u/InternationalShow829

Hey everyone, I'm trying to figure out which Navy program might be the best fit for me and would appreciate some opinions from people who have actually been through these.

I'm a junior at Kennesaw State studying Industrial & Systems Engineering, with a 3.95 GPA.

For most of college I've been pretty dead set on the Coast Guard and was planning on trying for OCS after graduation. I still really like the Coast Guard, but my financial situation has gotten pretty rough lately. I'm working a lot to support myself, and I'm starting to worry that working this much could actually delay my graduation. Because of that, I'm looking more seriously at Navy programs that could help me financially while I finish school.

Right now I'm looking at:

Nuclear

CEC

BDCP

NROTC/College Program

I'm interested in engineering, project management, construction, leadership, and getting the opportunity to travel, so CEC obviously caught my attention. At the same time, I've heard a lot about the nuclear program and BDCP and I'm trying to understand what the actual differences are beyond what the recruiting websites say.

I'd love to hear from anyone who's gone through one of these programs, especially about:

What the day-to-day is actually like

How much time the program takes away from school

Financial benefits while you're still in college

Service commitments

What you actually do after commissioning

How Industrial Engineering fits into each

Things you wish you knew before choosing

I'm also curious if anyone else has gone from being really interested in the Coast Guard to seriously considering the Navy. I'm not completely giving up on the Coast Guard, but the financial stability of these Navy programs is becoming pretty hard to ignore.

Thanks!

Front view of client's door frame

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some honest feedback and advice from people who have been doing this longer than me. I recently had a client situation that left me feeling really down and doubting my skills, and I honestly can’t tell if I handled this unprofessionally or if the client was just difficult.

The Initial Job: I went out to look at an exterior front door frame (main door leaf, glass sidelights, overhead glass transom, surrounded by stucco, *photo attached to this post). She initially wanted a classic Dutchman patch on the bottom door jamb where there was rot, plus a repair on the header trim. I quoted her $150 for labor plus the cost of materials.

Where Things Went South (The Poke Test): While inspecting the bottom door jamb, I did a poke test (I asked her if she was okay with me doing that) to check how far the soft wood went. I ended up digging out a pretty good amount of rotted wood at the bottom.

Looking back, maybe I did expose/scrape away too much wood before she officially signed off on the job. To her, it looked like I just carved a big hole into her door frame and left her with visible damage. My internal logic was: "If I’m coming back to do a Dutchman patch anyway, all this rotten wood has to be cut out regardless, so what difference does it make?" But I can see how from her perspective, it felt like I damaged her door before she even decided what to do.

I also paid 10 dollars and some change for her direct lead on Thumbtack, so I guess I just assumed that she had "hired" me to do it. But from her perspective she was trying to get quotes and estimates to find the cheapest price, and that included me. I guess that's a difficulty with platforms like Thumbtack. The emotional attachment professionals have to leads and potential jobs after being charged for them is not something customers have any idea about. I don't think Thumbtack tells its customers that we get charged every time they even reach out to us through there.

I also pointed out severe rot near the top transom window that she hadn't noticed before.

The Backlash & Other Quotes: After realizing the rot was deeper than she thought, she got upset. She felt like I "damaged" her door during my inspection and wanted me to come back and fix what I messed up.

She started getting other opinions:

Her regular handyman refused to touch the job because he was afraid of breaking the glass transom windows.
Another contractor quoted her $1,000 to replace the door frame while saving the glass.
Someone on Thumbtack quoted $700 just to do what I would've done for $150 (she called him "ridiculous").
I talked to a 25+ year veteran handyman and framer who told me that the full door frame replacement would be $2,000 – $2,500 in labor alone, contingent on there not being any rot beyond what we see from the outside.

She started saying things like, "Why would I pay you $150 for cosmetic repairs if I have to replace the whole door frame anyway?" when I was the one who even brought the structural rot to her attention, but then turned around and told me to just do the cosmetic fix to cover up the wood I removed.

She told me she's actually had people give quotes before and they wanted to remove the entire front structural portion, but she didn't want that. She seems like a client that wants to have it exactly their way and wants to also have cheap, fast, and good even though you can't have all 3 at the same time and can only have 2.

My Guilt & Dropping the Price: Because she was complaining so much and accusing me of damaging her door frame, I felt terrible. I started doubting whether I ruined her jamb during the inspection. Out of guilt, I dropped my price from $150 + materials down to $75 TOTAL including materials.

I spent ~$37 on wood hardener and filler out of pocket, meaning I made about $38 for the entire job and a whole lot of stress.

Where Things Stand Now: Now she wants me to ask my subcontractors how much they would charge to replace the entire frame while keeping her door leaf and all the glass intact, because she wants the cheapest price possible. I tried explaining the risk of hidden rot behind the stucco, but she talked over me and acted like she knew the condition of her house better than me or the professional and was kind of patronizing. And I know if I bring out a subcontractor, she's probably going to try to bypass me and get my subs number to do it for cheaper.

My Questions for You All:

Did I mess up on the poke test? Is digging out soft wood during an initial estimate considered bad practice if the client hasn't officially hired you yet?
Was my logic sound? I figured a Dutchman patch requires clearing out all rotted wood anyway, but did I overstep by doing it during the inspection?
Am I being too hard on myself, or did I handle this poorly? I feel like I folded under pressure by dropping my price to $75 out of guilt. Part of me feels like I should give her all her money back at this point.
Do you think this is a normal part of starting out as a handyman? I've only been doing it for the past 2 months at this point.

Any advice or perspectives would be appreciated. I feel terrible from this and am doubting whether I should just quit entirely or pivot and focus solely on furniture assembly lol

Be as honest as you need to be. I want to learn from this.

Navy programs: Nuclear vs CEC vs BDCP vs NROTC — looking for some advice

Rookie mistake or bad client? Need honest feedback on a door frame rot inspection gone wrong.

Stress Crack?