dog and pony show

Roof shopping.. Who-du-thunk it’d be this tedious.

In shopping for bids – I filled out one of those “info cards” for a company called Thomas Construction.. They’re the largest company in town and figured it’d be informative to get a price from the “big guys” to compare with the “Pop & Son” outfit who gave us the first price.

A rep from Thomas called and set up a time to come over….

I thought it’d be like the last bid.. Some woofy guy in work boots would show up in a big panel truck, jump out, walk around the house, talk a little and get back with us later with a price.

Well…. not so…

The doorbell rang… There in my doorway stood a man holding binder boxes resembling an extra from The Sopranos.

He proceeded to do his “schtick”… which.. actually – was sorta refreshing to see salesmanship these days. It harkened back to the age of door-to-door salesmen who probably knocked on this very same door in the 50’s selling vacuum cleaners and cookware.

“Vinny” (as we’ll refer to him) went through his 3-ring binder presentation complete with Power Point Graphics and photo of the Three Stooges (comic relief).

He generated a price right there on the spot… $17,000 for a roof using their “exclusive lifetime shingles” and various repair work to the trim wood, new gutters, etc.

After I got up off the floor I told him that was a wee bit more than I was expecting.

It was then when the charm of the whole “Salesmanship” thing wore off… Vinny started doing the hard pressure sell thing which invariably turns me off… I sent him on his way with no contract in hand.

He’s since called back and offered a “traditional” shingled roof at a price more down to earth… I told him I’d put him back in the consideration stack.

Now – somebody else from the company has called saying that they’re wanting to do a a couple of jobs at cost do stir up some work for the first part of the season and would like to come out with the “boss” and talk about it with me.

This is either true or a second-tier sales tactic. I suppose the proof is in the pudding and we’ll find out soon.

MEANWHILE, I talked to Chad’s mom who said they just put a metal roof on their house and garage for $7K.

Kevin – though a deft coordinator is a lousy haggler so this “project” has sorta been handed off to me. ughhh… I wish I could just wave a wand and this would all be done.

I’m not blogging… I’m lamenting the occasional headaches of home ownership.