Generator install - where to start

[WinterDeere]

Well, it has been over a month! Being a General Contractor for 40 years, taking a month to make a decision KILLS your schedule.

This isn't really a high priority job, based on 15 year history, it'll be another year before our next outage. But if it really bothers you, know that I signed the contract within 24 hours of receiving the last of three bids.

I run a contract design business, and prior to that I was manager of an R&D department for a mid-size technology company with an anual project budget in the tens of millions. I appreciate the wide range of experience here, but I am sure enough that I don't need lessons on schedules from you.

 

[WinterDeere]

Is that a pickleball court painted on your driveway approach? A lot of people around here have them.

yes... sort of by accident. My kids took tennis lessons when very young, and I wanted a place to practice with them, without cycling up to the park at teh top of our neighborhood every time. So I painted a 1/2 scale tennis court in the driveway and bought a portable net.

Little did I know at the time, that a 1/2 scale tennis court is a pickleball court!

We also have a 1/2-court basketball court in the other parking area, in front of my barn, just above the top of that aerial image. We used to use that a lot, when the kids were young, but no so much lately.

 

[orezok]

This isn't really a high priority job, based on 15 year history, it'll be another year before our next outage. But if it really bothers you, know that I signed the contract within 24 hours of receiving the last of three bids.

I run a contract design business, and prior to that I was manager of an R&D department for a mid-size technology company with an anual project budget in the tens of millions. I appreciate the wide range of experience here, but I am sure enough that I don't need lessons on schedules from you.

The last major project I built was over 100 million at the rate of 1 million per week. Can’t afford to lose 4 million of production due to analysis paralysis.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I tell everyone I know that doesn't have a house, that they've been lied to about the economics of (renting) vs (buying a house).

How much doesn't a house cost? Oh the mortgage is this much, don't forget taxes and insurance!
Anything else? .... *crickets*

I show them a spreadsheet I have of costs over time. $24k for a roof? I'm expecting $40k+ when I finally do it here; granted it's lasted a while, but that's still $1.5k/year that needs to be considered just for that. Water heater, hvac, paint, etc. Not to mention yard upkeep.

Yes many of us "enjoy" doing a lot of this work, but it still costs money. My spreadsheet shows over $1k/month when you consider long term work. Sure, the house you buy may have a new roof and if you're lucky it won't need work. New furnace? Cool. A lot of "extra costs" depend on luck and maintenance (which costs money... and/or time and money); maybe you pay more up front for a place with new stuff (which may or may not need work soon). You get the general idea.

Oh, don't forget to budget for a tractor, too.

I agree that home ownership is expensive. I bought in 1994. I have spent more on maintenance and upgrades over the last 32 years than I paid for the place. New windows, doors, insulation, kitchen with floor plan revisions, guest bathroom refinished twice, master bedroom and bath enlarged with an addition, two new heat pumps (the first one lasted 20 years) including new electrical service panel, two roofs, two exterior paint jobs, house replumbed, deck replacement, gazebo, patio expansion, hardwood and tile flooring plus carpet replacement twice in bedrooms,

 

[WinterDeere]

The last major project I built was over 100 million at the rate of 1 million per week. Can’t afford to lose 4 million of production due to analysis paralysis.

Good for you, but no one cares. Let's keep things in perspective: this is a backup generator for my house, not volume production. Waiting an additional week for a quote on a $25k - $30k project that has zero urgency, given we average less than one major outage per year, is fine with me.