Linda pushed the pen back toward Ray. The pen was a cheap plastic one and it did not move far on the granite countertop. Ray looked at the pen and then he looked at the contract.
He had a smudge of dirt on his thumb and the smudge left a mark on the white paper. The number at the bottom of the page was fifteen thousand eight hundred and forty dollars. It was a good number and it was lower than the other numbers Linda had seen that week. She liked the number but she did not like the way Ray looked at the windows. He looked at the windows and he did not talk about the trim. He talked about the square footage and he talked about the grain of the boards.
The initial “Simple Quote” presented on a single sheet of paper.
The kitchen was quiet and the clock on the wall made a clicking sound. Ray explained the cost of the labor and he explained the cost of the dumpsters. He did not explain line three. Line three said that the trim and the flashing and the corners were an allowance.
I have seen many people fall into that hole and I have fallen into it myself. I once spent a summer inspecting carnival rides in the humid parts of the South. I looked at the bolts and I looked at the welds. People think a roller coaster is a single machine but it is actually a thousand small connections. Siding is the same way.
A house is not a collection of flat walls and a house is a series of intersections. The siding meets the roof and the siding meets the windows. The siding meets the ground and the siding meets the deck. These are the corners where the money lives and these are the corners that Ray did not want to talk about.
The Skeleton and the Skin
The quote was simple and the simplicity was a lie. I stopped trusting simple quotes a long time ago. I used to think that a siding job was a math problem involving area. I was wrong. I once estimated a project for a small office building and I counted every square foot of the exterior. I calculated the waste and I ordered the boards.
Lost on a single project through bad flashing estimation.
I did not look at the windows and I did not see the complex flashing required for the brick ledges. The project took three weeks longer than I planned.
I paid for my mistake in sweat and in cash. I learned that the board is only the skin and the trim is the skeleton. Most homeowners look at the big number and they look at the name of the board. They want to know if the color is right and they want to know if the texture looks like wood.
They do not ask about the Z-flashing over the windows. They do not ask about the J-channel or the starter strips. Ray knew this and he kept his finger over line three. He wanted the signature and he wanted the deposit. He knew that once the old siding was off the house, the allowance would disappear. It would become a change order and the change order would be for .
The wind blew outside and the trees brushed against the gutters. Linda asked if the price included the window wraps. Ray said that the price included the material and the labor as stated. He did not say yes and he did not say no. He used the words of the contract and the words were hollow. I have learned to listen for the hollow words.
It is an embarrassing mistake to make and it makes you feel small. I felt small when I realized Ray was selling a board and not a finished house. A house needs a system and the system must be complete. People choose Composite Siding because they want the look of timber without the rot.
They want the Peruvian Teak or the Arctic Oak and they want those colors to stay. Natural wood is a beautiful thing on the first day but the sun is a hard master. The sun hits the wood and the UV rays break down the lignin. The rain falls and the moisture enters the grain. The wood swells and then it shrinks.
The stain cracks and the mold grows in the cracks. You can sand the wood and you can seal the wood but you will do it again in .
The Engineering of Durability
SlatSolution makes a board that does not need the sander. The board is made of a composite material and the material is strong. It resists the moisture and it resists the insects. The grain is deep and it looks like real wood.
Heavy texture that mimics deeply weathered natural timber.
Smooth, high-performance surface for contemporary architecture.
Both boards come from the same substrate and they work together. You can put the teak look on the front wall and you can put the charcoal gray on the back wall. The material remains the same and the performance remains the same.
But the board is still just a board. If the installer does not understand the flashing, the house will rot from the inside out. The water will find the gaps and the water will sit behind the composite. It will sit against the sheathing and the sheathing will turn soft.
This is why the quote must be specific. A good quote lists the number of corner posts and it lists the linear feet of the drip edge. It does not use the word allowance and it does not hide the trim in the fine print.
Ray stood up and he reached for his folder. He saw that Linda was not going to sign. He told her that the price was only good for . This is another trick of the trade and it is a trick used by men who are afraid of questions.
I have seen the same look on the faces of ride operators when the safety bar does not click. They want you to move along and they want the next person in line. I looked at a house last month in the coastal part of the country. The air was salty and the humidity was high.
The homeowner had installed a beautiful shiplap siding in a walnut finish. The lines were straight and the color was rich. But the installer had used the wrong flashing at the base of the wall. The salt air had corroded the cheap metal and the rust was staining the bottom boards.
The hidden math of “budget” installations: Corroded flashing staining premium walnut shiplap.
The homeowner had paid for a premium product but he had received a budget installation. He saved on the quote and he spent on the repair. The shiplap profile is a good design. The boards overlap and the water runs down the face.
It creates a clean line and it looks modern. It works well on a long facade and it works well on a covered ceiling. You can run the Graphite Charcoal Gray from the exterior wall right into the porch ceiling and the transition is seamless.
The Engineering of Mood
It makes the space feel larger and it makes the design feel intentional. But you must plan the transition. You must know how the soffit meets the wall and you must know how the air will move. There are ten finishes in the collection and each one has a different mood.
The Brazilian IPE is dark and it feels heavy and permanent. The Cedar is light and it feels like a summer house. The American Walnut is traditional and it fits in a suburban neighborhood. People spend hours choosing the color and they spend minutes reading the quote.
They care about the aesthetic and they forget about the engineering. I have spent my life looking at the engineering and I know that the aesthetic is only as good as the flashing behind it.
Ray left the house and he did not have a signed contract. Linda sat at the table and she looked at the one-page quote. She saw the smudge of dirt and she saw the word allowance. She took a red pen and she circled the word. She knew that she needed a better plan.
She needed a quote that respected the corners of her house. She needed to know that the Weathered Oak boards would be installed with the right fasteners and the right clearances. I used to believe that most people were honest about their work.
I still believe that but I also believe that people are lazy. It is easier to write a simple quote than a detailed one. It is easier to sell a dream than a construction project. I have been lazy myself and I have regretted it every time.
I once ignored a squeak in a Ferris wheel because the sun was setting and I wanted to go home. The next day the wheel was stuck and I had to climb the tower in the heat.
The Shield and the Saturday
A facade is a shield and the shield must be solid. When you choose a composite material, you are choosing to stop the cycle of maintenance. You are choosing to spend your Saturdays doing something other than painting.
This is a good choice and it is a choice that pays for itself over . But you must protect that investment. You must demand that the quote include every piece of trim and every inch of flashing. You must look at the outside corners and you must look at the window wraps.
It takes time to cut the boards to fit a mitered corner. It takes skill to install the flashing so that it sheds water away from the frame. If the estimator does not charge you for that time in the beginning, he will charge you for it in the end.
Or worse, he will not do the work at all and he will leave your house vulnerable. I have seen many vulnerable houses and they all started with a one-page quote. Linda picked up her phone and she started to search for a new contractor.
She did not look for the lowest price and she looked for the most detail. She wanted to see a list of materials that included more than just the boards. She wanted to see a plan for the transitions and a plan for the moisture barrier.
She was finished with the hollow words and she was finished with the allowances. She wanted a house that would stand against the sun and the rain for a long time. She wanted a house that was built as well as it looked.
The sun was going down and the kitchen was getting dark. The house was old and the siding was grey. It needed the change and it needed the protection of a new skin.
Linda looked at the red circle on the paper and she felt good about her decision. She had avoided the hole and she had saved her future Saturdays. She knew that the right boards were out there and she knew that the right contractor would be able to count the corners. She was ready to start the job the right way.
