Condo Media - November 2014 - 27

requires extensive spot replacement -
think twice before spending funds on
another painting cycle.
Hire a qualified contractor or engineer to take a careful look at your
siding and trim. If the analysis predicts
frequent spot replacement and shorter
painting cycles, it might be time to replace failed siding and trim with longer
life, low maintenance materials such as
vinyl or fiber-cement siding and PVC
trim. Ask your contractor or engineer to
run a cost analysis that shows the projected long-term savings of full replacement over the next 15 and 30 years.
In general, the closer your siding
and trim is to the end of its natural
lifecycle, the more financially compelling complete siding and trim replacement becomes. But the only way to
make an informed decision is to do
the math.

Use the Best Painting Specs
Another reason paint may fail
prematurely is that the application was based on poor or boilerplate
specifications. This scenario is even
more likely to happen when an inexperienced contractor works from generic
specs that originate from well-meaning
but misinformed trustees or property
managers.
Want to increase the chances that
your next paint job lasts as long as
possible? Make sure contractors bid on
specs that are correct and customized
for your property.
Before you send a painting job out
for formal bids, ask a qualified contractor who knows your property (or
is willing to do a walkthrough with
a trustee or manager) to review your
specs and give you some feedback.
What details are your specs missing? What specs do not apply to your
property? For example, do you really
need a full prime coat and two finish
coats? Or will just one finish coat do?
What specs are required to do the job
right? Can any spec be modified for
cost savings without compromising
quality?
Of course, there is another practical
reason to double check and improve

your specs: It's much easier to evaluate
competing bids when each contractor's
proposal is based on the same clear,
correct, and complete set of specs.

Hire a Painter With the
Experience to Do the Job Right
It happens every time the
residential housing market takes a
downturn. Associations start receiving
lowball bids from desperate contractors who have little or no experience
bidding or producing large-scale
projects.
They talk a good game, and to a
cash-strapped association, it sounds
like a real bargain. But all too often,
the thrill of getting "a real deal" turns
into an expensive lesson of "you get
what you pay for."
Not every competitive bid is a
qualified bid. Here are some questions that will help you choose a
painter with the experience to do the
job right:
* Is your project within the bidder's experience - or beyond it?
Scale matters. Does the bidder have
the resources, management team,
and project management skills to
meet the challenges of working in
an owner-occupied community?
Ask references if crews were polite
and professional. Did they respect
and accommodate owner requests?
When there were problems, was the
painting contractor confrontational
or cooperative?

to pick up the phone if something
goes wrong.
* Is the bidder Lead-Safe Certified? Under the EPA's strict LeadBased Paint Renovation, Repair,
and Painting Rule, any outside
contractor or in-house maintenance
crew that works on a property built
before 1978 must be Lead-Safe
Certified. The thorough certification process requires the purchase
of specialized equipment and extensive training on worksite practices,
documentation, and recordkeeping.
Ask each painter on your bid list for
a copy of their Lead-Safe certificate.
Even if the new Lead-Safe Rule
does not apply to your property,
the fact that a contractor is certified
demonstrates a commitment to its
clients and a professional commitment to do the job right. CM
Fred Schernecker is CEO of Schernecker
Property Services in Waltham, Mass.

* Will the bidder be around to
stand behind their work? Are they
committed to condominium properties - or just to the market where
work can be found today? A painting contractor with a long track
record of serving the condominium
market - in both good times and
bad - values their reputation and
repeat business. But a contractor
focused on short-term survival is
rarely focused on building longterm relationships. And the best
price and warranty in the world
doesn't matter when no one is there
Condo Media * November 2014

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Condo Media - November 2014

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