Sharpening The Pencil

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Yesterday I had a call from the handyman/construction company based in Durban following up with his quote. I was open and honest with him saying I felt i was being ripped off and have asked my Johannesburg handyman/solar guy to quote against his quote. He mentioned he never expected another quote and would relook and send through an amended quote.

The bad thing for him is I know my prices and figures and thought he could pull a fast one as he had only met granny when she was down at the property a couple of weeks ago. Why when they are dealing with a woman do they think they are dealing with someone who is clueless even though I was the one who had made contact first.

In the meantime I have received a quote from my Johannesburg contact and his price is R40K cheaper than the original quote. This is $2.5K less plus he is driving down from Johannesburg with his team. They have factored in for 21 days work which is 9 days less than the original quote and think this is more of a realistic time line weather permitting.

The Durban handy many came back with his new price this morning having reduced his labour costs by R22K or around $1.4K less. This still did not come close to what the Johannesburg team quoted and why he has lost out.

The list of work is quite extensive and if I was living on the property or the property was close by would get my hands dirty on this one. I hate spending money on the jobs I could do myself as I am very limited when it comes to being handy around the house. Holding a paint brush or sanding a surface I can do.

The list is quite extensive and is not just a quick paint job so at least this is being done properly.

1. High Pressure clean boundary walls inside and outside.
2. Paint boundary wall inside and outside (roughly 140m in length)
3. High pressure clean roof and car port roof plus awnings.
4. Prepare and paint roof, barge boards and fascia boards.
5. Pressure wash exterior of house and paint entire house.
6. Supply and replace half round gutters and paint.
7. Remove and replace outbuilding door including new frame.
8. High pressure clean all paving and drive ways around property.
9. Prepare and sand all timber window frames plus varnish.
10. Prepare and paint all burglar guards on the property.
11. Prepare and paint main sliding gate.

All of this will cost $7.5K which is relative to the economy and would cost way more in other countries.

The real beauty about having my trusted guy in Durban doing the work is I can add to the list and there will be things like modernizing the interior and exterior lighting. he is a qualified electrician and this will not be expensive as he has done my Johannesburg house already.

The only thing not being done is the tree felling and gardening which will be done midway through their 3 weeks stay. I will pop down and arrange that part over and above what is being completed. I plan on buying a whole bunch of different plants and flowers like hanging baskets etc so it will add to the overall appeal.

What this is all means is I can get this property on the market by the beginning of September which is the key season for selling being September to November. I am hoping with all this work being done it will help in selling the property for a decent price.