How do you handle touch ups?

[Jarrod 22]

Whether we wanna admit it or not, we all get that annoying call to come and dab some stain on 1 or more spots that we may have missed. I'm curious as to how you guys & gals would handle this.

And if you say that you never get callbacks, I will personally come over and bludgen you with a folding chair!!:lgsideway

[seymore 90]

Whether we wanna admit it or not, we all get that annoying call to come and dab some stain on 1 or more spots that we may have missed. I'm curious as to how you guys & gals would handle this.

Jarrod,

I'll leave a quart can of some stain so the homeowner can touch up themselves as needed.My customers are ok with touching up their decks since the Gray Away blends in great and easy to apply.

Now for my subdivision that we have a contract to stain,I'll touch those up since it's close and i'm working there almost everyday.

Since you are using TWP your customers should be able touch up thier decks also.

[squirtgun 122]

Whether we wanna admit it or not, we all get that annoying call to come and dab some stain on 1 or more spots that we may have missed. I'm curious as to how you guys & gals would handle this.

And if you say that you never get callbacks, I will personally come over and bludgen you with a folding chair!!:lgsideway

Okay,never...........

BRING IT!:)

[PressurePros 249]

I honestly have never had a call back on a deck. You miss spots because you do a deck in 1.5 hours. Just playin' with ya' Jarrod.

I walk around the deck with my customer when I finish it. If my eyes don't see a missed spot, the customer will. I don't leave sealer with my customers either unless in the case of Wood Tux if it's a custom color.

[seymore 90]

I walk around the deck with my customer when I finish it. If my eyes don't see a missed spot, the customer will. I don't leave sealer with my customers either unless in the case of Wood Tux if it's a custom color.

I'm in the same boat Ken when i mix my 1/2&1/2 colors I'll leave some stain for sure.Some of my jobs are 100 miles away from our office so i'll leave them some stain for sure.Also they can't buy our stain in any stores so it keeps them from putting another stain on top of the Gray Away trying to match it.

Now another reason to leave some stain is for PT wood that leaches sap

"I hate that sappy wood".You can't stop it but sand or scrape it when it comes out and crystalizes.

Also another reason i'll leave some stain is on new PT decks W/railings the top cap does get lighter before the floor.I'll let the customer know in 1 yr or so to brush or paint pad some on when it gets lighter.

[reed 500]

I will leave some stain also. But when I don't and there is a question about a board that just won't hold the color, I go back with the home owner and put more on with him there and show him that some boards with a "dead cell run" in them just don't hold stain when you use trans to semi transparent stain. But sometimes, after a weeks application, going back and redoing this type of situation is the remedy.

reed

[PressurePros 249]

I'm in the same boat Ken when i mix my 1/2&1/2 colors I'll leave some stain for sure.Some of my jobs are 100 miles away from our office so i'll leave them some stain for sure.

That definitely makes sense. My customer base is very central to my office. I rarely go more than 8 miles away. I guess what made me stop automatically leaving sealer was this.. A customer called me and said there were places on his deck that were very shiny and didn't seem like they were drying. (I guess you can consider this a call back)

When I looked at the deck I knew right away what had happened. The wife had been away when I finished the work. When she came home she thought she saw areas that didn't have enough sealer on them. It was sunlight shining through trees. Any way she has the hubby go out and put more and more until they both realize the spot are moving. Ever since then I have ben hesitant to leave sealer. I just make sure the customer is happy either at the end of the job or via a courtesy call that we give. If there is any problem whatsoever I would come right back and remedy it. But again, any job is always within fifteen minutes of where I am.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

This seems to happen on old dry wood with us and although we do our best to make sure the wood is coated to saturation, as Reed said, there are some sections of boards that just wont hold the stain.

We thank them for bringing it to our attention and resolve the issue.

Rod!~

[Mark Williamson 14]

I always go and check out what the customer needs that same day. I feel if I already got paid, I need to make sure thay are top priority. I treat it like it was me finding something wrong and wanting it taking care of.

[bforbis 14]

I had one guy early last year that saw a missed spot on the top edge of his fence "from his porch"! The area he was looking at was 150' away. When I got there it was 1/2" X 3" top edge of the fence. I touched it up that day.

I try to make at least two complete walk arounds before i leave the job. SOmetimes, if it is low light when I am finishing up, I will come back the next day in good light to be sure all is well with the customer and my work.

I know this is a lot, especially compared to how busy most of you are. But if I have missed something, I feel I should fix it. I get the impression, when I have had a call back, they expect that I take care of it

[Celeste 341]

We're right with Mike and Brent.......if we've been paid and the customer calls back, call Roger "Johnny on the spot" - we want to keep our customers happy. We also try to do what Brent has specified, couple walk arounds and revisit if the circumstances may be different enough to change the view.

