I'm a woman so I do hire contractors.
If I'm buying the materials I use the Home Depot card (with a 10% off coupon) and use their 12 month/0% financing offer. The contractor gets paid by check.
Bought those pretty white plantation shutters from HD during their sale (and used a 10% coupon on top of that). Total cost included materials and installation. Deferred the payment for 12 months/0% interest. Oh! Lifetime warranty on the shutters.
Had a floor to ceiling pantry cabinet installed in the kitchen through a cabinet distributor. Installation was tacked onto the cost. This was paid with a VISA credit card.
Had all the built in air conditioners replaced (5). Went through a HVAC firm for the purchase and installation. Used the VISA to pay for it all. This VISA extends the manu warranty by a year so these units are warrantied 6 years. Learned this lesson the hard way when one of the old units literally died days after its 5 year mark and I found out my mom wrote a check when she bought it.
When the hot water heater needed replacing we called a plumbing company for the purchase and installation. Paid by check. They wouldn't accept credit card payment. Won't ever do that again unless I can at least buy the water heater with a credit card.
The washing machine needed service so I called an appliance repair company. $120 for 10 minutes work. They only accepted cash or check.
My point is that I try to pay by credit card whenever I can. Then I do balance transfers back and forth between 2 cards that offer me the lowest rate on the money. Currently I owe 14k @ 1%. Once this offer is up I'll switch it over to the card that has usually offered me 2.99% for another specified time.
It's only a matter of time before the furnace needs to be replaced. I've already got a quote of 4k.
