Congrats! A tip from someone who lost a roof and everything under it in a natural disaster not too terribly long ago.
Buy INSURANCE!
Yep, it seems like a waste of money.
Yep, you might go 20 years and never even look like you'll use it.
But when things go straight to hell and you need to fix and replace your entire life, insurance will be a godsend. (And a tip if you need to get estimates, get them at popular places, Sears, Home Depot, places you absolutely know will try to overcharge because they're greedy. They will overcharge you to F-and back,($500 for a 2x5 gate, really) but they still gave you estimates on their official big brand-letterhead, and insurance is going to base their payout on what those estimates say. They'll try to give you less than you ask for, but never ever be low-end conservative on an insurance estimate to be "nice". But they're not going to check who actually comes to do the work.)
