The Carolina Contractor Show
The Carolina Contractor Show
The Homeowner's Survival Guide
Have you ever wondered what mysteries lie beneath your kitchen sink or above your ceiling? The answers could save you thousands. In this eye-opening episode of the Carolina Contractor Show, host Donnie Blanchard and his co-host Eric Smith, dive into the questions that keep homeowners awake at night—and the solutions that could prevent costly disasters.
Drawing from decades of hands-on experience in construction and building supply, they tackle the uncomfortable truth many new homeowners discover too late: houses need maintenance, and repairs are inevitable. But how much should you budget? While the internet suggests setting aside 1-4% of your home's value annually, real life rarely follows such neat formulas. As they explain, you might go years without major expenses, then suddenly face a five-figure HVAC replacement. Their practical advice cuts through theoretical percentages to help you prepare for what matters.
The hosts take listeners on a virtual tour of often-neglected inspection areas—from attics where disconnected HVAC ducts silently waste energy to crawl spaces where copper pipes quietly corrode from the inside out. These simple DIY checks could save you from catastrophic failures. Their discussion of water heater maintenance (never call it a "hot water heater" again!) includes emergency tips that could spare you extensive water damage when failure inevitably occurs.
Perhaps most valuable is their candid conversation about pre-sale home repairs. Should you replace that aging roof before listing? The answer depends on market conditions and comparable properties. Their insider perspective on finding reliable contractors provides alternatives to online reviews that might actually connect you with quality professionals who won't break the bank.
Whether you're a first-time homeowner trying to avoid expensive mistakes or a seasoned property owner preparing for your next sale, this episode delivers practical wisdom that online searches simply can't match. Subscribe now and join the conversation that's helping homeowners across the Carolinas protect their most valuable investment.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with your host, general Contractor Donnie Blanchard. Hey, boys and girls, children of all ages, welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show. Do we tell them what we're talking about before we kick down the mics? Donnie, I don't think we said anything about it. No, we're talking fantasy football. Really kind of my first year of doing it and it was by accident, but Donnie's a pro at doing, or?
Speaker 2:you're very involved in it. Yeah, and that makes it even worse because my team has been terrible this year and I actually have a couple of different teams in two different leagues and I haven't been on the up and up. I did tons of research and when you do your YouTube research and hear all the talking heads and then you actually go to Vegas, because Vegas always knows what's going to happen- and it's been the worst year I probably had in fantasy football in about a decade.
Speaker 1:Don't want to talk about it, so it hurts you when I tell you that I entered accidentally and let it auto draft and I'm in second place. Yeah, you auto drafters drive me nuts. As we say, donnie, on more than one occasion, this isn't a sports show and if we talk about this, as good as it will be, we're not going to focus on sports. Maybe we'll do an after the show show where we just talk crap about sports for a couple hours, because that would be really easy to do.
Speaker 2:I think that might fly.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to have to do an after party show, but today on the Carolina Contractor Show, we're going to be talking about your house, especially your homeowners, whether you're a DIY person or you're a new homeowner or you're an old vet and you know your house inside and out.
Speaker 1:We did a little research and we're trying to find out questions that people ask Donnie all the time. He's a general contractor, people who ask me questions all the time and I work in lumber and building supply sales. We just decided to put some of these together and maybe there are questions you have in the back of your mind and, of course, you can go online and search for questions and find answers. But you know, when you have a relationship or you can talk to people who are in the field and work with the materials and build the houses and stuff like that, you know you're getting something that's a life experience, not some AI generated answer to a question that's kind of like one size fits all and I'm sure in the field, donnie, you're knee deep in a job and someone's like hey, I got a question for you about what? Do you think you get that all the time Right?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, I'm happy to oblige, but at the same time it's always untimely. Yeah, cause you're, you're in the trenches at the time. Yep, that's it and um, you know, I've learned to answer my phone calls selectively, and a lot of times when you're really trying to get something done and you have some important stuff going on on the job, I'll just turn my ringer off because, no secret, if you get a lot of phone calls, your phone will work you and it needs to be the other way around. So I learned all that the hard way, but it has sure made things a lot better since I started doing it.
