The Home Improvements Thread (2)

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D tj said:
@ xrapidx...Yup they are meant to get stuck in walls....^^ how to un-stuck them.
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It either gets stuck or it rips half your wall out with it when you screw the bolt in, there's no half measures with these bad boys.

I prefer chemical anchor these days.
 
Worst part is - I'll be redoing them on the other side of the house (new anchors) - moving my office....
 
Depending on what you are doing and how load wise, there are a few options ie these Rawl bolts, Thunderbolts, nylon or polyetherlyne ? plugs and screws, sleeve anchors chemical anchors.
Not a fan of coach screws with plugs as the coach screws shear off too easily especially the 6 and 8mm.
Personal favourite Multifix's red 5,5mm plugs with 8x or 10x chipboard screws or their brown 7mm plugs with10x or 12x Chipboard screws, and Thunderbolts. in 8 ,10 ,12 mm.
 
I also knock them into the wall and fill. Good luck getting them out.

they’re also the best for keeping things on the wall.
 
Smokey mcpot said:
I also knock them into the wall and fill. Good luck getting them out.

they’re also the best for keeping things on the wall.
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Only time they aren't great is when the wall is brittle, which is of course a bigger problem.
I can't use rawl bolts in my garage, tried using it for a pull up bar and I nearly lost all my teeth. This with 6 12mm rawl bolts.
 
Thought I'd feedback here, second quote for braai area finally received :( the fact that I'm having to chase people for these sort of things not great at all. But very little choices here which is weird.
1st Contractor: Quote 100k insane
2nd Contractor : No response 2 weeks later
3rd Contractor : Eventually responds after 2 weeks later, R38k also no actual braai, that's an additional 12k
4th Contractor: On recommendation of someone either in this thread or one of the others, after initial call seemed positive, I had to ask a week later what's up, only to be told, sorry you are too far and we are too busy - fair enough.
5th Contractor: Contacted today, stated upfront they are very busy but will quote and discuss when they will be available.

3rd Contractor quote seems reasonable, I think :(
 
Breaker187 said:
Thought I'd feedback here, second quote for braai area finally received :( the fact that I'm having to chase people for these sort of things not great at all. But very little choices here which is weird.
1st Contractor: Quote 100k insane
2nd Contractor : No response 2 weeks later
3rd Contractor : Eventually responds after 2 weeks later, R38k also no actual braai, that's an additional 12k
4th Contractor: On recommendation of someone either in this thread or one of the others, after initial call seemed positive, I had to ask a week later what's up, only to be told, sorry you are too far and we are too busy - fair enough.
5th Contractor: Contacted today, stated upfront they are very busy but will quote and discuss when they will be available.

3rd Contractor quote seems reasonable, I think :(
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Just be careful of automatically assuming 3rd quote is reasonable because it matches what you think it should cost...

BUT the R100k quote seems definitely over the top.
 
Breaker187 said:
Thought I'd feedback here, second quote for braai area finally received :( the fact that I'm having to chase people for these sort of things not great at all. But very little choices here which is weird.
1st Contractor: Quote 100k insane
2nd Contractor : No response 2 weeks later
3rd Contractor : Eventually responds after 2 weeks later, R38k also no actual braai, that's an additional 12k
4th Contractor: On recommendation of someone either in this thread or one of the others, after initial call seemed positive, I had to ask a week later what's up, only to be told, sorry you are too far and we are too busy - fair enough.
5th Contractor: Contacted today, stated upfront they are very busy but will quote and discuss when they will be available.

3rd Contractor quote seems reasonable, I think :(
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Definitely ask for references and contact them to find out if they were satisfied with the job and if there were any cost overruns
 
Breaker187 said:
Thought I'd feedback here, second quote for braai area finally received :( the fact that I'm having to chase people for these sort of things not great at all. But very little choices here which is weird.
1st Contractor: Quote 100k insane
2nd Contractor : No response 2 weeks later
3rd Contractor : Eventually responds after 2 weeks later, R38k also no actual braai, that's an additional 12k
4th Contractor: On recommendation of someone either in this thread or one of the others, after initial call seemed positive, I had to ask a week later what's up, only to be told, sorry you are too far and we are too busy - fair enough.
5th Contractor: Contacted today, stated upfront they are very busy but will quote and discuss when they will be available.

