"In the course of this discussion, I stated early that the businesses that have adapted root enhancing containers, be they rootmakers or grow bags, have done so as a means of product differentiation and competitive advantage. Support those businesses if it suits your fancy. Or don't." No nursery that I have been to in Arkansas uses anything BUT plastic containers. So it really is all or nothing. Now, I can say, if I walked into a new nursery, I would be more likely to buy something because solely because they use root enhancing pots! That would really get my attention in a good way especially after buying and planting a lot of stock from the local nursery. I have not planted a single tree from this nursery, and I've planted around 30 from this place, that was not at least somewhat pot bound. I have had much better luck getting plastic potted plants from online sources that are not nearly so pot bound surprisingly enough. What would you suggest I do in this case? Ask the nursery to change their ordering? Unfortunately, since they are the only shop in town, they get all the business, commercial and residential, and won't listen to any requests I make. I can't even get them to try and find bnb trees for me in fall and spring. It's what they've got in the lot or nothing. Their loss, as I've spent around $500 and driven over an hour away to get what I want from someone else. Not to mention much more that I have bought online instead of asking them to order it for me and, I'm sure, even paying a little extra for their trouble (which should just be "cost of doing business"). Perhaps, I've been turned off by my experience with the local nursery and stereotype others nurseries as not giving a crap about me or the longevity of my plants. But I hear about this happening at other places to other people, too so just how bad is it? Otherwise, I don't know why you refuse to admit, despite numerous testimonials and evidence to the contrary, root enhancing containers are superior to smooth sided plastic. Put the operational cost aside. They produce more feeder roots and reduce the amounts of circling of roots. I have not found any circling roots out of one yet, actually. And businesses like soonerplantfarm have made the switch. Yes, I have ordered from them before. No one says it has to be overnight, but at least show me some effort (directed at any local nursery that wants my repeated business)! John

Everyone pulls the flow restrictors out of shower heads - particularly if you live somewhere where you have a well and a pressure tank instead of a water system. When you have clients complaining that they can't rinse shampoo out of their hair, you try to take care of the problem. There are a couple of brands we stay clear of and don't use - we have found that Moen does not work well in terms of water pressure and Grohe is just all around trashy junk (in our experience). The way most remodel contracts would work is that the contractor and his/her sub (in this case the plumber) would check for issues with the installation. Asking the building management if there are any other issues in the building is a valid question. Wednesday morning is correct - if the water heaters are on-demand units, there are lots of problems documented where the newer reduced units that restrict water flow do not allow enough flow to activate the heating unit in the on-demand water heater. The cartridge should be checked and if it is bad the manufacturer will replace the part, but you may have to pay the plumber to install it. Most remodel contracts say that the GC does not warranty products, a GC warranties his/her work and that of the subs. If the whole valve is bad, then the same applies - the manufacturer will provide a new valve but will not pay for the work to replace it. The GC is not responsible for replacing defective products at his/her expense. A GC may choose to handle it at their cost - but only for the really good clients that have been a joy to work with and that they want to work with again.

That may have sounded like a political attack Elmer, now that I reread it. But I meant that as a joke. I believe it's true that licensing and regulations increase costs. In Texas, to get a *true* HVAC license and not just some registration with the state as in a technician --- you need 4 years of verifiable experience, someone with a *Real HVAC License* to vouch for you for that 4 years of experience, then you have to take and pass the HVAC license exam with a 70 or better. It's a timed test, but open book. It's by no means an easy test. You also need to have the means to buy and maintain General Liability Insurance. Open book is easy: uh, no. The test covers multiple books, the refrigeration book alone is like a phone book of a major metropolitan area that is if you're old enough to know what a phone book is. I believe it's a dumb approach when you have to pull a permit for everything and anything. It's mostly a money grab in my opinion. Those permit rules are implemented by politicians. We have to pull permits here in the city limits. Most of my work is in the county, there is no requirement to pull a permit in the county here. (That makes the job easier to get done and move onto the next job, which is important in this climate. California climate is nothing when it comes to air conditioning, in most cases. ) With that said, I know what the building code is in Texas and I follow it, even though I am not pulling a permit 99% of the time. ------------- The point that was lost though is that your climate would make it extremely difficult for an HVAC technician / installer to make a good enough living only doing air conditioning work. This is why I was against moving to a more moderate climate. I wanted to work doing what I wanted my career in HVAC to be about. Mostly air conditioning related problems. I don't regret that choice. The only choice I regret is not getting my HVAC license sooner than what I did. But I probably wouldn't have as much knowledge as I do from the myriad of employers I worked for over the years... seeing different ways of doing things. This is why I said: HVAC installer is a dead end job. I believe it would be true even for California, because you'd never make enough to support yourself *only* doing AC installation work.

Not to scare you, but weird things happen. Last August, my friend started having problems with lights flickering in different areas of his house. It didn't make sense to him, and was getting worse, so he called the power company to see if there was a problem with the lines. A guy from the power company came out and said there was a problem at his circuit box and that my friend should call an electrician. He didn't act like it was urgent, but suggested not waiting too long. Luckily, I had another friend who was able to recommend an electrician -- called him and he said he'd come out and check it the next day. The electrician showed up and apparently told my friend he couldn't believe that the power company didn't cut the power IMMEDIATELY! He said it was terribly dangerous... there was a water leak to the fuse box and a voltage imbalance on sides of the house and at least one of the breakers had fused, so no matter what happened, the breaker(s) couldn't trigger. The electrician called to have the power cut immediately (what an operation that is!) and then proceeded to replace the entire circuit box.