Posted on: Friday, September 26, 2003

Own home a challenge for contractor

By Alan J. Heavens
Knight Ridder News Service

It's probably safe to say that most librarians do not spend their downtime cataloging books on their home bookshelves.

Nor do many dentists spend the weekends cleaning their own teeth.

So why should we expect contractors, electricians, plumbers or even hosts of do-it-yourself TV shows to spend their days off working on their own houses?

Unless, of course, they're like masonry contractor Don Renninger, who is turning the basement of his house in Barto, Pa., into a master suite.

It is a substantial project, but one that taps into Renninger's expertise as a mason: flagstone for the bathroom floor and stone walls for the shower.

So far, the effort has taken four months.

"It will probably take a year," said Renninger, who owns Accurate Contractors and has been in the business for 20 years.

Why commit weekends and rainy days to such a substantial project? "I just don't like shower curtains," Renninger said.

He and his wife, Amy, a painting contractor, spend a lot of time at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., and stay in "Jacuzzi suites" at the hotel-casino. So the new bathroom has a Jacuzzi.

He may soon get more time to work on it, too.

"My business is expanding, and I've got two really good guys working for me who I can put on jobs, so I can take a day here and there to work on it," he said.

But tackling the project at the end of a regular workday is a no-no.

"After you've been working the entire day, you don't want to do any more," Renninger said.

So far, materials and a plumber have cost him $10,000 for the bathroom alone.

"It would probably have cost me $25,000 at least if I'd hired another contractor," Renninger said.

He and Amy are ready to start painting the bathroom. Then Renninger will tackle the master bedroom.

Dennis Dunbar, owner of Dunbar Roofing & Siding Co. in Berwyn, Pa., said working on his own house was his — and probably every contractor's — fantasy.

"The reality is that we have to work for a living, and we don't have much time for our own houses," Dunbar said. "Most contractors find that the business runs them, so they are working constantly.

"Even though it would be rewarding to see our own work around the house, that's often not possible," he said.

Dunbar's last project: painting wooden shutters.

"I bought them new off the shelf, but instead of spray-painting them, I used a brush," he said. "It took coat after coat before they were done.

"It's rewarding to see them finished, but it should have taken only a weekend, not a week," he said. "You learn something new every time."

Dunbar said much of a contractor's life is taken up with preparing to do the work rather than actually doing it.

"A lot of nights and weekends are spent on the road, meeting with clients and estimating jobs," he said. "These are the times most people would be working on their own houses."

On the other hand, Marcel Paillard of Hatfield, Pa. — who, at 74, contends that he is semiretired and has been a plumber since 1947 — finds the time to tackle plumbing jobs at his house.

"When we bought this house 30 years ago, I immediately changed all the faucets," said Paillard.

"Toilets — well, I change them as often as you change your socks," he said.

Bucks County, Pa., contractor John Burke has spent the past three years working exclusively on an addition to his house.

Actually, two years. One of those years was spent recuperating from injuries he received working on that job.

"My kids ask me if I have a coffee mug with my name on it at St. Mary's Hospital," said Burke, who fell from a ladder last year, breaking an ankle and damaging his knees.

In late 2000, a nail gun misfired and shot a 4-inch nail through his right hand and wrist.

"Being hurt twice on my own job is making me rethink what I'm going to do when I finish the addition and go back to work," said Burke, who never hurt himself when he worked for others.

"The problem comes when you do work by yourself," he said. "The addition has two cathedral ceilings, and building those isn't a one-man job, but you do it because you have to.

"I never foresaw how it would be to be on both ends of the ladder," Burke said.

Then the ladder begins to sway, and you have a choice of toppling into a pile of nail-spike debris or jumping. He jumped, and the ankle broke.

"At 20, you can do that kind of thing and recover quickly," Burke said. "At 50, it is much harder."

Burke said, "I'm beginning to feel like Tim 'the Toolman' Taylor on 'Home Improvement' because I've been injured so much."

Although economic slowdowns are not good for growing businesses, Dunbar acknowledged that they do provide enough downtime for a contractor to get some work done.

"Actually, I hired some of my crew during a recession to do what I should have been home doing," Dunbar said. "And, boy, did I get teased."