My research into getting estimates to replace my two sliding doors with French doors has grown into a full blown project that includes replacing a third slider with windows and replacing all of the windows in my entire house.
Jeez.
I wasn’t anticipating that.
What happened was every time I met with another contractor, I thought , “I might as well get a price for the front windows…and then the bedroom windows…and then the upstairs windows.”
The door replacement project cost still feels astronomically high to me, but after evaluating 5 different vendors, I’ve come to the conclusion, that this is the market rate – it is what it is. How much I paid for replacement windows and doors in 1999, 2015 and 2018 have absolutely no bearing on what it costs today (which is more…of course).
As I was negotiating and narrowing down my selection of vendors today I feel confident in my choices and moving forward with the project.
I was thinking this is the biggest home improvement project I’ve ever done. But that’s not the case. I’ve replaced windows 3 times, floors twice, roof once and over 20+ years did many other updating/renovating/maintenance projects some of which were larger than this. I’ve also purchased 6 cars and 7 houses over the same years.
And you know what? In every case, even with the benefit of hindsight, I did OK. I might have paid a little too much at times due to my poor negotiation skills. Many times, I got lucky choosing the right vendor or product based on referrals, reviews, internet research and recommendations.
Nothing turned out to be disastrous.
Even those decisions that weren’t so great turned out to be fine. Maybe not ideal – but fine.
When I was about to agree to the big contract, I had a moment of doubt, Then I took a deep breath and reminded myself, I’ve done this before and everything will be fine.
I expect I will love the doors and will enjoy windows that open and close easily. The additional insulation from the summer sun and winter cold will be icing on top.
I have no expectations of a good ROI when I sell the home. Been there…done that 6 times already. You never get back the money you put in. I have no plans to go anywhere at present, but given my track record of moving , who knows?
My ROI will be enjoying these upgrades as long as I live here.
