Dollarama (Ontario) Canada sells whole wheat and white bread for $1.00 and recently added other related bread items Giant Tiger has great prices on produce, not a huge selection but usually just what I need, it's fresh and always much less than Zehrs or Sobeys. The only thing I don't like about GT is that they don't offer reward points. :-( Ah well, I go for the overall savings (but the points are nice) JASDIP I've never had a problem with printed online coupons and have used 2 (different) coupons for one item My favourite sites for coupons and deals: www.smartcanucks.ca www.bargainmoose.ca Coupon sites: brandsaver.ca save.ca websaver.ca (more listed on smart canucks) Price Match! Zellers and Walmart price match, you can use coupons with price matching and do pretty good! I am an avid "point" collector, optimum, visa rewards, airmiles, Sobeys, Sears, HBC, (which I convert to airmiles) I buy Shopper's Drug Mart gift cards and recieve optimum points for purchasing them. Then I get points for spending them. Adds up really fast. I've used my Visa Reward points to buy Shopper Drug Mart gift cards - which are different than the gift cards SDM sells. Then I take the Visa SDM gift cards to SDM and buy their gift cards, then spend them on 20x the points day. I only redeem my points on point redemption day and use tons of coupons. I have saved hundreds and hundreds doing this! And it's all legit. :-) Oh and we go to a lot of movies and have a Scotia Bank Scene debit card which gets you free movies and discounts at the concession stand. Last week was the first week in ages where we had to pay full price for movie tickets as our scene point were all used up (darn teenagers!) But it's still a great deal (if you like the big screen like we do) Of course there is half price Tuesdays ... AND Pizza Pizza has a pizza and movie deal on right now. Get a large pizza and 3 drinks for $11 and get a free movie pass. So, that pretty much makes the movie free. Shopping these days is all about strategy it seems. Everyone at my house knows better than to go out to buy something without asking Mom first if she has a coupon! lol Usually I do. Geesh I could go on forever about couponing. It's sort of a hobby for me. :-) BJ

I am sorry to say that your story is very much like the ones we are trying to educate homeowners about. First and foremost, if he did not provide you with an allowance of the cost of the tile in his budget, then you should not be obligated to pay. The contractor discount is not the issue -- it's about his allowances. If the contract says "furnish and install at $1,540 then that is what you should pay. If there is other language in the contract that allows for changes, then he may have the right to charge extra -- though totally unethical if you did not approve those extra charges. The extra $650 for the "tile membrane" should also be included in the install price. If he did not add it in his original quote but is a needed part of the project, then he should eat that. Overall, your expectations are reasonable. However, if your contract allows the contractor to bill for extras WITHOUT your approval, then you might be liable for the additional charges. If nothing is stated in the contract, it could go either way. I also recommend asking for receipts of additional materials he purchased without your approval. Definitely check with the tile flooring forum for the particulars. Finally, when we price out a job, small or large, we provide one fixed price. Period. The project includes installation and materials. If we miss materials, shame on us. Replacing the entire subfloor would depend on the age, tile, etc. Those are unknowns for any contractor until the area is exposed. When the types of changes you describe are required, we will issue a "change order" for final approval and signature. Nothing is done until the homeowner signs off. Here is a link that might be useful: Hafer Construction, Inc.

Update: I was able to determine that the plans I gave the cheaper fabricator didn't account for needing countertop under the cabinets that touch the counters or 20 square feet. (This wasn't his fault it was the way my KD had sent me a picture of where counters would be needed and didn't take this part into account). When I factored in needing more square footage, the difference was about $1800 and I thought I could live with that for ease of scheduling and then my cabinet guys are on the hook for making sure it's right. SO... I contacted the cheaper fabricator to let him know I wasn't going to use him. He asked if he could sharpen his pencils and I agreed. He said because I've sent 2 people there (because of their prices), he said he would keep the SAME price for the additional square footage. We are talking $6800 for 133 sq feet compared to $9800 for same. Honestly I don't know how they can do it that low. My cabinet guy said it's like "you can always buy a chevy for $40K less than a mercedes" but I don't think that's a good analogy. I'm talking about the exact same product. Apples to apples. $3K less. Long story why, but cheaper fabricator has a $2500 (fully refundable) deposit. I was thinking I could tell him that I wouldn't pay any more until the job is completed because I'm nervous about quality. It's hard to walk away from $3K! Also note that I called Cambria to inquire if they were legit, the rep knew exactly who they were and said "they order a lot of product from us"....

Yes, despite a lot of hoopla about bringing back manufacturing from both parties, and a lot of hot air and bragging from you know who, we haven't turned around much of the supply chain issues that are involved with concentrating production to even a few places around the US which then makes them vulnerable to all kinds of hold ups. I've always thought that monopoly, concentration of manufacturing capacity to a few places and shipping so many manufacturing facilities overseas was a bad, bad idea. Just because something makes a right now, in-your-face dollars profit does not make it a good long-term idea. We are now paying the price for these bad long term decisions. It takes a while to turn the Titanic around. I expect inflation and supply chain hold ups to continue, hopefully spurring a renaissance of American manufacturing.