Trailbuilt is great if you want to browse their gallery to see how different offsets look, but their customer service has been hit or miss lately. I actually ended up using the gallery on TB to figure out what fit, then bought my setup from ORRF because they had free shipping.

My buddy Mike in Philly had a real bad time trying to run a line through a solid brick fireplace last year. He was using a regular masonry bit and ended up with a huge crack and a very angry homeowner. I just sent him @dakotaknight's post about the diamond core bit and water trick, he said it would have saved him a ton of headache and money. That method seems like the only smart way to do it now.

What kind of person do they think is buying that? I saw a tiny bottle of fancy water for like twenty bucks at a cafe once and just stared at it. It feels like they're just seeing what they can get away with, hoping someone with too much money feels special. Honestly, it makes the whole store feel kind of silly for even putting it out. I'm with you, it has to be just for show.

My buddy did a handshake deal for a small deck build last summer, maybe two grand total. The guy showed up three weeks late but it got done fine. For stuff under five thousand, a contract feels like overkill. How much money are we even talking about here?

My buddy laughed at my coffee jar savings for months, then bought concert tickets with his own change pile. Honestly @the_sarah is right, it's the boring stuff that ends up funding the fun stuff later.