Matt in Dallas TX

with the year around warm weather we have here in Texas, everyone and their monkey does "wood restoration". There are about 15 different companies I can think of right now that do what I do (wood restoration only) here in the Dallas area....So its competitive and at times pretty cut-throat. ....Hince the low price Sunny and 68 today.....

90% of most wood we see is cedar new construction = .90 sqft restore = $1.10 - $2.15 Jeff, we get a lot of those people to your talking about too (Here in Dallas,TX). All people care about nowdays is price. I've done the same as you, explain, show pictures, educate, it all seems to go in one ear and out the other. Then I drive back by a week or two later and see exactly what your talking about, some fly by night contractor did it for like a 1/3 of what I was going to charge only to ruin what could have been a great deck or fence. I wanna go back and say..told you so. But that wouldnt be professional. I tell myself, hopefully thats their "learning experince" and next time they'll understand......but probably not.

really nice job. We did one similar to that about a month ago. atleast we didnt have handrails to contend with. :) We always try to take our before and afters from the exact spot. So people can really see some of great differences. :D

Saw this and thought it was hilarious. I actually thought it was a joke but then thought, these people are serious. http://www.fiveminutefence.com/?OVRAW=fence%20staining&OVKEY=staining&OVMTC=standard you DEFINATELY get what you pay for.

I took/take him serious that he really uses this stuff. Didnt see any smiley faces or HaHa's.....so I assumed he does...

have any pictures of the work? before and after?...2-3yrs after? what kind of warranty do you offfer? what products are you using?

just thought it was funny. :)

HA! Oh trust me... we dont use it. Just looking around online and found it. If anyone here knows anything, they'd think it was funny too :D Oh and watch the video too for a good laugh. anyways.....game on. :)

Hey guys, I'm new but have been lurking on the site for a little bit reading what people have to say about things. Interesting to say the least. :) Anyways, Here's my question. I recently did a quote for a Homeowners Ass. for (3) 3 story condo buildings that were 90% cedar siding. (see picture) it needed to be cleaned(pressure washed and stripped), prepped - repair of a few trim pieces and planks, and then sealed and stained. The total surface area for ALL 3 buildings is 78,600 sq ft. with it being 26,200 sq ft. per building which they agree. The buildings all have windows and patios to work around not to mention the cars in the parking lot(I have inssurance). This is 3 stories high so obviously ladders and what not will be needed in some areas. Like I mentioned before, I have included just 2 pictures to give you a rough idea of the scale of project this would be, and the condition of the wood. The wood DOES have a previous sealer/stain on it which appears to be, and confired by them as TWP(paraffic oil). Some areas of the building are worse than others, where it gets more sunlight and exposure, etc. Keep in mind these buildings are HUGE. Each building is almost like 2 buildings in sheer size just by the way they're layed out. But its 3 seperate buildings, all identical. Some Background - There are actually 12 building total but only these 3 are left to be done, for us anyways.. The other buildings apparently were done by 2 other stain compaines that have since been fired by the HOA, due to taking to long to complete the work and not knowing what their doing. The buildings that they did do look terrible. The picture of the other stain company I added is probably the best looking building they did. But you can still see the black patchy spots. The picture makes the building actually look alot better than it really is. :( The HOA has told me the other compaines they used were thinning down the stain with paint thinner and NEVER even cleaned or prepped the wood to begin with. Thrus leaving dark black areas and streaks of black where the stain was applied over the "gray" areas. It just looks HORRIBLE. Definately a learning experience for the HOA in hiring people who dont know what their doing, or much less "specialize" in wood restoration. They are definately not happy with the way they've turned out. They just wanted to get the other stain companies out of their hair and cut their losses and start over. I dont blame them. The HOA said they would like to set up a Maintaince program in the future to have them done every so often to keep the propery looking nice. So thats potential future business to keep in mind as well. Perhaps re-do the other buildings at some point too. who knows?... So my final bid was for $92,748.00 for doing all 3 buildings. Thats $30,916.00 per building. Clean, prep, and stain/seal. I based it on $1.18 a sqft. Cheap in my opinion considering what its going to take to do the job. I have normally charged around $1.20- 1.80 sqft for cedar siding depending on the wood and condition. Now this is a 3 story building with lots of windows, patios, trim, chimney's, etc... Ultimately, I feel comfortable with my bid. What advice or criticisim can you give me on this to help me bid jobs like this in the future. Did I charge to little? To much? What would someone(HOA) pay for a job this size, considering their past experiences? Anything else? If it wasnt wood work but needed to be painted, what would a painter charge to paint buildings of this size? Thanks for your help. Matt in Dallas,TX

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last few......... lots of nooks and crannys, concrete, trim and molding pieces, window sills and door frames, trees and bushes to work around as well. even the tops(ceiling) of the first floor patios have cedar siding on the ceilings. ....

more..........

Just to get a better understanding...here are some more pictures, they arent the best but maybe this helps. Sorry dont have any good close up pix of the siding. :(

$10,000 per building. So that comes out to about .38 cents a sq.ft to clean and seal based on 26,200sqft per building. :)

well I didnt take too many intial pictures..maybe like 15. just enough to build my report/proposal for the job. I'm going to hear tomorrow if I got the bid or not. I'm just curious as to what you guys thought about the bid. ie: my orginal questions.

those are just samples...not the whole job. theres WAAAY more :) just dont want to upload a billion pics :) thanks for all the feed back. Just curious... one says to much...one says not enough. :)

its ok I understand no offense taken. :) Been in business for 9 yrs. Have 3 trucks and 8 people. The job should take 6-7 weeks depending on the weather ofcourse. thanks guys.