Paul B.

Everything that is done in my company is based on "pay for performance". ...If there's a call back, they handle it at no compensation...I pay them to do the job right one time, if they have to go back it's at their own expense. If damage occurs due to negligence, they have to take care of it. A word of caution - in most states (if not all) this method is not considered legal unless it's a sub-contract. All it takes is one complaint. Check the requirements for exempt and non-exempt employees.

If you are continually asked for advice in a specific field, you can be considered an "EXPERT" (as long as you also provide good answers)...or at least be considered a "RESOURCE WITH GREAT KNOWLEDGE". Technically (according to the dictionary) - Expert is someone - Very skillful, having much training and knowledge in a specific field. If you watch enough Court TV, most lawyers will qualify an EXPERT witness. They are asked about education background (degree or certification is almost always necessary), years of experience, and excelling (promotions/advancements) in a specific field. Making errors/mistakes can impact EXpERT status. There is no reason why you can't call yourself an expert as long as you can back up your claim. Remember, one "ahh sh.." wipes out a hundred "atta boys"!

That's why most coupons state (or should state): For coupon to be valid it needs to be presented upon start of the estimate process or when the customer calls they need to tell you they have one. If you are offering coupons they should be dated for a certain period of time and it's also a good practice to ask the customer if they have any coupons before you present the final estimate. If you struggle with coupon wording, look at coupons in magazines, you'll find good examples of exact wording. I had an elderly couple recently that asked for senior discount. I tell them I try to give everyone my lowest price. The discussion ended there and the contract was signed. My thinking has been the same as Tracy's for many years, due to my job in engineering. I did a lot of estimating (effort hours and equipment costs) and if I changed my estimate it was only because I may have made a mistake (high or low) or missed part of the scope or included too much into the scope. Once you adjust without a good explanation/reason people tend to think you have too much fat in your number and start to believe that someone else's lower bid may be more accurate than yours.

Unfortunately there are scam artists in all areas of contracting. As for references: Which three of my cousins phone numbers do you want? References are not always the best way to go. Does any contractor give out names of references where the job didn't go well? Many customers find such sites as Angie's List reassuring as they get to read other consumer's input on a specific contractor. Shopping thru the Yellow Pages is also a help (most low ballers do not commit to long term advertising) - although this does not speak for the work quality. Shopping thru the community paper is also a good start as you can check with the paper as to how long the contractor has been advertising. As I said, it's only a start. The news is filled of customer related items - I'm tired of it! We hear too many similar stories - don't these people ever learn? What about the flip side of the coin? What about the contractors: why aren't any stories in the news about bad customers? One of my associates has actually called the local TV news trouble shooter and has asked why they don't show bad customer stories. They thought it was a good idea but said they didn't decide what stories run on TV. My contractor friends and I are looking to start our own site: "Raul's List - The Contractor's Source for Good Customers." On Raul's list we will be soliciting contractors for input on customers. - Which customer shops for lowest bid vs. quality work. - Which customer does not pay on time. - Which customer wants to tell the contractor how to do their job. - Which customer only wants a partial job (one side of their homes washed, contractor clean deck - customer stain deck, etc.). - Which customer likes to negotiate (haggle) for lowest price. - Which customer has their own P/W and only wants a price on cleaning the 2nd story (since they can clean the lower level on their own). - Which customer has tried to blame their or bad contractor's mistakes on you (wood damage from high pressure washing, paint spills on driveway, etc..) - Which customer changes their mind on paint or stain color a dozen times and expects the contractor to hold the original price (after ordering special colors that can't be returned; after staining half the deck; etc.) - Which customer does not clean up after their dogs and leaves traps for the contractor. - Which customer lets their kids or animals run and play in the area the contractor needs to work in. - Which customer requires them to be home while contractor does the work. - ...The list goes on and on. In addition: - All customers will be required to provide a minimum of two recent contractor references (be it painter, plumber or handy man) - contractor relatives will not be acceptable references (or maybe they will - still debating this item). - All customers will be required to provide credit references. - All customers will be required to list all pre-existing conditions on the area to be worked on (damaged screen windows, holes in siding, melted siding, paint chipping, etc.) Failure to list any item will result in a $25 per item surcharge. - All customers will be required to provide written statements from adjacent neighbors on their perspective of customer interaction with previous contractors. (Neighbor's will be encouraged to list any bad mouthing of contractor(s) by customer.) This is still in the early stages of development but we have many contractors that are already pre-paying for membership, are providing input or are providing moral support. May we count on yours?

