MR. KOJO NNAMDIThe supermarket seen in the D.C. area has changed a lot in the last decade. Having more options is great. But where do you get the biggest bang for your buck? To really know, you'd have to go to all the markets in the area, buy the same groceries and compare the receipts. And who has the time for that? For the people at Washington Consumers' Checkbook, it's all in a day's work.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIThat, and figuring out how to save money on everything from your dry cleaning to home insurance or a new roof -- we'll get to the big ticket items. But we start with the savings you can rack up while running your errands. And you should know that, today, we'll be talking about groceries. Then we'll be talking about dry cleaners. Then we'll be talking about home insurance, and then we'll be talking about roofing contractors.

MR. KOJO NNAMDISo you can start preparing your calls, 800-433-8850. Send email to kojo@wamu.org, a tweet, @kojoshow, or go to our website, kojoshow.org, to ask your question or make your comment there. Joining us in studio is Robert Krughoff. He is the founder and president of Washington Consumers' Checkbook magazine. Bob Krughoff, good to see you again.

MR. ROBERT KRUGHOFFGreat to be here. Thanks.

NNAMDIAlso with us is Kevin Brasler. He is the executive editor of Washington Consumers' Checkbook magazine. Hi, Kevin, how are you doing?

MR. KEVIN BRASLERGreat. Thank you.

NNAMDISupermarkets -- the supermarket scene in and around D.C. has changed dramatically over the last decade. What options are there out there that weren't available maybe even five years ago, Bob?

KRUGHOFFWell, there are a whole lot of much more interesting options, I think. You know, and for a long time, it was Giant and Safeway. And there really weren't very many choices. Now, we've got places like Wegmans, which, for the people who can get to it, it's substantially cheaper than those other stores for comparable items. And it also just gets terrific ratings for quality.

KRUGHOFFThere is Walmart. More and more Walmart stores, a few more coming in to D.C., et cetera.

NNAMDIAnd Target, huh?

KRUGHOFFYeah, and Target, now, is really becoming an option. It's not quite as extensive as some of those other places. And -- but, you know, Trader Joe's -- I mean, a whole lot of choices that just weren't around before.

NNAMDIWeren't around 10 years ago.

KRUGHOFFAnd, of course, the big membership warehouse stores, too.

NNAMDISure, Costco and the like. Kevin, it sounds like a lot of legwork was involved in figuring out where the best deals are. How did you compare savings at area supermarkets?

BRASLERWell, we started with a market basket of about 150 supermarket items, common items anyone would buy in a store -- fresh produce, meats, prepared food, processed foods, et cetera. The market basket actually mirrors the consumer price index survey, the items that are on that. And then we went to stores and shopped them. We recorded their prices, whatever that day's prices were.

BRASLERSo we included sale prices -- take in account sale prices -- and then, you know, weighted some items more heavily than others. You know, people buy more milk than they do canned green beans, for example. But in the end, it compared store's prices against one another that way.

NNAMDIWho came out on top when it came to the best prices?

BRASLERWell, the Walmart Supercenter -- there is one in Laurel. It had prices that were -- when we -- we compared all the prices to Giant and Safeway since they're the big players. Walmart Supercenter had prices that are about 19 percent lower than those at Giant or Safeway. Target had prices that were about 15 percent lower. There's a chain called Bottom Dollar Food. Its prices were about 14 percent lower.

BRASLERWegmans, which, as we mentioned before, gets incredibly high ratings from its customers, when we -- another part of our survey was we -- of our study was that we surveyed area Checkbook and Consumer Report subscribers and asked them to rate supermarkets that they had used. And Wegmans, by far, received the highest ratings on that survey. Anyway, its prices were 11 percent below the Giant-Safeway average.

NNAMDIWell, saving money on food is great, but not if doesn't taste very good. Who ranked high in both savings and in quality?

KRUGHOFFWell, Wegmans, you know, is the...

NNAMDIName keeps coming up.

KRUGHOFFYeah, it just keeps coming up. Well, it's kind of a surprise. Now, the unfortunate thing is it's not convenient to a whole lot of people. But it rated very high in terms of quality of fresh produce, quality of meats, et cetera. And that 11 percent difference, you know, savings compared to Giant -- the Giant and Safeway average, you know, it'd be worth about $750, $800 a year to a family that spends $150 a week at the supermarket, which is a fairly typical amount to spend.

