I dont know about you...but every time I head to the checkout line at the home improvement store I am shocked at the prices for the materials I need to finish the project. Is there a way to keep these projects on budget? Here are my tips and tricks for doing just that.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Baldwin Hardware

Baldwin Hardware

A new kind of decking and siding from Millboard

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[00:00:27] Eric Goranson: And, uh, man, it is crazy when you walk out of the home center and go, I just got this for what? It adds up quickly as we know so these are my tips to help you get that project done and on time Now we've been talking about, you know, planning your material use correctly and planning out those cuts and this is something Welcome

[00:01:12] Eric Goranson: If you missed that one. You can catch that on any podcast player just look for around the house And if you want to get a hold of me Send me a message head over to around the house Online. com and you can use the contact us page there as well If you want to catch my nearly 200 videos that are out there from the around the house Northwest television show I've got those broken out so you can catch those and just head over to the around the house online You can see the videos there and then just click over Uh, when you get to YouTube and you can find the playlist there on the Fox 12, Oregon.

[00:02:01] Eric Goranson: And I've been really trying, uh, to really check out, um, ways to do that. Cause you know, man, everything's expensive. Building materials are expensive. Fuel is expensive. Everything's more expensive right now. So how do we keep things under budget? And so here are my tips and tricks. Now there's a lot of things we can do.

[00:02:41] Eric Goranson: It can add hundreds or thousands. Thousands or tens of thousands to a project. Cause you know, I don't need a mini excavator hanging around the house or a boom lift. I mean, I do, but I'm not going to want to spend the money on it because I'm just not going to use it every day. Just like if I need a really big table saw, if I need a really big table saw, I have a contract.

[00:03:22] Eric Goranson: I mean, here's the thing. If I go down to my big box store. You know national chain. I'm not gonna call them up by name. I don't have to you know who I'm talking about If I head down there and I don't know what it's like in your area but I tell you what when I rent stuff from there the Bobcats or whatever they have there for their Excavators or everything else.

[00:04:10] Eric Goranson: For me, I have a place that many people don't know about in my market. And it's a small hardware store chain that's in my Portland area. And it's really cool, Parkrose Hardware. If I go rent a tool from them... It's probably a current year model and it is well maintained. It is the best of the best of that tool, which I like.

[00:04:48] Eric Goranson: They go back. And the tool rental company has to put that thing back together and keep it maintained. These guys do a great job of that. So when I go down there and I rent a lift, it has three and a half hours on it. If I rent a Bobcat, it's got 25. You know [00:05:00] what I mean? That kind of thing. That to me is really important of how well, I mean, it could have a thousand hours on it.

[00:05:23] Eric Goranson: Nothing wrong with the tool collection, but this will save you money when you're trying to do it on a budget. And right now, many of us. My next one here is something that for you to consider and it can burn you and it can go well, but you just have to do your research. My first thing here is to do your research.

[00:06:06] Eric Goranson: Yeah, it's a 15 16 year old hot Springs spa. It is nice Now does it have all the computer controls the flip up TV? No, it doesn't does it have everything to make me comfortable? Yeah, will it be? Reliable for a long period. Yeah, well, because there's not that much to go break break on it. It doesn't have all the crazy electronic stuff on it.

[00:06:47] Eric Goranson: You can have a grand in materials if you're not careful. So be very careful that that's where the money comes in. If you've got to pay an electrician, it can be a few thousand bucks to get a hot tub disconnect and that stuff and get the tub wired up. So. Be [00:07:00] prepared. It can cost you even more if you have to put a new panel in.

[00:07:23] Eric Goranson: And then spend another five grand for somebody to come in and hook it up. You can go out and get started with something and then down the road, if you want to pick up the nicer one, trade that one in, sell it off, do whatever, but, uh, that's the way to do it. And one little secret here. I wanted to give you if you're out going to do a go out and take on this project.

[00:08:01] Eric Goranson: And trust me, I can go through and fix just about anything at the same time. I don't want to have to go dig through a bunch of spray foam and keep looking for leaks. Get it over, find more breaks and just chase it down. And there's so many wires and tubes and stuff in there that you're going to snag when you're cutting through the spray foam.