God makes all FINAL judgements. We have no way of knowing what is really in each person's mind and hearts (we only see some of their actions). (My perspectives) Believing in God is the first step - but it needs to go further. If you believe in God, you should then try to establish a relationship with him starting now. Kind of like raising children - I don't think it's enough just to be good to your children - children need guidance, food, discipline, encouragement, clothes, teaching, be allowed to make their own mistakes (and acknowkedge them - repent) and many, many things. You as a parent, make many mistakes along the way as well as the children will. In most cases, even with all the mistakes, most parents will love their children and most children will love their parents - the severity of the actions, or lack of actions will determine the final relationship between parents and children. God is our Father and we need to follow His directions and work on our relationship. Our actions or lack of action will determine the status of our final relationship (Personally) I think there are many misinterpretations - only by continually reading and studying both the Old and New Testaments will things become clear/clearer. I read the Bible from cover to cover each year and also read sections over and over again. Each time I read, somethings become clearer and things fall into place. I talk with different people, I read different materials and watch programs dealing with Christianity, Judism, Muslim beliefs as well as Budhism and other beliefs as well as scientific materials dealing with evolution and anything dealing with life. Each interaction brings something to the table. For example, sometimes while gardening, nature and intelligent design is ever so clear to me. Clarity of interactions and sequences of rain, sun, soil, drainage, effects of wind after rain, how strong winds come after each rain and dries the surface of the ground but not within, etc., etc.. When it comes to everlasting life, (again, personally) I don't think one should stick their head in the sand and hope that everything will work out (especially if the opportunity has been offered). If things are unclear, one should seek clarification, verification and re-verification - in context. Questions for opinions: - Do any/many Christians pray to Christ or to God in Christ's name? - Is Christ son of God? or God in human form? - When Christ (in his last days) prayed, was he praying to his Father and did he not tell man exactly how to pray to God (his Father)? - Do Christians pray to Mary (Jesus' human mother) or in her name? - Is believing in Jesus critical? or Believing in the words of Jesus (that we are sinners and we need to repent for our sins - and that God has acknowledged that we will continue to sin but we need to make a serious effort to avoid sinning, and recognize when we sin, etc.)?

Phillip, Thank you for your answers. As for the story, it certainly can be used as a double edged sword but for me it holds a special message that has been confirmed many times by my specific as well as non-specific prayers. Don't get me wrong, I believe in coincidences - but my court of law also believes that too many coincidences can make for an easy conviction. I'll give another example: This builder I work with had his secretary call me one day and she left me a phone number to call back. The number she left me was unintentionally incorrect (as I later found out). Normally after finding out I have reached a wrong number I disconnect after a brief apology. However, in this instance that did not happen. The conversation took some odd turns and continued for several minutes. After several minutes the woman on the other end asked what kind of work I did. Upon finding out what I did, she told me that they (she and her husband) needed their house siding cleaned but didn't know who to contact or even if there was anyone that did that kind of work. She found it astonishing that her general prayer was answered (she prayed that her husband would do more work around the house - including cleaning the siding and refinishing their deck - they have a pressure washer and have stained their own deck previously). Neither had persued finding a contractor or had talked to friends about their specific needs and neither of them knew or knew of the builder or her secretary. The builder was calling me to reject my bids because they were too high and I didn't negotiate with him as I was getting tired of the deflating pricing in the building trade. During this time I was in the process of implementing changes in business strategies and trying to shift certain type of work to another business that I'm in partnership in, while trying to increase the income per job per day in other areas. Fairly recent to this event I prayed for success in implementation of my strategy. At the end of the day it turned out that the jobs I did for the people were more in value than what I gave up to the builder. In addition, and over time, this family referred me to many customers I was strategizing to obtain access to. The tightly gated and somewhat upscale community they live in had opened it's gates to my business and also had their needs met as many others were in need of my service but did not know where to look. While they are somewhat upscale, they are also more in the country rather than close to city which also makes my service in this field almost exclusive (not much competition). This family has also intruduced me to more opportunities with many high-end customers which allowed me to deversify into a different restoration area with again another new associate and now a very good friend. While you could say I justified the incident and it is simply an "attempts to predict Gods behavior on his (on my) terms." I see it differently (the double edged sword). The so-called coincident almost single handedly fulfilled my shifted and new strategies in a matter of a few months. There were other prayers within my strategy that were also answered specifically: - severely slashing or eliminated advertizing costs. - obtaining more indoor work for winter season. - obtaining higher profit margin work such as roofing and exterior painting. ...and a few more. Like I said, some of my prayers are pretty specific and some are not. I thank God for all the answers, be it for my business, my personal, my family, my friends or for others.

