December 20, 2017 AsktheBuilder Newsletter
First and foremost, Merry Christmas!
If you celebrate some other holiday this time of year, I hope it's wonderful for you.
Here at my house, we celebrate a Christian Christmas.
After all, the day is named after Christ!
Kathy and I will be attending mass on Sunday afternoon at 4:30 pm.
St. Joseph Church is going to be decorated to the hilt.
A Strange End of Year
This has been a strange year all around. You may or may not know it, but I published my long-awaited Roofing Ripoff book in late April, 2017.
It's an expose' book about the deplorable state of the USA asphalt shingle industry.
CLICK HERE to read the first three chapters for FREE.
The amount of suffering the industry has caused tens - perhaps HUNDREDS - of thousands of consumers and businesses is mind numbing.
As I did research for the book, you may have been one of the hundreds of homeowners that took my survey. You may be one who drained their savings late in life to put on a new roof that's possibly going to go bad in just ten years.
Remember, my own 30-year asphalt roof FAILED in just a little over ten years.
A few weeks ago, I had another product failure in my home. I installed something just nine months ago that should have lasted about fifty years. I know as I'm a master plumber.
But the item failed in seven months.
I can list off a bunch of products that are failing far too early. It's maddening.
It's bothering me.
It's sucked the Christmas spirit right out of me and I've got just four days to get it back.
I'm headed to the Builders Show in Orlando, FL, in just three weeks. I'm going to have some discussions with top leaders in the manufacturing process to see if I can try to convince them to go back to the old standards.
I'm thinking of doing a survey just after the New Year to take with me to Orlando.
I need you to participate. I need you to tell the manufacturers of products what you want.
I'd love for you to tell them how upset you are - assuming you are upset.
Oh, and I'll end on this note. A month ago, I reviewed the Nutone Knock video doorbell. I gave it a thumbs up. You may have bought one for a gift.
I've got BAD NEWS for you. TAKE IT BACK.
My Knock stopped working, I contacted the PR firm, then the Nutone product manager and they simply left me hanging. They've gone dark on me now for two weeks.
I can only imagine how they'd treat you.
I ripped out my Nutone Knock today and installed a Ring video doorbell.
I'm writing the review of the Ring tomorrow. The Ring was a delight to install and it's working perfectly.
I think you can understand why I'm in a humbug mood.
Don't worry, I'll get over it like a bad cold.
Merry Christmas to you and to all your loved ones!
Tim Carter
Founder - Humbugs Anonymous and AsktheBuilder.com
Do It Right, Not Over and Get That Rant On Brother!