Let’s kick things off with a bang as Eric G and John Dudley dive deep into the chaos that is planning for those oh-so-glorious home projects in 2026. You know, the ones we’ve been daydreaming about for years while binge-watching home improvement shows. But hold your horses, folks! The duo is here to throw cold water on those Pinterest-perfect visions with some reality checks about rising costs and supply chain madness. They chat about how the financial landscape is shifting—thanks, inflation and tariffs!—and how that means if you’re thinking about a kitchen remodel or adding a sweet outdoor kitchen, you might just want to start checking lumber prices like you’re tracking crypto. Who knew home improvement could feel like day trading? Eric and John don’t just stop at doom and gloom, though. They dish out some solid advice on how to navigate this jungle of costs. Think of it as a treasure map but with way less gold and a lot more drywall. They emphasize the importance of planning, connecting the dots between projects, and maybe even getting a little sneaky with the tools of modern technology—hello, AI!—to help with your project planning. This isn’t just about making your home pretty; it’s about making smart decisions that won’t leave you financially stranded. So grab your notepad and get ready to take notes because these two are about to school you on how to not just survive, but thrive in the wild world of home renovations. And let’s not forget the hilarity that ensues as they share personal anecdotes that highlight the absurdities of home improvement. From unexpected plumbing disasters to the sheer insanity of pricing on materials, it’s a rollercoaster of laughs and “oh no, not again!” moments. By the end of this episode, you’ll be ready to tackle 2026 with a plan that’s not just smart, but also a little bit sarcastic—because why not laugh at the absurdity of it all?

Takeaways:

1. Planning for your 2026 projects is like playing chess with the lumber market, strategy is key!
2. Don't throw away good materials just because you got excited; plan your remodel wisely, folks!
3. Embrace your inner nerd: track lumber prices like they're stocks, it'll save you cash in the long run.
4. Always consider the absurdity of building codes; they might just ruin your plans before you even start.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. aroundthehouseonline.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. American Redwood Lumber Society
2. GE Appliances
3. Haier

Thanks for listening to Around the house if you want to hear more please subscribe so you get notified of the latest episode as it posts at https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/listen

If you want to join the Around the House Insider for access to the back catalog, Exclusive Content and a direct email to Eric G and access to the show early https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/support

We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/

Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

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Foreign.

Welcome to around the House with Eric G. Your trusted source for all things home improvement.

Whether you're tackling a DIY project, hiring it out, or just trying to keep your home running smoothly, you're in the right place.

With over 30 years of remodeling experience, certified kitchen designer Eric G takes you behind the scenes with expert advice, industry trends and the latest innovations for your home.

Home.

It's everything you need to know without the fluff.

Now let's get this show started with our host, Eric G. And John Dudley.

Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything home improvement.

Happy New year, everybody.

I'm Eric G. And we got here in the co pilot seat cruising down the freeway, we got John Dudley.

Welcome.

Good to see you, brother.

What's happening, brother?

Man, we are going to be starting out 20, 26, man, with just our.

Foot to the floor.

I'm so excited.

I'm re energized after the holidays and it's like, all right, let's rock.

We've got so many new people out there joining us today across the United States on the radio, especially all the different affiliates we've added over the holidays here.

And yeah, this is not that show you were probably listening to last week.

You've got the around the House show and this show's been around a long time.

Coming up on 38 years.

Dudley.

Wow, man.

It's crazy.

Yeah, that is crazy.

So basically this show, and it's funny, I was just talking with on social media with the board op, the guy that ran the board for the original host back in the late 80s and I'm like, wow, cool.

So we were talking and trading stories and those people are still around out there, but it's cool just to see that.

Yeah, it's crazy.

That's long before H.G.

Yep.

Long before it was popular.

There we go.

Long before that it was.

It's interesting.

We've changed over the years.

When I took it over almost a decade ago, sheesh.

We were sitting there doing live tell, live radio here in a studio.

And now because we're in what, five or six time zones now across the U.S. it's hard to do that, go behind the curtain.

But really, guys, if you want to find out more about us, easiest place to go is over the website that Johnny developed, roundthe house online.com and follow us on social media, follow us on our YouTube or Facebook or Instagram, that kind of stuff.

And we're really going to be doing a lot with that this year and new videos New content we've got just on the YouTube.

Between these episodes and everything else, I think we've got six or seven hundred videos there, and we've got about almost two grand as far as the back catalog on the podcast.

