Lessons from a Contractor’s Wife – Part 8
Hi, I’m Sarah! I’m the wife of Lucas Casper, the owner of Casper Builders. Usually, I stay happily on the sidelines of the business, but when Lucas and I decided to build our own house this year, I suddenly found myself wearing many hats: part-time designer, part-time laborer, part-time project manager, and full-time “gofer.”
In this blog series, I’m going to share what building a custom home looks like from the non-professional’s perspective. Settle in for the surprises, the lessons learned, and all the little details that no one tells you about until you’re in the thick of it. Come see how the sausage is made!
If it Seems Too Good to be True…
If you know me, you know I love “As Seen on TV” (or more accurately, “As Seen on Social Media”) gadgets. This obsession stems from my childhood when my grandmother shared her love of gadgets with me through the Mouli, an impossibly difficult vegetable julienne machine a 10-year-old lacked the upper body strength to use. Some loves run deep.
Anyway, I’ve recently started thinking about furniture for the living room of our new house, more specifically, the couch. Right on cue, the all-seeing eyes of social media started flooding my various accounts with couches and dupes that apparently everyone is talking about. The algorithm knows what I want before I do.
Living in eastern Iowa, I don’t have access to as many furniture stores as you’d find in bigger cities, so social media couches seemed like a way to add variety to my search. I found myself scrolling through these sites, researching their offerings, and getting sucked in by the litany of 5-star reviews clearly intended to assuage any fears about buying such a large purchase sight unseen.
Having learned—at least partially—from my “stone” debacle, I held off on purchasing a couch from social media until I could do some research outside the company’s website.
Where to Find Real Reviews
Sites like Reddit and Quora crowdsource information on virtually any topic you can imagine, and Facebook has groups dedicated to social media purchases. On these platforms, you can find actual reviews and real experiences from people who have nothing to gain from lying to you. Another excellent resource is the Better Business Bureau, which tracks complaints and company responses.
A quick search on Reddit revealed that the couches flooding my Instagram feed were uncomfortable and not nearly as durable as expected. Some people likened one of them to a cushion on a camping chair.
LESSON: Look at a variety of sources for product and service information.
I’m all for trying out low-stakes “As Seen on TV/Social Media” purchases, but when it comes to something you’ll have to live with daily for years, stick to tried and true research methods. Your back (and your wallet) will thank you.