Stephanie, first thing, don't get frustrated or give up. I lost nearly half the roses I planted the first year. Sometimes it's nothing you do, it's the plant. You didn't specify if you had potted or bare root roses. Or where you bought them. If you bought bare root in bags in Home Depot or Costo, then forget it, it's the roses, not you. They are notoriously bad news. I succumbed this year and bought two and they are goners already. These usually come with canker already so they are pretty much DOA when you buy them. If they were bare roots from a reputable vendor, then soaking will help tremendously. Also keeping the newly planted rose well watered and misting the canes helps as well. I don't mound my roses, because I'm in a warmer zone, but some people say it helps. Also, some sun protection may help if they are in all full sun. Basically a bare root rose is asleep and then gets shocked to life by being thawed out, shipped across the country, then plunked into the ground and has hot sun beating on it all day long. That doesn't sound like fun to me! So they are usually slow to start and some don't make it. That's why I like to soak them in a bucket for at least a week. They can wake up in nice warm water (in the shade) and many of them 'break dormancy' and begin to leaf out in the bucket. That means when they are planted, they are somewhat awake and have a lot of moisture in their canes to hopefully help them make it through the first few weeks while they are building their root system in their new home. Roses are hardy, brand new roses need some babying.

Linda, dropping dirt is exactly what I do ha. I work for a propogating nursery and we have huge compost piles outside which we are generously allowed to use. I take two big plastic boxes left over from when we moved here and fill them every day with the compost (mostly dirt but lots of interesting stuff comes up in it). I take it home and drop it on the sand until I have the size or shape garden I want. I plant it and eventually I border it with dropped cement. I've made about seven gardens of different sizes doing this. Seriously I could drop the dirt and water it and all kinds of goodies would pop up (along with weeds). I've had datura, viola, spiderwort, hyssop and of course petunias come up in it. Adele

Sorry you're having such a rough time. Sounds like you're using all the right tools. Are you sure the brush marks were not there when you started the project? Sometimes when I paint I think I've done something to cause an imperfection, then realize it was there all the time and I just painted another layer over it. Here's a little tip that helped me. When you dip the roller in the paint, you always end up with the ends of the roller overloaded with paint compared to the middle. When you go to the wall, hold the roller at an angle and roll those overloaded edges on the wall first (do one side of the roller, then the other). You'll get two heavy streaks of paint there, but then you've cleared off the overloaded ends and the paint will be evenly distributed along the length of your roller. Then immediately roll over those heavy streaks with your N or W pattern and blend in. A building contractor taught me this trick and since doing that, I don't get roller lines. Also, be sure you do 2 x 2' sections at a time and roll very lightly. Don't try to "squeeze" paint out of the roller by pressing hard. If your wall has a lot of imperfections, using a flat paint helps hide them compared to a satin, eggshell or gloss finish. But if you want the paint to be scrubbable, then opt for an eggshell. Also, it's my understanding that if you use a roller with a thicker nap, it will create more stipple which also helps hide imperfections. I did that in a bathroom where I had removed wallpaper and had a really hard time getting the surface smooth because of all the paste and some of the wallboard came off with the paper. Good luck.

I once contacted one of these lead sites when I needed some work done to a rental property, I am not allowed to mention the name but it seems pertinent to this discussion. They sent someone who worked up a great bid that was pretty much spot on to their estimator. I knew it was too good to be true but since I was assured of credentials by the service I moved forward. I would tell you more about the experience, but I am barred from disclosing the name of the site, the specifics of my complaint, the money I received, and other pertinent information by the terms of our settlement agreement. I will say, that I learned the hard way not to trust these estimator sites. Many of their local pros report super low numbers or rarely update them in order to get in your home. Once they have your signature on the contract, they simply find ways to make up the difference. ----- Drywall is one of the few things that I will not touch and even having regular work for a drywaller, in an area that is comparable for cost of living to the OP, I can't get it done for near that amount of money. ----- @Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC - I am a real estate investor who is in an area that seems economically similar to your area. I can usually get work done a lot cheaper than people here are quoting because I am just doing more of it and in an area that is much cheaper than most. However, your quote seems way too good to be true to me. To remove popcorn ceiling, remove a wall or two, construct a few new walls, redo flooring, remove paneling, insulate and re-drywall a house that is described as the "floor literally falling in" I would jump at a bid that was double what yours was. Having said that, as to your other assertion, the amount that you owe him is not quite so cut and clear. The standard for a breaching party is to put the other party in the position they would be in if the breach hadn't occurred. So if you fire a contractor who hasn't otherwise breached you typically owe the full amount of his profit and overhead but not materials. It isn't about the work he has done, it is about the profit he has foregone. The legal assumption is that the contractor would have found other work had he not agreed to your work and therefore if you fire him without cause you are responsible for that deficit created by your firing him without cause. What is cause and what isn't cause is another matter altogether. Also I will note that North Carolina has a handyman exception to contractor licensing requirements and so, assuming you are in North Carolina, a contractor's license is not required for jobs costing less than $30,000.