Tigerdunes, I received a reply to my heat strip question from the Lennox dealer. He states: "I would have no idea how to size them for your home without knowing the size breaker and wire you have running to the unit. Most 2 ton units have 7,t kw. What size do you currently have? It should really make no difference since you will not use the heat except for defrost and then you would want at least 7.5 kw for the defrost cycle. Auxiliary heat almost never get used in a condo unless you are foolishly setting back. Available in 3,5, 7.5 and 10kw for 2.0 ton air handlers. The small 3.0 heaters are not staged, normally 50% stage one and 50% stage 2 until you get to 10KW. After that they have 3 stages. You should not even care about staging electric with a heat pump since that if what you heat with not electric. Do you use emergency heat? Why do you if you do?" This dealer seems willing/eager to make a deal, but I am still concerned about the pricing. As a general question...I have to date received 4-5 quotes, and they are all very high, for seemingly entry level systems. For example, I received a quote on a Goodman SSZ140241A with AEPF313716A for $7,200 from one dealer. I dont understand why this is. Is there something about me that says "rip me off" or is it that its slow this time of year and they are trying to boost margins to make up for the slowness. Or is it that its 15deg. outside and they are charging a premium for working in the cold? -a

Xedos wrote : '' All of these products you're using fall into the cheaper and faster catagory ! Otherwise you would be doing mud walls for all of your showers because it is the type of wall that has the least deflection you fellas are so concerned about. I mean really, are you guys are too young to remember that your beloved cement board was the cheaper faster LIGHTER alternative to mud waaaaay back when. And your forbearers were using the same arguments about it: it bends really easy, it's cheap- "ya don't want that crap" , they sell it at Home Depot and nothing hood comes from there, and my favorite - it wicks up moisture from the mud pan ! My take is all this stuff is just another product and will work well enough to keep a shower waterproof and standing for 20 years just like cement board was decades ago. Now, some of these systems aren't for everybody - especially contractors looking to grow a business , because some of these products aren't available in all markets, require techniques that some setters don't like to use , are more $$$, and other things that hinder standardization and impede growth. Reminds me of a used car salesman tang bad mouths a particular brand of car or truck because he doesn't have one to sell which ultimately affects his wallet. '' End quote . Looks to me that the applications for CBU's , including exterior ones in combination with the most used in commercial applications , are what makes a reliable product . Strength , rigidity , water resistance , floor applications , to name few , are just some of the qualities that falls into the reliable category . It is funny to call us young and not really making the difference in between a mud wall and a CBU . May I remind you that bad craftsmanship was NOT intended -- out of plumb , level or square -- by using CBU's , but removing an additional weight of the wood structure , which most residential houses are build from in nowadays . Some tile mechanics and geographical areas are still using it , but it is looking like it is a dying art . Similar can be said for the demand of mud floors , which fall into the same category with the mud walls -- dying art --. There are other products out there which can be used , instead of the KB . LUXX Elements is another product which can considered as reliable substrate backer for a wall application in tiled surfaces , but some of us do not consider it . It doesn't mean that we don't pay attention to new evolving technologies , materials and trends of the industry . An example of the Luxx BB And after 4 days of submerging it At last , none of us were talking about a bad mouth -- so easy to hide behind an anonymous username -- , but if we have different opinions at least you could respect that . This thread is about proper procedures to be applied in the field and it looks like even with a plethora of recommendations from mfg , the opposite is still happening . Nothing to do with old vs. young technology , application , ways of doing , tools , materials , etc.