KRUGHOFFSo, you know, talking about some serious money over the course of a year. One of the interesting things is we didn't mention another choice in the area is Harris Teeter. There are more and more of those stores in the area. And Harris Teeter's prices, I think, some people think that their prices are going to be higher because, actually, their stores rate substantially higher than Giant and Safeway in terms of quality of service, quality of fresh produce, et cetera.

KRUGHOFFAnd yet their prices were about equal to the prices, on average, to the prices we found at Giant and Safeway.

NNAMDIWe'd like to know about your savvy shopping secrets. Where do you find the best deal on groceries? Call us at 800-433-8850, or go to our website, kojoshow.org. Did you guys take coupons or savings clubs offered by stores into account, too?

BRASLERWe did savings clubs. Coupons, as in terms of clipping coupons, we did not. We decided that, you know, everyone's mileage in that front is going to vary. If you take advantage of coupon savings, you know, some chains do double, or sometimes they have triple coupon days, but it was just -- you know, it's a little more difficult to kind of include (unintelligible).

NNAMDIWell, this is Washington, where very important people are often in a hurry, people who hate nothing more than waiting in the check-out line, and, somehow, they always end up thinking, uh-oh, I've picked the wrong line. They're probably wondering where they have the best odds of getting in a fast-moving check-out lane. Where would that be, Bob?

KRUGHOFFOh, well, that's...

NNAMDIHa, I checked. Chevy Chase Supermarket wins on this round.

KRUGHOFFAll right. But that won't be convenient to everybody, but it will -- yeah, and...

BRASLERAnd Harris Teeter, actually, on that question, on our survey rated quite highly.

NNAMDISnider's Super Foods rated highly?

BRASLERSnider's. There was a great market called MOM's Organic Market, which only sells organic foods. And they received quite high ratings on, not only speed of checkout, but on -- not surprisingly, on fresh produce.

NNAMDIWhole Foods got high marks for quality, but has a reputation for being, well, pricey. How much more do people, who shop just at Whole Foods, spend over the course of the year?

BRASLERIt depends on how you count, right? If you just look at -- you know, if you're looking at -- see, the problem is Whole Foods sells a lot of items that are organic items, right?

NNAMDIYep.

BRASLERAnd so there's not -- it's not easy to compare the items they have. And they're their own items, right? They're items that you can't find at Giant or Safeway. But if you just make the best comparison you can, if you want to buy apples or if you want to buy oranges, for example, and you compare the prices of the two, Whole Foods is about 20 -- I think it's 23 percent more expensive on average than Giant or Safeway.

BRASLERBut if you just look at organic items, if you look at organic items at Giant or Safeway and you compare the prices there to organic items at Whole Foods, we actually find Whole Foods prices are pretty good. They're a little bit less on average than Giant or Safeway. It was just as good as anybody else's.

BRASLERAnd, actually, MOM's Organic Market, which receives astoundingly high ratings for these issues -- fresh produce and these other things -- their prices, I think, for organic items were the best in the area.

KRUGHOFFSo if you're buying organic items and you know you're going to do that, actually, MOM's is quite striking. Actually, Wegmans sit very well on organic items as well, but MOM's had the best prices on organic items.

BRASLERBut having said that -- I'm sorry, Kojo.

NNAMDINo, go ahead.

BRASLERHaving said that, the penalty you pay for buying organic is quite steep. I mean, it's like 50 percent, right? So -- and, for me, it's double, right? So you kind of have to decide whether it's really worth it to you to buy organic or not.

NNAMDIYou mentioned earlier Walmart and Target. Big-box and bulk retailers offer substantial savings. Are there any downsides to shopping at the big-box retailers or the bulk retailers?

KRUGHOFFWell, I think the answer is a little different for Walmart than for Target. Walmart has -- in some of their stores, at least, have a very wide array of food products. Target has now, really, modified its stores to have a significant food presence there. But, nonetheless, it's a more limited food presence than you'd find at a Safeway or a Giant or a Harris Teeter or something like that.

KRUGHOFFSo you may -- you might, sometimes, have to -- in fact, you probably would sometimes have to do some of your shopping at one of those other supermarkets.

NNAMDIIf I don't live near a Wegmans, a Trader Joe's or a Costco, are the savings worth the gas to get there?

KRUGHOFFWell, I think -- let's see. A Wegmans, a Trader Joe's...

NNAMDICostco.

