Termite treatments can eat a hole in your wallet

The house my wife and I have shared for many years has been repeatedly attacked by termites, and we've burned through several companies, each of which has promised to solve the problem but failed to do so. I've been taking bids to treat the house with Dow's Sentricon system. Wow, was I shocked by the different in price quotes!

Seldom can one compare apples to apples, but this time I could. Company A, with my Angie's List discount, offered to treat the house for two years for $2,636.73. For each additional year, I'd pay $447. Ouch!

Company B, at the top of the Angie's List vendors in my city, quoted for the same system $1,381 for two years and $245 for each subsequent year.

Guess which company I chose. I don't often manage to save $1,255 so easily.

The lesson? When you are shopping for services and don't know what price to expect, ALWAYS get more than one quote! Why throw away a year's worth of coupon clipping by grossly overpaying on tree trimming, driveway sealing or window washing?

Or is $1,255 not enough to justify your efforts?