Disclaimer - We are the contractors in this story who saved the day, testified in court, and established a great relationship with the homeowner. An educated consumer is our best customer. On GC's and subs- 1- Give me a good price on this job and I'll shovel you tons of work. This is an old tactic used by GC's to drive the cost down / raise profits. After the first job the sub is fired and quickly replaced. Subs who haven't been burned by this before, or are hungry, are young, or didn't know this happened to them are easy prey to this scam. If the sub stays on and wants to get paid his full amount, he is quickly replaced. 2- My subs have been with me a long time. What is a long time? Months or years? Did you speak to the sub himself? 3- Most GC's have bare general knowledge about what their subs do. They don't have the specific knowledge of the trades. If you have specific concerns about waterproofing, it's best to ask the sub directly before the job starts. Having done your homework on John Bridge, or Fine Homebuilding will help you immensely. 4- GC's are salesmen who add 25% to 35% to what the sub is charging to make their living. IMHO most GC's view subs as commodities not skilled craftsmen and are not willing to pay a skilled craftsman the rates they deserve. The best craftspeople I know around the world are all self employed and don't work for GC's. Most work aside the GC, directly for the HO. On the rare chance I do work under a GC, the HO is actively involved in the process and has usually brought us in specifically. 5- GC's prefer to price items by the square foot or some easy (brainless) method. I find this a great disservice to the HO. If I am tiling the floor of a car dealership (wide open space) the price per sf will be lower than a dentist's office (tiny rooms and hallways) IN these instances a per sf price would be useless. Then we get into prep work, access to the jobsite, working conditions, and a myriad of variables unique to each jobsite. Is there a gate that needs to be kept closed all the time? Limited hours we can be on the site? Is the building heated and cooled? There is no way a flat rate of $/sf is useful when it comes to certain trades. 6- GC's are not inclined to pay for prepwork. They pay for finished product. While we all want the finished product to be gorgeous, prep work is critical. Certainly in a shower, waterproofing is what you are really buying. Tile is just the pretty surface. This is why so many showers fail. I've actually had a GC say to me - "I don't pay you for prep work, I pay you to install tile" Prep work usually drives up the cost of a job considerably. Customers sometimes don't want to hear this or think we are adding to the scope of work unnecessarily. We don't work for such folks. 7- Why don't contractors just tell HO's they are busy and will have to wait? When a potential customer calls, asking when they want the work completed is my first or second question. This comes with a lot of risk, mainly losing the job all together. My 40 years experience has taught me that most HO's call contractors when the HO is ready to start the project and is eager to get things rolling. Telling a HO they will have to wait a few months in the first phone call is usually the kiss of death. My thought is - Would you want to hire a contractor who isn't busy? Granted there are job delays and cancellations, but a good businessman knows how to keep his schedule full and workers busy. It takes some sales skill (and empathy) to save that first phone call from going down in flames and losing the opportunity to educate a customer on the process of hiring a qualified contractor. 8- Not so news flash - Not all great contractors are great businessmen. Makes sense once you think about it though. The manufacturers have reps to show us their products, there are trade schools and unions, but teaching a contractor how to run his business is woefully lacking. Being a craftsman in any trade doesn't make you a good businessperson or a good salesperson. Some good contractors become subs as to have the business side of their job taken care of by the GC who feeds them a steady stream of work and a reliable paycheck. Pounding the pavement, making sales, maintaining a website, and giving estimates all take effort, skill, and time not everyone has. 9- Not so news flash #2 - Not all great salesmen are great contractors. This is the hard part for the average HO to sort out. A slick talking young man in a pressed shirt can have all the right sounding answers. So what's a HO to do? Start by asking; Who will be coming into my home? Will they have seen the jobsite in person or pictures before they knock on my door? Or are they just given my address that morning? Ask what products will be used and why. Talk to the manufacturer's reps for those products. It's a good sign when the rep knows your contractor. It's a good sign when the rep backs up what your contractor claims. Ask the Rep about any installation tricks/hazards to watch for. Every manufacturer has YouTube videos giving detailed instructions which MUST be followed. An educated consumer is our best customer. 10- Not so news flash #3 - There are good people on YouTube and then..... there is the rest of the crowd. As mentioned above, the John Bridge Forum and Sal Diblasi's videos are spot on. So are the videos made by the product manufacturer or a trade association. A HO will have a hard time discerning the good from the bad YouTube videos without trade knowledge or a trained ear which is why I recommend the manufacturer's videos and talking with their reps. The reps get paid for this, its their job. When you find a good contractor who provides excellent service the best compliment is to recommend them, give a good Google / Angie's List / Yelp review. This will also help other HO's in their search. I could go on for pages, but y'all are probably bored by now. If you have specific questions, I'd be happy to answer.

So just my 2 cents... A contract is never more valuable than the steps you will take to enforce it. It is just an agreement between two people and that agreement has two sides. Frankly, timelines are incredibly difficult to enforce in non-commercial settings and there is no guarantee that a new timeline would be any more enforceable than the last. Furthermore, I am not sure that a time is of the essence clause would be enforceable without additional consideration. You can't add liquidated damages or a new breach condition to an existing contract without offering additional consideration. Now you might offer that not suing the contractor for breach is consideration and that might work but if he calls your bluff there is little you can do. Furthermore, the problem with liquidated damages clauses is that if you have made any change to the contract then they are largely out the window. This is why they work well in commercial contracts that are fully specified and less well in contracts that are not. You note that you owe the contractor $30,000 above the original contract price for other improvements, if any of those constitute a change in the contract he is going to argue that you caused the delay. Contractors are generally given a wide berth on those delays. A 48 hour delay in a selection that the owner chose could easily justify a much longer delay in the project. The idea being that the subcontractor is scheduled on your job on X day and would have to be rescheduled when available, which could be weeks later. The problem with construction contracts is that you and the contractor are largely over the same barrel. You can either choose to stop work and act on his breach, which will delay the project for many more months or maybe even years. Or you can choose ignore the breach which largely means the rest of the contract is enforceable in full. If you ignore the breach now and try to collect in court later on, it is unlikely that you will collect more than your attorney fees. My advice is that you set aside strict enforcement of the contract and instead focus on your goal. That goal should be getting the best house you can get for an amount of money you can live with. Whether that amount is more than you originally intended is really immaterial, the questions really become (1) which option get you a nicer home? and (2) can you afford that option? There might be cases where terminating the contract is the best answer to those questions and there might be cases where making nice and figuring out how to pay for it is the best option. Best of luck to you.