Speaker 1:Well, donnie came up with a couple of months ago. I thought it was brilliant. He won't take a bow on this, but he kind of said that the theme of the show is from the construction site to the studio mic and it really resonated with me because that's what we do all day. You know, our full-time jobs are related to the construction business home building business, renovations, things like that and we take for granted that people don't know what we know. No different than a guy who's very familiar as a HVAC tech. He knows lots of things about it that the average homeowner might find interesting, but because it's just back of hand knowledge to him, he doesn't see the value of saying, hey, I'll give you some free advice. Here's something you might not know about and that's what we're going to kind of concentrate about on today's show. First of all, hit the website thecarolinacontractorcom. We've got links to all the past shows. I've mentioned this before. The average podcast show has three episodes and then they've given up. We've done this since, was it?
Speaker 2:2018?. I started in August of 2018. We got together on the big network in Raleigh in February of 2019.
Speaker 1:So long time, so we got six years and you've been doing it for eight years. The big network in.
Speaker 2:Raleigh in February of 2019. So long time. So we got six years and you've been doing it for eight years Just a little more than six, but we're in it together. It wasn't terrible, but it was just a call-in show and, man, I like to rerun some of those first few months because I basically exposed myself to the public and people called in and asked me questions. Oh my goodness, those were doozies, but they were fun.
Speaker 2:This is kind of what today's show is then right, yeah, sort of yeah, they're just not calling in but same thing. Questions came from listeners and we appreciate that, by the way. So, yeah, similar setup.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you can contact us through the website thecarolinacontractorcom. There's a ask the contractor button and if you have a question, a comment, send it that way. Also got the YouTube page up. We put these shows up on YouTube so you can watch them and judge us, I guess, on how we look, I don't know. We also have the ability for you to download all those podcasts. So whichever format or service you like to use, you will find it up there. Let's go hit a couple of questions, donnie, and get this baby rolling. Homeowners again ask us questions about their house and sometimes we think they're elementary. But there's a lot of new homeowners and they don't know these things. When you buy a new house, you kind of forget a big thing, and that is there will be repairs and maintenance you're going to have to make, and I never thought about this. Someone asked how much do I budget? I was kind of like, well, I don't know, we just kind of pay the bill when it comes up, but there's actually a formula to it or a percentage, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know that the formula or the percentage really applies. I think the figures we talked about were one to 4% of the value of the home. So when you start thinking about spending anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000 a year, in my world it's a little different because I can fix a lot of things myself and I know the average homeowner probably has to call somebody in, but I'll lean back on you for this. I mean, when you think about what is home maintenance, does lawn care fall in there? If you can't mow your own yard and you have to pay somebody, I get that that's going to add up in the warmer months. And then you know probably need to pressure wash your house, get the cobwebs off, but you don't have to repaint your house every year. You don't have to do any kind of servicing with the roof every year, even though we recommend every five to eight years have your flashings and pipe boots looked at that kind of thing. But I don't know that the figures from the internet are really applicable to to everyday life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think what you have to also consider is you can go several years without needing really any repairs, even minor repairs, and then you can have one big thing blow up. Your HVAC system could go bad and you're like, oh crap, well, there's a anywhere from a couple thousand to could be over $10,000 to repair and replace. So I think what it basically means is be prepared. Your house will need things done to it maintenance so don't be shocked when something comes up. Whether you put money aside or budget it, I agree with you. You can't really do that, because if I had $10,000 sitting the side that was the home repair budget I'd go buy a Les Paul.
Speaker 2:Right. So not to go on and on about the about the uh home maintenance thing, but I my suspicion is that those averages and those percentages were probably um, talked about or or got sort of like what you said. If you have one big ticket item that hits, so I think the rule of thumb is HVAC lasts for 15 years and you get beyond that. You know you kind of won. I think my dad got 30 years out of his first unit. He built his house in 1990 and just did a replacement recently. So you know things like that. You know shingles that we have these days last 50 years and they're really strong warranties. And so when these home maintenance numbers were thought about and brought about, it was probably back when houses were poorly insulated. You know the SEER ratings on the HVAC weren't as high, so those units didn't run as efficiently, they didn't last as long because they ran continuously with poor insulation in the older homes and then shingles gosh. Until this big change were only 20 to 25-year three-tab shingles, and now architectural shingles have changed the game.
