Originally Posted by
FRANKRIZZO
Im 57 wife was there too she is 47. Live in an affluent area , so my opinion is the guy got greedy. My dad had me relatively late (33) I had my son really late at 43 or so. I feel it was a good move to have my son late , I have incredible patience. My dad was really strict, my son does whatever he wants does not need much parenting.
Ah, affluent area is probably the key here.
Yeah, that's a big problem. A lot of contractors and other service people see a rich area and figure that money is no object, and they can gouge people.
I deal with this crap myself. Get all kinds of high quotes for things, and then I have to make the decision between hiring a known competent but overly expensive guy or a less-known-but-cheaper guy. Usually I find someone who is at least semi-reasonable but it's a pain in the ass.
In the Bay Area, it's even worse, for obvious reasons.
I had my son late, too, though a bit earlier than you. I was 38 1/2 when Ben was bored. There are good and bad parts to it. Good to have more maturity but I also have less energy than I did 10 years ago.