[00:08:41] Eric Goranson: What conditioning is it working and what's the issues? You know, even a good hot tub cover can cost you a few hundred bucks to a, to something that's custom to seven or 800 bucks. So just be careful of what you're looking for. Those are where things get expensive, but really going for something used or something that was [00:09:00] a.

[00:09:21] Eric Goranson: It could be something like that. So make sure that you're getting something that might have a criminal case following it around so you don't get yourself in trouble. But really, There's some places to save money and we'll talk about that when I come back. Some of the things I've learned on saving money.

[00:09:42] Eric Goranson: Ugly faces.

[00:10:04] Eric Goranson: So many people. Around

[00:10:26] Eric Goranson: Now we just did drop here a week or two ago. Exclusive episode, which is all about me. Just kind of my history with Jeff Tracy, the cowboy cook. And we went back through. So for find out more information about that premium membership, it's only four bucks, so it's not much. And you can find that over at around the house online.

[00:11:02] Eric Goranson: Some of those ones from the very beginning, we don't even have record of as far as recordings, but, uh, over the last. Well, seven or eight years, no problem. We've got them back there for you. Well, we've been talking about today about how to take on these projects, you know, on a budget, how to save money while we're tackling these kinds of projects.

[00:11:39] Eric Goranson: On a DIY or construction project. And you know, something that's really depending on the market where you're at. Um, what I've seen is that I've seen that the, the pricing at the home centers is a little more flexible sometimes where they're a little more market driven, where the lumber yards are really more importantly.

[00:12:14] Eric Goranson: So I get a pretty good discount there, but sometimes the home centers are competitive as well. Now. If you're doing electrical and wire, one of my things that I've noticed, and this was something that was probably for seven, eight years was the rule. But I think with, um, you know, the retail thefts going on, this has changed so much.

[00:13:01] Eric Goranson: So I would be looking at your local electrician supply places or for me right now, the best prices I've been getting has actually been on Amazon. So I can order wire there and get it the next day in my market. And, uh, it is been 15 or 20 percent less than what the home centers are. And I've even gotten it more than that, where it was like 40 percent less.

[00:13:40] Eric Goranson: If you've been going into the home center and buying those big name brand cabinets, unless you're doing it with one of their credit cards, which might make sense where you're going to get 12 months, no interest or something like that. Really many times that is the most expensive place to get that brand of cabinetry versus [00:14:00] the least expensive and here's why When you have an independent kitchen and bath dealer carry a brand like I don't know I'm just gonna use one of the common brands in there You all seen them whether it's craft made or American woodmark or go down the list, right?

[00:14:53] Eric Goranson: And we want all our displays for free. Well, if you've got to put in four displays and keep [00:15:00] updated and give it to that big box store and you got to put thousands of those in the country as well as pay for a rep, hire them and get them in all those stores. There is a lot of overhead over the top of that.

[00:15:31] Eric Goranson: But long story short, there's a lot less headaches with those independent dealers and the home centers because the home centers also have these wild return policies where if the people don't like it, bring it back and then they want to get full credit back on those cabinets. So it's very expensive for these cabinet lines to deal with the home centers.

[00:16:13] Eric Goranson: Typically the best kitchen and bath designers that are designing your kitchens usually leave the home centers. Now there's great ones out there, so I don't want to disparage if you're a great designer. I worked for the home centers for a while. So when I was early in my career, but here's the thing. Most of these people and this is what it is.

[00:16:51] Eric Goranson: Cool. So the home centers spent the time, they did some training and they got them going. And then once they've been there a year or two and they got really good at what they're doing [00:17:00] by trial and error, yeah. They leave to go make commissions, go big, because basically if you're working at the home centers, you're getting paid by the hour and that's just about it.

[00:17:25] Eric Goranson: If you want to have something specific, check with your independent dealer. So one of the best tips I can give you in today's economy is don't assume that where you're going is going to be the best price because you could be paying a lot more for something that you don't know of. So just take the time, do your research, figure it out.

[00:18:10] Eric Goranson: I have always, because you know, I hate wasting material. My little game is when I'm doing decking or things like that is really trying to save money. And I'm going to give you my tips when you come back. How do you get the most out of the material? Cause if you're paying 50 or 60 bucks for a deck board, why throw it away?

[00:19:10] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the round the house show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. We've been talking today about. My tricks to keep your project under budget What can you do to type keep this under control so you can maybe tackle that project because as we know Nothing has gotten less expensive out there there is everything that we tackle that requires some kind of a budget and Man, it is crazy when you walk out of the home center and go I just got this for what?

