcome to the
Carolina Contractor Show.
Do we tell them what we'retalking about before we kick
down the mics?
Donnie, I don't think we saidanything about it.
No, we're talking fantasyfootball.
Really kind of my first year ofdoing it and it was by accident
(00:20):
, but Donnie's a pro at doing,or?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
you're very involved in it.
Yeah, and that makes it evenworse because my team has been
terrible this year and Iactually have a couple of
different teams in two differentleagues and I haven't been on
the up and up.
I did tons of research and whenyou do your YouTube research
and hear all the talking headsand then you actually go to
Vegas, because Vegas alwaysknows what's going to happen-
(00:48):
and it's been the worst year Iprobably had in fantasy football
in about a decade.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Don't want to talk about it, so it hurts you when I
tell you that I enteredaccidentally and let it auto
draft and I'm in second place.
Yeah, you auto drafters driveme nuts.
As we say, donnie, on more thanone occasion, this isn't a
sports show and if we talk aboutthis, as good as it will be,
we're not going to focus onsports.
Maybe we'll do an after theshow show where we just talk
crap about sports for a couplehours, because that would be
really easy to do.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I think that might fly.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
All right.
Well, we're going to have to doan after party show, but today
on the Carolina Contractor Show,we're going to be talking about
your house, especially yourhomeowners, whether you're a DIY
person or you're a newhomeowner or you're an old vet
and you know your house insideand out.
We did a little research andwe're trying to find out
questions that people ask Donnieall the time.
He's a general contractor,people who ask me questions all
(01:34):
the time and I work in lumberand building supply sales.
We just decided to put some ofthese together and maybe there
are questions you have in theback of your mind and, of course
, you can go online and searchfor questions and find answers.
But you know, when you have arelationship or you can talk to
people who are in the field andwork with the materials and
build the houses and stuff likethat, you know you're getting
(01:54):
something that's a lifeexperience, not some AI
generated answer to a questionthat's kind of like one size
fits all and I'm sure in thefield, donnie, you're knee deep
in a job and someone's like hey,I got a question for you about
what?
Do you think you get that allthe time Right?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Oh yeah, yeah, I'm happy to oblige, but at the same
time it's always untimely.
Yeah, cause you're, you're inthe trenches at the time.
Yep, that's it and um, you know, I've learned to answer my
phone calls selectively, and alot of times when you're really
trying to get something done andyou have some important stuff
going on on the job, I'll justturn my ringer off because, no
secret, if you get a lot ofphone calls, your phone will
(02:31):
work you and it needs to be theother way around.
So I learned all that the hardway, but it has sure made things
a lot better since I starteddoing it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Well, donnie came up with a couple of months ago.
I thought it was brilliant.
He won't take a bow on this,but he kind of said that the
theme of the show is from theconstruction site to the studio
mic and it really resonated withme because that's what we do
all day.
You know, our full-time jobsare related to the construction
business home building business,renovations, things like that
(02:58):
and we take for granted thatpeople don't know what we know.
No different than a guy who'svery familiar as a HVAC tech.
He knows lots of things aboutit that the average homeowner
might find interesting, butbecause it's just back of hand
knowledge to him, he doesn't seethe value of saying, hey, I'll
give you some free advice.
Here's something you might notknow about and that's what we're
(03:18):
going to kind of concentrateabout on today's show.
First of all, hit the websitethecarolinacontractorcom.
We've got links to all the pastshows.
I've mentioned this before.
The average podcast show hasthree episodes and then they've
given up.
We've done this since, was it?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
2018?
.
I started in August of 2018.
We got together on the bignetwork in Raleigh in February
of 2019.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So long time, so we got six years and you've been
doing it for eight years.
The big network in.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Raleigh in February of 2019.
So long time.
So we got six years and you'vebeen doing it for eight years
Just a little more than six, butwe're in it together.
It wasn't terrible, but it wasjust a call-in show and, man, I
like to rerun some of thosefirst few months because I
basically exposed myself to thepublic and people called in and
asked me questions.
Oh my goodness, those weredoozies, but they were fun.
This is kind of what today'sshow is then right, yeah, sort
(04:10):
of yeah, they're just notcalling in but same thing.
Questions came from listenersand we appreciate that, by the
way.
So, yeah, similar setup.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, and you can contact us through the website
thecarolinacontractorcom.
There's a ask the contractorbutton and if you have a
question, a comment, send itthat way.
