First house, so it has been an adventure. Anyone have any good or bad experiences with home warranty companies? I am looking at American Home Sheild. Also, we are thinking about do a little kitchen remodel before we move in. Can anybody recommend a good countertop person? Leaning towards granite, but I like solid surface too.
Get the warranty, make the seller pay for it. You'll use it for everthing from AC's to leaky toilets. I have a good granite guy, but he's a little slow and is based in OK. I'll see if I can dig up his name/number. He did our kitchen 4 or 5 years ago. If you're in hurry, use somebody locally.
Seller is paying for the warranty, but I get to pick the company. Just not sure which company to use.
congrats. I got a seller paid for warranty for $350 I think. Used it to fix my stove which cost $35 rather than replace for $1200. A very good friend of mine builds custom homes here and I can get his countertop guy's info if you want it. ..here tis....lonestar granite out of wylie
Just had a house built off Tierra Verde, oddly enough, I haven't played there once. New homes are a chore, good luck and congratulations.
Get the warranty as long as it's free. Most of the time the warranties are not really worth the paper they are printed on though. They will be glad to fix your leaky toilet but it's going to cost you a $45 service call. Instead just go up to home depot pay $11 or so a toilet and redo the flap etc yourself. The only time they pay is if something really big goes out and then it's really more of a discount generally. They will be happy to replace the compressor for instance instead of the entire A/C.
If the warranty is free, go for it but I wouldn't renew with them. I had a plumbing problem that was clearly covered in the contract, but the AHS operator did everything possible to say it was not. After 10 minutes or so, she reluctantly said she could get a plumber there in a day or two, meanwhile my shower is leaking water at a gallon a minute, and getting worse. I went to home depot and learned how to do it myself. Cost less than $2.
Congrat, Ken. You're now in our neighbor now (well, sorta) I'll make sure to hit the ball into your yard w/ my F mark. I used 2 home warranty companies, and they are all same as they use almost identical coverage. Know what A/C you have as AHS won't cover heat pumps (they changed in 2002) Remember these service require $45 or 50 for every call, and they rather do minimum fix-up, not best fix-up. Enjoy the move!
Old Republic Home protection http://www.orhp.com/ I bought a house in April. A/C ducts went kaput in July. $55 for me, $680 for them. No hassle and I highly rcommend them. 16 hours after 1st call it was fixed. -Mike
Mine (above) did the quick fix first to turn off the oven in the house (no A/C in Houston in July = oven) then the next day when more time was available the ducts were properly rebuilt. Deifinately not halfa$$ work.
I've had that AHS warranty for a year now and have never used it once. Was thinking of dropping it. But...if my A/C or Heating unit go out, I guess it more than pays for itself.
Sounds nice, congrats! I am the CFO for Armstrong Cabinet Products. You probably know more about Armstrong from our floor and ceilings businesses, but our Cabinets division is HQ'ed in Addison. We don't do counter top sales as a stand alone business, but if you were looking at replacing the cabinets along with the counter tops, we can take care of you. Just pm me and I'll get you hooked up.
Congrats on the home purchase. We too just bought a place, and it's about a stone's throw from Rob's house. Anyway, my brother has hookups on about anything. His girlfriend has like 6 brothers that do everything from concrete, to tile, to counters, etc. I'll get a name and a number for you. My family and friends have been using them and they do great work for a good price.