So here in a few year my wife and i would like to move out of Flagpole AZ.

can go i'd imagine anywhere we want. need ideas. we like the smaller towns. would like a place with water. we used to live in Coeur d'Alene ID it was nice. but again getting to be to many people. thought about Oregon somewhere, don't really know what's there. and of course every city web site boasts their city as the greats thing sense sliced bread.

thought about Montana or Wyoming. Texas maybe. Wife like Maine, she used to live there before she met me. not sure i can stand the east coast winters and humidity.

i like the snow. don't mind the cold. but here in AZ we get to see blue sky at least once a week.

is there any type of economy though.?

The good thing about Flag is it has a university NAU and Ski resort Arizona Snow Bowl and it's a gateway city to the Grand Canyon. But damn it's bloody expensive to live here. the cheapest house one can get into is about 350K for a cheep 2100sqf spec home. with no land.

 

i bring this up because i was layed off two weeks ago. and i'm sick of it.

i've wztched thd ROC Register of contractors shut jobs down and fine the workers just because the GC didn't have a sign posted who the contractor was.

If im painting a house i have to be licensed and if i get nailed i have 90 days to get my license. heck just the application fee is $600. WTH is up with that. then the background check form DPS is another 350$ then once you have those done there the fee to actually get your license. it's CRAZY. a bond. yeah on a 1000$ in a CD then another 1000 for insurance and 200 month thereafter.

Arizona is damn expensive...

Yes the whole world is going crazy.... City of Portland did a fire life safety review on some plans, spent 5 minutes to tell me no special requirements/ changes and charged $452 bucks for the review.

I put in a brand of flooring called Moduleo in a commercial kitchen 6 mos. ago. It was tough stuff. Now we are putting in the same brand different pattern/ color, same price per sq. ft. but it scratches if you slide cardboard on it. Don't know what we are going to do as after 1 day installed it has burnishes and scratches everywhere. It's defective and will call the rep, but, it's getting to where there is little honesty, just greed.

 

I'm going to make some changes also here pretty quick.

Edited December 19, 20159 yr by JAG1

Matter of fact I just got off the phone with my Fire Chief this evening. He's trying to get me to jump in the HVAC for homes. The local guy here is charging huge numbers for charging freon in a system. Ranging from $1,800 to nearly $3,000 for freon charging. He knows of several homes in the area that have heat pumps and the owners just don't have the money to charge them. So they spend big money on propane or electric heat. Just while I was on the phone I did a search for a 30# can of freon for as low as $79 buck for R134a and $379 for R22. Just sickening to see a local that knows he's the only one in the area and stab everyone for this steep price.

Sure did catch my attention on the R134a though $79 buck for 30# of it that's cheap! I know what I'm doing for spring time I'm going to invest in a scale and 30# can for summer time automotive A/C work!

. I fired two HVAC guys for price gouging and not telling the truth.

i used to do HVAC work with my dad, i think i still have 20-30# of R12. a vacuum pump are only about 200$ then as you well know o rings are cheep. a good set of gauges are only about 100$ unless you already have some for auto use.  we both know how to find leaks. anyhow HVAC isnt as hard as most think is it. the diag on heat-pumps is however not fun. a bad relay and or pressure sensor can be difficult to diagnose.

i charged my own house. and my Toyota.