A few questions about specializing in wood restoration

[Jason Reider 25]

1. How many stain colors do you offer your customers to choose from? As I am planning to focus on wood next season, I am wondering if it would be best to offer on a few colors or to offer the full line of colors for a particular brand. I can see positives for both. By offering a full line of colors, the customer may have a better chance of finding the color that matches their style/likes. By offering only a few colors, I would be able to stock up on those particular colors allowing me to save money and not have any interruptions because of possible shipping delays.

2. What rough percentage of your wood customers are repeat customers? What is the average time between them calling again, 2, 3 or more years?

[seymore 90]

I'll copy my answer to your question here also to add to TGS

I'll offer reds,golds,brown and gray/taupe. I think out of those colors the customer has a wide enough selection to make their decision. If you offer to many colors they will never be able to make up their mind. Now depending on cedar or pine and the age of the wood final color tones vary. So i'll use pics of their projects that are as close to the same age of their wood as possible.

Well I have some customers I've been staining their deck for the last 14 yrs every 2 years. I lost some customers due to them selling the house and some customers still use us after buying the house from my customers.Now I also have customers maintaining their own deck once I stain it the first time usually a bad strip.They just buy the stain from me every few yrs like clock work.Some customers still buying stain from us for the last 20 yrs.

I have some customers wait 4 or 5 yrs to call me back cause they think the deck stain last forever. When I get to deck I have to almost strip it completely because they wait so long before re staining.:rolleyes:

Pine Decks 1-1/2 - 2 yrs. New wood closer to 1-1/2 yrs then every 2 yrs after the second staining.Most homeowners don't want to let the wood age like it should so it's hard to get the oil to soak in like it should.

Arbors,Cedar Fences it's 3 - 4 yrs again same like the pine the wood always gets better over time the more you maintain it the better it gets.

Gazebos the ceiling last forever as it never sees the sun so you usually have to re stain the post ,decking and railing 2-3 yrs.

That's all I have to say about that...:yes:

If you have more questions feel free to ask or call anytime...

[Jason Reider 25]

Thanks Shane.

Do you, Beth n Rod, or anyone else attempt to sell maintenance plans after restoring/staining decks, or do you rely on your great work to prompt the customer to call you back? Or possibly do you send out reminders to your customers or check in with them when their deck/fence is due for another service?

[James 625]

Jason , I do yearly , every other year and then complete re do's after the third year. I treat hardwood different than soft wood and look at the environment the deck is in and make suggestions for care . House after the forth year or reccomend doing a side.

[James 625]

Jason computor is back but I had no photo's of trailer . Took sum today in a crammed garage .

Edited January 3, 2013 by James

[seymore 90]

Thanks Shane.

do you send out reminders to your customers or check in with them when their deck/fence is due for another service?

That's what I've been doing every winter getting ready for the Spring. I'll be sending some out this week since our weather as been cold and gloomy and i'm tired of staying home.

[Jason Reider 25]

Thanks Jim and Shane.

I posted this from another board for those here that may have some insight:

I really want to focus on the high end clientele demographic. My average ticket for decks last year was only $680. I want to get that average up. I have 1 deck scheduled for the spring that is 3x my average. Most of my work last year was from Craigslist. My new websites didn't start ranking well until September. Now it ranks #1 for a lot of keywords for my immediate service area.

I will be sitting down with my local website guy soon to rework my website's layout/design. The website he designed for me now is very simple and a beginning point. It needs to convert the traffic I get into better leads. It needs to have a designated wood page and other areas for residential and commercial. I am working on quality photos of wood work. Any suggestions or criticism is appreciated. Thanks again!

Edited January 3, 2013 by Jason Reider

[horizon stain 14]

Be careful not to offer too many color options, it will only cause confusion. Most people can make a decision from 6-7 colors.

[John Burdine 14]

We are finally figuring out how to taper our color options down. We use to offer anything and everything. Now with Ready Seal, I can focus on Gold, Red and Brown, and if the want red or brown lighter I can mix the gold in to lighten it up. Also, I offer an annual maintenance program, but I don't have very many on that plan. I'd like to get everyone on it as those are some of my happiest customers and they really do save money in the long term.

[The Chemical Doctor 15]

1. How many stain colors do you offer your customers to choose from? As I am planning to focus on wood next season, I am wondering if it would be best to offer on a few colors or to offer the full line of colors for a particular brand. I can see positives for both. By offering a full line of colors, the customer may have a better chance of finding the color that matches their style/likes. By offering only a few colors, I would be able to stock up on those particular colors allowing me to save money and not have any interruptions because of possible shipping delays.

2. What rough percentage of your wood customers are repeat customers? What is the average time between them calling again, 2, 3 or more years?

I would offer 4 or 5 different options, too many choices only creates problems. You will be better off in the long run.

Edited January 26, 2013 by The Chemical Doctor

[Jason Reider 25]

Thanks Keith, John and Steven. I am going to keep the choices limited.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Thanks Shane.

Do you, Beth n Rod, or anyone else attempt to sell maintenance plans after restoring/staining decks, or do you rely on your great work to prompt the customer to call you back? Or possibly do you send out reminders to your customers or check in with them when their deck/fence is due for another service?

Sorry for the delay in response, been in the middle of remodeling.

Maintenance plans are not easy to create because not everyone has the same conditions on their deck and each requires attention according to them.

We send out reminders though.

Again, these are based upon the product installed and the wood species too.

Rod!~

[Jason Reider 25]

Sorry for the delay in response, been in the middle of remodeling.

Maintenance plans are not easy to create because not everyone has the same conditions on their deck and each requires attention according to them.

We send out reminders though.

Again, these are based upon the product installed and the wood species too.

Rod!~

Yes, I kind of came to that conclusion about maintenance plans. I attempted offering and selling maintenance plans to my wood customers last year, but no one really was interested. I will be sending out reminders in the future and check in with customers to see how everything is holding up. Thanks Rod.

[jnoden 15]

I agree, reminders are the key. I always mention maintenance to the customer but it doe not seem like anyone wants to commit to anything 2 years or more in advance. I would be open to hear from anyone that has successfully implemented a maintenance program for deck customers or house washing and it guarantees you the work.

In regards to color choices we keep a few colors that we know look best and we try to advocate these with the customer which works 90% of the time. We let them know that we can provide them with the other colors and brands as well but typically they look for your suggestions. We ask them what colors they have in mind and it is either a cedar, brown, redwood or natural and then it is easy.