A lot of yapping, a lot of stuff there.

And Johnny's background here, of course, now he's web designer.

But before him and I met Geez Contracting, he was remodel contractor.

I was doing design work selling him cabinets.

And so I was working with his crews all the time.

We worked together at a couple different places, including a Tacoma woodwork shop that used to be around.

So we had a lot of fun.

That was a good time.

It was.

Love that place, man.

Actually, that was a fun place.

It was cool.

And yeah, Johnny and I played in a band together.

You'll hear some of the music in the show, by the way, when that happens.

But we've had a lot of fun here on working together, doing stuff together.

We've had our wins, we've had our losses, and maybe more losses than wins at times.

But I tell you what, it's been a great journey and so happy to be talking to you.

So when you're listening to this show here, you're going to get a whole mix of things because Johnny has his experience from the contracting side.

I've got mine from the design contracting and just the product side.

So we have a great mix here and we're here to help you.

So if you want to hear something on this show, the best way to get a hold of us is just over at the website, around the house, online dot com.

And, man, it's so fun because things are so different across the country.

Regionally, how they build a house and where I'm located up here in the Portland, Oregon metro area is so different than when they build one in Phoenix, for instance.

Yeah, for sure.

And it's a lot of fun because it's just so freaking different.

I watch people build houses down there.

I'm like, what are you doing?

And I'm sure they're doing the same thing with us.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Come to Columbia, dude.

It's super crazy.

I don't understand.

Yeah, it's.

Yeah.

I won't go way into it, but it's way different.

Yeah.

Electrical code.

Code put in the electrical code.

They use lamp cord basically to wire whole houses here.

It's crazy.

I spent a whole day once looking for plumbers putty.

They're like, huh?

Oof.

Yeah.

I'm like, plumber's putty.

They're like, no, just silicone it.

And I'm like, no, plumbers putty.

They.

Yeah, no, nobody got it.

I was like, never mind.

Boxes aren't common either.

Oh, hole in the wall.

Lamp cord sticking out.

Yeah, no, it's.

Spin it together, wrap some tape around and call it good, huh?

It's not quite.

I wouldn't say it's quite as dangerous as Thailand, for example.

Okay.

But it's close.

Yeah, it's borderline.

They're a little more metro than that.

Yeah, man.

If you've ever been to Thailand, including in the street, like, you could get zapped by a downed wire from an electrical pole at any moment because they just hang there.

And I'm not kidding, they're in circ.

They're two feet around, these bundles of wire.

Yeah.

Going from pole to pole or more so.

It's insane.

Yeah.

They just everything, don't they?

It's not that here, I'll give you that.

Like, it's.

Yeah, makes sense.

Makes sense.

We're starting out the year.

It's funny, I see this commercial on television here in my area.

That's a bank lending, and that's this couple talking about their kitchen remodel coming up.

And you can tell as they're telling about the kitchen remodels, they haven't done it in 10 years, and they've been talking about it for 10 years.

Oh, we're going to do it this year, and I think we're going to do this, and I think we're going to do that.

And it's so funny because so many people want to tackle those projects.

But of course, with the financial situation across the US and, and tariffs and everything else, it's a complex mix of can I afford it or can I not afford to do it?

And of course, prices have gone up so much.

You really got to plan things out differently than maybe you did a couple years ago, even during the COVID years of construction.

For sure.

It's almost like watching the stock market at this point.

That's it.

Right.

So there's another thing to consider.

You're like, yeah, we're planning to do a.

A fence, a swimming pool in the spring or whatever.

But then you go, wait, what if price of concrete goes down, the price of cedar goes down?

Or I'm going through a lot of that.

Building this app we've been talking about right now and trying to find regional multipliers and regional prices, and across 887 zip codes.

And to find accuracy in this market that's moving so fluidly and so crazily.

It's super difficult, but definitely plays into your planning process.

I don't know.

Maybe we wait until OSB isn't $50 a sheet.

Exactly.

Again, I was just walking through the store over the week here, and I'm like, oh, man, There we go.

18 bucks a sheet for drywall.

Almost 19.

And it just used to be six.

It's literally three times.

So, as always, all that stuff is literally three times what it was.

And maybe I'm thinking 15 years ago, but even eight, it wasn't.

Yeah, yeah.

It's insanity.

It's crazy.

And then you start looking at, okay, I got to do a repair on the outside of my beach house or something, and you need, like, clear cedar shingles, and there's 600, $700 a square.