Also got the YouTube page up.
We put these shows up onYouTube so you can watch them
and judge us, I guess, on how welook, I don't know.
We also have the ability foryou to download all those
podcasts.
(04:38):
So whichever format or serviceyou like to use, you will find
it up there.
Let's go hit a couple ofquestions, donnie, and get this
baby rolling.
Homeowners again ask usquestions about their house and
sometimes we think they'reelementary.
But there's a lot of newhomeowners and they don't know
these things.
When you buy a new house, youkind of forget a big thing, and
that is there will be repairsand maintenance you're going to
(04:59):
have to make, and I neverthought about this.
Someone asked how much do Ibudget?
I was kind of like, well, Idon't know, we just kind of pay
the bill when it comes up, butthere's actually a formula to it
or a percentage, right?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, I don't know that the formula or the
percentage really applies.
I think the figures we talkedabout were one to 4% of the
value of the home.
So when you start thinkingabout spending anywhere from
$4,000 to $10,000 a year, in myworld it's a little different
because I can fix a lot ofthings myself and I know the
(05:34):
average homeowner probably hasto call somebody in, but I'll
lean back on you for this.
I mean, when you think aboutwhat is home maintenance, does
lawn care fall in there?
If you can't mow your own yardand you have to pay somebody, I
get that that's going to add upin the warmer months.
And then you know probably needto pressure wash your house,
get the cobwebs off, but youdon't have to repaint your house
every year.
You don't have to do any kindof servicing with the roof every
(05:56):
year, even though we recommendevery five to eight years have
your flashings and pipe bootslooked at that kind of thing.
But I don't know that thefigures from the internet are
really applicable to to everydaylife.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, and I think what you have to also consider
is you can go several yearswithout needing really any
repairs, even minor repairs, andthen you can have one big thing
blow up.
Your HVAC system could go badand you're like, oh crap, well,
there's a anywhere from a couplethousand to could be over
(06:32):
$10,000 to repair and replace.
So I think what it basicallymeans is be prepared.
Your house will need thingsdone to it maintenance so don't
be shocked when something comesup.
Whether you put money aside orbudget it, I agree with you.
You can't really do that,because if I had $10,000 sitting
the side that was the homerepair budget I'd go buy a Les
Paul.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right.
So not to go on and on aboutthe about the uh home
maintenance thing, but I mysuspicion is that those averages
and those percentages wereprobably um, talked about or or
got sort of like what you said.
If you have one big ticket itemthat hits, so I think the rule
of thumb is HVAC lasts for 15years and you get beyond that.
You know you kind of won.
(07:10):
I think my dad got 30 years outof his first unit.
He built his house in 1990 andjust did a replacement recently.
So you know things like that.
You know shingles that we havethese days last 50 years and
they're really strong warranties.
And so when these homemaintenance numbers were thought
about and brought about, it wasprobably back when houses were
(07:30):
poorly insulated.
You know the SEER ratings onthe HVAC weren't as high, so
those units didn't run asefficiently, they didn't last as
long because they rancontinuously with poor
insulation in the older homesand then shingles gosh.
Until this big change were only20 to 25-year three-tab
shingles, and now architecturalshingles have changed the game.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And also consider, if you buy a older house,
something from well, I sit thereand think, well, the 90s wasn't
that long ago.
Yeah, the 90s, the 80s.
If you want to get into ahistoric home because your
spouse thinks, oh, it's sobeautiful, a baseboard, and you
(08:10):
have to go to a custom shop andspend 300 bucks for a blade fee
and then 10 bucks a foot to tryto replace it, an older house is
going to cost you money, notjust because it might be older,
but because some of the featuresof it are no longer made.
And if you're going to copy itor replace it exactly, you're
looking at customization andthat's going to be a lot of
money going up.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Absolutely.
My recommendation is if itain't sentimental stay away.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I think that's an excellent idea, unless you think
you can flip it and I've workedwith some of the people who've
been flipping historic and thecities get involved because it's
a historic property.
So they think, well, I'm justgoing to put vinyl siding and
the city goes, nope, no, you'renot.
And it can be small stuff,outlets, aforementioned trim.
You can get yourself into a bigpit if you don't know what
(08:56):
you're doing.
So I'm with you Don't buyhistoric unless you really know
what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Historical society is like a homeowner association on
steroids, and around here theycall them the hysterical society
.