KRUGHOFF...or a Costco. I think for a Costco, you know, people use those stores --sometimes, they may go once a month. They may go, you know, less often than that. If you have room to stock things, to stock up on things, you're going to save a substantial amount by doing some of your shopping for everything you can get at a Costco and then doing the rest of your shopping at a Giant or Safeway.

KRUGHOFFYou could expect to save 25 percent or more by combining Costco and Safeway, for instance, versus just shopping at Safeway. So if you've got room to stock up on things, yes, you can save quite a bit of money.

NNAMDIOn to the telephones. We will start with Reg (sp?) in Alexandria, Va. Reg, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

REGThank you, Kojo, for taking my call. I'm a longtime listener.

NNAMDIThank you.

REGI had a question for your panelists with regard to reviewing the international food markets, such as Grand Mart, and if there were any sort of any different -- any savings, cost savings with regard to them.

NNAMDIInterestingly enough, we got an email from Angela, Reg, who said, "For fresh veggies, I go to most Latin-American or Asian markets because they beat the chains in price and quality, for example, in Virginia's Super H or El Eden." I don't know how international food markets feature in this report.

KRUGHOFFWell, we didn't really include specific markets, any of those specific markets. In this study, we have said that, in general -- and we say in this article, in general, you can save money by considering various types of international cuisines that -- and cooking them, just because you may get a lot more flavor and interest without as many, you know, expensive meat products, for instance.

NNAMDIWe got -- in the same email from Angela, she said her favorite for dry goods, Aldi's. What's Aldi's?

BRASLERIt's an interesting place. It's actually -- Aldi itself is owned by the same company that owns Trader Joe's. But they couldn't be more different places. It's unbelievable how low the prices are there, depending on how you compare, I mean, because they have all their own brands. They don't have national brands in Aldi.

BRASLERBut, again, if you compare as best you can to what is offered at the supermarket, their prices are about half of what they are at Giant or Safeway. And you don't have to buy these massive-sized products like you would at Costco or BJ's or Sam's Club. The problem is they don't have the presence here that they have in the Midwest yet. But it's not as pleasant shopping experience as you'd hope for.

BRASLERYou know, it's one of these places where you have to, you know, leave a small deposit to take a shopping cart because they don't want to have to pay somebody to round up all the shopping carts, right? You have to pay for every bag, et cetera, right? You never know what's going to be there to some degree, too.

BRASLERThe interesting thing is Aldi, actually -- Walmart tried to expand its grocery operations to Europe. And Aldi is so cheap that they drove them out. It's the one place Walmart couldn't compete, was Europe, because Aldi was just -- has such a dominant presence there in terms of prices (unintelligible).

NNAMDISo you go -- Aldi is a German-based retail. You go into Aldi. You buy the store brands. You're saving a bunch of money?

BRASLERYou're saving a ton of money, even when you compare the prices there to the store branch at Giant or Safeway.

NNAMDIBack to the telephones. Here, now, is Harry in Easton, Md. Harry, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

HARRYHello. What I do, I live in Easton, Md., and we have four stores, plus a Walmart. We've got Food Lion, Safeway, Giant and (word?). And what I'll do is I'll get a flier. You know, we get the newspaper with the fliers from all the different stores and look at it, you know, create our list. I usually just buy sale items. You know, they call you a cherry picker when you do that.

HARRYThat, along with coupons, especially the 75 cent, 50 cent coupons, double up, Safeway, you can load coupons on your card electronically for their store coupons, plus you can use manufacturers on top of that. And it takes a little bit of effort and a little bit of work, but you can really save some money.

NNAMDIHarry, I'm glad you mentioned that because in this edition of Washington Consumers' Checkbook, Bob, you also have tips for saving money. You recommend everyone keep in mind at the grocery store, regardless of where that person happens to be shopping -- care to share a few of those money-saving tips?

KRUGHOFFWell, one is to think in advance. Now, the amount of thinking the caller is talking about is a whole lot of thinking in advance and more work than a lot of people will want to do. But, yes, the more you do, the more you can save. We certainly think, though, that it's a very good idea to make a list before you go. And people don't even want to do that, of course.

KRUGHOFFBut one of the things we suggest is that you walk through that store -- the store that you usually shop some time -- and just write down the things as you get to them in the store that you commonly buy. And then you can just make copies of that list. And every time you go to the store, just check off the things before you go, check off the things you're going to need.

KRUGHOFFThat helps you avoid forgetting things and having to go back, which costs you money and time. It makes it more efficient getting through the store. So there are things like that, that aren't even a lot of trouble, that will help. But there are other things you -- another big thing to do is to buy things when they are on special.