Those.

Yeah.

Do that math.

You'll quickly decide differently.

Yeah.

Boy, that Hardy Plank sure looks good.

Yeah, buddy.

And, yeah, I mean, it's.

They might as well be hauling that around in armored cars versus lumber trucks.

Seriously, man.

As.

Yeah.

And again, depending on where you're at, depending on, again, if you live in Phoenix, you're definitely not looking at cedar shingles.

No, not at all.

Don't fall.

But then you're talking about the price of Romex and the price of copper and that, and all that stuff is tripled.

It's crazy.

It's way crazy.

Now, when we come back, brother, I want to start talking a little bit about some of those tricks.

I've got some great tricks, too, that can save some people money.

Like that.

Where to buy some Romax.

Sometimes it's in the places you don't even think about where you save some money.

Stay away from the new construction sites, you.

No, no, no.

I'm not talking about going down next to the mission and trying to.

I know you're from Portland.

It's no excuse.

There is that.

Hey, guys, if you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthehouse online dot com.

We will be right back after these important messages.

Don't change that time.

We are just getting started.

Welcome to the around the house family.

We want to thank all of our new affiliate stations on the Talk Media Network.

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while you are there, you can follow us on all our social channels.

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We will be right back after these important messages from our sponsors.

Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.

I'm Eric G. John Dudley.

Man, we are having a good time here.

And we are.

Sometimes the best stuff happens, even between during the commercial breaks between you and I, a lot of the time, with.

20 plus years of history, there's a lot of good times to be talking about, a lot of bad stories to tell.

Yeah.

Like that one time in Vegas.

But we won't talk about that.

We never talk about that.

The Vegas rule.

Absolutely.

And it applies there.

We were talking about how prices have gone up all over the place and it's crazy because.

Great example.

Our friend Caroline, American's healthy home expert, she was looking for some redwood to do some trim at her house out in New Jersey.

Nice.

She can't find it.

Doesn't exist.

Can't get it shipped in.

I gave her a bunch of names from the American Redwood Lumber Society or whatever people, you know that are selling it out there.

Still didn't happen.

It's tough, especially regionally.

Like, you were talking about stuff going all over the place.

Cedar can get all over the place.

And we got tariffs in there because some of this stuff's coming in from Canada and it gets pretty complex.

Sure.

Yeah.

You start getting into fixtures and cabinetry and the finishing stuff and then the tariffs come into play.

Oof, man.

Yeah.

And softwood lumber is one thing.

You know, when you're talking two by fours, two by sixes, and you're getting into like half inch, no plywood or 716 OSB.

But when you get into these hardwoods and specialty woods, oh, man, it's even crazier.

Like with cabinetry.

And that's again, one of the things that I think we should be planning for this year.

My.

My goal for you would be to plan out your projects you want to do this year and then just start once a week jumping on and taking a look at what lumber future prices are.

If you're building a house or at least just jumping on your Home Depot, Lowe's, or wherever your favorite lumberyard is to go through and get that figured out.

Because that way you can go, hey, wow, that's a dollar less a piece.

Yeah.

Like I said, it's like watching the stock market right now.

Because it does change that quickly.

Absolutely.

And sometimes dramatically.

And again, if you're buying 100 sheets OSB, $3 is a big difference.

Yeah.

No kidding.

No, that's a kid.

That's a kitchen sink or a dishwasher.

Close.

But yeah, it is.

And that's the crazy part.

And so many things are changing out there too.

I think we've coming up this year, I would expect more tariff stuff with the Chinese cabinetry coming in or Chinese cabinetry parts.

That's really changed a lot of things with the major cabinet makers across the US if you were planning a kitchen remodel or even a bathroom remodel, because all of a sudden when you put a 50 or 100% tariff on that product because they've been dumping it into the US that's cheaper than to buy the American brand stuff.

I'm actually really curious to see how, how the major players shift because of that.

And we've talked about that before in this.

Maybe it's boring for the audience, but it's exciting for contractors or at least intriguing, let's say.

Yeah, just with what they used to ship out to China to get done that they actually can do at home.

You've talked about it several times.

I'm curious to see how they play this, how they play this hand.

Right.

How they start shifting and what they change around and how they're going to survive, really.

And it's brutal.

Well, the other thing is too is, you know, the cabinetry got that passed through on the tariff thing and then the hardwood lumber slash flooring associations asked for them to do that from hardwood flooring coming out of China, I'm sure.