I'm probably going to get introuble for saying that, but
yeah, what they make you gothrough and do to get that
finished product in my bookisn't worth it.
You could just about do a newbuild, be a lot more comfortable
, and unless it's a location orsentimental thing, yeah, I
wouldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Now what would be some of the um maintenance, uh,
things you have to to beprepared for.
You mentioned HVAC.
Think about how old the systemis, so say it's a new system,
you go okay, I got like 12, 15years, maybe more.
We've always said get systemcheckups, get on a contract.
I am, it's twice a year.
I get a spring and a fallcheckup and that's where he just
(09:42):
goes around and he cleans thesystem and the coils and he goes
inside and he measures theairflow and up in the attic and
all those things.
That's one way you can preventa big thing and it's easy to do.
We're talking a couple of weeksago oh, smoke detectors, carbon
smoke detectors.
That's pretty easy safetymaintenance thing I guess you
(10:02):
could do.
And if you have old ones,they're cheap to replace.
Do you have the combo or justone of each, or what?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I've got one of each.
The combos didn't becomepopular until I don't know less
than 10 years ago, and they werearound, but they just weren't
readily available.
So I have one of each.
And I don't have a lot of gasin my house, so the only thing I
have gas is just my gas logs,which serve me very well if we
have a power outage.
But other than that, I'm allelectric and I'm a big fan of
that.
And to comment on what you justsaid, with the HVAC system, you
(10:30):
system, that biannual checkupthat you have is well worth it.
We preach on the show thatroofing and HVAC are the two
biggest ticket items on yourhouse that are guaranteed to
wear out.
Those are the things you needto take care of, gosh, if you
get an extra.
(10:50):
Like my dad, he got an extra 15plus years out of his HVAC
system.
Of course, every year it costsmore to replace it because the
price of everything continues togo up.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
But I think in the big picture you know, if you can
extend the life of something bya decade, then that's a win and
I think the getting thosepeople that you trust.
I mean, if anybody's living inthe Wilson County area of North
Carolina, you can contact methrough the site.
I'll tell you who I use.
And the advantage of not onlyhaving that service plan is it's
a discount on labor, it's adiscount on parts and you get
priority.
So if your system goes out inthe middle of winter, he's going
to prioritize you over somebodywho's not a regular client or
(11:22):
not on his maintenance program.
And that comes in very handybecause of course the systems
always go funky in the hottestdays or the coldest days of the
year.
Yeah, that's a really goodpoint.
Plumbing.
I never thought about this whenI first became a homeowner and
when you find a water leakthat's like the scary thing, but
it's something you can checkfor constantly.
(11:43):
Just go around your house andsee if there's any water spots
forming on the wood or whatevermaterial you have under your
sink, your drains.
Look behind the bathroom, thetoilets where you have under
your sink, your drains.
Uh, look behind the bathroom,the toilets, where you have a
pressurized line going in, thoseseals will fail and start
dripping water and if you're notpaying attention to it, it'll
keep going.
Uh, the the drain system itself.
(12:05):
Um, where else could you look,donnie?
Where would you look for waterleaks?
Oh, water heater.
Now I'm lucky because my waterheater is on the first floor and
it's in a cabinet near thefront door but and you can stand
up and work on it If you had to.
You don't have to crawl underanything or get crouched down.
If you look at your waterheater, it's easy to see.
Look for buildup.
It looks like calcium builduparound the connections.
(12:28):
That's going to be a sign thatthose seals are getting ready to
go.
And if you ever have an issuewhere you come downstairs or you
notice it's leaking and it'ssignificant even after you call
the plumber, if it doesn't havea drain line going out the house
or a drain pan that's going tohold it, all you have to do is
grab a hose, connect it to whatyou were talking about, that
spigot, run the hose obviouslyout of the house, and usually on
(12:55):
top of that water heater isgoing to be a release valve,
because some people hook thehose up and turn the nozzle and
they're like it's not draining.
Well, there's a release valveyou just lift up on the top and
that'll allow air in to pushthat out and drain it out, and
that can save you a lot ofexcess water going through the
house, mitigating damage, whichinsurance companies always love.
And when mine went one year, Inot only did that, I called the
(13:16):
guy, bought the hot water heatermyself and got it to the house
and that saved me 75 bucks justdoing that.
And I took my old one.
Well, we took it out together,but I had it already drained and
everything.