For this and some other reasons many of my prayers are very specific. I KNOW when I have been answered - and I KNOW it's not a coincidence. When I had multiple injuries, I prayed for relief as the pain was getting unbearable (24hrs a day) and I don't care much for medication (even simple medicines make me unfunctional). I asked for quick relief because I could not bear it any longer. After several hours of tossing and turning without sleep, I also asked for God's hug. The hug was pretty much immediate - and I fell asleep. When I awoke, ALL my pains were gone (things that were torn were healed, things that were stretched were back in shape, and at least three separate areas were healed simultaneously). None of those pains have returned since. I have other pains that I ask God to allow me to bear. I don't want to use my quarter until I really need it. Other times my prayers are pretty general: Please help - I'll take help in any form. When an answer comes, I don't question if these are coincidences either - I know they are answers.

Phillip, In general (without having to resort to a Forest Gump on meth imitation), what are your thoughts on Evidence for a Young Earth by Dr, Russell Humphreys. (He lists some 33 resources for his summary - many of the scientific background.) Do you find any of the arguments legitimate? Or do you completely dismiss it/them due to his association w/AiG. Also, you've managed to dance around and have avoided answering the question of what exactly YOU believe in. Are you ever going to reveal your deep secrets or will you continue to keep blaming your avoiDANCE on me? Would it help if I remove myself as the liability? I could make this my last post on the subject if that's what it would take for you to reveal your full beliefs to one and all. After all, there may be a chance (be it so slight) that someone could help with whatever you are struggling with. This could be God's way of reaching out to you. If you recall the story about "the man in the flood". He believed in God and while the flood waters were rising, he kept telling folks that he knows God will save him. A boat comes by and he turns them away - God will, rescue me. He says the same when a helicopter comes by and when later a man on a raft. He ends up drowning. Upon his meeting with God, he asks God why he let him down - why did you not rescue me? ...and God says: I sent you a raft, a boat and a helicopter, did you not see them?

We seem to take the approach of: "Can't see the trees for the forest." If we look at Genesis 1 & 2 in the Bible (New International Version for one) - On the surface, the two seem to contradict each other. In 1 God said "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly...let the land create living creatures..." And it was so. God made the wild animals each according to its kind." And it was so. After the animals were created it says "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over..." In Genesis 2 God created man first, then He said "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." All the animals were brought to the man, none were suitable as helpers and after that is when God made woman from man's rib. In one God is creating mainly by speaking; the other has God forming Adam from dust and breathing life into him. In one God creates animals, trees and vegetation before creating Adam. In the other God creates animals for Adam as companion and to rule over. Does the inconsistancy bother me? It did at one time but now I look at it as two accounts of a story or two sides of a coin. Either account would lead to misinterpretations if the other is excluded from consideration. For instance, one account stresses God's transcendence, while the other stresses God's immanence. One shows God's sovereignty as creation takes place in highly ordered and structured time, while the other focuses on God's providence, with things being created in response to needs (man to till the ground, woman as a helper for man). One stresses how humanity is created in God's image with dominion over the earth, while the other stresses that we came from dust and have a duty to take care of the world. By considering both together we find balance. (The description of God creating man from dust certainly leaves the door open for evolutionary or abiogenesis theories with of course, the inclusion of intelligent design.) I think it's more important for us to know that we are formed by God and cared for by God than to know how exactly he does this. I think God revealed these things the way he does in Genesis 2 for the same reason he describes Israel in Ezekiel. When God speaks of creation in 6 days, resting on the 7th, I don't take that literally. I view it two fold: One, it's an accounting that He created all things around us and two, as a lesson which says: I created the heaveans and earth, all vegetation, animals and humans (the days may be 24 hour days but most likely were not). I worked 6 days and rested on the 7th. Humans you need to do the same, you can't work 7 days a week because it can kill you. Work hard for 6 and rest on the 7th. In the same story he also asks us to think about Him on at least the 7th day as He is our creator. God is asking to have a relationship with each and every one of us. I believe Adam and Eve are far more than individuals. God places them in a paradise and provides for all their needs. Adam and Eve's actions allegorically correspond to the actions of humanity toward God. The serpent is not just a literal serpent: it represents temptation, selfishness, pride, and ultimately sin. Similarly, the trees are not literal trees. The tree of life represents God's sustaining, life-giving power, while the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the knowledge of God. I believe Adam and Eve, represent humanity, disobey God by grasping for this knowledge. As a result, they gain some knowledge, but in the process lose their innocence. Their communion with God is broken. God then confronts Adam and Eve, and reveals the consequences of their actions. They are banished from their paradise, no longer having access to the tree of life (God's special sustaining power). Life will be hard as they move from gathering food in the garden to becoming hardworking farmers that have to constantly tend the garden by plowing, watering, (possibly even pulling weeds). Women will have increased pain in childbirth, a natural result of constricted hips from upright posture. Apes, like most mammals, can have even breech births without complications. Human birth is fraught with dangers and pain.