And it's crazy because we've lost.

Geez, I think this year we've lost three mills.

And a lot of that is because the hardwood lumber is coming in cheaper than they can actually make it.

And as far as the raw costs, they're getting it in way cheaper from overseas.

And so this stuff's coming in and I think that's a really big problem when you're trying to plan out projects.

Because maple, 3/4 inch plywood for your kitchen, if it's coming on from overseas or coming and imported and there's a big tariff on it.

That's a big part of that cabinetry number.

Because that stuff's expensive.

Yeah.

So yeah.

Well, you're talking about doubling your figures, right?

So yeah, what you thought a year ago you were going to be able to earn 18 months ago you're like, oh, cabinets are going to be about 10 grand.

No.

Now they're 20.

Yeah.

Or more.

You think about it.

What the average.

You and I talked about this, this last fall about the cost versus value report was those prices for projects.

And if you didn't listen to that one, head back on our podcast.

Take a look.

Take a look at that.

Because it really defines out what some of these projects are.

Just a simple kitchen model with laminate countertops and.

And vinyl flooring down was 70, $80,000.

Yeah.

I'm still do it.

Still reeling from that episode.

And.

And again, as I put together this application, which touches on all.

Everything we're talking about, it's just staggering to me.

I'm just.

The numbers that come out for, like you say, even just a simple bath remodel, I'm just dumbfounded.

Like, it's incredible.

Well, and the problem is too, is, you know, we've seen all these different issues, and I tell you what, it's fascinating.

I've been working on my house, and I just sold it and moved out of it.

I was just over.

It was crazy.

Over the holidays, I was back over at the house again because I'm friends with these guys because they're in the music industry around here and nice, fun people.

And it was so weird walking up to my old house and knocking on the door.

Yeah.

And I love these guys.

They're such cool people.

And I felt so bad pulling in.

Here's why I pulled in.

And I'm like, why is their water meter dug up?

Why is the landscape.

They're replacing the front water line going to the house because it started leaking after they bought it, man.

Guess what, guys?

Your home warranty doesn't cover that because it's outside of the structure.

Right.

So there's a problem.

So I don't know what they're spending on that, but I walked in, I'm like, oh, my gosh.

I felt so horrible.

I was like, oh.

I was a gut punch.

Oh, man.

I get it.

You don't get to pick when that stuff happens.

Oh.

But I was just like.

I walked up sheepishly up to the door going, okay, guys, thanks.

Thanks for the lemon, Eric.

Happy Christmas.

I mean, they were cool.

I love those guys.

They just.

Yeah.

He needed some help with one of the smart locks.

It might be that it was still connected to my old.

To my phone, even though I disabled it.

So on.

That I can't go into their house, but had to go do some hoop jumping for electronics.

But crazy.

But that tells you how these things can come up and so many times those projects, you go, oh, okay, we just have to dig a trench, write down what we're gonna do, and through the landscaping across the driveway, whatever.

Then the city gets involved.

Right.

Things get expensive.

Yeah.

I always joked if I ever was going to do the water line there, it was going to happen where I was going to block my driveway with.

A vehicle at midnight.

Yep.

It Saturday morning, I'll be digging very small sections and then filling it back in so I can do it without the permit.

Office scene, because so many big trees.

I watched my neighbor do it.

And they were paying an arborist 400 bucks an hour to stand there where they dug up around the water meter to make sure that they weren't hurting into the roots of the trees around them.

Come on.

And they had around 100 and something feet of water line underground, and they tunneled it with one of the boring machines.

And I was just like.

They had a $60,000 bill on changing their water line from the street to the front of their house.

No.

Yeah.

$60,000 to do that.

That's not even that.

That's.

I have no words.

So those are things that you look at.

And one, you have to plan for.

Two, if you bought the home warranty, it's kind of like car warranties.

You think you're getting something good.

Not so much.

It's every warranty.

I remember buying warranties for stereo equipment in my.

When I was 22.

Yeah, like, why would you do that?

They're like, hey, for $100, anything.

No, no.

I've got some good tips for you here too, on planning when we come back.

Let's go out to break, Johnny.

And if you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthehouse online dot com.

We'd love to hear from you.

If you've got a story, if you've got a subject we want to hear, and unless it's a warranty, I might buy it.

All right, guys, around the house.

We'll be right back after these important messages.

Don't change that dialogue.

Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything home improvement.

I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining us today.

