shadows4 wrote:
Wow Sea Six, awe writeup. I have a 30' 5er and paid 4500 last year for a new roof installed. I don't feel so bad now. I thought it was a little high but after reading how involved it is... Wow! Just wow! Awesome job!
I'd have to say you paid about what the job is worth, especially if they went to the trouble of replacing all the sheet goods and even replaced insulation and repaired structural 2x2's and 2x4's. By doing it myself I did manage to save about $1,000 which is about what I thought would be the best case scenario. This was by no means a guaranteed outcome.
You have to remember I played General Contractor on this job. That means I took on the risk of someone getting injured and took steps to prevent accidents, did all the research and decided how the job should be done, made sure the work was actually being done according to my research, dealt with cost overruns and unforeseen issues, hungover workers not showing up for work, planned for rainy weather before the job is complete, rounded up all the materials/tools/supplies, tried to find all the dropped screws/nails/drill bits before they wound up in my tires, etc. etc.
Someone who is running a fully licensed and insured business with a commercial location large enough to accommodate an RV out of the rain/falling leaves/debris, staffed with reliable, certified RV techs who have done this job countless times and have everything on hand they need to do the job right is easily worth that extra $1,000 bucks. Easily.
I was aware of these types of issues because I do maintenance for rental properties as my full time job. I've had several projects such as this where I decided to run everything myself instead of paying a general contractor to do it for me. If I didn't have the means to handle a significant cost overrun I might not have taken on the project in the first place... And that means I'd have had to trade the RV or try to sell it as-is.
Hopefully my experience will give someone else facing this decision a few things to consider. If you are unwilling or unable to take on the risks as I've outlined, you should let someone else take the risks and pay them accordingly. That's what I chose to do and was lucky to get paid for my efforts. It doesn't always turn out that you do come out ahead.
