Repeat customers are one of the most rewarding part of being a home remodeling contractor.
On our first meeting with every customer, we ask them to consider every project that they may want to do. The reason for this is to have a long-range plan so that the final product will be a coherent design, and a great looking home.
Not working a plan can be costly, and not yield the best results.
Here are some examples of costly errors:
Having windows installed before the siding is done.
The exterior trim on your windows is covered with aluminum and caulked in place to the existing siding surface of your house. it is part of the cost of replacing your windows, and is built into the price by the contractor.
When you change the siding, the window capping frequently must be replaced, as the metal should go all the way to the wall and caulked in place before the siding is applied. This means that you paid for the same work twice, and it averages $125.00 per window.
insert pic siding replacement
Another potential problem here is using a better grade of siding that has a larger return, or distance from the outside of the course to the part that touches the wall. Inexpensive siding has a short return. Better siding has a return that is the same as real cedar siding. it casts shadows the same way, and looks crisp and professional.
The window wood exterior trim may not project out as far as the siding, so the windows are at the same level as the siding. This makes them look like pictures of windows painted on your house. Real windows and the window frames extend beyond the siding and cast shadows over the sided wall.
We frequently build out the window frames and cap them to the right level before applying siding to the wall. The result is a crisp window and siding job that looks like a well-built traditional home, like new, and free from maintenance chores.
Planning ahead will save you money by not repeating parts of the job, and having to pay twice, or settling for a poor looking outcome.
When we work with customers over time, we start with a plan and execute parts of it, in the correct order, as the customer is ready to move forward. When the customer is ready to begin the next part of the plan, we all know what to do and what the costs will be.
I can’t tell you how many housed that I’ve been to, where the owner says
“We had the brown roof put on two years ago, and had this stone installed on the walkway last year. The windows and gutters are almond.
What color doors do you recommend. The answer is beige or white. the same answer would apply to the siding if they wanted that.
one main color and an accent color is pretty easy to execute. you can even have white trim without problems most of the time. But an additional color is extremely difficult unless you like patchwork quilts as an aesthetic model.
You really want to decide on the color palette for the house before you do the first one. That way you can get what you want and it looks put together.
Who would wear a blue skirt with a sweater that’s almost, but not quite, the same blue with a different texture?
It’s easy to do something similar on your house.
of course, the opposite is true. How many housing developments have row after row of Band-Aid colored houses with white windows doors and gutters?
There’s nothing that any can complain about because it doesn’t match, but it’s boring and repetitive.
We really enjoy working through the selection process with customers that we have grown to understand. They know that we sweat the details, and we love looking back to see beautiful homes with coherent designs that our customers love.
Keith Pearcy
23 West All Saints Street, Frederick , Maryland 21701
Phone: 301 712-5228
MHIC #106619 | Washington DC Contractor license #410517000444
email: info@marylandwindowsdoorsroofs.com
© The Pearcy Company DBA Maryland Windows Doors Roofs
