How trying to Restore a Deck can go Horribly Wrong…

This is why we never quote. Here’s what we do instead…

$7000 to Restore a Deck then this happens…

How would you feel if you paid $7000 to restore a deck and 3 months later, 50% of your deck was peeling and fading?

This is exactly what happened to Rob…

Rob called me out to have a look at a Timber Deck Restoration in Melbourne…

There was nothing different about Rob’s decking…

It was pretty good in the covered areas and was faded and peeling off in the exposed areas…

Except, the surface was a little rough, and had deep grooves etched into it…

It didn’t have that nice smooth surface…

Then Rob explained to me that he recently had his deck restored…

When he bought the house, the deck was covered in a thick layer of paint…

Every time the deck would bubble and peel, the owner would cover it in another layer

of paint….

He did this for years…

Now think about how many layers of paint there could be after years of constantly painting the deck…

So when Rob moved in and the deck started to bubble and peel, he didn’t want to put another layer of this ugly paint on it….

He decided to call in the professionals to sand it back and coat it in a decking oil…

Just to be clear… the decking restoration company Rob called out could be the best in Melbourne…

I don’t know…

This story is not to bash this company… it’s to highlight the reason I do a thorough Decking Audit and not just quote…

Anyway… This company had a look and decided they could sand the paint off… no problem…

They quoted Rob a fair price and he accepted…

Then the problems started…

When this company tried to sand the deck, there was so much paint on the surface, the sandpaper would just clog up and make it impossible to sand…

Realising they couldn’t sand the deck like they originally planned, they had to hire a machine that has steel brushes on it to try to scratch the paint off…

This still wasn’t enough…

These poor guys had to attached 50kg of weights to the machine to help it scratch the paint off…

This resulted in the job taking twice as long, and the decking company wanting to walk off the job…

Rob had to beg them to stay and finish the job…

He offered to pay them more money…

They weren’t happy but they agreed to finish the job even though they were losing money…

Now think about how you act when you’re doing a job that you hate…

How is your attitude when you don’t want to be doing that job…

Are you going to give that job your best effort or will you try to get it over and done with as quickly as possible?

Well, that’s exactly what these guys did…

The machine they used left deep scratch marks all along the decking…

Then when they coated the deck with oil, they rushed it and didn’t take the time to oil the ends of the boards properly…

And they only gave it 1 coat of oil…

The result…

Only 3 months later, all of the ends had completely faded and all of the exposed sections of the deck where peeling off…

When a deck peels after only 3 months, clearly something wasn’t done right…

In this case, the deep scratches should have been sanded out after they used the wire brushes to remove the paint…

And they applied 1 heavy coat of oil…

It should have been done with 2 thin coats…

But these guys clearly needed to get out of there…

They had messed up the quote so they did the bare minimum to cover their losses  and get out of there…

If they had audited the decking instead of quoting, they would have seen how many years of paint were slapped on that decking…

They could have seen that it wouldn’t be just a normal deck sanding and could have quoted the job properly…

They would put forward a fair price for themselves and Rob…

They could have anticipated the time it would take and schedule it properly…

They wouldn’t need to rush and cut corners…

And Rob would have a deck that would look good and not peel after only 3 months…

A decking audit is the safer option…

That’s why I offer you a Free Decking Audit… 

Not a quote…

What’s the difference?

Well, a quote is when a company comes out to your home and takes measurements and asks you if you want to them to sand your deck or just clean it.

They take the information and put it into a quote for you and send you a price…

A Decking Audit is when I come out to your home and I identify the current condition of your deck…

Then I perform a series of tests to determine the best way to restore your deck…

I test to see how your current coating responds to a series of cleaning treatments to see which one gives you the best results…

If the results aren’t that great, I test to see how the current coating responds to sanding…

I carefully sand a small section of your deck…

Just a side note… If you don’t like the idea of me sanding a small section of your deck, that’s ok. We don’t have to do it… just say you don’t want it. But this is the best way to get a complete picture of what your deck needs…

We discuss how you want your deck to look then I take all of this information and put together the best plan of attack…

You would call this a quote…

Here’s a breakdown of what your quote includes:

1. Deck cleaned, sanded and 2 coats of oil
2. Plants covered and protected
3. Home protected from chemicals and oil splashes
4. Flexible and patient to get perfect weather conditions
5. All dust removed from home and windows after sanding
6. All deck furniture removed and put back into place
7. 6 months maintenance clean
8. Maintenance and recoat schedule with reminders before it’s due

If a Decking Audit makes sense to you….

Here’s what you need to do…

You can call me on (03) 9015 4654 to arrange a suitable time for me to come out and perform your Decking Audit…

After I perform your Decking Audit, I go away… put together a plan… and send you your personalised quote…

If you’re happy with the offer, then we can book you in as soon as you’re ready…

But just know… this may not be for you…

And that’s ok…

If we go through the Decking Audit and you decide this is not for you…

There’s no hard feelings…

It was a pleasure…

But if you can really see the value in what I offer then you should know…

When people see what’s included in my offer they love how thorough it is…

I believe that the key to a beautiful deck that lasts is consistent and regular maintenance…

This means that most of my time is taken up with my regular clients getting me back to clean and maintain their decking…

As you could imagine… my schedule fills up very quickly…

And when it completely fills up, I’m forced to take this offer down…

I just can’t physically take on any more decks…

But if you are reading this, that means you’ve timed it perfectly…

I’m currently taking on more clients…

The 8 Things You Should Know Before Choosing A Deck Restoration Company

We service all suburbs across Melbourne

Give me a call

We're a Deck Restoration Service for most Melbourne Suburbs