MK- I know many people who prefer mauritius, including many people who sell lychees for a living. Obviously, I also know many people who dont. Taste is very subjective. Mauritius is also one of the first lychees to ripen- only hak ip ripens as early as it- so thats another benefit- it also has a smaller seed than brewster. As I am not certain I have tasted sweetheart I cant comment on it authortatively, but if it tastes similar to hak ip, it aint that great in my opinion. alot of people like hak ip because it is larger and has a smaller seed than mauritius. a pumpkin is also larger and has a smaller seed than mauritius- doesnt mean it tastes better! Again- it goes without saying that I only speak for myself and if others disagree, thats completely fine. I forgot to note in my report that Jeff Hagen and his wife have a large selection of healthy looking tropical fruit trees and ornamental plants at great prices. If you are looking for something, I would definitly recommend that you check if he has what you are looking for. Adiel- I will def be back to S. FL. What trees do you have

Jerzeegirl (if you are from NJ ... I just moved down here from NJ 3 years ago - lived in Hoboken and then in Glen Ridge). I spoke to both Millers Dutch Haus and Taters. Taters was recommended by my General Contractor -- but he has a habit of only recommending places where I think he receives a little something on the backend. Anyways, I liked the gentleman from Taters BUT he really is just a salesman without much insight on configuration or design. Additionally, he went silent on me for 2 weeks during the planning/pricing stage and then told me his delivery time for the cabinets would be 3 times longer than he first estimated because I "didn't order the cabinets last week". This turned me off and I started researching alternatives. On Gardenweb I had learned about Millers. I hadn't thought to contact them because they look like a furniture store ..not cabinet maker (and the furniture in their showroom is a bit on the old-fashioned side). I've been EXTREMELY PLEASED with Lee at Miller's Dutch Haus. He is a pleasure to work with and brought very good ideas to the table. The best part ...his pricing was actually less than Taters. I ordered all my pantry cabinetry (its a 12 foot by 7 foot pantry), mudroom (14 linear feet) and 15 foot window seat from him. Its scheduled to be installed 2 weeks from now ...so I can't comment on the quality of the cabinets yet but I can say it has been a pleasure to work with him. I also ended up ordering Conestoga cabinets for our 6 bathrooms from Brian at the CabinetJoint. Most of all because I was concerned about Florida humidity in a bathroom and wanted to ensure I was getting 'baked on' stains - so I never really planned to go w/ a custom cabinet maker for these. I had also spoken Rick at the CabinetAuthority BUT he really just wanted to give me a price and take my order ..where as Brian at the CabinetJoint was extremely patient and really really helped me 'design' out what the cabinets should look like. Note, both the CabinetAuthority and CabinetJoint are Conestoga resellers ...so they are 'selling' the same product. So if you want to go this route, I recommend CabinetJoint over CabinetAuthority - they'll meet each others' pricing so it really comes down to service and in my case CabinetJoint really shined in this department. I'm expecting my cabinets from Conestoga to arrive the first week in May ... so can't comment on quality of these yet either. I also need to find someone to install them (the downside of ordering online) ... so we'll see how that goes. If you'd like to speak on the phone, please send me an email and I'll be happy to chat. Also I can share photos and experience by mid-may ..at that time all my custom cabinets from Millers and my Conestoga cabinets from CabinetJoint should be in. My house is in Laurel Oaks in Sarasota ... so once they are in, if you want to stop by and see them, you are welcome to do so! Deirdre

I say go for it. There are a lot of nay sayers out there but if you do some research about "owner builders" you will find many people do this all the time with great success. You will have headaches, you will have stress, but its a trade off. There are plenty of good reliable subs out there that are willing to do the work. You will just need to research them. Best thing to do is have a written contract for the work. Will GC's get better pricing. Sure. Then they mark it up and you end up paying more than you may have paid yourself. I did a full gut remodel a couple years ago and found a great set of people I will continue to work with. Are they the cheapest? Probably not (plumber is for sure) but I felt the prices were reasonable and I got good work out of them. Go by word of mouth. Get on Nextdoor (the app) and ask your neighbors for recommendations on contractors. If you have time to do research and understand the basics, you can do a lot. If I can rewire my house by learning off youtube and pass a city inspection, anyone can.

The customer ended up happy so all's well that ends well. But I still don't understand what point you are trying to make with this thread. If you are encouraging people to not attempt even the smallest job (installing a sink top) without hiring a general contractor, then why do you deal with homeowners directly instead of referring them to a general contractor? If it's not beneficial for HO's to work directly with subs and vice versa, then why do you do it? I don't see how this customer was going to save money either way. It would have cost her on the front end to hire a GC, and it ended up costing her on the back end because she didn't (well, not an acting GC anyway). This seems like a pretty extreme example because most people have enough sense to measure a sink base before buying a top. Those that don't are bound to end up paying for their ignorance one way or another.