Storm Damage, Five Checks Before the Repair Starts, and the Party Holding Your Check
Wind claims turn on edge details, scope lines and permits, but the mortgage servicer's loss draft department often decides when the money actually moves.
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Homes
18 stories filed to the Homes desk — newest first.
Who Actually Installs Your Windows, and Why That Decides What You Save
The glass is rarely the problem in a double glazing dispute. The crew that sets it, and the warranty that follows them, decides what the job is worth.
Replacing Windows? Four People Who Can Tell You What You'll Actually Save
Double glazing pays back in two different currencies, and the people best placed to tell you which one you'll get mostly don't work for the window company.
Planning a Patio Under a Big Conifer? The Four People Who Decide the Order of Work
Before the pavers arrive, an arborist, a drainage contractor, a permit reviewer and your downhill neighbor have already shaped what your yard can be.
Hail Took the North Slope. What the Repair Actually Costs and Who Pays Which Part
Storm repairs are priced in squares, pitch and access, and paid out through a deductible formula most homeowners have never read. Here is how the two numbers meet.
Priced the Patio and Not the Pruning? What a Second Design Changed About the Annual Bill
A backyard renovation looked affordable until the maintenance bid arrived. The fix was bringing the crew who would service it into the room before the plan was signed.
Report Full of "Recommend Further Evaluation"? What Chasing Each One Actually Costs
A buyer's inspection report deferred eleven items to specialists. Here is how those referrals turned into three weeks of calls, and what drove the bill.
Same Backyard, Ten Years Apart. Why Drainage Now Comes Before the Patio
Stormwater fees, impervious surface limits and cheaper excavation have moved grading and drainage to the front of the schedule on backyard jobs. Here is what that changes for you.
The Garden Bill You Get in Year Two, and How to Price It Before You Plant
Most landscaping quotes price the build and stay silent on the upkeep. Here is how to work out the recurring number yourself, before the design is locked in.
Picking a Roof Material? The Bills That Show Up Years After the Crew Leaves
Roofing materials are sold on price per square and a warranty number. The consequences arrive later, in insurance renewals, gutter work, attic heat and what a buyer's inspector writes down.
Whose Pipe Is It When It Fails Inside a Wall Between Two Condominium Units?
A leak in a wall between two units produced four months of argument and a five figure repair. Every answer was already in a document both owners received at closing.
A Grid of Numbers, Not a Feeling: What Finishing a Drying Job Looks Like
Drying is the one part of a water loss that is measurable, and the part most often finished by the calendar instead. The difference shows up months later.
Why Does a Twelve Item Maintenance Checklist Never Survive Past the End of March?
Home maintenance schedules fail for the same reason diets do. The fix is not more discipline. It is fewer occasions, each with more on it.
Why Do Two Dryer Vent Cleanings at the Same Price Produce Different Results?
Two services share a name and a price bracket. One removes lint from the first three feet. The other clears the whole run and can show you that it did.
A Clipboard at the Door: Reading the Restoration Authorization Before You Sign It
It is presented as a formality so work can start. It is a contract, it usually assigns your insurance money, and it gets signed by people standing in three inches of water.
One Skipped Gutter Cleaning Ends as a Foundation Question Four Winters Later
A single deferred hundred-dollar job, followed through the sequence of consequences it produced, ending at a repair bill in an entirely different trade.
Is a Maintenance Membership Worth More Than the Two Visits It Contains?
Two tune-ups a year, a discount on repairs and priority scheduling, billed monthly. Whether it is worth having depends almost entirely on one line in the agreement.
What Should Happen in the First Forty Eight Hours After Water Gets Into a House?
The order is not obvious and it is not the order most households follow. Nearly everything that goes wrong in a water claim was decided in the first two days.