[00:20:03] Eric Goranson: Okay, if I make a, if I have an eight foot board, if I'm going to cut a 60 inch or a five foot piece, I got three feet left. Am I better off buying a 12 foot piece of lumber so I have two sixes or am I throwing a bunch of stuff away or can I use that someplace else? So really think about what your cuts are.

[00:20:44] Eric Goranson: Even though it's a little bit more money, sometimes you're not throwing away all the material. So your square foot price is less. So one of my little tricks and tips when I'm doing cuts is I put a five gallon bucket at the bottom by my saw. It is my little [00:21:00] reminder. To make sure that I'm paying attention to my cuts and two, it's the places I can put those little tiny pieces that I don't just drop on the ground.

[00:21:33] Eric Goranson: And maybe they just need to blast through it. So you'll see that a lot when you see framers building a house, especially a spec house, things like that. The material that gets thrown away from half sheets of plywood to, you know, a seven foot of an eight foot. Board, you know that kind of stuff that you see where it's just not reused You know, you see a lot of that in new construction these days depending on the builder Now there are some great builders out there and some great framing [00:22:00] contractors That just don't waste material because it's a point of pride for them And there's other ones that get in and get out and if they have the materials sitting there, they're going to use it and If it's cut, guess what?

[00:22:28] Eric Goranson: So spend a little time. So you don't have to overpurchase materials now, depending on what you're working on. You might need a 10%, 15, 20 percent overage, depending on what you're going. But these are things that you should have into your plan. And many times you can take that stuff back when you're done.

[00:23:08] Eric Goranson: That's just a little tiny thing, but I need to figure this out and get this done. So that is my next little. Battle. So let's think about that just a little bit. How do you plan it ahead? And the plan is the most important part of this process because you don't have to build things twice or have to go back and do it.

[00:23:44] Eric Goranson: So you really need to go through and map out like a game plan. Like you're playing a football game or something else like that. What are my plays to get this done? And that way you don't have to do things twice. So for me, I know that I'm coming out of the ground with concrete to [00:24:00] build a footing for this pizza oven.

[00:24:24] Eric Goranson: It's around it because it's just going to be stronger. So that forces me to really plan out how I'm going to build this and make it make sense, because as long as we do that, it's going to be okay. So let's think a little bit more about our plan and make sure that we're doing it correctly. So that plan is going to be the key for saving money.

[00:25:09] Eric Goranson: That's expensive. I do not want to waste it, nor do I want to have to do this twice. So these are all things that I want to think about things that I need to do. And more importantly, these are things that I want to make sure I got this done right, so I can enjoy this and not really go, Oh man, if I would have only done it this way.

[00:25:41] Eric Goranson: What do I want? Do I want to cover over it? Do I not want to cover over it? So there's a lot of little things that you have to take into account as part of the bigger project and make sure while you're doing these things that you've got these things dialed in, because there can be so many issues while you're doing this.

[00:26:11] Eric Goranson: Are you gonna add more to it? See, this is a mistake that I did on this deck because I didn't plan for this to go in here I didn't leave room for it. I have a space for it But I didn't plan for it. So now I'm having to do an addition to make that work to this ground level deck. So something I'm still working on, something that I changed, something that, uh, well, it's costing me a little bit more money.

[00:26:50] Eric Goranson: Is slowing down and making sure you don't make mistakes. I can be the king of this. I get going, I'm cruising, I've got my [00:27:00] plan, and maybe I, I, I messed up my numbers, maybe I mismeasured, maybe I didn't think of the next step enough. But slow down, and make sure, measure twice, cut once, you know the rules guys.

[00:27:36] Eric Goranson: You know, the next one here is an important one. Let's talk about this before we go out to break. And this is making sure that you've got sharp tools, so make sure you've got a decent saw blade and you know, you can send them out and get them sharpened. If you've got a circular saw, a table saw blade, depending on what you got, if you've got a sharpening service around, I did see in one of the home improvement stores that there's actually a brand that you can walk in and buy a [00:28:00] blade and then when you're done with it or it gets dull, you can send it off, trade it in and they'll get you another one right there.

