Ignorance Isn't Green. But It'll Cost Ya!

by Trish Holder

Are you a blissfully ignorant homeowner? Do you eat, drink, shower, sleep, wash dishes, etc. in your home, never giving any thought to how any of its systems work, until one day…. they don’t?

That’s a bad day, isn’t it? It’s a bad day because you know that looming in your not-so-distant future is a conversation with a contractor who will diagnose a problem and quote a price; and you will not have the first idea whether he is correct or if he can even be trusted. If you’ve owned a home for more than a few years, you know what I’m talking about.

The President of a local homeowners association (HOA) confided to me recently, “In our experience, the level of disrespect we get [from contractors] is astonishing. Folks cut corners when they think you are not looking, quote crazy prices for small requests, and fail at follow through.”

That same HOA President also said to me, “Many contractors count on lack of knowledge by the buyer to manipulate the situation.”

Sounds about right.

There’s Nothing Green About Being Dumb; Even Though We’ve All Been There


Recently, a dear friend of mine, who is also a contractor (yes, there are good ones out there) was doing some touch-up sealing and painting on our rental house. Now, mind you, this home had been freshly painted just a few years ago – shortly before we rented it. It looked great. The painting contractor, recommended by a friend who is also a real estate agent, was polite, professional, fast and (yes) cheap.

I thought they did a good job until a few weeks ago when my contractor friend showed me how they had not primed any of the hard-to-reach places on the exterior of the home; they also had not properly caulked the nail holes or seams in the siding. So, less than three years after I had this entire home painted, I got to pay to have it painted all over again – or risk moisture damage to the siding.

Was I blissfully ignorant? Yes I was. But in fairness to me, what homeowner thinks she has to catch a visual of a painter priming the hard-to-reach areas of a home just to confirm it wasn’t skipped?

Today’s lesson? Yes, you have to get a visual of your painter actually priming all of the hard-to-reach places of your home just to confirm it wasn't skipped. Sounds ridiculous, but that’s reality.

Today’s other lesson? Ignorance isn’t so blissful. And if you make a lifelong practice of it where your home is concerned, I hope you're socking away a lot of extra cash. You’re gonna need it.  Remember:

• Wasting money isn’t green! It ultimately leads to excessive use, waste, and disposal of other resources.

• Ignorance allows bad contractors to get away with it. This means our houses aren’t as sustainable or healthy as they should be. (Can you say MOLD?)

• Ignorance  makes it hard for good contractors to make a living doing a good job. And we need good contractors. 

My advice? Don’t talk to a contractor until you’ve done a little research on the problem yourself. Pretend for a half hour that you’re the one that has to fix the dishwasher or leaky shower. Get out the manual, Google some words on the Internet— anything to get you on the right track toward asking the pertinent questions. At the very least you’ll make an impression that you are a homeowner to be reckoned with!

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Greenspiration Home LLC is an online resource dedicated to helping homeowners build, renovate, and decorate green.  Whether your aspirations lean toward deep green and granola or practical and energy efficient, Greenspiration Home is loaded with homeowner-based content that will save you time, money and frustration.

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