So he cut the pipes, we took itout together.
He took 125 bucks off the billCause I did those things by
myself.
So, even though I couldn'treplace it, I saved some money
(13:38):
by doing things by myself,knowing how to do it, and also
got to see him put in pecs,which was cool.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
That is cool and uh, I know we're not world changers
by any means, but it's been along time since I heard anybody
who listened to the show say hotwater heater.
And uh, we, we rode that foryears.
Man, you said you got me on itseveral times because I would
hear people say it and beforeyou know it, you're repeating
what they say.
And I've heard a lot of peoplejust say water heater and a lot
(14:04):
of people have said to me likehey, I heard what you guys said
about that and it makes sense,because you're not eating hot
water.
So, anyway, maybe warm waterheater if it hadn't cycled on
and off.
So warm water heater is legit.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, and it was one of those things.
You're right.
I made a little joke once ortwice that you said hot water
heater and I said no, it's awater heater.
And you said people are makingfun of you on the job site about
it.
That's it, dude, that's it sowater heater Very good You're.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
also you know roofing inside and out.
You're a big proponent ofcleaning out your gutters and
that's a chance also to see ifyou've got granules from your
shingles in the gutters, becausethat's one of the first signs
that your shingles thingssparkle that's probably the best
word I can come up with.
That's showing that thefiberglass mat, which is the
actual roofing, you know thegranules that you find in the
gutter, that's just a sunscreenfor the fiberglass mat.
So the color that you see onyour roof, those granules aren't
.
They don't do anything exceptprotect what really keeps the
(15:07):
water out.
So if you start to see thatroof sparkle, that's a good
indicator.
You need to get it checked outand inspected.
It may have a couple of yearsleft, but a really good point
there.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, it shimmers like a Cinderella, any other
things the average Joe can lookat themselves before it goes bad
.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
If I had to say two things I would check for.
And people don't like going intheir attic and people don't
like going in the crawl spaceand they'd probably prefer the
attic slightly over the crawl.
But depending on the time ofyear, in your attic if you have
your air handler, so your HVACsystem is overhead, it's very
important that you at leastevery year go up and take a look
(15:43):
at it, look at all theconnections, so that
distribution box that has allyour supply lines coming off of
that it's not uncommon to seethose lines come loose.
Or if you're at the mercy ofHVAC tape and it's been a hard
summer and really hot, you knowthe adhesive on that tape is
really prone to turning loose.
So you could be blowing airconditioning into your attic and
it really really cuts down onthe efficiency for what you're
(16:05):
getting in the interior livingspace.
And then underneath the house,especially if you have copper
pipes on an older home.
You want to check that morethan once a year because if you
have well water, a lot of timesthe well water will wear away
the copper pipes from the insideout.
So you're a ticking time bombto have a leak at a joint or
something like that.
So not a bad idea to just gounder there shine a light.
(16:28):
You don't have to get all theway under there.
See if you see any puddles oranything that jumps off the page
.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
But attic and crawl space are often neglected.
You also can check your stillif it has copper pipes, if it's
leaking.
And if it's starting to leak,it probably means your pipes in
your house are leaking too.
That's how I do it personally.
I just check.
You know you're making somehooch on the side, you go, you
know.
This reminds me I need to checkpipes in my house.
(16:58):
Here's a weird question, donnie,and it seemed obvious to me
what the majority of peoplewould think the answer is.
But surprisingly, I've hadpeople ask me and I'm not in
real estate obviously Do I needto make repairs before I sell my
house?
And I'm like, only if you wantto make money on your house and
it depends on what the repairsare.
But yeah, that's maybe a goodtime to call the obvious stuff
you could fix.
But maybe call a pre-sale homeinspector to come through and
(17:20):
say, hey, to get bang for yourbuck, or before you sell, you
need to do this, this and this.
But I was surprised some peoplethink, no, you just put for
sale sign, go to town.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I think that the market drives that and I think
that if the inventory is at ahistorical low, like it's been
for I mean, it's better now.
But rewind, three years ago wedidn't have any inventory and
people were buying anything thatcame on the market.
So the amount of houses thatwere bought sight unseen, with
no home inspection, isdefinitely record setting from
(17:52):
two or three years ago.
But now inventory seems to bebetter.
And if you're competing withanother house at the same square
footage and you want to be thebetter house, if you want your
house to actually move and Iwould say that what I see the
most is people put off theheating and air and the roofing
because, as I mentioned earlier,those are the two big ticket
items.
