The biggest siding replacement mistake homeowners make is signing with a high-pressure salesperson or choosing a low-bid contractor without verifying experience and credentials.
I want to educate customers on the risk they take when they approve a too-fast, on-the-spot, complete siding proposal. It’s the biggest siding replacement mistake, costing homeowners thousands of dollars. We call this approach the “one-call-close,” a technique widely used by sales. Replacing all the siding, soffit, and fascia on most houses takes experience and is difficult to quote accurately. So what’s the risk for the homeowner accepting these quick and dirty, one-call close, high-pressure sales proposals?
One of two scenarios:
1) The in-home salesperson significantly overprices the project, ensuring a profit no matter what underlying problems may exist, go undetected or overlooked. If the customer approves the proposal, they have overpaid.
2) The salesman significantly under-bid the job, failing to alert the homeowner customer to essential details.
Two Siding Outcomes; Both Cost More Money
Siding companies routinely hire subcontractors to install the siding. The siding company needs to make a profit. However, crews are paid based on the approved proposal. If the homeowner approves the proposal, one or more of the following will happen:
A) the contractor hires a less experienced (less expensive) crew to save money;
B) the crew doing the job cuts corners on the material, labor, or both;
C) the contractor tells the customer once the job has started, they need more money to finish;
D) the crew realizes they will not make a profit, cut their losses, and leave the job unfinished.
The result of A & B is a poor quality job that looks bad cosmetically and is also prone to damaging water infiltration. Thus leaving the homeowner without a manufacturer’s warranty, rejected for not following installation best practice install methods.
No one wants to take the risk of C & D. Nobody wants the stress of hearing for the first time after the job is in progress that it will cost more or discovering the crew is not coming back, leaving your home exposed and sitting wide open to the elements as you try to find another contractor to complete the job.
So How Does a Homeowner Avoid Making This Siding Replacement Mistake?
“We’re not Superman, but we’re not the Joker either,” said Pat McCollim, Home Exterior Systems (HES) co-owner. In other words, we do not have X-ray vision to see what’s underneath the surface we’re replacing. But we refuse to play games with extremely high or low pricing to get proposals signed, either. We price what we know and see before us based on our decades of experience.
“We’re not Super Man, but we’re not the Joker either”
Pat McCollim, co-owner Home Exterior Systems
Hidden damage or improper construction may legitimately go undetected or overlooked in a proposal estimate. This differs from the practice of an unscrupulous salesperson deliberately omitting the high likelihood of hidden moisture or insect damage. The required change order or cost amendment can happen to any experienced salesperson. A contractor cannot absorb a significant added cost. However, Pat McCollim, Home Exterior Systems co-owner, has this to say:
“During the sales consultation or pre-construction meeting, the person representing the contractor has a responsibility to disclose areas with well-documented visual indications or, based on their knowledge and experience, are prone to hidden damage or improper construction. (Gables, eaves, sill plates, roof/wall, chimney intersections, and roof or wall openings are some key areas that come to mind.)
Don’t Let A Pushy Salesperson Sell You An Overpriced Replacement Siding Job, But Don’t Accept An Underpriced Proposal Either
No one is Superman and can see through walls, but they should not be a Joker and withhold disclosing areas prone to issues for fear of losing a sale. At Home Exterior Systems (HES), we wish it possible to predict all surprises lurking behind the surfaces we’ll be renewing. We do. But we cannot. Nobody can. So why pay for the possibility, especially when financing is secured before the job begins? Sure, it’s more hassle to deal with a change in scope and additional repair costs if discovered, but you’re paying only for what is discovered.
Verify Siding Replacement Contractor Credentials
A potential customer looking for a professional, accurate evaluation of their project’s cost should want an experienced Project Manager with years of hands-on install experience. The PM discloses areas of potential concern before the proposal is approved because they manage the project crew. Rather than a Salesman working for a commission who hands the sold job off to a crew responsible for “making the numbers work.”
Avoid Siding Contractor Proposal Red Flags
A substantially lower estimated proposal should be a red flag of low-quality results or the tactic to return for more money later without any prior warning.
Conversely, a quick high-pressure proposal on the high side virtually guarantees you will over-pay for your siding, window, or roof replacement project.
Independent Reviews and Manufacturer’s
Regarding reputation, you should be MUCH more interested in independent review sources, like Guild Quality, than easily faked review sources.
However, Home Exterior Systems (HES) promises to do our level best to alert you to the possibilities we see and estimate your project as accurately as possible. We also try to prepare you for what will happen and what it will cost based on our decades of experience in Houston.
