040 SERVICES GALORE

This move has been a great deal more expensive than I ever thought possible, but in other ways not so much.  I say this because some things came in way under budget and with judicious shopping around and various referrals it’s been quite acceptable.  I have mentioned some along the way, but I’m going to try and mention everyone in this article and give my recommendations as well.  It has also been a lot more work than I ever bargained for and my back, wrist and knees have been letting me know all along the way.

When I started out, I needed to downsize and get rid of a lot of junk.  That’s when I called in 1-800-GOT-JUNK.  Way before I even got to the point of selling, my sister and her kids came in and removed a ton of Dad’s old stuff and furniture, but afterwards there was a lot of my stuff that didn’t need to come with me.  The guys from 1-800-GOT JUNK came in and removed whatever I pointed out.  They did a great job and took away two small dump truck loads of stuff and both trips came in under $1000.  I highly recommend these guys.

I also knew that physically and time wise I would never get the remaining stuff all packed and ready to be moved, plus I didn’t want to make numerous trips back and forth with a full or empty pickup truck.  Recruiting friends and family just wasn’t going to happen.  So after a ton of research, I settled on Bekins Moving.  Benny came in to give me an estimate of the cost with an additional estimate for the cost of moving.  I was expecting a bill for $10,000 but the estimate came in at just over $3,000.  The move kept getting put off because my new place was not yet ready.

Finally, the Bekins guys came in the day before the move and in 8 hours had my entire life packed into boxes.  I had no furniture to speak of for moving which helped.  The next morning, they came in and loaded up their truck in a little over 3 hours and off we went.  Two hours at the new place and everything was moved in.  The cost came in $1100 under the estimate and I got almost $100 back when I returned their boxes.  Unpacking was up to me and as of today, everything is unpacked and put away.  The garage is still full, and my office is still a shambles, but it’s coming along.

Even before the movers, I knew I was going to need furniture.  The first stop was Sleep Country for a bed.  OK, I went a little nuts here buying a Queen Sized adjustable bed, but after twenty years sleeping on a hide-a-bed, I think I deserved it.  Initially I was going to use both spare bedrooms as office and storage space, but I opted to leave one as a bedroom and so got a double bed for one room.  It was a lot more than I expected to spend on beds, but they gave me an absolute great deal and I highly recommend them for beds.  Even better is that they delivered and set up the beds too.

Living room furniture was next and I had already decided on leather but I wanted real leather rather than the imitation stuff.  My vague plan for decorating was basically man cave, medieval modern.  Since one of the items that was on my must have list was a recliner, it was thought, go to the original and shop right at La-Z-Boy.  A leather recliner and sofa that was picked out was going to cost almost $9000 and that was just for the two pieces.  I was actually going to spend it, until they told me it was a 13 week wait for delivery.  I wouldn’t recommend them at all.  Way too expensive and customer service was iffy.

That same evening we went to The Brick.  It was specifically for the dining room table and chairs that Renee had initially seen but we both agreed matched my theme.  While there I enquired about what else I needed and ended up getting everything including a 65 inch 4K Ultra HD.  Furnishing the whole house (dining room and living room) came to under $7000 which was much cheaper than La-Z-Boy wanted for the sofa and recliner, plus The Brick delivered it when I needed it.

TELUS took three weeks, several calls and three visits from installers to figure out that they have no cables running into the complex, so I switched to Shaw phone and was up and running the next day.  It took him 5 minutes to hook up the phone.  The guy that came and hooked up the internet and cable took a little longer but he had to configure 2 TV’s and a computer.

Because I actually have a stove, I needed to get pots and pans and all manner of cooking utensils.  I did all sorts of research online as to the best brands and wouldn’t you know it, Canadian Tire of all places was the best place to get it.  Especially when they had their big sale on.  A 13 piece Lagostina stainless steel cook set which normally sells for $1100 I got for $300.  Also a KitchenAid Pro Stand Mixer which was normally $900 I got for $400.  So go figure.

PUTTING IN
SCREEN DOOR

SCREENGUY SAM

For handyman work, I had Don Nordheimer from Red Willow Services come in and hang my big painting, mount the medieval chandelier and the ceiling fan and for 2.5 hours work only charged me $115.  Along those same lines, I needed screens for the house and got a fellow recommended to me by the name of Screenguy Sam.  For $310 he custom made and installed screens on all the windows and patio sliding door.  Talk about a perfectionist though.  He installed the screens the first day and of the 9 screens, only 3 including the door passed his quality control.  He came back last night and put them in and this time he proclaimed about two of them, “they fit, but they are not perfect”.  So he took them away to re-do again. He did this three more times until every screen was perfect. The frame colour so closely matches the house, you can’t tell from the outside they are there.

Finally, the other service people are Renee and myself.  Renee has lugged things up and down the stairs and helped pick out items for the house.  Amazingly on the big items, she has agreed with and liked my selections.  She steered me towards “chocolate brown” leather for the chairs, where I wanted black and she was right, it does look better.  The dining room table and chairs are brilliant in that because they are roughhewn wood they can be used for “formal” dinner parties as well as just casual everyday use.

CHECKER CUPBOARD

CUPBOARD FILLED

Considering that my tools are buried somewhere in the garage, with the cheap screwdriver set I bought I’ve managed to put together my glass topped computer desk, three shelves for the TV’s and computer room and yesterday a really funky black and white checkerboard cabinet from Ikea which will hold all my movie collection as well as other things like the X-Box 360 and games.

It’s been a long row to how, but with the help of some great people, the house is in livable if only semi-organized 5 weeks in.  It’s coming along, slowly but surely and there are more ideas floating around on things to add.  But for the most part now I can just sit back and enjoy my new surroundings and get to know the area as well.