[00:28:27] Eric Goranson: Make sure you get that blade that's nice and sharp round the house. We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.[00:29:00]

[00:29:20] Eric Goranson: Cause things just keep getting more and more expensive. So there's a few things we can do to save money. Now let's talk about here. Maybe you're hiring a contractor and you are wanting to save money. And this is one of the most important things. If you're hiring somebody to make sure that you're doing this correctly.

[00:29:56] Eric Goranson: Are not going to do it right. They're going to over demo. They're going to cause more [00:30:00] damage. They're not going to get it how I want it. And I'm going to take off 500 bucks. So not every time by you doing part of the work is going to save you money. And really, sometimes that just comes down with you having the honest conversation with the contractor to make sure.

[00:30:37] Eric Goranson: Ready to start changing things or doing what needs to be done. It doesn't matter if it's a deck out back or the roof or whatever. That's all part of the process. So you doing demo might not always save you in the long run. So have that legitimate conversation with the contractor and say, okay, what's that going to save me?

[00:31:12] Eric Goranson: Capable of your understanding what your skill set is and what you're going to do and make sure that you have the skills to do it. So you have demo because so many contractors that I work with in the remodeling side of things out there will go, Oh man, they're not going to get it done on time. The job site's not going to be complete as far as the demo.

[00:31:51] Eric Goranson: I've seen some other lists down the over the years where I think there are mistakes where they'll say, you know, hey, make sure and haul your own [00:32:00] materials and stuff like that. That can actually be more expensive and more time consuming because here's one thing I want you to think about and it's an important thing to think about.

[00:32:51] Eric Goranson: So make sure that some of the steps that you're taking are actually going to save you money. [00:33:00] And so that's a key right there. You know, that's a key. Now one of the other things that I want to talk about here as well is hiring people to help you with the project. To save you money. Now hear me out on this one.

[00:33:52] Eric Goranson: So when in doubt, if you're questioning your own decisions, bring a designer in, even it's for it's a day, even if [00:34:00] you're just having them in for a day to go through and pick out some finishes that can save you a ton of money and you're going to have a more confidence in your decisions as well because you've got a professional helping you pick what's good for your house.

[00:34:37] Eric Goranson: I wanted to bring this one up because it's been interesting and this has been really hit and miss If you're having to buy tools to do the project I have been going on and on my TV show, been doing a let's test it where I grab budget products or tools off of Amazon and I test them. And you know something, [00:35:00] it has been about a 50 50 thing.

[00:35:34] Eric Goranson: So be very careful when you're buying tools. If you're buying the one knockoff, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. And, uh, if you're buying electronics, I've noticed anything that's electric. I mean, I probably the worst one I had was I jumped on Amazon and for 30 bucks, I bought a carbon monoxide detector that is a portable handheld one.

[00:36:18] Eric Goranson: That's how close I got it in there. There was nothing that would set this thing off now. I'm gonna test it again I sent it back because it clearly was defective and I'm gonna see if the new one does it but I tell you what so Far it hasn't worked. Well, and I want to go back and test it. I mean you can always get a bad one, right?

[00:36:58] Eric Goranson: Jumped on there [00:37:00] and you know something, they're pretty good. Are they going to last as long as the... The other brands that you get at your home improvement store, probably not, but I bought a hundred of them for the price of one blade. I can throw a few more away in the recycle bin because you're just steel with a coating on the tip.

[00:37:43] Eric Goranson: They do great. So think about where you're saving. Sometimes saving can cost you more money if you don't do this right. Now, again, this is another one of the things that, um, that you have to be careful with. Now, here's a great example, [00:38:00] and I've seen this one in a kitchen remodel. This is a great tip here as well.

[00:38:24] Eric Goranson: So be very careful when you're trying to reuse things. It can cost you more money in the long run because about 50 percent of the time you're either calling a repair person out or you're buying a new dishwasher later. Now, a lot of good contractors are going to warn you about that, but one little tip, uh, when you're doing that is to run four or five loads of empty dishes through there with soap to try to see if you can get that stuff out of there.

[00:39:04] Eric Goranson: So be very careful with how that works, because I tell you what, if you're doing a kitchen remodel, you might be better off just getting a brand new dishwasher and garbage disposal. When you do the project, it might save you money in the long run. All right, everybody, time to go out to break. We come back our number two on the radio and don't forget to grab the next hour in the podcast.