Speaker 1:And also consider, if you buy a older house, something from well, I sit there and think, well, the 90s wasn't that long ago. Yeah, the 90s, the 80s. If you want to get into a historic home because your spouse thinks, oh, it's so beautiful, a baseboard, and you have to go to a custom shop and spend 300 bucks for a blade fee and then 10 bucks a foot to try to replace it, an older house is going to cost you money, not just because it might be older, but because some of the features of it are no longer made. And if you're going to copy it or replace it exactly, you're looking at customization and that's going to be a lot of money going up.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. My recommendation is if it ain't sentimental stay away.
Speaker 1:I think that's an excellent idea, unless you think you can flip it and I've worked with some of the people who've been flipping historic and the cities get involved because it's a historic property. So they think, well, I'm just going to put vinyl siding and the city goes, nope, no, you're not. And it can be small stuff, outlets, aforementioned trim. You can get yourself into a big pit if you don't know what you're doing. So I'm with you Don't buy historic unless you really know what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Historical society is like a homeowner association on steroids, and around here they call them the hysterical society. I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying that, but yeah, what they make you go through and do to get that finished product in my book isn't worth it. You could just about do a new build, be a lot more comfortable, and unless it's a location or sentimental thing, yeah, I wouldn't do it.
Speaker 1:Now what would be some of the um maintenance, uh, things you have to to be prepared for. You mentioned HVAC. Think about how old the system is, so say it's a new system, you go okay, I got like 12, 15 years, maybe more. We've always said get system checkups, get on a contract. I am, it's twice a year. I get a spring and a fall checkup and that's where he just goes around and he cleans the system and the coils and he goes inside and he measures the airflow and up in the attic and all those things. That's one way you can prevent a big thing and it's easy to do. We're talking a couple of weeks ago oh, smoke detectors, carbon smoke detectors. That's pretty easy safety maintenance thing I guess you could do. And if you have old ones, they're cheap to replace. Do you have the combo or just one of each, or what?
Speaker 2:I've got one of each. The combos didn't become popular until I don't know less than 10 years ago, and they were around, but they just weren't readily available. So I have one of each. And I don't have a lot of gas in my house, so the only thing I have gas is just my gas logs, which serve me very well if we have a power outage. But other than that, I'm all electric and I'm a big fan of that. And to comment on what you just said, with the HVAC system, you system, that biannual checkup that you have is well worth it. We preach on the show that roofing and HVAC are the two biggest ticket items on your house that are guaranteed to wear out. Those are the things you need to take care of, gosh, if you get an extra. Like my dad, he got an extra 15 plus years out of his HVAC system. Of course, every year it costs more to replace it because the price of everything continues to go up.
Speaker 1:But I think in the big picture you know, if you can extend the life of something by a decade, then that's a win and I think the getting those people that you trust. I mean, if anybody's living in the Wilson County area of North Carolina, you can contact me through the site. I'll tell you who I use. And the advantage of not only having that service plan is it's a discount on labor, it's a discount on parts and you get priority. So if your system goes out in the middle of winter, he's going to prioritize you over somebody who's not a regular client or not on his maintenance program. And that comes in very handy because of course the systems always go funky in the hottest days or the coldest days of the year. Yeah, that's a really good point.
Speaker 1:Plumbing. I never thought about this when I first became a homeowner and when you find a water leak that's like the scary thing, but it's something you can check for constantly. Just go around your house and see if there's any water spots forming on the wood or whatever material you have under your sink, your drains. Look behind the bathroom, the toilets where you have under your sink, your drains. Uh, look behind the bathroom, the toilets, where you have a pressurized line going in, those seals will fail and start dripping water and if you're not paying attention to it, it'll keep going. Uh, the the drain system itself. Um, where else could you look, donnie? Where would you look for water leaks? Oh, water heater. Now I'm lucky because my water heater is on the first floor and it's in a cabinet near the front door but and you can stand up and work on it If you had to. You don't have to crawl under anything or get crouched down. If you look at your water heater, it's easy to see. Look for buildup. It looks like calcium buildup around the connections. That's going to be a sign that those seals are getting ready to go.