Celeste

[Tronman 14]

This was a beautiful touch-up job that the cust. did and now he wants me to fix it....

You should see the white brick below this eve. It looks like it was raining rust.

[Celeste 341]

Euwwww....that's making me rethink leaving small cans for homeowners!

[seymore 90]

This was a beautiful touch-up job that the cust. did and now he wants me to fix it....

You should see the white brick below this eve. It looks like it was raining rust.

Ken what was the stain she used on the house?

That actually looks like you could lighten that stain up with some bleach light scrub those drips out

Celeste,If you're using an easy stain to apply and won't leave drip marks you shouldn't be worried to leave your customer some.

[Celeste 341]

True.....this is quite true :)

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Ken, it looks like caustic residue under the sealer that was not neutralized. Hard to tell exactly from the pic but yuck!

Rod!~

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I agree. I think it is under the sealer. Look at the underside of the board...the little thin edge....same phenomenon....

Beth

[PressurePros 249]

Ken, it looks like caustic residue under the sealer that was not neutralized. Hard to tell exactly from the pic but yuck!

Rod!~

That's an interesting picture because I wasn't sure what was going on there. If it were sealer it looks like the cutomer just grabbed the can and splashed it on like some type of modern artwork piece. Since I find that hard to believe, Rod's explaination seems more on the right track. I would guess since it's under an eve the problem was with runoff of some sort. Just a stab in the dark here but here are three scenarios I come up with:

1) Rod's explaination of improper prep.

2) Prepped properly, but some type of runoff came around the eve and changed the wood pH.

3) Person applying the sealer forgot to check the weather and before the sealer was cured it was washed downward.

I vote number three because of what Ken described as "raining rust" on the brick below this siding.

[James 625]

Looks like someone started at the top instead of the bottom and gave up. Plus they were putting to much sealer on and couldn't control it.

[Aplus 525]

OK....gotta ask this question. If you leave the customer some stain for touch up, how much do you leave, and in what kind of container?

TWP makes some nice little aerosol spray touch up bottles, maybe an ounce or two. I used to give those out, with a sticker on the side with my company info. I think they were about $2 each.

[seymore 90]

OK....gotta ask this question. If you leave the customer some stain for touch up, how much do you leave, and in what kind of container?

TWP makes some nice little aerosol spray touch up bottles, maybe an ounce or two. I used to give those out, with a sticker on the side with my company info. I think they were about $2 each.

Tony

A quart can is usually enough for touch up and I get the cans and lids at Lowes..:cool:

[StainlessDeal 16]

Tony, I use Ready Seal on the little wood I do, usually leave a small amount in a plain paint can from a paint store. I think home depot sells them, too.

For me its a way to keep my name and services visible in their garage or shop. (and it keeps my shop from filling with oddball colors)

Last summer a customer wanted me to get him an extra five gallons for his wood patio furniture, I told him it wasn't the best idea, especially since the intent was to stain some new furniture for a 3 season room. I also strongly suspected he was going to be staining things in the house as well.

I wasn't comfortable with this, and he didn't push it, so he got a gallon labeled by me. Just part of the deal for my customers, and many ask so I get to say, "You won't need it, I will come back and fix anything I can, but I usually leave a gallon for you when I finish" This lets me sound a little cocky, while still being helpful and humble for the customer.:)

[Jarrod 22]

9 times out of 10 my customers are not home when we are staining their deck. (Or they get the sudden cabin fever when we are almost done.) Because of this, we hardly ever get a chance to give them a walkthrough and a Q&A time. We always leave about 20 oz. of stain or the aerosol spray can like Tony mentioned.

We travel from 5 min. to 40 min. to do decks. Average travel time (1 way)_ is 25 min. So you can see why I hate call backs, especially when the cust. has a spray can to do it with. It would only take them 1-5 min tops to do it too. It would take me an hour! I look at it this way, it takes them just as long to fix a missed spot as it does to notice it. Let's face it, most of the time, it's a spot the size of a toothpic! Last year I got sooo tired of driving all the way to a cust. house just to fix a spot that really didn't need to be fixed at all. I remember 1 lady that made me drive 30 min to her home on a Sat. morning to fix a spot. She acted as if I ruined her whole life. Whan I got there, (no joke) it took her AND her husband 15 minutes to find the spot that they wanted me to touch up. It was under the bottom of the railing just between 2 planks. The spot was literally the size of a toothpic!! AHHHHHH!

[Jarrod 22]

Oh, and by the way, it takes me a lot longer than 1.5 haurs to STAIN a deck:lgsideway