Bummer! I had hoped these new rebates with the Infaltion Reduction Act (IRA) was going to really save people money. However when you read the rules of the biggest rebates there is something hidden that might even cost you MORE money than the rebate covers if you are not watching for it. We discuss that and some very important recalls of things that might be inside your home. This and so much MORE!
To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.
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Transcripts
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[00:00:33] Eric Goranson: This is our midweek special. This is where we talk about the stuff that didn't make it into last Saturday's show. We're next Saturday show, just because we've got so much going on. We've been doing a lot of interviews on the national radio show and podcast right now of talking to, to companies that have really been making some cool changes and coming out with some great stuff.
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[00:01:08] Eric Goranson: It's a show you want to make sure and I have a home improvement question. You need answered or something like that. Just give me a call at 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. That number again is 8 3 3 2 3 9 4 1 4 4. And it'll go into our queue. And if I'm in the office, I will grab it. If not, I might be out recording for my TV show or something like that.
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[00:01:41] Eric Goranson: So make sure and give us a call and I will give you a call back to help you with that question. That number again is 833 239 4144. I found out some more information this last week that I wanted to bring up. It's about the inflation reduction act in those energy rebates for heat [00:02:00] pumps and other things like that that are for your house.
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[00:02:30] Eric Goranson: So let's say that they give you a rebate of 2, 000 for a heat pump. You know that? Okay. That's great. The problem that we run into here is something hiding in the back end. And let's give a little, little background on this. So to be eligible for these rebates, you need to not just put in, it needs to be a very efficient furnace, right?
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[00:03:15] Eric Goranson: I get it. The problem that we have going. And this is going to be for a lot of states because these are now a federal program that they handed out to each individual state to manage. So these rebates are going to be a problem because they put in a prevailing wage requirement. For many of the larger parts of these rebates.
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[00:04:00] Eric Goranson: You could be in the rural area and have a harder time meeting that because the median range is going to be a lot closer to probably what you're making. Now, if you live in a metro area. Some zip codes have a higher median income, which means you might have a better chance of meeting that. But there's something on the back end that's hiding in that text that is going to come to fruition as these programs get rolled out across the states because the states are just starting to rule these things out.
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[00:04:54] Eric Goranson: They have to be union, and they have to be meeting this certain wage. So in many states [00:05:00] across the country, you're going to see that labor rate on your project be twice what it would be if they were just coming out to do that. So here's where the issue is. I have no problem with workers making more money.
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[00:05:38] Eric Goranson: And where that adds up is if you're putting in a 15, 000 heat pump system and you now have to pay twice the hourly rate, let me say that again, need some more coffee this morning, if you're paying twice that hourly rate, that could be an issue. That could add three, 4, 000 [00:06:00] to that heat pump system. And if they're only giving you a 4, 000 bucks, is that really an incentive?
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[00:06:28] Eric Goranson: They're not going to be offering that because they're not going to be paying their employees that That that wage, because one, it adds a whole bunch of issues to them. It adds more costs to them because they have to pay more on the employment taxes and stuff like that. Cause you might be as much as doubling their wage.
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[00:07:08] Eric Goranson: These are things that all have to meet that prevailing wage requirement. So in some areas, you're going to have a hard time getting that rebate, because you're going to have a hard time finding people to do it. And when you do, it's going to cost you a lot more money. So that's where this problem on the back end of this now.
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[00:07:48] Eric Goranson: But the problem is, is it's really gonna hike up those rates of what you're gonna be paying for that system. So it might just be a wash. Which that's up to you, how you want to do that, but it could cost you even more money [00:08:00] with the rebate. So what I would do, if you're looking to use this system, make sure and ask that question.
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[00:08:29] Eric Goranson: I love them getting paid, but some of these rates can get up north of 50 bucks an hour for prevailing wage. That gets pretty expensive when you have somebody out there for two days, putting in the heating and cooling unit. And that's just the wage to them, not what the company's charging you. So you got to think about that as well, because what you're paying for is not that raw wage, the employee you're paying for that, plus their benefits, plus the other stuff, plus the insurance.
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[00:09:21] Eric Goranson: What about that rebate? So, take a look at that. That is a key for this. So, take a look. It's hidden in the bill. And, uh, that could be something that really gets you as a homeowner. So, I want to see everybody saving money out there. At the same time, I do like people. But, I just don't want you to pay more for that prevailing wage when you thought you were saving money.
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[00:10:01] Eric Goranson: So there's only about 5, 480 of them out there. And these are these lithium ion coolers can overheat posing a fire hazard. So make sure and check out on that. If you have one of those anchor lithium ion battery coolers, coolers, make sure you'd get that checked out and make sure it's not on that recall list.
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[00:10:38] Eric Goranson: It looks like there's only about 84 of them. So the odds of you having that are slim than none, but there's another one here that's important. The home appliances recalls camp Lux brand portable tankless water heaters due to fire hazard. And there's about 42, 000 of those out there. These are a camping propane powered.
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[00:11:18] Eric Goranson: com has a ton of recalls. So the biometric lock on their gun safes can be opened by unauthorized users posing a serious injury hazard or risk of death. That is one of them. There's another one out here that is my share recalls biometric personal safes due to serious injury, hazard, risk of death. So it looks like these might be using that same technology Another one here biometric gun sage recalled due to injury serious injury hazard risk or death These are sold exclusively on Amazon by BBR.
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[00:12:08] Eric Goranson: So if you've got one of those off brands, make sure you're good. And a Kia recalls USB chargers due to burn. An electric shock hazard. So if you have a USB, a Kia charger, make sure you check that out. And those are the big ones right there. And, uh, we did talk about this last time, but if you've got one of the two laptops, there's about 15.
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[00:12:53] Eric Goranson: And this week I sit down with Dow tile and Chip Wade, and we talk about the [00:13:00] different stuff here. With tile trends, tile installation, and what Dow tile is offering some new stuff for 2024, that's a really fun one. And then I sit down with the most innovative product out there in decking. And that is meal board.
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[00:13:32] Eric Goranson: What finishes on there? No, it's composite where composite decking doesn't usually look that way. And it's got this cool core on the inside. That is a limestone slash fiberglass core. That's really good. And second of all, the other thing that's really cool that I like is that they've got this trim edging that goes around the outside that you can cold bend.
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[00:14:18] Eric Goranson: They have that's super cool that I can't wait to release In this episode. All right, everybody, I got to get off. It's Wednesday, which means it's TV show day for me. I had a long day yesterday out at the coast working on that coast project yesterday, which was a lot of fun. You'll see that in an upcoming episode of around the house and I will see you guys on Saturday for a brand new show here.
