home repair review - water heaters and more

I met with our handy man and reviewed the upcoming major project.
This is what will likely be included:

1. Replace two water heaters - thinking about the lowes 50 gallon energy smart tanks at about $650 each - it's about $70 more than regular 50 gallons, but a bit (not alot) higher in efficiency - not sure of the exact benefit. 12 year warrantee model. The digital controls may be useful when travelling, etc... to manage energy usage. Additional hardware and service fees for combined two heater replacement estaimted at $400 - $500. [does this make sense?]

2. various paint, nail pop and try wall repairs - including a stain from a sky light.

3. Fix the several external appliance exhaust covers outside - caulk, replace broken, screw into wall when needed.

4. Fix stove top exhaust - caused immense draft in winter.

5. Replace high ceiling lights with either 8,000 or 25,000 hour compact florescents. Too high up for me to change on my own so will buy long term ones.

6. Fix roof gutters - put screen covers over valleys to prevent future over flow.

7. Fix peeling paint on portion of roof to protect wood.

8. caulk, reseal and repair pella window.

9. replace noisy bathroom shower fan with much quieter panasonic fan. fan is expensive at $200, but alledgedly ultra quiet. cheap fan i have is so noisy i can't hear anything else.

That's the majority of the work.

I'm figuring one team will focus on the water heaters and another on the rest.

My guess is that all non water heater work would cost about $300 - $400 plus parts, but i'll see.

At this point in time, I'm basically trying to aggregate all of the little things that I can't do on my own and have them addressed at once.

I'm very tempted to have the network installed, but think it unwise as it could cost $800 - $1200 - which I should save until financially more comfortable.

Regards, makingourway