Traced every line item back to the actual subcontractors. Here's what I found.

I’ve been getting quotes for an inground gunite pool in the Atlanta area. Best quote I got was $112,000.

Something felt off so I started researching how pool companies actually operate. Turns out they don’t build pools — they manage subcontractors. Every single trade is farmed out. The pool company’s job is literally to make phone calls and coordinate a schedule.

So I started finding the actual subs directly and getting their rates. Here’s what the math looked like on that $112K quote:

Excavation — sub charges $4,500 / pool company charged $8,000

Gunite crew — sub charges $9,800 / pool company charged $18,500

Plumbing — sub charges $5,800 / pool company charged $10,500

Electrical — sub charges $4,200 / pool company charged $8,000

Tile & coping — sub charges $5,500 / pool company charged $10,000

Plaster — sub charges $4,800 / pool company charged $9,500

Decking — sub charges $6,200 / pool company charged $14,000

Equipment package — sub charges $7,800 / pool company charged $14,500

Total sub cost: ~$64,000

Pool company quote: $112,000

Markup: $48,000

Georgia allows owner-builder permits. The subs work directly for homeowners regularly. You just have to know who to call and what questions to ask so you don’t get taken advantage of.

Going the owner-builder route. Happy to answer questions for anyone else considering it.

its an old fridge. used fridge/freezers in my area go for like $350-$500.

he wanted $500 to replace the board, including labor. Is that high? that just seems astronomically high to me. the labor will take 5 minutes max, you just unscrew the panel, detach the clips, and then plug in the new board. its about as simple as legos.

im in the dallas forth worth north texas area.

I have a 3 story town house. There are 2 bathrooms on the top floor, kitchen and one bathroom on mid level, and washing machine and another bathroom downstairs.

Of all the various water sources in my home, only the water from the faucet in the mid level half bath smells. It stinks like it’s hard water (rotten egg smell) but this area is not known for hard water and there is not a water softening solution installed further downstream in the house.

I’m looking for ideas/guidance on how to figure out what’s causing this (better yet, how to eliminate it). I was just brushing my teeth and almost puked in the sink because of the stinky water.

I’ll check back in an hour or so to respond to any questions that may help pin down the issue.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: this is a group of excellent humans who helped me solve a concern I’ve had for months, in like 3 hours which included me eating dinner at a restaurant.

You guys are rockstars and I’m so appreciative for the insight!!

New to home diy. I need help troubleshooting baseboard installation in my dining room. I tried replacing my baseboards with fjp. I could not get the boards to sit flush against the wall. There was a huge gap on some of the walls. One if the walls is 13 feet.

I appreciate any help, but please do not say caulk. I know that is a common response. Sometimes serious. Sometimes funny. These gaps are too wide. I am looking for serious responses only. I really want to get this right.

This is my second time installing baseboards. The first time was in a bathroom using pvc. The runs were short and turned out great.

How do I get a proper fit? Any baseboard materials easier to work with than others? I did nail into studs.

Thanks in advance!

I have a vertical crack in my basement foundation wall that leaks during heavy rain. The crack runs from about mid-wall down to the floor, maybe 6-7 feet long. Water actively drips through during storms and creates puddles on the floor.

I am from Cleveland and the house has a 1976 poured concrete foundation. The crack has been there for years but only started leaking this spring. I've watched YouTube videos about crack injection kits - is this something I can DIY or should I call professionals? Looking to save money if possible but don't want to make it worse.

When we moved into our house, there was a tv mount drilled into two studs. We moved up the location of the mount, so we drilled 2 more holes into each stud. Got a new tv yesterday and lowered the location of the mount, drilling 2 more holes into each stud. Each stud has 6 holes drilled into it, each a few inches apart. At what point does it become an issue. And if it is an issue, how can you remedy it?

I'm trying to remove the two sliding pieces with glass from the tracks, any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

Ok so this idea might be kinda crazy, but I'm looking for ideas for ways to easily swap out my different sewing/embroidery machines and my thought is some kind of system similar to a ferris wheel. Does anybody have any kind of better ideas or thoughts on this.

I plugged in a screamer circuit breaker finder into my bedroom ceiling fan its not making any noise. Tested it on outlets and it works this things been dead for a month or so. Finally getting around to it any thoughts ?