If you're just joining us, we've been talking about the around the house show here and of course, planning your projects out for 20, 20, 26.

Because there is so much complexity right now in things out there, and sometimes you gotta jump on to alternative methods to get materials.

Sometimes it can save you some money.

Johnny, great example.

It used to be I could Walk into your Lowe's, your Home Depot, and they used Romex electrical wire as the loss leader to get the electricians to come in.

Problem is now that they, those things are under lock and key, hard to get in there.

They've marked them up so they're more expensive than many places.

And recently I've saved the most money ordering that wire off Amazon and having it delivered to my house.

Yeah, makes sense.

And other things like walmart.com those guys are really trying to compete with Amazon.

Yeah.

And so I've bought everything from auto parts to anything else over there.

Way cheaper because they're just trying to get that business going.

Yeah.

I was looking for new laptops the other day and saw one on Walmart.

I was like, holy cats, man.

It was 200 bucks cheaper than anywhere else I could find it.

Yeah.

And it's same computer, same laptop, same thing.

And they're just sitting there doing it.

And sometimes you got to do that.

But really I, my best advice for people out there is to plan out exactly what you want to do this year.

Make sure you've got some savings because things like I talked about, that water line, that roof, that H VAC system is not $5,000 to replace anymore.

Johnny, you've been working on that roofing estimator using AI for a while now and it really shows you how expensive that can get.

Yeah.

It's funny because I actually have to correct the AI half the time I'm like, you're out of your mind.

There's no way that's getting done for that cost.

And Luckily I have 30 years of knowledge behind myself to be able to go, ah, ah.

Yeah, well, there's so many problems these days.

You've got many of the tar papers.

Even though they're jam packed in the middle of tar, they've got asbestos in them.

So now many of the landfills out there in places that are paying attention to this, I can't take asbestos tar paper.

I can't take tar paper to the landfill here.

If I go to the dump in Portland, in the metro dump area here that we have, I, if I have tar paper in there, man, they're kicking me out of there.

I won't be able to dump anything.

Yeah.

A lot of old asphalt, shingles, a lot older, sorry, asbestos.

Even flooring, old flooring, tiles full of asbestos.

Yeah, yeah.

That mastic is brutal down there.

I hate Taking that stuff up.

You know, that black tar mastic is.

Just don't want to talk about it.

South 8th Street.

Just to save those old fur floors.

I know it.

Oh, brutal.

Yeah, that was.

We've all done it.

We've all done it.

Blame that one on my ex wife.

There you go.

But those floors turned out good, though, brother.

They turned out.

They did.

But oh, my gosh, what a war.

By the way, that's a project I've said I'd never do again.

Refinishing hardwood floors.

Yeah, No, I wouldn't either.

I'm gonna pay a professional.

Yeah.

I'm not doing it again.

It is so hard to deal with that.

Yeah.

And my patience runs out.

Yeah.

If you're not doing it every day, you don't have the right tools.

Even if you rent the right tools, don't know how to use them.

It's.

No, get a guy in there, they knock it out in a week.

Stay out of the house.

Go rent a motel, go to the beach, something.

Exactly.

Get it done.

Right.

But that leads me into the next problem.

Right?

People go out and refinish those hardwood floors, and then they go, cool, I'm gonna do a kitchen.

After they've done the floor.

Yeah.

It happens so many times.

How many times have you.

And I walked to a project and that kitchen has been beautifully updated.

The lipstick on the pig.

They put new hardware on.

They put on brand new countertops, stone, quartz, whatever.

And they buy the house and they're like, cool, I want to do the same footprint.

And I'm like, we're probably going to break that stone, pulling it out.

So that's going to get thrown away.

And they're like, what?

Yeah, would have been better leaving the laminate on there, guys.

And then just doing the whole kitchen versus that.

That's one of those things that I just shake my head and go, oh, I hate throwing away good stone.

But.

That Unless you're.

And again, this is where planning is important and doing some research and understand what the project entails and understanding what to consider.

Because if you don't have the years of experience, you don't know that.

Right.

You just don't realize, oh, if we do that, that means lacing in the hardwood floor and throwing away a bunch of granite and et cetera, et cetera.

And refinishing that entire floor again.

Because many floors, you can't just.

You can't feather it in.

The only way I've cheated that is to put a.

Some kind of a door sill in between.

Like the kitchen and something else of a.

That's exactly what you do.

I was just gonna say you've got to redo the kitchen at least.

And then you're still gonna have a line between the kitchen and the dining room.