Speaker 1:And if you ever have an issue where you come downstairs or you notice it's leaking and it's significant even after you call the plumber, if it doesn't have a drain line going out the house or a drain pan that's going to hold it, all you have to do is grab a hose, connect it to what you were talking about, that spigot, run the hose obviously out of the house, and usually on top of that water heater is going to be a release valve, because some people hook the hose up and turn the nozzle and they're like it's not draining.
Speaker 1:Well, there's a release valve you just lift up on the top and that'll allow air in to push that out and drain it out, and that can save you a lot of excess water going through the house, mitigating damage, which insurance companies always love. And when mine went one year, I not only did that, I called the guy, bought the hot water heater myself and got it to the house and that saved me 75 bucks just doing that. And I took my old one. Well, we took it out together, but I had it already drained and everything. So he cut the pipes, we took it out together. He took 125 bucks off the bill Cause I did those things by myself. So, even though I couldn't replace it, I saved some money by doing things by myself, knowing how to do it, and also got to see him put in pecs, which was cool.
Speaker 2:That is cool and uh, I know we're not world changers by any means, but it's been a long time since I heard anybody who listened to the show say hot water heater. And uh, we, we rode that for years. Man, you said you got me on it several times because I would hear people say it and before you know it, you're repeating what they say. And I've heard a lot of people just say water heater and a lot of people have said to me like hey, I heard what you guys said about that and it makes sense, because you're not eating hot water. So, anyway, maybe warm water heater if it hadn't cycled on and off. So warm water heater is legit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it was one of those things. You're right. I made a little joke once or twice that you said hot water heater and I said no, it's a water heater. And you said people are making fun of you on the job site about it. That's it, dude, that's it so water heater Very good You're.
Speaker 2:also you know roofing inside and out. You're a big proponent of cleaning out your gutters and that's a chance also to see if you've got granules from your shingles in the gutters, because that's one of the first signs that your shingles things sparkle that's probably the best word I can come up with. That's showing that the fiberglass mat, which is the actual roofing, you know the granules that you find in the gutter, that's just a sunscreen for the fiberglass mat. So the color that you see on your roof, those granules aren't. They don't do anything except protect what really keeps the water out. So if you start to see that roof sparkle, that's a good indicator. You need to get it checked out and inspected. It may have a couple of years left, but a really good point there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it shimmers like a Cinderella, any other things the average Joe can look at themselves before it goes bad.
Speaker 2:If I had to say two things I would check for. And people don't like going in their attic and people don't like going in the crawl space and they'd probably prefer the attic slightly over the crawl. But depending on the time of year, in your attic if you have your air handler, so your HVAC system is overhead, it's very important that you at least every year go up and take a look at it, look at all the connections, so that distribution box that has all your supply lines coming off of that it's not uncommon to see those lines come loose. Or if you're at the mercy of HVAC tape and it's been a hard summer and really hot, you know the adhesive on that tape is really prone to turning loose. So you could be blowing air conditioning into your attic and it really really cuts down on the efficiency for what you're getting in the interior living space.
Speaker 2:And then underneath the house, especially if you have copper pipes on an older home. You want to check that more than once a year because if you have well water, a lot of times the well water will wear away the copper pipes from the inside out. So you're a ticking time bomb to have a leak at a joint or something like that. So not a bad idea to just go under there shine a light. You don't have to get all the way under there. See if you see any puddles or anything that jumps off the page.
Speaker 1:But attic and crawl space are often neglected. You also can check your still if it has copper pipes, if it's leaking. And if it's starting to leak, it probably means your pipes in your house are leaking too. That's how I do it personally. I just check. You know you're making some hooch on the side, you go, you know. This reminds me I need to check pipes in my house.
