Exterior Painting

What Happens When Your Exterior Painting Turns into A Bigger Project Than Expected?

What Happens When Your Exterior Painting Turns into A Bigger Project Than Expected

Have you ever started an exterior painting project thinking it would be completed in two days; only to find out it is going to take much longer? When this happens, you need to take a lot of things into account. Most of the time, to continue will mean spending a lot more money than you were planning – you might even have to use an equity release calculator and tap into the value of your house to be able to afford the project. However, you might be able to get away with leaving it for now until you can eventually afford it. It’s a tricky decision and many of us have been there. The main question is: How do we break this kind of news to YOU, the client? How do we tell YOU that the project will not take 3 days but 7, 10, or maybe even 2 weeks? As a client, how would you feel learning that the job you had hired for will not end according to the timeline, or price, you expected?

This is not a rare occurrence when having an exterior painting project done or just about any home improvement project. Flora Brothers recently did some exterior painting for a client living in Brownsburg, Indiana. We identified a several areas that needed to be worked on, all of which had evident cases of peeling & flaking paint, along with rot. We also identified several trim boards & siding that needed replacing.

Wood Rot
Wood Replacement Brownsburg, Indiana

After we were done with the process of power washing, we saw more chipping, flaking, & potential wood rot. We began to sand and scrape after the house was dry, a job we thought could take only a few days of preparation. It turned out this was not the case. The time to finish the job had changed.

Rotted Siding
Rotted Siding That Was Replaced

Our crew of 3 was still prepping, sanding, caulking on the 3rd day; after all we couldn’t do a poor job. It was obvious that we were over the agreed budget, but we had to do the job well before applying the final paint coat.

Wood Siding Rot
Wood Siding Rot Brownsburg, Indiana

The time for discussion with the owner finally reached. There was additional time, additional work and additional materials, which cost more than we had anticipated. We updated the homeowner about the progress daily, explaining everything about the work. We sent emails and pictures every day to keep him on the loop. A change order & figure was agreed as well as a limit since the preparations were almost complete. We also recommended that he contacts his local austin roofing contractors because some of the wood rot was probably being caused by faults on the roof that were leading to water leaking.

Keeping good communication is always vital. Communicating openly during the project and after it is completed is important to avoid surprises. In our case, what we thought were just 2-4 boards that needed replacing took more time than anticipated. Our carpenter ended up spending 2 ½-3 days to replace the wood trim and performing necessary preventative maintenance so that the project could last.

When additional prep & replacement was found both the Brownsburg homeowners and Flora Brothers Painting decided to go ahead and do the necessary work, even the wood replacement. We were left with a very happy client who will have a beautiful exterior for many years to come!

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