Somehow I think it maybe wasnt the plumber who was the orrogant one but maybe it was the know all champ trying to run the show. Anyhow you stick to your trial and error show of going through 5 plumbers on a job and ill stick to my method. Imagine how many tradies you would go through on a real construction site with your methods to find suitable…[Read more]

Im not too sure on melbourne but I can tell you I know of one female air conditioning tradesperson here in newcastle. Jayro!

ah well seeing as though your so on the ball with dealing with tradies on the "commercial level" and with your "construction industry" knowledge behind you im sure no silly trady can slip anything past you jfiori. Good to see you have it all sorted.  I just love how as soon as someone gets a price they dont agree with then that just means the…[Read more]

also used mega seal for our leaking shower in our IP.  They pritty well reseal it all up with a clear sealant. Work a treat and no dramas ever since. Obviously this is assuming the leak is just through the grout etc and not a leaking pipe etcJayro

Wylie I love the idea of the money going towards your kids first home instead of the wedding. My mother in-law charged my now wife board while she lived at home and gave her back the money when we got married as a present to go to the wedding costs. However if we were encouraged to have a smaller wedding and put the $$$ towards the house it would…[Read more]

Well im over the whole fence issue. In the end I contacted 10 fencing companies. 3 did eventually turn up. 1 gave me a quote of $3650 for around 30meters of fencing and one PA gate which I thought was very reasonable plus a few hundred in paint and our time/labour to paint it. The other 2 said they would post the quotes. Nothing ever came so…[Read more]

I understand what you are saying. But like all things in life mate I think there needs to be a happy medium, thats all im saying. If $20k was what you as a couple thought was right then thats all that matters in the long run.Jayro

I dont understand what is wrong with expecting $100 even if you are there for 15minutes. You need to included company cars as these guys come to you remember so include travel time in there which needs to be covered, loaded with tools and generally spare parts. All costs money. If you were to call my current company out to look at your air…[Read more]

Thanks Anny, and your right it is great to have an understanding wife. She is wanting to start a family soon so she is holding back a little on the push for the 2nd IP. She certainly wants more but is thinking either now or after she returns to work full time where as im more TRYING to get the 2nd IP in before she falls pregnant, lol. Either way…[Read more]

I agree with you totally. Im only young myself (I think so anyway at 28) and my wife is 27. We upset a few family members as we only had 130-140 people at our wedding and they insisted we should be inviting atleast another 50, people I had never met before. All up our wedding was around $10-$15k. But we found it much more important to save for our…[Read more]

your the man Aussie, Keep it up champ your doing well

Bringing in MORE overseas workers is NOT the answer. Maybe if tradies were not (in the past and still to some extent)  made to feel lower class then maybe more young kids today would head down the path of getting into a trade. I love how ACA or today tonight can run a show saying that we (tradies) are all the new big $$$ earners and its no longer…[Read more]

We are nearly finished renovations on our place in Gwandalan on Lake Macquarie. We have recently had a new kitchen done by Richard Beggs. His company is Kitchen makeovers. His number is 0418 405 500. He has a great showroom now at Berkley Vale I think it is. We were VERY impressed with him. Price was good and quality of workmenship was great. His…[Read more]

Thank you both for the replys. Does seem that the general feeling is that the CBA are a little like that. At this stage id say that I will get the PPOR re valued after my reno is finished and fingures crossed its done enough along with the extra we have paid off to stand alone. Time will tell.Jayro

your best bet is to do a bit of your own research. Check out prices etc on realestate.com.au for example. You can check going rent prices, selling prices etc.cheers Jayro

I cant get over the fact you think tradesmen are over paid. They work bloody hard and good ones are hard to find. When you do find one they are worth the dollars they ask. Like has been mentioned, there is a huge shortage of tradies. Try telling a young kid that he needs to earn bugger all for a 4 yr apprenticeship then get say $35k a yr after he…[Read more]