12,000 Dollar Resi Restoration Job

It was a million dollar house on the hill.  In a very wealthy neighborhood.  The painters decided to power wash in preparation for painting.  So they used a commercial product based on sodium carbonate and sodium metasilicate.  It cleaned the outside of the house very well.  But also left a white haze/stain on the windows.  Which no one was able to remove. Others had tried.  They ended up leaving many scratches on those windows they worked on.

The house had Pella windows.  Each window had 6, 10, 12, or 15 small insulating glass units.  So if a door (15 units) had two stained units, the entire door would have to be replaced.  There were exactly 1,974 insulating units in the entire house.  Of which almost 500 were stained.  These were spread out through the entire house.  Every window had at least one stained unit. So every window would have to be replaced.  At a total cost of 80,000 bux!  I priced the units at 20 bux each. 500 units came to 10,000 dollars.  Then charged another 2,000 bux to clean the outside so I would only restore those units that were stained.  I made about 100 bux per hour.

The money was coming from the paint companies insurance. When I arrived in the driveway that first day the insurance man was waiting with a check in hand for a quarter of the job. Why not?  I was going to save them 62,000 bux!  Looking back I probably shouldn't have been that generous. Anyhow when I started working I learned real quick that my old friend cerium oxide would not touch the stain.  Also diamond compound with my machine was leaving a scratch haze. The customer/homeowner would not tolerate this.  So I sat down and took a break.  Then I put all my cords, pads, and machines back in the car and got out some Bounty paper towels.  The paper towels and diamond compound, yellow, at a micron rating of 3;...worked very well.  No scratches.  The stain came right off.  It was taking about ten minutes per unit at twenty bux per unit.

Everyone was happy.  The homeowner, paint company, insurance company, and me.  It was a total win win situation. The bottom line here is not every job is in want of a solution. Those that are, usually involve lawyers and insurance companies.  When they do, price high.  Look for those that do. And know that every job will be different.  Requiring different solutions.  Further, always maintain your confidence in the face of what might appear to be defeat.  It could be sweet!

Written by Henry Grover Jr.

henrygroverjr@gmail.com

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