I learned today that the California Energy Law (Title 24) requires high efficacy luminaires  be used for almost all rooms in residential buildings. In plain English this means that the only type of light bulb allowed is a four-pin compact fluorescent bulb. Here is the justification for this fro... [More]

After sending a follow-up email asking James Edwards if he had received my request for a bid, I got an email response today. The bid was $3100 for an 840 SqFt house, which worked out to about $370 per foot. This was over twice the theoretical national average, but a bit lower than the verbal estimat... [More]

After reviewing the Fire Department list of approved vendors I found that there was only one in Yucca Valley. Most were in Palm Springs, Los Angeles, or further away. I called a few of the big companies who gave me general square-footage costs that were higher than the what was shown in the National... [More]