Speaker 1:Here's a weird question, donnie, and it seemed obvious to me what the majority of people would think the answer is. But surprisingly, I've had people ask me and I'm not in real estate obviously Do I need to make repairs before I sell my house? And I'm like, only if you want to make money on your house and it depends on what the repairs are. But yeah, that's maybe a good time to call the obvious stuff you could fix. But maybe call a pre-sale home inspector to come through and say, hey, to get bang for your buck, or before you sell, you need to do this, this and this. But I was surprised some people think, no, you just put for sale sign, go to town.
Speaker 2:I think that the market drives that and I think that if the inventory is at a historical low, like it's been for I mean, it's better now. But rewind, three years ago we didn't have any inventory and people were buying anything that came on the market. So the amount of houses that were bought sight unseen, with no home inspection, is definitely record setting from two or three years ago. But now inventory seems to be better. And if you're competing with another house at the same square footage and you want to be the better house, if you want your house to actually move and I would say that what I see the most is people put off the heating and air and the roofing because, as I mentioned earlier, those are the two big ticket items. But if there's anything else that needs to be fixed, you know that is that that that's definitely worthy. You know, painting the whole house things that you'll get your money back on.
Speaker 2:Uh, that being that being said, you know the new buyers may want a different color. So you're going out on a limb by just assuming that they may want that. But if it's an older home, you got dogs, you got all these bad, dirty drywall places, then you know, um, a paint job is is not a bad thing, but uh, what? What I see is that people put off the big ticket items and I think it would be a hard sell to say, hey, call a preliminary inspector and to tell you all the things that you need to fix and then go fix all those things Because people want to test the water, they want to see if they can get what they're asking price before they spend a bunch of money. So you're calling an inspector in spending money on him to tell you that you got to spend a lot more money. So I don't know that that would fly and you would like to put faith in humanity as a whole that people would just do the right thing. But I just don't see it a lot.
Speaker 1:I agree. But at the same time, I think if you're putting your house up for sale and you did invest an amount of doing some things like you decided hey, the roof's 15 years old. I'm going to put on a new roof and I'm going to go ahead and dump that 20 grand to get the HVAC system updated and maybe a new water heater, as we talked about. Those aren't items that usually give you a super high ROI, or they give you a very good one, but not a hundred percent or more. But put your mind into a prospective buyer. If they're standing on the curb and the realtor said to them by the way, this house has a brand new roof with a 50 year warranty. This house also has a brand new HVAC system and a new water heater. You're going to get somebody going.
Speaker 1:Oh, as a buyer, I would personally think, oh, that makes me feel good because those are big ticket items. I know I got 15 to 20 years before. I need to worry about them. What do they want for the house versus? Hey, this house is a good price for the market and for the neighborhood, but the inspector said the roof's got a couple of years left. The HVAC system is starting to show some signs and you're and you might need a water. Oh, I don't want to put that money, so it depends.
Speaker 2:The flip side of what I said is they're going to want a $40,000 concession over those three items, you know water heater, roof and HVAC. So you, you kind of put yourself in a position to have to negotiate harder because when they come back they could get Joe Ruffer out of Raleigh, some big guy who has, you know, 40 trucks, and he could come in there and of course he's going to be five to $8,000 more than we are. And so then all of a sudden their negotiation puts you in a worse position. So I get your point and you know it's just kind of situational. But if you could replace the roof for 10 grand and somebody says well, I got a quote for 18 grand, I want that off the sale price, then you're kind of behind the eight ball at that point. So I guess it could go either way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right, it's it's. It's not a gamble, but you are trying. That's why you need a real estate agent. That we've we've had them on before. They really know the markets and can help you out with something like that. Um, we could go on for that long time.
Speaker 1:I want to hit a couple other things on the show today. The best way to find a reliable contractor I have people walk into our store and they're doing a project, or they might be doing a build, but they just don't know who to contact, necessarily. Or you know, hey, can you recommend somebody? I'm willing to recommend people who I think are good contractors. Right, I don't make anything on the side. It's not like a referral program, but if someone says, yeah, I'm looking for someone to put in a deck, do you know who I could call, maybe to do a good job? I'll give them three names and I don't have any problem doing that. What are you doing someone? What advice would you give somebody aside from calling you directly, Donnie? How do they find a good contractor or a reliable one?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, we used to preach and I want to say the first three or four years of the show, we preach that you should call the local inspections department because they know who the you know good contractors are in town because they see all their work and so, um, that has been shut down in the last couple of a few years because, uh, every municipality has taken the stance that they, they are not allowed to refer contractors.