But if there's anything elsethat needs to be fixed, you know
(18:15):
that is that that that'sdefinitely worthy.
You know, painting the wholehouse things that you'll get
your money back on.
Uh, that being that being said,you know the new buyers may want
a different color.
So you're going out on a limbby just assuming that they may
want that.
But if it's an older home, yougot dogs, you got all these bad,
dirty drywall places, then youknow, um, a paint job is is not
(18:36):
a bad thing, but uh, what?
What I see is that people putoff the big ticket items and I
think it would be a hard sell tosay, hey, call a preliminary
inspector and to tell you allthe things that you need to fix
and then go fix all those thingsBecause people want to test the
water, they want to see if theycan get what they're asking
price before they spend a bunchof money.
(18:56):
So you're calling an inspectorin spending money on him to tell
you that you got to spend a lotmore money.
So I don't know that that wouldfly and you would like to put
faith in humanity as a wholethat people would just do the
right thing.
But I just don't see it a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I agree.
But at the same time, I thinkif you're putting your house up
for sale and you did invest anamount of doing some things like
you decided hey, the roof's 15years old.
I'm going to put on a new roofand I'm going to go ahead and
dump that 20 grand to get theHVAC system updated and maybe a
new water heater, as we talkedabout.
(19:26):
Those aren't items that usuallygive you a super high ROI, or
they give you a very good one,but not a hundred percent or
more.
But put your mind into aprospective buyer.
If they're standing on the curband the realtor said to them by
the way, this house has a brandnew roof with a 50 year
warranty.
This house also has a brand newHVAC system and a new water
(19:50):
heater.
You're going to get somebodygoing.
Oh, as a buyer, I wouldpersonally think, oh, that makes
me feel good because those arebig ticket items.
I know I got 15 to 20 yearsbefore.
I need to worry about them.
What do they want for the houseversus?
Hey, this house is a good pricefor the market and for the
neighborhood, but the inspectorsaid the roof's got a couple of
(20:10):
years left.
The HVAC system is starting toshow some signs and you're and
you might need a water.
Oh, I don't want to put thatmoney, so it depends.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
The flip side of what I said is they're going to want
a $40,000 concession over thosethree items, you know water
heater, roof and HVAC.
So you, you kind of putyourself in a position to have
to negotiate harder because whenthey come back they could get
Joe Ruffer out of Raleigh, somebig guy who has, you know, 40
trucks, and he could come inthere and of course he's going
to be five to $8,000 more thanwe are.
(20:40):
And so then all of a suddentheir negotiation puts you in a
worse position.
So I get your point and youknow it's just kind of
situational.
But if you could replace theroof for 10 grand and somebody
says well, I got a quote for 18grand, I want that off the sale
price, then you're kind ofbehind the eight ball at that
point.
So I guess it could go eitherway.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, you're right, it's it's.
It's not a gamble, but you aretrying.
That's why you need a realestate agent.
That we've we've had them onbefore.
They really know the marketsand can help you out with
something like that.
Um, we could go on for thatlong time.
I want to hit a couple otherthings on the show today.
The best way to find a reliablecontractor I have people walk
into our store and they're doinga project, or they might be
(21:20):
doing a build, but they justdon't know who to contact,
necessarily.
Or you know, hey, can yourecommend somebody?
I'm willing to recommend peoplewho I think are good
contractors.
Right, I don't make anything onthe side.
It's not like a referralprogram, but if someone says,
yeah, I'm looking for someone toput in a deck, do you know who
I could call, maybe to do a goodjob?
(21:41):
I'll give them three names andI don't have any problem doing
that.
What are you doing someone?
What advice would you givesomebody aside from calling you
directly, Donnie?
How do they find a goodcontractor or a reliable one?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah Well, we used to preach and I want to say the
first three or four years of theshow, we preach that you should
call the local inspectionsdepartment because they know who
the you know good contractorsare in town because they see all
their work and so, um, that hasbeen shut down in the last
couple of a few years because,uh, every municipality has taken
the stance that they, they arenot allowed to refer contractors
(22:16):
.
I guess there's some bigconflict of interest there.
So I take that advice backbecause you know the smaller
municipalities, they still maybe willing to give you a little
bit off the record advice, buteverybody's in cover, your rear
end mode these days, it seems.