KRUGHOFFAnd if you're -- better still, if you're willing to do the work of looking up coupons and so on and choosing your store for that week according to what's on special, you can save even more. But even if you don't do that, just buying the things that are on special and stocking up on those things will save you a substantial amount of money. Certainly, considering store-brand items is a very good deal.

KRUGHOFFWe find that people would save -- even if they just substituted store brands for national-branded items, let's say at a Giant or Safeway, they would save 6 to 8 percent compared to buying national-brand items across the board. And so try them out. Maybe you'd like the store-brand things just as well as you -- we've done food tests where people couldn't tell the difference, where they even preferred the store brands. So...

NNAMDIRemember the oldest advice in the world? Don't shop for groceries when you're hungry. We're going to take a short break. When we come back, we'll look at dry cleaners. We'll look at home insurance and roofing contractors and take your calls at 800-433-8850. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.

NNAMDIWelcome back. We're looking at your search for dry cleaners, home insurance and roofing contractors with Robert Krughoff. He is the founder and president of Washington Consumers' Checkbook Magazine. Kevin Brasler is the executive editor. We're taking your calls at 800-433-8850. Dry cleaners -- many people choose their dry cleaner based on one factor and one factor alone, convenience. What else should we be taking into account?

KRUGHOFFWell, there really are differences in quality and differences in price. Checkbook -- at checkbook.org, we have ratings of 363 area dry cleaning firms. And 48 of those firms were rated superior by at least 90 percent of their customers. But about half were rated superior by fewer than half their customers. So a big -- no, I'm sorry. About 37 -- I'm sorry -- were rated superior by fewer than half their customers.

KRUGHOFFSo that's a big difference in quality. And it has to do with, did they lose the items? Did they -- when you get them back, are they crisp and clean and well pressed, et cetera? Did they damage the items? So there really are quality differences. And the price differences are pretty striking also. For instance, we found to dry clean a woman's wool overcoat, the price range was from $1.89 to $43, with the average being about $17. So big differences in price.

KRUGHOFFAnd I do think people just sort of go to the one that they, you know, that sort of sticks out at them as they're, you know, on their way to the Metro station or on their way to the supermarket or whatever. Just, it's worth it look at these 363 cleaners and say, well, boy there's another one that has great prices, great service, and, actually, all I'd have to do is drive three blocks out of my way.

NNAMDI$1.89 to clean a woman's wool coat? That seems insanely cheap. Did they actually clean it?

KRUGHOFFWell, yes, they cleaned it. And, actually, we found some of these firms that had very low prices that also rated very high for quality. I don't know about that particular place. But I will say that, for instance, we found Cleaners Max in Rockville got very high ratings from customers. And yet its prices were 63 percent lower than the average of all cleaners in the area. I found another one.

KRUGHOFFThe New Method Cleaners in Manassas, 47 percent lower in prices, even though it had had great ratings. Another one, let's see, in Springfield, Sandy's Custom Cleaners, 36 percent lower than the -- all-cleaner average, and yet they rated very high for quality. So you can get both.

NNAMDIIn terms of getting the most bang for your buck, you note that customers are not always as proactive as they should be. What should we be doing when we drop off our dry cleaning, that most of us may not be doing?

BRASLERPoint out stains. Point out stains and what caused them.

NNAMDIYou don't expect people to just find the stains.

BRASLERThat's right. I mean, if you just -- if you do what I do, which is hand them about 30 shirts in a Hefty bag and sling it across the counter, my -- the stains my toddler gave me, from carrots and tomato sauce and everything else, they're probably going to come back still stained 'cause I didn't mention that they were there to begin with.

BRASLERBut I think that's the number one thing you can do, is just explain that there is a stain here, and this is what caused it. It gives them the best chance to actually get rid of the stain.

NNAMDIHow about checking your dry cleaning when you pick it up?

BRASLERWell, yeah, I mean, I think that's a -- obviously, another thing you can do. Although, at that point, you know, if the stain is still there when you picked it up, it's probably set. But sure, yeah, you should -- I think the most important thing you can do is make sure that everything you dropped off is in the package that you're getting back from the shop.

BRASLERThe worst thing to do is to get home and realize that you're missing some garments. And then what do you do then?