Speaker 2:I guess there's some big conflict of interest there. So I take that advice back because you know the smaller municipalities, they still may be willing to give you a little bit off the record advice, but everybody's in cover, your rear end mode these days, it seems. And I would say what you just mentioned as far as go to the local building supply, if it's a plumber, you need to go to the plumbing supply house and just ask those folks who they recommend. And you know, I don't tell them the size of your job. If you've got a big job, a lot of times that's somebody with a big staff that needs to handle that. But if you've got a tiny plumbing job, then you want a plumber with just him and a helper and they're going to be a lot cheaper than the guy with a ton of overhead.
Speaker 1:So while we're talking I shouldn't have my phone. We talk about it. But someone sent me a text. They were listening and they said hey, going back to, donnie mentioned painting and cheaper stuff you can do to maybe increase the home's value. They said what are some other things real quick I can do if I'm not going to do a big ticket item, maximize return on my investment when I go to sell that house? And of course you said painting it. Painting always improves it, because we're talking curb appeal. Painting covers mistakes or problems too, but for the most part it looks fresh and it even smells good. What other quick things do you think of top of your head? Sorry to spring that on you.
Speaker 2:Quick things Garage door replacement. It doesn't sound sexy but it has a big time ROI and you know you definitely get your money back and then some out of a garage door. I do recommend going insulated because in the summer makes a big difference on how your garage feels. The other things that you really get your money back out of are kitchens and baths. But I know that we had talked a while back that you replaced your front door and as simple as that sounds, you know it does make a difference. And if you're not talking about ROI, you just want more curb appeal for a sale, then that's something quick and easy that you could do. Getting into energy efficient features, those are. Those are a little bit more complex. It's not a, it's not major surgery that you got to do, but you know that that's always a good thing to do and actually I didn't replace the door.
Speaker 1:Oh, you painted it. Painted the door barn red, very trendy, and I also got a storm door put in on the side. But yeah, painting your door it's not hard to do if it's in good condition and it really changes the whole face of the house. Just that one thing. Even more than bushes Now, I've seen canary yellow and lime green front doors and blue doors popping up, and unless you're at the beach it don't work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did that on the show and I had no say in that because I don't pick paint colors, but when we did the TV show, every house had either a red or a uh, yellow, canary yellow front door and it worked. You know, certain, certain percentage of the population likes that and I'll say that I caved on that just a tick, but I didn't do red or yellow and we have a flip house on the market right now. It's beautiful. I mean, I think I sent you before and after. Maybe I didn't. If I didn't, I will, but we, if I didn't, I will. But we did a uh, navy, blue, navy, ish blue door and um it it's a white house with black trim with a blue door and it really sets it off, but it doesn't pop like red and yellow, but, um, definitely nice subtle feature.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really cool. Um, and they have a special paint color, by the way, called barn red. I was so thankful when my wife said, hey, I want to paint the door. What color? Barn red. Walk to the paint store Literally barn red. I'm like these people know what they're doing in the paint store.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they do Last question, donnie, that I thought about and you're going to have to put on a different hat and then go into a past life. But luckily we've had a pretty mild year when it comes to tropical storms and hurricanes and hopefully it'll stay that way. But when things happen, people have to call their insurance company and the worst thing is when you find out you're not covered by something. Floods is a very common thing, so a very common question people probably have homeowners in the back of their mind is will my homeowner's insurance cover that and I know this is a past life for you, but what do people need to know about their homeowner's insurance? Cover that and I know this is a past life for you, but what do people need to know?
Speaker 2:about their homeowner's insurance. Well, you really need to be on top of your coverage amounts, because that's one of those things when home prices increase. To qualify for replacement cost coverage even if you think you have plenty of insurance, you may not. You think you have plenty of insurance, you may not you have to carry 80% of the perceived or the estimated cost of the house. So if it's a half million dollar house, you have to have at least $400,000 in insurance coverage.
