Have you gotten new drivers licenses yet? We can register to vote at the DMV in my state.
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We haven’t. We haven’t done anything. I don’t know what order to do things, and the lead times for what will mess up voting. What do I do now versus wait on until after the election?
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Ugh - I would try to find out what I can do online or over the phone. There are probably lots of groups trying to register voters now, but I am not sure I would trust them to get it all turned in on time and done properly on short notice.
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Yeah, part of the issue two is that it seems like a ton of different offices are closed for Covid. So I literally have no idea how to approach stuff. It would be complicated even normally, and even that would be over my head right now. Is there any problem with me just waiting?
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Another random question. Does anyone speak Russian? Or rather, read Russian? I want to know what this comment on my Instagram says, I’m used to seeing Portuguese in Spanish, but not any Russian. Anyway, I don’t know how to copy and paste it to just use Google translate.
Google translate has an image translate function. I’ved used it on Korean skin care stuff my sister in law gets me without explanation.
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Ooh thank you. I will try to figure that out!
Just waiting for when?
You can register to vote at the DOL in WA and right now they’re doing appts to keep everyone safe: https://www.dol.wa.gov/appointments/index.html! They say you should register within 30 days of becoming a resident.
- Moving To WA - get an idea on what you need prior to your visit
- Pre-apply - start your application online
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Yes thank you! I even set it manually to Russian and it just came up with soup. 
Thank you for running it through yours!
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I got a weird thing when I first ran it, maybe some glitch where you have to prove you REALLY want to know the translation before they will share it?
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Well I downloaded the dang app, that should count for effort 
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Can someone teach me how to speak contractor? As in, get them to actually do what they say they’re going to do like send me an estimate or make a damned appointment or call me back?
I’m trying to get an EV charger installed and my state just passed a right to charge law which means I can run a line from my panel, through my basement, trenched through my yard, to a post at the parking spot. I have now talked to 5 companies and it has been pulling teeth to get the damned estimate from them. One guy is highly recommended by the local EV Owners Group and has done exactly what I’m asking to be done many times before but has just straight up ghosted me. He came for the estimate, talked to me at length and seemed interested in the project and in what he does but then hasn’t responded to my emails or texts (he texted me to set up the appointment, he is hard of hearing). Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since he came out to look at the house.
Normally lack of communication would mean I didn’t want to work with him anyway but since the law is so new many of the other companies won’t touch this project yet so I’m getting frustrated at having people insist they need to come for an estimate and then being like “no we can’t dig under the sidewalk” (yes I know I’ll need a permit to do this, yes I know I have to approve it with the HOA). This guy had the experience and was very knowledgeable about the work in general and what would need to be done to complete it.
I’m running into the same thing with roofers, I need a single shingle repaired and no one calls me back and if they do no one wants to make an appointment. They just want to text me “when they can come by” and seem affronted when I ask about price. H says this is just how contractors/construction stuff is and I have to deal with it. How does one “just chill” about these things? I want to get them checked off my list.
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I can’t imagine a roofing company wanting to do a single shingle repair. They will charge through the nose for it. Can you call a handyman instead, and get a bunch of little stuff done at the same time?
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I need a roofing estimate/assessment too because our roof is at the end of it’s life and will need replaced in the next 5 years. So I’ve been calling roofing companies and handymen. I have found one handyman (out of 10 I’ve contacted) who says he can do it and is only going to charge $150 but even he was like “I’ll text you when I can come by”
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Oh also apparently our home is too tall and they can’t just use a ladder or something? So I can’t find someone who is both willing to do it and in possession of the right equipment to do it
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Ugh. That sucks. I misunderstood the problem initially.
I have a system of multiple screens. Sometimes it works.
I contact everyone I can find to ask for quotes.
The people that show up on time stay on the list.
The people that treat me like a human and don’t ask about the man of the house stay on the list.
The people that send me a coherent quote stay on the list.
Usually by this point the list is one tradesperson long, out of the 30+ I started with.
Good tradespeople with their shit together exist, but they’re usually booked solid because everyone wants them. It sucks a lot.
Also, I ask things like “will you email or text me the quote? When can I expect it? Do you include taxes and permits?”, etc.
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That sounds like a good process. So far only 2 for the EV charger have done that. One is a solar company (they did a virtual assessment using satellite images and talking to us) and we have to pay $1k for a feasibility study to get hard numbers for the project and the current estimate is $4k, the second is an electrical contractor and his estimate was over $5k. I’m guessing we’re going to end up in the middle of the two when it’s all said and done.
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This is true for the most part but there are notable and excellent exceptions for every trade, who are great and also text/email promptly. The flakiness is true in reverse too: many customers get quotes but aren’t seriously considering hiring them (so they end up with 1 job for every 10 they’re quoting or want to lowball or are rude). My BIL owned a solo kitchen contracting biz for 20 years (also worked as a roofer & carpenter) and the client interactions wore him down. It’s just a really inefficient market. If you find someone great, treat them like gold.
I tend to use this process:
- Do a bunch of reading or asking around to identify the right keywords or types of business for the job.
- Read Angie’s List and Yelp extensively, and ask for recos on Facebook and look them up too.
- Focus on the ones with consistent reviews that say they left a job site super clean, or they came in on time and on budget and would recommend without hesitation. For some reason these are the traits that work out for me.
- Choose the best 2-3. Reach out to them with a clear description & photos upfront, and schedule an in-person estimate if needed. The details show that you’re serious about the job and help with a more accurate estimate.
Other thoughts:
- For smaller jobs, including handypeople, Thumbtack is solid. Responses within a day and can usually do the job within the week.
- Asynchronous (emails and texts) works better. For contractors picking up a phone means interrupting hands-on work, and they often can’t hear/see phones during the workday.
Step 1 (finding the right type or profile of contractor) is pretty important. The “one shingle” repair that is likely to be too small for a roofing company, which typically does $5k-$50k jobs. You could search for a handyperson with roofing experience, which is what I did to fix 4 tiles in my shower.
I prefer working with either a sole proprietor who really loves to nerd out on their area of expertise (a “master craftsperson” type). They tend to charge a high hourly but get it done quickly and right and sometimes better/cheaper than you knew was possible. For example, I asked my electrician to move a light switch and he was like, no, that’s $150 bc your weird wall makes it hard to run a wire, let me install this $40 wireless switch instead, drill no holes, and mount the wireless remote exactly where you wanted the switch to be. He also talks to me about baking spelt bread and the pros/cons of the local electricians union and I love him.
The other type of biz that works out often for me is a 3-10 person business for bigger, more labor-intensive things. At that size the owner is usually still out there doing estimates, not a salesperson, and they will still care personally about the result. Any bigger and the work gets more templatized and you pay for marketing/organizational overhead. Basically if your phone call is always picked up, you’re paying for someone to sit in an office.
The EV job is going to be tricky because not many people have experience with it. Sounds like you have 2 options though, good luck!
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