Do you clean the stucco after changing the channel letters

[Nick Nie]

Hi All:

We have several customers want us to replace the previous channel letter with new letters, but the previous signs had been installed for long time, so when you remove it, the ghost stay in the stucco. it looks not very nice and normally customer would ask us to clean it even we told them we are sign company and not professional to clean the stucco, how you guys deal with this case, will you clean it to make it prefect or just leave it to customer?

thanks!

 

[equippaint]

I wouldn't leave it, makes your install look like garbage. Up to you if you want to eat it and do it yourself, charge for it or sub out the cleaning but leaving it smears the whole job and you.
Had some guys here replacing shop lights today, under them were spider webs/egg sacs. In a joking/not joking way said to clean them while they were there (maybe 30 secs). They put up the new lights, left the mess and I told them to go back and clean it up, now no more joking (I assumed they would care a bit more in all honesty hence the joking at first). Got the typical well its $95/hr for us to clean it. Ain't no problem, go do it, its now $3 instead of 80 cents? They kept a broom with them for the rest of the time.

 

[Billct2]

It's one of those things that should be addressed up front.

 

[Hero Signs]

Add 2-3 hrs of painting, reuse old billboard as drop cloth and double price of paint and rollers and brushes.
Typically we will repaint from edge to edge on a wall section, spot painting looms nasty. Better for them the have the brighter 20ft section of wall.

 

[visual800]

We advise them to have the shopping center repair and repaint, I have repainted and paint didnt match it opened up a whole new world of hell. I hate drivit.

 

[White Haus]

Last time we removed a bunch of Gemini letters for a customer/neighbor of ours we ran into the same thing. We offered to fill the holes and repaint the section of stucco so it looked good before installing new letters.

Obviously we charged for materials and time and it saved the customer the trouble of hiring another company to do it.

Sure, we're not painters or stucco people but sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to make the customer happy and do the job right.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

In many cases you are talking about Dryvit. You must be a licensed installer to recoat it in order to maintain the original warranty. The topcoat product is also not available for sale unless you are a licensed Dryvit installer. Dryvit has a ten year fade warranty, and a 20 year puncture warranty, which becomes invalid once you paint it. I would document the property owner's perission to repaint, even touch up.

 

[ddarlak]

Lesson learned.

If the goal is to end up with a happy customer telling them to deal with it is not a happy situation.

Next time bill in extra to make sure the customer is happy...

 

[d fleming]

Nothing sexier than a brand new sign in front of the dirt and damage from the old one. I have always included repair in my bids.

 

[OADesign]

Its very interesting to see the varying opinions here.
When it comes to removal "Patch and Paint" has been an option on every work order since I started in this biz in the 90s.
If you and your team don't know how to repair/clean up walls after removal of signage, you should consider learning and adding it to your services. In my opinion, its part of the gig. On top of that, it can be a profit item for you. Removal, Disposal, patch and paint has added zeros to our monthly numbers and helps keep us busy.

Hi All:

We have several customers want us to replace the previous channel letter with new letters, but the previous signs had been installed for long time, so when you remove it, the ghost stay in the stucco. it looks not very nice and normally customer would ask us to clean it even we told them we are sign company and not professional to clean the stucco, how you guys deal with this case, will you clean it to make it prefect or just leave it to customer?

thanks!

 

[MikePro]

Sign guys are usually the final touch on a project. If you're ok with throwing your hands in the air with a "not my problem" mentality, then I'm sure you'll occasionally find clients that are ok with it too.....but you'll ALWAYS lose the clients that expect more from you, and they won't be afraid to spread the word about your attention(or lack thereof) to detail.

problems arise, then discuss options with your client. give them the choice to be cheap, or verify desire to pay to "do it right", but at least they are informed.

 

[Gino]

Usually, if this is at a strip mall or something similar, it's in the specs from the landlord that old stuff needs to be fixed. If this is just a store owner in a single building, this is something which should be addressed before even giving a quote, so you can quote it properly. As mentioned, I've never heard of any reputable shop not fixing the mess before leaving.

We had one, so bad some years ago, I refused to fix it. Looked like someone used hand grenades to pull the old lettering off and pull the wires out. Then, behind the wall, it was a mess of wiring all over the place. The landlord eventually made the new tenant fix it before proceeding with any signs. Something about, he knew it coming in he was responsible for fixing it, in the lease/contract.