3rd Contractor quote seems reasonable, I think :(
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That's the general experience - I ask once - if nothing comes out of it - I just assume you're crap at what you do and I'll have further hassles down the line, so I move on.
 
xrapidx said:
That's the general experience - I ask once - if nothing comes out of it - I just assume you're crap at what you do and I'll have further hassles down the line, so I move on.
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I don't get it hey, you have to beg people for quotes.
Or they make appointments and just don't rock up.
 
martin said:
Our home's previous owner did this. Drilling into our walls is an adventure.
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Drilling them is the other option to get them out. Steel bit to break the plug and then. Thin flat screw driver to get it out.
Either way, filling the wall is going to leave an adventure to the next person as those holes are technically still there. I remember pulling out long pieces of what was either painters mate or silicone out of a wall at a clients place. Holes were also filled before painting and that was the end result when we had to hang things.
Sadly most walls will be an adventure when moving into a new house.
 
On the time thing for quotes... some defence for guys.

I know one guy who I believe is one of the beat in the business. Certain things that I don’t do I recommend him. I do give fair warning though that he is super busy and in high demand. He is sometimes booked for months in advance and barely ever gets to his phone. So bad that I go to his place or call his wife if I wanna get hold of him. So sometimes assuming based on how long it takes for the quote is not always an exact representation of his work ethic. Remember quotes also take time and running around, and you wouldn’t want someone running around while he’s supposed to be on site at your place.

i am sometimes guilty of this as well. Just last night my neighbor saw me pull up and stood in front of my garage door to get hold of me lol. He’s been wanting me to paint his place since I did his gates in October. He’s mistake was telling me to come and see him when I have time lol
 
Fair enough Smokey, its hard to judge.
To everyone else, yep the point of getting multiple quotes was to make an informed decision and def follow up with references. I'm also aware that this might be considered a small job and not worth the effort right now as people are trying to make back losses due to covid, obviously it makes sense to do the bigger jobs with hopefully a guarentee of longer term income.
My side is just concerning running out of options and having to go with the one reasonable quote.
 
Smokey mcpot said:
On the time thing for quotes... some defence for guys.

I know one guy who I believe is one of the beat in the business. Certain things that I don’t do I recommend him. I do give fair warning though that he is super busy and in high demand. He is sometimes booked for months in advance and barely ever gets to his phone. So bad that I go to his place or call his wife if I wanna get hold of him. So sometimes assuming based on how long it takes for the quote is not always an exact representation of his work ethic. Remember quotes also take time and running around, and you wouldn’t want someone running around while he’s supposed to be on site at your place.

i am sometimes guilty of this as well. Just last night my neighbor saw me pull up and stood in front of my garage door to get hold of me lol. He’s been wanting me to paint his place since I did his gates in October. He’s mistake was telling me to come and see him when I have time lol
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Of course...

But not answering the phone when called is one thing, and understandable if a guy is super busy.

Answering the call, setting up an appointment and then not showing is a totally different kettle of fish.
Or showing up and then promising a quote by x date and just ghosting is also just not really on. Expectation setting is important. Set the appointment, arrive, and then be honest and say "Job to small", or "I will get you your quote asap if you want it, but I will probably only be able to start in 6 months because I'm booked until then".
 
Honestly I don’t know how guys can say a job is too small. My biggest client asked me to paint a tiny little spare bedroom which just about fitted a single bed and cupboard with space to walk next to the bed. Little did I know this was basically a test as we ended up doing the entire 7 large bedrooms guest house inside and outside, including the 2 cottages on the property. This also led to me now doing all his properties maintenance.
Imagine I had said the bedroom was too small, instead I just asked him to buy the materials and have him a low price as it was barely any work.

even small things like fixing a leaking toilet/tap leads to clients using in in future if your work ethic is good.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Of course...

But not answering the phone when called is one thing, and understandable if a guy is super busy.

Answering the call, setting up an appointment and then not showing is a totally different kettle of fish.
Or showing up and then promising a quote by x date and just ghosting is also just not really on.
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True that, missing an appointment is not cool unless they obviously inform you
 
Smokey mcpot said:
Honestly I don’t know how guys can say a job is too small. My biggest client asked me to paint a tiny little spare bedroom which just about fitted a single bed and cupboard with space to walk next to the bed. Little did I know this was basically a test as we ended up doing the entire 7 large bedrooms guest house inside and outside, including the 2 cottages on the property. This also led to me now doing all his properties maintenance.
Imagine I had said the bedroom was too small, instead I just asked him to buy the materials and have him a low price as it was barely any work.

even small things like fixing a leaking toilet/tap leads to clients using in in future if your work ethic is good.
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Exactly... after our building nightmare my new plumber recommended someone to do the final patching up. I gave him a small bit of work to start with (like R2k) - now he's up to about R20k of work from me because I'm impressed with his work.
 
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