And I would say what you justmentioned as far as go to the
local building supply, if it's aplumber, you need to go to the
plumbing supply house and justask those folks who they
(22:40):
recommend.
And you know, I don't tell themthe size of your job.
If you've got a big job, a lotof times that's somebody with a
big staff that needs to handlethat.
But if you've got a tinyplumbing job, then you want a
plumber with just him and ahelper and they're going to be a
lot cheaper than the guy with aton of overhead.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
So while we're talking I shouldn't have my
phone.
We talk about it.
But someone sent me a text.
They were listening and theysaid hey, going back to, donnie
mentioned painting and cheaperstuff you can do to maybe
increase the home's value.
They said what are some otherthings real quick I can do if
I'm not going to do a big ticketitem, maximize return on my
(23:14):
investment when I go to sellthat house?
And of course you said paintingit.
Painting always improves it,because we're talking curb
appeal.
Painting covers mistakes orproblems too, but for the most
part it looks fresh and it evensmells good.
What other quick things do youthink of top of your head?
Sorry to spring that on you.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Quick things Garage door replacement.
It doesn't sound sexy but ithas a big time ROI and you know
you definitely get your moneyback and then some out of a
garage door.
I do recommend going insulatedbecause in the summer makes a
big difference on how yourgarage feels.
The other things that youreally get your money back out
of are kitchens and baths.
(23:55):
But I know that we had talked awhile back that you replaced
your front door and as simple asthat sounds, you know it does
make a difference.
And if you're not talking aboutROI, you just want more curb
appeal for a sale, then that'ssomething quick and easy that
you could do.
Getting into energy efficientfeatures, those are.
Those are a little bit morecomplex.
It's not a, it's not majorsurgery that you got to do, but
(24:16):
you know that that's always agood thing to do and actually I
didn't replace the door.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Oh, you painted it.
Painted the door barn red, verytrendy, and I also got a storm
door put in on the side.
But yeah, painting your doorit's not hard to do if it's in
good condition and it reallychanges the whole face of the
house.
Just that one thing.
Even more than bushes Now, I'veseen canary yellow and lime
(24:41):
green front doors and blue doorspopping up, and unless you're
at the beach it don't work.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah, we did that on the show and I had no say in
that because I don't pick paintcolors, but when we did the TV
show, every house had either ared or a uh, yellow, canary
yellow front door and it worked.
You know, certain, certainpercentage of the population
likes that and I'll say that Icaved on that just a tick, but I
didn't do red or yellow and wehave a flip house on the market
(25:07):
right now.
It's beautiful.
I mean, I think I sent youbefore and after.
Maybe I didn't.
If I didn't, I will, but we, ifI didn't, I will.
But we did a uh, navy, blue,navy, ish blue door and um it
it's a white house with blacktrim with a blue door and it
really sets it off, but itdoesn't pop like red and yellow,
but, um, definitely nice subtlefeature.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Um, and they have a specialpaint color, by the way, called
barn red.
I was so thankful when my wifesaid, hey, I want to paint the
door.
What color?
Barn red.
Walk to the paint storeLiterally barn red.
I'm like these people know whatthey're doing in the paint
store.
Yeah, they do Last question,donnie, that I thought about and
you're going to have to put ona different hat and then go into
(25:45):
a past life.
But luckily we've had a prettymild year when it comes to
tropical storms and hurricanesand hopefully it'll stay that
way.
But when things happen, peoplehave to call their insurance
company and the worst thing iswhen you find out you're not
covered by something.
Floods is a very common thing,so a very common question people
(26:07):
probably have homeowners in theback of their mind is will my
homeowner's insurance cover thatand I know this is a past life
for you, but what do people needto know about their homeowner's
insurance?
Cover that and I know this is apast life for you, but what do
people need to know?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
about their homeowner's insurance.
Well, you really need to be ontop of your coverage amounts,
because that's one of thosethings when home prices increase
.
To qualify for replacement costcoverage even if you think you
have plenty of insurance, youmay not.
You think you have plenty ofinsurance, you may not you have
to carry 80% of the perceived orthe estimated cost of the house
(26:40):
.
So if it's a half milliondollar house, you have to have
at least $400,000 in insurancecoverage.
If you don't carry enough, whatthat does is put you from
replacement costs, which iscalled RCV replacement cost
value to actual cash value, acvand what that means is they're
going to depreciate your claim.