So.

Yeah.

Gotta put something down there, covering it with a chunk of wood.

Or you just accept that your floors are two different colors.

Yeah.

And also when you're out there picking out these projects and you're working on it, one of the biggest mistakes I'm seeing now is I love black walnut.

Beautiful.

Yeah.

And I've seen so many people make the mistake of they've got this beautiful lake house.

They're looking out, they've got floor to ceiling windows.

And a walnut is about as light sensitive as it gets.

Yeah.

And what happens is you'll have that area rug or the piece of furniture will be there six months later.

You'll go to move it.

To move the furniture around maybe for the holidays to put the Christmas tree up.

And you're like, those floors are two different colors within two feet of each other.

So if you're looking at using those photosensitive woods, just make sure you've got new windows with a good UV coating that will help you.

It's not perfect, but I've seen.

I've seen cherry cabinetry that was so sun bleached.

It was light gray.

Wow.

And the finish was still on it.

Yeah.

All the way through.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I know what you're talking about.

I was gonna bring up cabinets because they do the same thing, right.

Yeah.

But I've seen that like grayish hue.

Exactly.

What you're talking about.

Just looks like beechwood.

Huh.

And you open the door and go, whoa, that was cherry.

Yeah.

But that sun can play just havoc on it.

So plan that stuff out correctly.

Now.

I think the biggest mistake that many homeowners make is getting like we talked about with the hardwood floors is getting things out of order.

Yeah.

Hey.

I'm gonna put the fence up.

And now I'm gonna go dig the pool.

Don't you put in a place to get the excavator in the back?

Nope.

The fence is going to come down again.

Yeah.

We've talked about not prepping for the next project.

Yeah.

Again.

Do some research.

And especially it's so simple now that we have AI for those of you that aren't using it a bunch.

It's incredible.

For the simplest thing, like I want to plan building a fence, what should I consider two, two seconds.

You're gonna have all the information.

You need to be prepared for what you might consider what might happen, what might the roadblocks might be what you know, if you're considering a new deck, don't do this yet.

Or like you said, a swimming pool, etc.

Etc.

But man, type it into Grock or Chat GPT, whichever one you want to use.

Type in the question, type in your project, do some research, understand what you're getting yourself into.

So many people get excited at Home Depot on a Sunday and go, let's change this.

Yeah.

And they do.

And they eat it.

They eat money and it's not fun.

And check your local building codes, folks.

If you need a permit, if you need to have how high it can be because many times around the front or the side of a house, there can be rules.

Many areas.

You can't put a six foot fence in front of your house.

Now I got away with it at my house because I could if I put it 10ft back.

So it was a busier road.

If I went 10ft back from the proper land, I could do that.

I was like, sweet.

I went 10ft back.

It could only be 6 foot high.

And there's little rules in there of what is 6 foot high.

It's not off of the lowest rock or the lowest hole.

It's about that average terrain.

They'll spell it out.

What did I do?

I brought in more dirt and brought it up where I was putting the fence.

And then I put the fence in.

Yep.

So that way I could have a little higher fence.

And it's great for controlling noise.

And it didn't look like I was building a compound.

It's just so funny to me to hear even the thought of a permit process for something as basic as building a fence.

And I'm just thinking, I don't know, I probably built 100 fences at least.

And I'm just like, I have never in my life pulled a permit for a fence.

Like, I didn't have to print since mine, I didn't have to pull it, but I had to follow all their guidelines.

If not, I was gonna get the nasty.

Yeah, you know how that goes.

Hey, we need to go out to break, brother.

And we'll get back to this last segment after these important messages.

You've been listening around the house to find out more about us.

We'd love to hear from you.

Head over to aroundthehouse online.com.

if you're brand new to the show, listen on the radio or the podcast.

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Be right back.

Don't change that towel.

Welcome back to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.

I'm Eric G. John Dudley sitting over here in the co pilot seat.

We're having a great time with you guys today.

Thanks for joining us.

We've been talking about, of course in the first segment we started talking about the history of the around the House show and what got us here today.

And Johnny and I have been talking about this is we've got a long history of working together on projects and everything from cabinetry installs to big remodels and some crazy projects inside and outside the house.

But I think the one thing that that master plan like we were talking about for your house, whatever you're going to be doing, is big.

And like you were saying, John, it was a great idea to bring up chat gdp, GTP or Grok or whatever you feel comfortable using out there.