NNAMDIHere is Jeff in Montclair, Va. Jeff, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

JEFFYeah, thanks for taking my call. Yeah, we have a mixed dry cleaning usage in our family. My wife and I use the dry cleaners at the end -- well, it's in our neighborhood. And we've been using them for years. But they do cost more than some of the new ones that have been springing up all over the place. Our son uses one of the newer ones that just sprang up recently. But they charge about half the price.

JEFFAnd so I can understand why he goes there to save money. But, for us, it's just important that it's convenient, quick and you get to know the people. And so it's easier if you got any questions or issues. You can discuss it with them. It's not a problem.

NNAMDIFor some reason or the other, Bob, I get the impression that people want their dry cleaners to be both friendly and in the neighborhood.

KRUGHOFFWell, I think that's right. And there are trade-offs to be made. But the trade-offs are not quite as stark as some people might think. There actually are very likely places that are in your neighborhood, or convenient to you, that are also very pleasant and that also do a great job that might save you 20, 30 percent compared to what you're now paying, maybe 50 percent or 60 percent if you're now going to an expensive cleaner.

KRUGHOFFBut if you can save -- you know, of course, some people don't have much dry cleaning. But, you know, if you're somebody who just has to -- you know, you have to wear a suit to work every day -- none of us is sitting here in as suit, I'm revealing. So we don't have to worry so much about it.

KRUGHOFFBut if you have to do that kind of thing and spend $40 a week at the dry cleaners, which some people do, and you can save 30 percent on that, that's $600 in the course of a year. So if you can just shift your habits a little bit, you might save yourselves $600 a year.

NNAMDIAnd here's this tip from Jackson in Washington, D.C. Jackson, your tip.

JACKSONYeah, I've got a question. I heard that due to the chemical that they use for dry cleaning that it's best to take the plastic off as soon as you get the clothes in it. And I've had experiences where I left the plastic on for about three or four months. I finally take the plastic off, and my clothes smell like farts.

NNAMDII do -- I leave the plastic on all the time. I haven't noticed any significant difference.

BRASLERYeah, I do, too. And I try not to because -- I mean, the dry cleaning industry itself does recommend that as soon as you get your clothes home that you take the plastic off and let them air out because of the lingering chemical effects.

NNAMDIOh, yeah. Well, thank you very much for that tip, Jackson. I also want to discuss physician specialists in a minute. But, first, we mentioned homeowners' insurance. Bob, you've been doing this for 30 years, so not much surprises you these days. With the possible exception of people failing to take advantage of easy savings, how easy is it to save on home insurance?

KRUGHOFFWell, it's amazingly easy and, really, a shame that people don't take advantage of it because there are really good, high-quality firms in the dry -- excuse me -- homeowners' insurance companies in the area that also have very good prices. And some of the highest -- some of the biggest companies in the area have prices that are way above average. So I'll give you an example.

KRUGHOFFFor a particular sample frame house in Montgomery County, annual rates with Harleysville, which is a very good, respectable company, were $623. That's what it was going to cost when we got insurance quotes for that home, $623 with Harleysville. It was $1,378 with State Farm. And State Farm is the biggest insurer in the area.

KRUGHOFFSo there are a whole lot of people who are insured by that company that was, what, $700 more expensive than one of the lowest priced companies.

NNAMDISo the people who think that they can get the best deal with the big-name national companies because of the volume of business they do -- wrong.

KRUGHOFFThey're just wrong. It just happens -- and this is more true than it used to be -- that some of these very large companies have some of the highest prices. So a whole lot of people are insured by them. And then people say, okay. Well, I'm going to shop next time my insurance comes up for renewal. But then...

NNAMDIYou don't have to wait for that day.

KRUGHOFFYeah, you don't have to wait for it. And, in fact, they forget when the time comes, or they're busy or whatever. So they go another year wasting that $500, $700. You can switch companies at any time. And if you've paid ahead for 11 months, you'll get all of your money back, or virtually all of your money back, from the company you paid for in -- you paid up for in advance.

KRUGHOFFSo you can make the switch now, save a lot of money, save it this year, save it next year. You know, why not do it?

NNAMDIMy home insurer offered me -- offered to carry my car insurance. And when I did it, both of them came out at a slightly lower rate.

KRUGHOFFWell, that's right. It depends on the company. But sometimes having the two together will save you money, but it's not going to save you that $700 I'm talking about.

NNAMDIAll right. I want to move on to physician specialists. Finding a specialty doctor who is right for you can be tough. Stakes are much higher than finding a good dry cleaner -- or home insurance, for that matter -- no matter how much you may love that sweater you spilled on. Many of us rely on suggestions from friends and family or the list of doctors approved by our insurance agency.