So if you get a claim for$100,000 to fix your house,
they're going to depreciate itby how old the house is and
(27:02):
several other factors.
And if they depreciate that$100,000 by 30 or 40 grand,
what's going to happen is yourecover that If you have
replacement costs and you carryenough coverage, you're going to
get that depreciation backafter you finish the repairs.
If you don't carry enoughcoverage, then that depreciation
(27:22):
just goes away or the insurancecompany keeps it, rather
because you do not get thatmoney back.
So having enough coverage isprobably number one priority.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
If I had to say and I think it's also important to
get an insurance broker becausethey can find the best deals.
But sometimes the insurancebroker is going to find someone
that'll cover your house butthey might not be local or
someone you can easily visit andcontact, versus going to a
insurance agent in town andsaying, hey, here's where I live
(27:50):
, here's my house.
They'll look at your house andsay what do you recommend?
And they might go do you knowyou're in a floodplain?
Or they might say you don'tneed this.
We would recommend, you know,dinosaur insurance because, or
whatever.
But you know, having thoseinsurance agents come out and
look at your property, look atthe history, look how storms
affect it, they'll see allthings around your house that
(28:13):
could be issues that they canpoint out and they'll be very
specific of what you need.
But you just need to know whatam I covered for?
Ask your agent.
They should be willing toschedule a time to go through it
and let you know clearly whatyou're covered under.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
And have that conversation at least every two
or three years because, like Isaid, the value of houses all
shot up what 20%, 30% last fewyears.
And the three coverages youhave to be aware of are A, b and
C.
Coverage A is your house.
Coverage B is other structuresor, you know, accessory
buildings, things like that, andif you don't ask for extra
money on those then they thevalue of your house.
(28:47):
Uh say, I'm sorry, if yourcoverage A is 500,000 for your
house, then your automaticcoverage B by default is 10% of
that number.
So that means you only have50,000.
And I mean I've got a 40 by 60shop that we're working on right
now.
So, when it's all said and done, if I had a half million on the
house, 50,000 wouldn't touchthe shop.
So you may want to ask forextra coverage on that.
And the coverage C is personalproperty.
(29:09):
So if you're sitting on$100,000 in jewelry, then you
need to make your insuranceagent aware of that, because
they have extra endorsements andthings like that.
They will.
They will cover that.
You know, if you live in a umarea where, uh, you're tied into
city sewer and you've had asewer backup, that's an X,
that's an endorsement.
That's something that you haveto ask for specifically.
Or you know sewer backs up andyou don't have coverage for that
(29:32):
and you don't figure that outuntil you've got a lot of you
know what to clean up.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
So Know the ABCs of insurance.
It sounds like Ooh, that's good, I know my alphabet.
Next week we'll work on numbersand maybe a little bit of math,
but uh, hey, if you have aquestion about your house or
something we were talking about,um, please go to the website,
the Carolina contractorcom.
We've got the ask thecontractor button right there.
Again, johnny is Johnny.
Donnie is a Johnny.
(29:58):
We need to talk after the show.
We found a replacement.
Donnie's a general contractor,so he can answer a lot of these
questions and we love gettingthem.
So if you got something that'sbuzzing around your brain you
want to know, please contact usand again, go to the website,
thecarolinacontractorcom.
You can see the past shows andhit the YouTube page and hit our
(30:23):
IG, because we've got a couplethings going absolutely crazy on
there.
We were stunned hundreds ofthousands of views all of a
sudden and more and more peoplefollowing us, and we're very
thankful for that.
So thank you, thank you, thankyou.
We put a lot into this and it'snice to see some.
That's working.
On my end, full admission here.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I got to do a better job about getting these YouTube
videos up, because that's myresponsibility, but we're
getting there.
And it's tough when you'rerunning a couple of businesses
with three children and just awhole lot going on and at the
end of the day, some days I'm onfire and some days I ain't got
anything left in the tank.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
So that's the truth.
We just make it look easy.
They don't know what goesbehind the scenes.
You don't want to know how yourlaws and your hot dogs are made
and you don't want to know howwe make this show happen.
But we're glad you do like it.
We hope you catch us next weekon the Carolina Contractor Show.
Thanks next week on theCarolina contractor show.
Thanks everybody.
Bye, johnny, see you there.
Thanks for listening to theCarolina contractor show.
(31:40):
Visit the Carolinacontractorcom.
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