It's not entirely perfect, but it does help you get into some of that planning and it will remind you that maybe you're making a mistake and doing this incorrectly and you might want to do a little bit deeper dive.

Yep.

Yeah.

It'll if nothing else, give you some good thinking points and hopefully ask you some good questions.

Again, like the hardwood floor was a great example and maybe ChatGPT is or maybe put in everything you want to do.

Look, we want to do this in our house.

In what order and why should we do that?

It's that simple.

And it'll give you so much more than you want to think about.

In 15 seconds you'll be overwhelmed.

Don't be overwhelmed.

Take your time.

Read through it, copy, paste it into your little notes on your desktop and consider each of those things because.

And hit a couple of them.

Hit grok and chat GPT.

Hit them.

Yeah, it's smart.

And if you're great example, if you're working on that backyard project, you're like, okay, this is the year of the outdoor kitchen and the backyard outdoor living piece.

Think about what you're doing in two years.

Yeah.

If you're putting a pool in, run the power out tool while you're running power to the grill.

Yep.

Have the electrician come out once and rough that stuff in.

Yeah, get her.

Get it ready to rock.

Nothing worse than digging up your fresh lawn that you just put in to.

Fix that and that.

And that plays into anything interior as well, if you're going to start with redoing the kitchen, is there a bath, a bathroom upstairs that you want to remodel?

Yeah.

Run the plumbing, run the electrical.

Right.

Might do a little damage upstairs.

You might have to stare at an ugly wall for a year or two, but man, you're going to be happy you did.

Keep it in the wall.

Run it up there.

Keep it in the wall.

Put a cover plate on the electrical, Leave the plumbing sitting there capped off.

You know, it's there when you go to do it in a year or two, whatever.

Bam.

When I did my remodel in the front of my house, I took the T111 siding off.

I took it down to the studs, ripped out the really R9 or less.

1977 foil backed fiberglass insult pink fiberglass insulation.

Yeah.

The pink panther stuff.

Yeah, it was.

Put the foil on it, which was great for wi fi signals.

Let me tell you what that foil.

Back insulation is not keeping the aliens away.

Yeah.

It was good for my hat, but it wasn't good for anything else.

But.

And you pull that out, I put in rockwool to make it much more soundproof.

Way quieter.

Yeah.

I was like, I'm thinking about maybe doing a tile entry someday.

I'm gonna need a 20amp circuit to run that.

From there.

I had the front of the house open.

Way easy to run electrical.

So I went back in and I just ran an empty wire back to that and buried it in the stud bay.

Just left it there.

Wasn't hooked to the panel.

Yeah.

Labeled it.

And if I was to ever do that for the price of wire, it was ready to go.

Otherwise I was doing.

I was re sheet rocking two rooms to get in there and do it.

And so those are the things that you can just go, hey, I might do this.

Let's leave an option.

And it was what, 15 bucks for the wire?

Who cares?

Totally.

Yep.

And that's the thing.

Like my house, for instance, when I dove into it, what was the first thing I did is I put in a really big new panel because I had the old sure split main one that was fire starter.

Oh man.

And it was so the line coming in and I wondered why my neutral lug was cracked.

The bake was cracked on it from heat.

This was crazy.

I've got an electrician over there.

Because I was busy getting the house ready.

And I'm like, no.

Having my buddy electrician come over, do that new panel swap out.

Because of course it had to move because code changed.

Because now the meter had to be on a different side of the house.

When he changed the panel and X.

Feet off the roof and.

Yeah, that kind of thing.

It was exactly where he didn't want it.

But they had to force me to put it there.

That's fine.

Guy gets up there, and it was shocking to me how good these linemen are.

When he goes to disconnect the power.

He just walks up there with his gloves and snip and throws it on the ground.

Yeah.

And I'm like, that's a live power line coming into my house, and he's throwing the ground.

Those guys are nuts, man.

I know.

And I'm just watching them, and they cap it off, roll it up, put it up out of the way until they move everything.

Yeah.

When he did, he was going to hook it up.

He goes, oh, here's my problem.

The wires in that core, in that kind of twist.

The neutral had rubbed up against one of the hot legs coming in, and there was some power going over there that was causing the resistance and everything else at the.

To get the panel.

Creating the heat.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

So that was creating the heat.

So change that out.

That was good.

But I also had to make sure that I had enough room for circuits for the hot tub, for the Everything else.

Maybe a car charger one day.

Those are all the things you need to plan ahead for.