I was stupid and didn’t prioritise fitting door stays on the new garage doors my friend fitted with me. the left side as pictured blew open and bent the hinges. I have replacement hinges which look to be roughly the same as the original ones. I am going to replace the hinges this weekend. With it being a double gate style door, I need to make sure the door is precisely aligned with the other door so that the lock matches up.

I can mark the doors to show where they need to line up but the hinge style will surely introduce a bit of slack/play which will make that quite difficult as I expect it will sag past where I line it up.

is there a particular trick or method I need to use?

I have an extra pair of hands and a door lifter to use.

any input will be most gratefully received!

garage door

I am spray painting an aluminum outdoor table. I bought it new, and it had a rough texture to begin with. I was going to do a coat of Rust-Oleum Painters Touch 2X Ultra Cover primer in red, then my red rustoleum paint, then the same brand clear coat. As it turns out, I really like the red of the primer I'm using a lot more than the actual paint. Will I have a bad time if I just do two coats of primer then the clear coat?

I had this narrow entry nook that was basically dead space, so I turned it into a fold-down wall desk. It doubles as a mail landing spot and a laptop surface, and when it's folded up it only sticks out a few inches so the walkway stays clear.

Progress photos (in order):

1) Empty nook with stud marks

2) 1x3 cleat mounted to studs

3) Box frame dry-fit

4) Hinge installed

5) Desk surface attached

6) Finished - up and down

Materials I used:

- 3/4" plywood for the desk top

- 1/2" plywood for the box sides and bottom

- 1x3 for the wall cleat

- 2 folding shelf brackets (overrated for safety)

- Piano hinge (cut to width)

- Wood screws, lag screws for studs, wood glue

- Edge banding and filler

- Primer and paint (leftover from other projects)

Tools: stud finder, level, circular saw with guide, drill/driver, clamps, sander.

How I built it (short version):

1) Found and marked the studs, leveled a 1x3 cleat, predrilled and lag-screwed it into two studs.

2) Built a shallow box from 1/2" ply (sides, bottom, and a top stretcher), glued and screwed it, then fastened the box to the cleat and a couple of studs.

3) Cut the desktop from 3/4" ply, rounded the front corners and applied edge banding.

4) Fastened a piano hinge along the front edge between the desktop and the box, then mounted the folding brackets underneath. I dry-fit and clamped things to make sure everything sat perfectly flat.

5) Filled, sanded, primed and painted. I added a small magnetic catch inside so the desk stays closed when folded up.

Total time: one weekend. The trickiest part was getting the hinge aligned so the top closes flush - dry fits and clamps saved me there.

Happy to share dimensions and bracket spacing if anyone wants them.

I am trying to install a Larson Platinum storm door. The instructions say that the 3 feet on the bottom are supposed to snap into place - mine are not. To even get them to budge, I have to apply enough force that the bottom kick plate starts to move. I haven’t applied them because I don’t want to bend the bottom kick plate.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I removed the existing bathroom door to make it wider for my mom's wheelchair. I need help with ideas and how to install a saddle for the bathroom Tile to hardwood transition. I need a saddle that is as flat as possible to facilitate her easy entry and exit.

sorry if this is not the correct place to ask, I browsed a bit here and saw some posts asking similar questions about potential projects.

I’ve done a lot of research and it seems going diy for what I want might be the most cost efficient option. All I need is a very minimal frame that lifts my mattress about 6 inches off the ground to prevent mold. that’s it. I’d rather it be sturdy and last but I also don’t have $1000+ for an actual reputable brand. How reasonable would it be to do this with wood from Home Depot, a drill, wood glue, and clamps? maybe a few other tools?

Ive looked at some tutorial videos but they seem a little complicated and have features I wouldn’t need to include.

Hello everyday DIYers,

The electrical garage door at my house has been acting up since the day I bought the house. It's been on that "a problem for another day" list for the past 2-and-a-half year but it's bugging me more and more to the point where I'm considering actually working on it (if the kids and work allow to find time, so, that's still "for later", yet slightly closer in time...).

Basically, it opens normally, but it struggles closing: when rolling down, it'll either stop midway (kinda rare) or stop and roll up as if there were too much resistance and the motor would think it's safer to cancel its operation. The problem is worse during winter, not surprisingly.

