on quality; we bought Casablanca fans for the last 2 houses, replacing some discount store brand fans in the last house. Our Casablanca’s have run now for 8 years, almost continually in a few rooms with very high ceilings, without any problems. Best feature, no sound at all – nada! the fans we replaced would get off balance, wobble, squeak, etc. which is very disturbing in a bedroom or when you are watching TV or a movie. We paid about the same price for these Casablanca fans online as we would have paid for other fans at Lowe’s or Home Depot.

We’ve installed expensive, special-order fans and home store fans. Which worked the best over the long haul?…

I imagine that we won’t have any subcontractors or laborers who will have any kind of program in place—most won’t even have a web site to link to—so we’ll just give our review and contact information. We also do not have affiliate relationships with Lowe’s or Home Depot. But we’ve found some good products at their stores, so mention them by name as a resource for those who have access to them.

On the other hand, when we refer, say, a book that we really like, we will link to it through Amazon. We buy all our books (and many other things) through their Amazon Prime program. (We buy a lot of books—which is why we have the large library in the home!) We’ve had great service from them over the years and recommend them. When we do, we get a base referral rate of 4% on “qualified” sales.

The really good thing about affiliate programs is that they don’t increase the costs for consumers—and often offer some great sales and specials.

Loodon, technically this is our third home-building project (and fourth home, total), but I need to qualify that.

Our second home was a “semi-custom” home in Boca Raton, Florida, meaning that we choose the model (from the developer’s limited selection), added a few thing (like a cabana bath) from a list of options, then chose colors, fixtures, carpet, upgrades, etc.

Our third home was a one-of-a-kind custom from the ground up. This new home is as well. This kind of project is, obviously, much more involved than a home in a neighborhood of near clones, built by the same company.