First of all, we are a small
business with little overhead. This means your bid will be lower than
most of our competitors. Feel free to get other bids.
Here are the factors that we
consider:
Accessibility.
Multiple decks, rough terrain and how much laddering all add work to
the process.
Exposure. A covered deck or a north facing exposure will generally be less work than a south facing or highly exposed deck.
Depth of sanding required. This affects the amount of time sanding and countersinking fasteners.
What needs to be removed? Stain is easier to remove than paint or oxidized wood.
Rails require much more work
in both prep. and staining than do flat, horizontal surfaces.
Vertical surfaces take more
work and setup to sand and stain than horizontal deck surfaces
Amount of
drop clothing or masking
Nails or screws needing to be
counter sunk. This can make a big difference in the amount of work needed to restore the deck. We have to remove between 25% and 95% of screws in any given deck and they are either in good shape and easy to countersink or remove or they are corroded and/or have been previously sanded making them very difficult to work with
Our stain is the highest quality
available and therefore not the least expensive
First visit is almost always more work than subsequent maintenance visits.
Power washing or orbital sanding
is much less work than rotary sanding.
Areas that are hard to reach with
sanders. Underneath railings, lots of corners, or ledges beyond railings
all must be sanded with small detail sanders which require more time and
effort than our floor sander.
