Tom Stumpff

[kan...@aol.com]

So Tom Stumpff, G and my favorite remodeler is starting the gob of residing our house. 

It's really noisy, having your house dismantled around you. 

The crew here today is Spanish speaking almost exclusively. Nobody handling fentanyl, or raping women, or committing murder or any crime that I can see. 

Should we call ICE? I'm conflicted. 

[GMoney]

Had Tom out to give us a quote on remodeling two upstairs bathrooms. We got 3 total quotes: $12K, 18K, and......52K. I'll let you guess which one is Tom's. 

Since these are just upstairs kids bathrooms, we're going with the middle guy. Will be more of a hassle but...whatever. Can't always drive the cadillac.

I assume he completely subs out siding work, which explains your spanish speakers....but even then Tom only works with crews that he trusts and he's still the one accountable for it all. 

[kan...@aol.com]

I guess that's right about the sub guys. So far their work looks just fine

That's a BIG difference in estimates for the bathrooms. Sadly, my wife is in love with Tom and doesn't consider cost all that much. 

Tom is painting the new siding, which requires removing the storm windows. Rather than rehanging the existing storms, we're replacing them. About 10-12 storms for $5K. Now I KNOW that's a lot. I suggested calling Jetalume, a reliable local outfit. She said "fine, fine". Then it was "fuck it, have Tom do it". 

Guess I'm lucky that her taste in cars tends toward Hondas. Otherwise she'd be driving an Audi SUV,  or worse, a Maserati. Yeesh. 

On cars, I'm the  one considering a high dollar option. But I'm settling for my Lexus NX. $40K nice car. But I kind of covet a Porsche Macan. 

[GMoney]

On Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 5:14 PM 'kan...@aol.com' via Kansas City Diversity Coalition <kansas-city-div...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

She said "fine, fine". Then it was "fuck it, have Tom do it". 

We were that close to doing the same with the bathrooms because then you're done.....he does it all. 

As it is, i have to go tile shopping, grout shopping, paint shopping, etc. *sigh*

 

[kan...@aol.com]

Sometimes a Cadillac is better than a used Yugo. I hope your project works out. 

My wife wonders who made the decision to hire and if you're going to pay a steep price if things aren't as good as expected. 

My guess was that it was mutual between you and the missus. 

[GMoney]

On Wed, Jan 14, 2026 at 7:21 PM 'kan...@aol.com' via Kansas City Diversity Coalition <kansas-city-div...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Sometimes a Cadillac is better than a used Yugo. I hope your project works out. 

My wife wonders who made the decision to hire and if you're going to pay a steep price if things aren't as good as expected. 

My guess was that it was mutual between you and the missus. 

The missus got called away by work for several months....so Mr. Knows Jack Crap About Home Decor gets to pick all of this stuff out, with only remote input from the expert. Should be fun. 

We use Tom for must-have projects, regardless of price. For small upstairs bathroom that simply need to look "new" for resale, we figured a GC would be fine. He comes recommended from a friend (re did their entire basement, much more involved than our project), and came in at a price point that was close to what we expected. not the cheapest, not the most expensive. If it were a more complex or important job, we'd go Tom regardless of $$. 

[kan...@aol.com]

Fingers crossed that the "expert" ends up satisfied. Otherwise Tom might have to build you a doghouse. 

I applaud your courage on this. I'd never embark on such a project without Wife's input. 

We did two bath remodels and they cost about what Tom quoted you. But I agree that there are GC's out there who will do work more cheaply; and some of them can do really good jobs. 

The trick is finding one. Word of mouth probably works well enough. Heck, that's how WE got saddled with Tom. 

Do you get a kickback, BTW? 

[kan...@aol.com]

Okay; so this is a refresh to prepare for sale. In that case, my wife agrees with the cheaper company. In fact, she'd suggest leaving it as is. Buyers may not like what you do. Depends on how decrepit it currently is. The redo may allow the house to sell more quickly. Dollar for dollar you're not likely to recoup the cost. But a quicker sale is worth a lot in non-monetary ways. Don't tell "Austrian Dave" I said this. 

You're probably safe, knowing that Mrs, G doesn't have to live in it for very long. 

[GMoney]

On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 4:01 PM 'kan...@aol.com' via Kansas City Diversity Coalition <kansas-city-div...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Okay; so this is a refresh to prepare for sale. In that case, my wife agrees with the cheaper company. In fact, she'd suggest leaving it as is. Buyers may not like what you do. Depends on how decrepit it currently is. The redo may allow the house to sell more quickly. Dollar for dollar you're not likely to recoup the cost. But a quicker sale is worth a lot in non-monetary ways. Don't tell "Austrian Dave" I said this. 

You're probably safe, knowing that Mrs, G doesn't have to live in it for very long. 

One of the showers is leaking down onto the ceiling in the kitchen.....they have to be fixed. Paint is peeling, exhaust fans aren't working, tile is cracked and ugly.....needs to be done. We knew we'd have to do it before resale, the leak just upped the timeline. 

I hate working with GCs.....but for $30K in savings i'll make it work

 

[kan...@aol.com]

So now we can ask Dave how much aggravation does $30K pay for? 

For my wife it's not very much.