Straight answers, before anyone asks you for anything.

Written for the moment something breaks. Each one tells you what to check yourself first, and says plainly where the line is between a job you can do and one that needs a licensed contractor.

• Furnace blowing cold air? Here's what to check first.
  Heating & Cooling · Most of the causes are things you can check yourself in about ten minutes — and the first one on the list is a thermostat setting, not a broken furnace.
• No heat at all: what to check before you call.
  Heating & Cooling · Five minutes of checking can save you an emergency call-out fee, and if it does not fix it, you will be able to tell the technician something useful.
• Mice in the house in October: why now, and what actually works.
  Pest Control · The first cold nights push mice indoors across New Jersey, all at once. Traps deal with the mice already inside. Only sealing the entry points stops the next ones.
• Roof leaking right now? Do these things in this order.
  Roofing · The goal in the first hour is limiting damage and documenting it. The repair is a separate problem, and the documentation is what decides whether insurance helps pay for it.
• Move-out cleaning: what actually gets checked.
  Cleaning · Landlords and buyers inspect a fairly predictable list, and the same few items are the ones people tend to forget.
• What a roof replacement costs in New Jersey.
  Roofing · Published figures put a New Jersey roof replacement between roughly $8,500 and $17,000, with asphalt shingles at $3 to $7 a square foot installed. Here is what moves a quote inside that range.
• What a new furnace costs, installed.
  Heating & Cooling · Published figures put a standard-efficiency furnace at roughly $3,500 to $7,500 installed, and a high-efficiency unit as high as $11,500. Home size drives it more than anything else.
• What it costs to get mice out — and keep them out.
  Pest Control · Published figures put most mouse jobs between $150 and $550, averaging around $350. The number that actually decides your bill is how much sealing the house needs.
• What a local move costs.
  Moving · Local movers generally charge $50 to $100 per mover per hour with a three to five hour minimum, which puts a two or three bedroom move somewhere between $900 and $2,800.
• What house cleaning costs.
  Cleaning · Published figures put a standard visit around $120 to $280, at roughly $25 to $75 per cleaner per hour. Recurring service costs less per visit than a one-off.