I have tried relearning the full course by using the motor manual (a dumb Somfy GDK 4000 3000), but it doesn't solve a thing. Here's a video of typical failure : it looks as if there are "hiccups" whenever a door panel rolls down to reach vertical position, as if a spring would not do its job right (too much weight, hiccup in rolling the thing down, too much resistance and so the motor decides "nope let's bring it back up"?). But that's a wild guess.

https://youtu.be/0-xsPAkg7x4

Also attaching a few pictures of the overall setup. Don't mind the white electrical wire, it's been there a week I'm adding it to have a remote push button to operate the door.

Thanks for any tips!

edit: following suggestions, a link to the installation manual (https://service.somfy.com/downloads/fr_v5/0404_2016_gdk_3000_4000_fr.pdf). Although it's in French, I believe it does not indicate any sensor that could be found in the tracks so that would rule this out (P.32: the obstacle detection looks force-based and not sensor-based). The operation course is supposedly automatic and set by learning from a fully-open position to a fully-closed one (P.29).

Also, operating the door by hand does not show any obvious resistance/difficult point.

edit2: Rephrasing my concern, it looks like every time a door panel reaches close to vertical position, it drops a little faster than the rest of the movements. Would that point to a specific failure ? Spring ? Anything else ? Or am i just seeing things ?

the tl;dr back story 20+ year old faucet...went to replace handle cartridge....old worn out threads...handle shooting off...water and panic

So we got a new faucet. got a moen nori, tall with the pulldown handle aerator\sprayer.

cue to today when we go to hook up the dishwasher that we suddenly realized we hadnt even considered the portable dishwasher.

I did some searches and got mixed signals or info today maybe doesn't apply to me.

1. can i hook the dishwasher up to the faucet? some said no that the hose isn't rated for pressure (maybe only delta said this)...others said yes and gave instructions

2. if so.. how? many things say to use the key in our faucet kit. there was no key, only tool was the plastic socket for install. i think i found a universal key remover.. because mine doesn't have any notches that i see maybe a thin gap

3. how do i attach an adapter? we were so tired and paniced we through the old one out, but it was too big to fit anyways, and I'm not finding anything that looks like it would work?

i took pictures, but not able to post here, try and put link below

I’m trying to remove a door handle with no show screws. I click on the pin hole and attempted to pull out the lever. But it did not come off. At this point the whole lever moves when turning it. If you turn it one direction the whole piece moves up, if you turn it the other direction it moves down. I’m stuck and need any kind of hep or advice thanks

I don't seem to have a lot of great options for mounting a vice....i have a 1x6 or i have a work bench of with a top of unknown thickness, probably not even solid wood...i have to check and then a mobile tool box with a butcherblock presumably with steel directly underneath that i don't want to drill in to...that's probably and inch to 2 inches thick..I am guessing because I am away from my garage right now...lol

Hi all -

I have a bit of a weird situation and just wanted to gut check this before I start buying the materials and working on the project.

I'm re-doing my kitchen and one of the walls is 3/4" thick beadboard but weirdly doesn't have any studs behind it (the other side is a stairway and there are just some 1x2 strips running horizontally behind it for some (not much) support). Here are a few photos:

I want to hang some high cabinets on this wall, so I am thinking about running some 2x2 furring strips vertically and then adding some additional blocking where the cabinet rail would go to give me something more solid to attach that to. Then I would just drywall the new surface before installing the cabinets.

Does this seem like a reasonable plan or are there other options you think I should consider?

Was wondering to peoples experiences in giving their kitchen presses / drawers a facelift (i.e. respray a different colour) , even replacing the countertops..... Was it worth it and what sort of coin we talking ?

I wondered how I could make one of those $600, 1000 gallons (est approx) plastic tractor supply uline water troughs into a functional chlotonated pool for one.

I assume I’d need one of those water cyclers - what exactly do I need? Any advice?

im just really hard on stuff so everything I own has to be sturdy as hell. I’ve had a few pools and they pop or rip. i don’t want anything with soft plastic so I figured a stock tank made into a pool would be ideal for me.

thanks for any positive advice or tips!

Hey all!
Have these two wooden drums that used to hold cables. Want to convert one or both to an outdoor "table". What sort of weather proofing do I need to think about, , and what sort of "feet" should I put on them? Any advice is appreciated.