And maybe putting that new panel is a smart thing before you tackle the outdoor kitchen and do the kitchen remodel.

Because all of a sudden, you need six new circuits and you don't have the place to put them.

And again, this is why planning is so important.

Right.

Because you planned on it costing X for this project, but if you consider so costing it out, you're like, oh, we can spend this cheap amount on a panel, but you're gonna have to swap it in two years.

When you want to put in the hot tub, you want to put in the car charger.

Do the math.

Know what you're up against.

Plan ahead.

You're gonna save money in the long run.

That's.

I can't emphasize enough, like, how important that is, especially if it's your first time doing a bigger project or if you have zero experience, man, please do the research.

Understand what you're getting into and what problems lie ahead if you don't plan for them.

And that designer is going to save you the most money, whether it's the landscape designer, whether it's the kitchen designer, whether it's the bathroom designer.

Having that professional lay it out.

So you have a plan will be the best use of your money.

No bias.

You have a product list.

Right.

Spoken by a true designer.

Absolutely, man.

But here's the thing.

But it is key.

It's a total valid point.

As a contractor who thinks he could plan stuff out himself, you were priceless on so many of my projects.

Thanks, man.

You're just with somebody with the experience and plan it out like that.

They can create something so much better than you even imagined or expected because they're good at it.

It's what they do well.

And it's.

Ordering the wrong size cabinet can really mess the schedule up because it's always.

Or something like that.

Yeah.

The broom closet.

That was seventeen hundred dollars.

You're like, oops.

Yep.

And then there's a schedule because now it takes another three to four weeks to get that cabinet.

It's over the holidays, right?

Yeah.

Yep.

Whatever it is.

There's Murphy's laws in this.

And now your project is stalled.

They can't do the countertops for four weeks.

And there you are with a drop cloth in the shower.

Absolutely.

Doing the dishes over the bathtub.

It's what it is.

I did see something brilliant out there though, the other day.

And I'm like, ooh, that's a good business model.

There was a.

There's a company out there.

There's probably more than one.

They're building little kitchenettes on a trailer for people doing kitchen remodels.

So you walk in and it's almost like its own little food truck in like a wells.

Cargo trailer.

Yeah.

And.

Huh.

Nice.

Modeler pulls up, parks in the front lawn or on the side yard or whatever.

So they can go out and use a kitchen and cook the kitchen store up.

I'm like, that's kind of bougie.

I like it.

I got a barbecue and a hose.

I'm good.

I know it.

I know it is bougie.

But I liked it.

I thought that would be a great.

It's a smart idea.

Yeah.

Great gimmick for a remodeler.

Hey, don't worry.

For free we're gonna let you use this for four weeks while we do this.

Totally.

No, it's brilliant.

I was like, wow, that's a leg up.

Let's say you spent 50 grand on that.

Maybe let's just throw a big number at it.

You throw 50 grand at that, boy, that's going to land you a lot of jobs.

Seriously, what clients?

Not taking that.

That's like saying, hey, we'll pay for your Motel 6 while we tear your house apart.

Yeah, no, that's.

I was a fantastic idea for contractors.

Wow.

You could charge just a little bit more.

Homeowners are like, that's easy.

Yeah.

And you're golden at that point.

So I was.

Yeah, no, there's a new one for our list.

Yeah, that's an impressive badge of honor as a contractor.

You're like.

And we provide.

Yeah.

Free kitchen deal.

Closer dealer.

Super smart, really cool.

And one other thing too out there as well.

Guys.

Do the research on the brands out there.

There are so many things that are changing out there.

Companies are buying out other companies.

You look at it, GE Appliances used to be, you know, American owned, and now they're owned by Harrier, those guys that made the little cheap refrigerators that you had in a dorm room.

Their parent company is running GE Appliances now.

So you look at that stuff and go, wow.

Okay.

There's a lot going on.

Yeah.

Johnny, we are out of time for this hour, brother.

That went quick.

It is a bad time.

So thanks for coming on again today.

It looks like it's nice and warm down there in South America, brother.

I appreciate that.

78 year round, brother.

There you go.

All right, guys, to find out more about us, head over to aroundthehousonline.com thanks for tuning in today.

I'm Eric G. And for Johnny D, you've been listening to around the House.

That's a wrap for the first hour of the around the House show.

To catch more of the show, including all of our social media channels, head over to aroundthehouse online.com now.

Let's let John and Eric G. Play us out.

We will see you next hour or next time.