Well to follow up......I just called the dealer to ask what their fee's were on lawn tractors. The sales dept. told me that for lawn tractors freight is $40 and set-up is $97.50. On top of that, to deliver the tractor to my house (5 miles away) is $90.00 ($18.00 per loaded mile). So......MSRP plus $227.50, plus another $13.65 tax on the fees. What a scam. What is wrong with this place?? Why on earth would anyone spend their hard earned money here. In my opinion, that is just throwing $241.15 out the window. PURE profit. (Well, it would take about $2.00 in diesel to get the tractor to my house and then get their truck back to the dealer). In my opinion.....every penny counts. I am very turned off by John Deere now. This is from a "Gold Star" dealer, whatever that means. Sorry Green and Yellow....looks like I'll either be going Orange or used.

Do you have a volt meter? IF so, check the voltage across the battery with- Engine off Engine at high speed Engine at high speed with lights, PTO etc. on. Everything off should be 12.6 VDC. With engine running & full electrical load, it should be 13-14ish volts DC. Also switch meter to AC to see if there is any ACV present. There shouldn't be. IF you don't have 13-14 DCV across the battery at high speed, do the following- Disconnect the plug to the Voltage regulator and measure the ACV between the 2 Yellow?(non Red) wires. Depending on the charge system used, there should be something like 28 or 40 VAC MINIMUM. NOTE- That's AC Volts. IF you have the proper AC voltage, the alternator is OK and the problem lies with the voltage regulator or wiring.

My son works at UPS (he is not home or I would ask) he just mailed something for me today and I got charged 78cents for fuel??? I never really looked before too see if this was on my bills?? I wonder how they determine the amount??? I usually do the postoffice I sometimes think the UPS store rips me off~~~today he did it right at where he works so I do not know if I got ripped or not. Really is easy peasy for me to let him take it to work, box it and send it for me cost 10.87 to send a 4lb box seems high eh??? Says it will take a week to get there HMMM I think postal is faster than that???

OP, have you checked with other reputable builders in the area yet to see if they charge for bidding your house? If there are builders that provide free estimates or significantly lower priced estimates, I'd consider a couple of those FIRST so that you know what the ballpark SHOULD be. I'd be very hesitant to get only one bid and have absolutely NO IDEA if you're being bilked or not simply because the contractor is busy and knows you likely have cash in hand from insurance proceeds. Given the fact that most homes are insured for far more than it would cost to replace them, there's a good chance you'll get fleeced. As another poster suggested, if possible (depends on your city and insurance requirements), wait out the massive construction inflation and you'll get a lot more bang for your buck. ------------ On one hand, we are self-employed so I totally understand both sides of the "cost of doing business" of submitting bids to potential customers and the ramifications of being underbid. On the other hand, as a consumer, I have extreme skepticism for letting a contractor charge me an enormous fee to bid my job with no assurances that (a) He's competitively bidding my job (b) He has MY best interests at heart (which is not mutually exclusive of having his interests at heart, as well) and (c) He even has the intent of performing my job if awarded the contract. I'd make damn sure that IF he bids the jobs and you accept his bid that he is fully capable of starting and completing your job within a specific amount of time and that it is included in the contract. I'd even demand a clause stating that the bid fee would be refundable if the contractor doesn't start the job within x amount of days from both parties signing the contract.