Enjoy!
Is the wood in your fence or gate all used up… or just suffering a “mid-life” crisis?
We were called by our client to give them an estimate on replacing their fence and installing two beautiful gates.
With almost a half mile of wood to purchase, I knew that replacing the wood for the fence around that property would be pricey – even with the best deals I could find. I decided to take a look at the wood.
I have received a lot of schooling over the years on what to look for in wood – how to pick out the best pieces, how to be able to spot the wood that’s going to look nice and how to spot wood that’s like to give some problems. I also know when wood has been hurt by the climate (rain, cold and heat) and the environment (fungus, rot, infestation, mold) and when it has gone past the “point of no return” and needs to be replaced.
I inspected the entire fence, piece by piece, and concluded that the gate needed to be cleaned, finished and sealed.
I explained this to our clients and they told us that we were the only contractor that even suggested that! The prospects had concluded by virtue of the appearance of the wood that it was beyond repair and just told the prospective contractors to give them a replacement bid, which they did.
I looked at the bids – they were all fair priced for replacement. So, I am not saying that there was any flagrant dishonesty involved. But, I do know that anyone who had inspected that fence – if they knew anything at all about wood – would have known that they were looking at strong and healthy wood that could be entirely rehabilitated in its appearance.
If any of the other contractors had won this bid, they would have made out like bandits – as they could have then used the wood that they pulled out of this again! And charged another person for it!
We were able to clean, stain and seal this fence for a fraction of what it would cost to replace it, leaving money for what they really wanted to focus on – two beautiful gates (once we get these gates done I will make them the subject of another post.)