NNAMDIThe ratings for doctors featured in the spring-summer issue of Washington Consumers' Checkbook come from other physicians. What benefit does that perspective provide that we might otherwise miss, Bob?

KRUGHOFFWell, of course, when we first thought about doing this -- and other people have done these types of things where you're surveying doctors about doctors. And we were always concerned that this is going to be golfing buddies recommending golfing buddies, et cetera. What we do is we survey, basically, every actively practicing doctor in the Washington area, ask them to name one or two specialists in each of 35 different specialty fields.

KRUGHOFFAnd we list the ones that get the most mentions. We know that, in fact, those doctors who get that number of mentions -- 'cause we can do statistical tests -- it didn't happen by chance alone, first of all. There was something different, but maybe it's just they're really good golfers. But we also have found out that those doctors rate much higher than other doctors.

KRUGHOFFWith surveyed patients, very rigorous surveys of patients, they still -- these doctors rate much higher. They also are much more likely to be board-certified. They're less likely to have disciplinary actions against them. And even when we looked at heart surgeons, for instance, the doctors who were recommended by other doctors have much better death rates than other doctors do. So this actually does mean something.

NNAMDIIf I'm seeing a doctor who did not make the list, should I switch? What should I be looking for in my specialty physician?

BRASLERNo. I think if you're comfortable with your doctor and you're comfortable with, you know, your -- if your perception of the physician is that they're knowledgeable and they spend enough time with you and that they -- especially if it's a primary care physician, if they refer you to specialists when you need that care, there's no reason to switch.

BRASLERBut I think this list is -- well, first of all, I think it's a great resource for those referrals, right, to decide, if you need specialty care, where do I go? And, secondly, it's a fantastic resource for second opinions. And it's the most under-used form of quality health care out there. And that is second opinions. People, you know, have a consultation with the surgeon. The surgeon says, oh, no, you need a knee replacement. And they just say, okay.

BRASLERAnd if they'd only got a second opinion -- or a third opinion, even -- they might find that, no, your knee is fine for 20 more years. It'll heal, right? Or, you know, it doesn't need that drastic of a procedure.

NNAMDINow, we -- go ahead.

KRUGHOFFWe should stress that we evaluate doctors a lot of ways. This is one way that we do it. We also do very in-depth surveys of patients about doctors, and trying to spread that nationwide, really rigorous surveys. And, you know, we also, certainly, recommend that you look at board certification and a lot of other things, but this is something that is a very valuable add-on.

NNAMDII mentioned roofing contractors. If thinking about home insurance has made your mind wander to that roof repair you've been putting off, the Checkbook has advice on fixing that, too. So stop pretending that wet spot on the ceiling is not there. The prospect of replacing or repairing a roof is enough to make most homeowners break out in a cold sweat. Does it have to be painful, Kevin?

BRASLERProbably.

BRASLERBut I think you can ease the pain a little bit by, obviously, finding a good roofer that does good work and won't charge an arm and a leg.

NNAMDIIf I don't know a flashing from a gable, am I up a creek before I even get started?

BRASLERNo, no. I mean, actually the best roofers will educate you and -- but it helps. I mean, it helps to -- you know, in our article and online at checkbook.org, we -- you know, part of what we do is just kind of give you the basic terminology of roofing to help arm you with -- you know, when they start talking about flashing...

NNAMDIAnd they offer a roof glossary on Consumers' Checkbook.

BRASLERRight. But, again, I think it helps to start with roofers so that -- in our case, what we've done is we've collected ratings on roofers from their customers. In our latest issue, we rated 94 roofers for quality. We looked at, again, at customer ratings. We checked complaint records at the Better Business Bureau and at local attorney generals' offices, local consumer offices.

BRASLERBut, I think, more than anything, what you want to do is you want to select a quality roofer. But you want to make sure that you get at least -- we recommend at least three bids, fixed-price bids for re-roofing work or even repair work from quality roofers. You'll see just tremendous price variations for the same roof.

NNAMDIThis is one thing that you want to do your homework on. Kevin Brasler is the executive editor of Washington Consumers' Checkbook magazine. Kevin, good to see you again. Thank you for joining us.

BRASLERThank you. Good to see you.

NNAMDIRobert Krughoff is the founder and president of Washington Consumers' Checkbook magazine. Bob Krughoff, always a pleasure.

KRUGHOFFThanks for having us again.

NNAMDIAnd thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.