New Home - Tradies and Handover Work Advice

• 

  airzone on 14/11/2016 - 19:29

  +2

  Electrician

  Shop around and don't be afraid to talk turkey straight up. I had a local sparkie recommended to me and I had him for a day and a half installing lights, ceiling fans, a few power points, and cat 6 network cables. Cost me around $1500 for his time including all consumables and the points. It was quoted as a job

  Painter

  I had a "painter" (he was a dude who was recommended and admittedly did know what he was doing, but he was really a publican) do my old place where a lot of repair and remediation work was required. He cost me around $1000 for 5 half days where I supplied the paint. I have always done simple work myself. Small cracks and repairs are fairly easy. I have only had to use the proper primer for hard surfaces - metal, unsealed surfaces prior to enamel paint, etc. Raw gyprock just seemed to soak up the undercoat. If you do it yourself, get good quality brushes and rollers, and you can use that roll-on-pink undercoat that dries white. Also the application techniques and rollers are different for enamel paint.

  Fence

  Use the local guy. You have a local reference and can see the quality of his work.

  I'm just wary how there seems to be a huge differential in tradies quoting prices and how some people get it done much cheaper for tradies on a smaller margin. But I don't want to get a shoddy job done just for the sake of saving money. Is there no easy way around it but trial and error and hopefully not picking one that does a crappy job?

  Particularly out my way, there are more jobs than tradies.. So if they don't want / need a job, they price stupid high. I asked about 4 people to come and quote up a laundry install. The only one who bothered to show up quoted $7k. I bought nice cabinets and a benchtop from Harvey Normal for $1200 and installed it myself in an afternoon with my brother's help.

  You want to ask for people's experiences / recommendations. I also ask tradies if they knew a someone good for a different trade job (i.e. ask a sparkie about a tiler, etc). They all tend to move in the same circles, so they know each other.

  I've tossed up picking up a drill for venetians and verticals as well, as my last blinds quote was like 3-4k for supply and install! Whereas venetians (custom lengths etc) seemed to be a few hundred bucks here and there at bunnings or stores off the back of my hand calcs when browsing on the weekend?

  If you like their style and quality and it fits, why not?

  Must one usually do side paving, landscaping etc. prior to doing the side fencing, so that the fencing sits above the eventual landscaping? Or is there usually an allowance, so that one can get the side fence in ASAP before any landscaping is done (and it's just sand /uneven levels around the site)

  As long as you don't need a retaining wall.. It will probably be a pita to unload soil / fill with a fence up.

• 

  ms_caz on 14/11/2016 - 19:53

  We did a home measure and installation through this mob in Perth https://www.abcexpress.com.au/ - we are in Melbourne. Delivery was free - a little slow as I recall but it was just before Christmas a couple of years ago. We installed timber look venetians and they looked quite presentable. They were easy to install but a two person job in order to have somebody hold the stupid end.

  When we ordered they had a sale so the price ended up to be much more reasonable than we could find for a measure and quote/custom installation here, and cheaper than buying them at a local big box store - plus we got to measure exactly what we wanted so that all our windows had the same appearance, which would have been impossible off the shelf since we had a number of different and odd sized windows.

  We did however make one error in our measurement and had one blind measured for a longer drop than needed. We ended up ordering an entirely new blind rather than trying to send it back (freight back to Perth was expensive!) or trying to cut to size. It really wasn't worth the fussing around/our time. But that was user error - remember - measure twice then measure again and make sure the measurer checks what is written down!

  • 

    SaberX on 30/11/2016 - 02:42

    Thanks for the recommendation! I just started looking into 'online' window treatments for blinds - venetians and verticals, I am not sure how hard the roller or double rollers (one blockout, and the other is the one you can see light outside but they can't see in too much) are to install, but venetians and verticals were definitely on the agenda.

    The one that popped up on google searching for online stores for me was half price blinds:

    http://halfpriceblinds.com.au/

    Hadn't heard of abcexpress but I will check out if they ship to Perth. So did you find the installation must require two? From what I can see it seems for venetians and verticals one has to measure the right spot then drill screws into the window sill to have the bracket stay in place, followed by just attaching said venetian or verticals rack to these brackets? In that sense I figured it could be done solo and by someone who has never done it before?

    The floor plan measure and quote for me turned up starting from $2,000 for supply and install of 25mm slat aluminium venetians and vertical blinds even…. while they said blinds were $10 to install so you don't save much, I feel alot of the pricing will go into the actual quoted price. To go up to 50mm slats or even go the "fake wood aka PVC" style venetians saw me head upwards to $3,000 .

    Did you find your blinds you used the 25mm or 50mm slats? I've seen alot of 25mm venetians that looked nice from outside but having a 50mm at home I figure it is sturdier (the slats - particularly I would assume alumium ones vs their smaller slat counterparts) and easier to clean, albeit maybe doesn't look as good? Any recommendations?

    I agree about big box and not cutting to measure. I believe now Bunnings sell some you can request to be cut down? But true, nothing beats measuring and installing yourself.

    Regarding measuring did you hvae any tips? I know they say measure 3 times, top, medium and bottom of the window frame for your measurements. I assume you then deduct a bit on both ends to therefore give it space to not be touching the side walls? As for the drop should it usually just reach the bottom and not have any slats folded or lying flat on the window sill? Looking at the one in my current house it has about 3 or 4 slats bunched up/sitting on the window sill so I assume the drop for this one was clearly done wrong/way too long!!

    Overall though it sounds like online blinds quality and look turned out fine?

    More importantly - what sort of drill/difficulty was drilling into say metal window lintels to get the brackets in?? do you need a particular drill and drill head?

    • 

      ms_caz on 30/11/2016 - 06:36

      ABC Express are in Perth so they should be fairly quick when it comes to shipping. They might even have a physical presence/shopfront where you can see samples etc.

      I think the whole process could be easily done by somebody who has never done it before but I would want to have an extra pair of hands. Lifting a blind above your head or while standing on a ladder is going to be a bit tricky. I did it with my husband - it all went well but remember to measure accurately and to mark out where you will install and to check those points are level.

      We went for the wider slats. We did have a local company install some in our bathroom and ensuite where there had previously only been frosted glass - which blocked any direct view in but since they were on a second floor looking out onto a road, it was clear for people to see inside if you were standing with the light on. Anyway, my point is the "wood look" venetians were recommended to us as they withstand moisture without warping, and they are more solid than the aluminium venetians which can bend. We were also told that we could clean the venetians by taking them down and laying them flat on a concrete surface or similar, washing them off with a soapy detergent and then hosing them off, leaving them to dry. It's obvious they are not wood but I think they are a pleasing alternative.

      The site itself gives you instructions for measuring - you can either measure to sit inside the window frame or to cover the whole face of the window. Yes measure at three points (and give these exact measurements to the company - they add in the tolerance from your actual measurements). But I would also recommend measuring at least a couple of times because we did find that one of our measurements had been recorded incorrectly and if we had gone back to double check we wouldn't have a left over blind sitting in our garage (because it was the wrong size)! Our windows have wooden surrounds so there is no need to drill into the aluminium window frame itself, but if you have to then I guess you would need the relevant drill bit - would it also need a special drill because the surface is harder? I'm not sure - my job was to hold it straight!

      I think all online blinds companies are similar. It saves a great deal of hassle having a measure and install done by a professional - it is much more convenient and stress free but if $$$$ make it unfeasible, then buying online and installing yourself works fine and looks good - as long as you have time and patience (and a ladder, a spirit level, a drill and somebody to hold the stupid end!)