No fight necessary, 4AM on my own

So I left a little early from work so I could get to the credit union before it closed.  I wanted to try to get my check from the insurance company deposited.  I went in there ready for battle based on my experience in 2005 when the bank refused to let me deposit the check into my account and instead would only authorize cutting another check in the contractor’s name.  I did not like that arrangement at all as I felt like I was the one paying the mortgage, I was the one paying for homeowners insurance, I should be the one to control how those funds are dispersed.

The credit union was standing room only, all of the chairs were filled by other people waiting for bank services.  I took up residence in a corner until a chair came open.  My name was called maybe 15 minutes later by a nice young woman.  I already was imagining how it would be difficult for me to flip on “dick mode” on someone with such a pleasant disposition.  I explained to her what I wanted to do, just deposit the check in my account.  I was surprised when I was not presented with an immediate red flag.  Instead she asked me a few questions like if I had the work done yet and when I told her no, she asked if I picked out contractors yet.  I answered her questions but was worrying they were going to lead up to the “sorry the checks have to go in the contractors name” response.

Instead several more questions were asked and it seemed like I was in the clear.  She said all she had to do was to get her manager’s ok and I should be good to go.  I held my breath one last time, hoping she would not return with her manager in tow to tell me, “Sorry you can’t just deposit the check”.  Instead the clerk returned with a smile on her face and asked which account I wanted the funds deposited to, sweet! I’m not sure why I didn’t have the same issues as before, my best guess is because I paid off my main mortgage already the bank exposure is now significantly less than 12 years ago.

I left there relieved that the battle I prepared for never came to be.  Having the funds in my account will allow me to disperse them as needed.  I may actually be using a different contractor to do the pool screen work as it has become obvious the place that quoted me is price gouging the f out of me based on their own website.  On that site it talks about how the average cost to recreen AND replace all the fasteners on a 20′ x 40′ pool enclosure (about my size) is roughly $3400.  They quoted me $4600 to replace one door and just rescreen with no fastener replacement.  So I emailed this contractor this morning to verify the quote included full fastener replacement as well.  If the answer is no then they can go f themselves instead of trying to f me.

I also reached out to the roofing contractor this morning and sent in a signed contract.  Unfortunately right now it looks like the earliest roof work can begin is June, which does not surprise me.  Our neighbor has opted to have one of the out of town roofers that have been flooding our area do their roof.  They are scheduled to start very soon on their house. I just would not feel warm and fuzzy about handing that amount of money over to an out of state business who will likely be invisible/unreachable once the work is complete.  Their quote was cheap, cheaper than any I have seen but when it comes to core components of my house I am willing to pay a little extra for piece of mind.

I fell asleep like a rock last night but unfortunately awoke like a feather at roughly 4AM this morning.  I rolled around a bit trying to force myself back to sleep but gave up about 4:45.  I got up and played some WoW, luckily no matter what time of day there is always someone in there from around the world, ready to engage.