Speaker 2:If you don't carry enough, what that does is put you from replacement costs, which is called RCV replacement cost value to actual cash value, acv and what that means is they're going to depreciate your claim. So if you get a claim for $100,000 to fix your house, they're going to depreciate it by how old the house is and several other factors. And if they depreciate that $100,000 by 30 or 40 grand, what's going to happen is you recover that If you have replacement costs and you carry enough coverage, you're going to get that depreciation back after you finish the repairs. If you don't carry enough coverage, then that depreciation just goes away or the insurance company keeps it, rather because you do not get that money back. So having enough coverage is probably number one priority.
Speaker 1:If I had to say and I think it's also important to get an insurance broker because they can find the best deals. But sometimes the insurance broker is going to find someone that'll cover your house but they might not be local or someone you can easily visit and contact, versus going to a insurance agent in town and saying, hey, here's where I live, here's my house. They'll look at your house and say what do you recommend? And they might go do you know you're in a floodplain? Or they might say you don't need this. We would recommend, you know, dinosaur insurance because, or whatever. But you know, having those insurance agents come out and look at your property, look at the history, look how storms affect it, they'll see all things around your house that could be issues that they can point out and they'll be very specific of what you need. But you just need to know what am I covered for? Ask your agent. They should be willing to schedule a time to go through it and let you know clearly what you're covered under.
Speaker 2:And have that conversation at least every two or three years because, like I said, the value of houses all shot up what 20%, 30% last few years. And the three coverages you have to be aware of are A, b and C. Coverage A is your house. Coverage B is other structures or, you know, accessory buildings, things like that, and if you don't ask for extra money on those then they the value of your house.
Speaker 2:Uh say, I'm sorry, if your coverage A is 500,000 for your house, then your automatic coverage B by default is 10% of that number. So that means you only have 50,000. And I mean I've got a 40 by 60 shop that we're working on right now. So, when it's all said and done, if I had a half million on the house, 50,000 wouldn't touch the shop. So you may want to ask for extra coverage on that. And the coverage C is personal property. So if you're sitting on $100,000 in jewelry, then you need to make your insurance agent aware of that, because they have extra endorsements and things like that. They will. They will cover that. You know, if you live in a um area where, uh, you're tied into city sewer and you've had a sewer backup, that's an X, that's an endorsement. That's something that you have to ask for specifically. Or you know sewer backs up and you don't have coverage for that and you don't figure that out until you've got a lot of you know what to clean up.
Speaker 1:So Know the ABCs of insurance. It sounds like Ooh, that's good, I know my alphabet. Next week we'll work on numbers and maybe a little bit of math, but uh, hey, if you have a question about your house or something we were talking about, um, please go to the website, the Carolina contractorcom. We've got the ask the contractor button right there. Again, johnny is Johnny. Donnie is a Johnny. We need to talk after the show. We found a replacement. Donnie's a general contractor, so he can answer a lot of these questions and we love getting them.
Speaker 1:So if you got something that's buzzing around your brain you want to know, please contact us and again, go to the website, thecarolinacontractorcom. You can see the past shows and hit the YouTube page and hit our IG, because we've got a couple things going absolutely crazy on there. We were stunned hundreds of thousands of views all of a sudden and more and more people following us, and we're very thankful for that. So thank you, thank you, thank you. We put a lot into this and it's nice to see some. That's working. On my end, full admission here.
Speaker 2:I got to do a better job about getting these YouTube videos up, because that's my responsibility, but we're getting there. And it's tough when you're running a couple of businesses with three children and just a whole lot going on and at the end of the day, some days I'm on fire and some days I ain't got anything left in the tank.
Speaker 1:So that's the truth. We just make it look easy. They don't know what goes behind the scenes. You don't want to know how your laws and your hot dogs are made and you don't want to know how we make this show happen. But we're glad you do like it. We hope you catch us next week on the Carolina Contractor Show. Thanks next week on the Carolina contractor show. Thanks everybody. Bye, johnny, see you there. Thanks for listening to the Carolina contractor show. Visit the Carolina contractorcom.