If we received a single intelligent signal containing information from space then we would conclude that there is intelligent life out there. Would it not benefit evolutionists to reveal alien existence? Is the alien cover-up on earth a conspiracy by creationists?

The Stanley L Miller experiment in 1953 In 1953, a University of Chicago graduate student named Stanley Miller working in Harold Urey's lab flipped a switch sending electric discharges through a chamber containing a combination of methane, ammonia, hydrogen and water. The experiment yielded organic compounds including some amino acids, the building blocks of life, and catapulted a field of study known as exobiology. The amino acids produced in Miller's experiment are 50/50 left and right handed, those in living molecules are all left handed. Miller also says that organisms with right handed amino acids would be just as viable, although you could not combine left and right handed amino acids in a single organism, but you could have left or right handed organisms. However in DNA and RNA the molecules are right handed. Life requires homochiral polymers (all the same ‘handedness’)—proteins have only ‘left-handed’ amino acids, while DNA and RNA have only ‘right-handed’ sugars. Miller experiments produce racemates—equal mixtures of left and right handed molecules. A small fraction of wrong handed molecules terminates RNA replication, shortens polypeptides, and ruins enzymes.

Before I touch on my Bible theories I wanted to share some of my other thoughts. Interestingly enough, humans, because of our so called intelligent minds, tend to fight natural selection and natural evolution. Are the strongest humans really surviving? Lets look at some things: - While many women may prefer tall men, lot of men throughout the world prefer petite women. (For example, Japanese society leans more toward petite women vs. tall women.) Since not enough tall men are available for all the short women, are short people created at a faster rate then tall people? Short couples will have tall children as well as short; many tall couple have children that are short. So far, and in general, taller people tend to live shorter lives than shorter people - maybe that's squewed due to larger number of short vs. tall people. Lot of the tallest people have outgrown their organs - can we grow taller for ever? - Generally in the US, (maybe worldwide) men prefer women with larger breasts. Natural selection is not working or not working fast enough in this case so we invented silicone, which again tends to counteract natural evolution. (Since many small breasted women have and will continue to obtain inplants, naturally large breasted women should decrease in numbers.) (No, I'm not obsessed with this subject or the subject matter - it's just a scientific observation.) The same applies to blond haired women: Most men prefer blondes (so says the advertisement), but since most blondes are from the bottle, are we creating more or less natural blondes? - Homosexuality is increasing rather than decreasing. Male & female couples can have surragates, adopt children, acceptance is most natural for today's generation, bisexuality, experimentation, etc.. (No, I'm not trying to say that these children will become homosexuals!) How many times have I heard, I'm not a homosexual - it's only oral ***. (Thank you President Clinton - oral *** is NOT ***! I'm not blaming it all on Bill, but he sure didn't help - be it hetero-, bi- or homosexual.) - Humans like to create ways of killing other humans and cause animal and vegetation extinction (we are making more and larger bombs, more weapons and have found many different ways of killing; we are killing off whales; we are detroying the rainforest). Is it the strongest, smartest, most wicked that will survive? or Will the meek inherit the earth? - Inspite of dangers to our health and lives, we smoke, drink excessively, over eat and take more risks. (Some of the longest living humans smoked and drank excessively.) The strong SEEM to survive, but are they passing on alcoholism and smoke related diseases that shorten the lives of their children, and children's children? - It's not natural but there is a lot of humans having sexual contact with animals. (Fortunately, human and animals can't mix in the procreative way - is that by evolution or is that by intelligent design? Why can't we evolve in reverse - back toward monkeys?) - Diseases, viruses such as HIV could most likely eradicate humanity before the human body developed a natural immunity to it. Due to human intelligence have we developed ways to slow or iradicate diseases (condoms, medicine, education). Ebola is another virus that (because of our intelligence such as airplanes, could spread) and with human intelligence has been kept in check (so far). - Humans have a lot of preferences and fetishes which animals do not have; this also fights against natural selection process where the strongest survives. One example is: In spite of obeseity being rampant in the US, most large people have mates. (Large numbers of white as well as black men prefer overweight women and vice versa). I don't need to go into other fetishes, I think others can come up with many more. - With brainwashing (advertising and other) we have created many women that can never be thin enough. Through this process, we've created many disorders. While these women are dying, the disorders are flourishing at an extreme speed. - Liberal policies (politics and religion intermixed - boy am I in trouble) are creating more programs which help maintain some of our weakest. (I'm not neccessarily against any of these programs.) Does the theory of strongest humans evolving still hold true?

"If there was just one Adam and Eve explain how it comes to be not everyone is white, why are some Black, Asian, Mexican, Islanders, Eskimo’s, Indians etc.?" The Bible starts and science finishes the explanation to this. When God became angry at humans for mis-behaving, he created languages which caused people to diperse from the general area to many different locations. (You may or may not accept this literally, or historically but science continues the layman's explanation.) Which is: In the very early days, people in different regions of the world did not intermix with outsiders (due to lack of travel methods, separation through mountains, lakes, oceans, language differences, etc.). Through years of procreation, the dominant genes displayed themselves, thereby eliminating the least common features. Since blacks only mated with blacks, the black race continued. Asians only procreated with asians, etc., etc. (Similarly, Hitler tried to create his superior race of tall, blond haired, blue eyed people by eliminating all people that did not conform to these features - except himself. Through continued procreation of people with similar features, he expected to generate the superior race. With advent of travel devices and through wars, tribes have combined with other tribes which in turn has created mix of people. You can see a lot of this mix in the US as blacks, asians, caucasians, indians, latinos and others intermix. Theoretically with enough time and enough intermixing you could potentially wipe out all separation of races and create one. It's in our genetic makeup. Do you remember the x and y chromosomes in school? It's how 2 brown haired brown eyed parents can have a blond head, blue eyed baby. Which is also a great argument For creation. The genetic information is not in us or any other animal for that matter to make anything different. For instance, a bird does not have genetic information to make scales, or a fish doesn't have genetic information to make hair...etc.. I think you'll find somewhere arguments by science and evolutionists that fish-like features and other things are in our DNA but have been turned off through time. Also similar arguments that we all came from common ancestors.

I have several standard notes on my estimate/contract forms: Customer to remove furniture and plants from porch and deck areas prior to start of house washing. At one time I also had a statement that said something to the effect that if the customer wanted us to move items we could do it for an additional charge. - I no longer have that in there as it has not been needed. The first statement usually takes care of things. I usually call the day/night before to remind cutomers we are scheduled for the next day. I remind them to move things and make sure all windows are closed. We do the same as Beth and make exceptions case by case for elderly, etc. The other statements on the in estimate are (in brief): - Customer supplies water at site. - We are not responsible for damage arising from water entering home through eves, soffit, openings around windows wnd doors. - Some stains, such as Artillery Fungus may not be able to be removed from siding. - Cleaning oxidixed siding may not totally stop or remove oxidization

The fact that we're discussing the subject IS SPREADING THE WORDS OF GOD! We are traveling the world (via the internet) without leaving the facilities (how convenient - but does it matter?). When God says go out and spread the word, I don't believe he literally means "go travel the world", but rather praise "THE WORDS" of God as often as possible where ever you go and who ever you're with/around. Let me also say that if we ALL went to a poor desolate nations to spread the word of God, would we and the nation not starve? If we all traveled, who would grow and raise food for us to eat? Who would make the clothes? Who would make the ships and planes we needed to travel in? Would we not all starve before we converted many? Yet each one of us has a purpose in life and even sometimes without knowledge of their action (one aethiest may convert an evolutionist (on the edge) to Christianity. Again it's not our responsibiliy to convert people, but to spread "THE WORDS". Each person is responsible for their own conversion. No matter how hard I try to give you THE WORDS, if you keep on rejecting it, I will not be held responsible for your lack of conversion... In regards to the issue of people that have not heard "THE WORDS" - my opinion is that children are most likely exempt (don't ask me to draw a line in the sand about what age childhood ends) and each person is given more than enough chances or opportunities to make a call. I also think that all circumstances will be considered when judgement is made. As in regards to wealth: How many millions does Bill Gates contribute every year? Also, if you have not read the book "Business BUY The Bible" by Wade Cook (Lighthouse Publishing) I suggest you get it from the library (no cost) and read it. It is one explaination of how wealth, riches covenants and Christianity can go hand in hand. (In these terms "business" means one's rightful or proper concern or interest. "Buy" in this term is the writer's goal to have us (the reader) buy into what the Bible says and to literally "buy the Bible" if we don't already own one. I was skeptical before reading it, but it has changed some of my thinking along the way. If anyone else has read the book, I would be interested in your comments on it.