October 2017
The Nice Days of Fall are Finally Here!
We at Ferris Painting have been in business since 1975 and our focus is to give you a high quality paint job, at a good price and with good communication. With our 42 years of experience we have learned how to handle everything from A to Z, which saves a lot of headaches for board members, property managers and owners.
We just finished a nice large project near Griffith Park. We originally painted the exterior for them using elastomeric back in 1999. The paint has held up so well over the past 18 years that when they decided to repaint this year, we were their “go-to” painter of choice. This time we painted their complete exterior as well as their interior hallways and stairwells. We take great pride when we see our work last so long! The project took 3 months to complete and we look forward to painting for them again in another 18 years. We really like these nice large jobs!
Paint costs will be going up the beginning of next year so as we now get into the latter part of 2017, we let our customers know that if they want to lock in their pricing before costs go up, they can sign the contract now and hold that price. Last week, we signed a very nice 3 month long job that we will be starting in January 2018. I’m happy to say, they did indeed lock in their pricing before next year’s increase even though we will be doing the project next year. That’s a “Win–Win”. The HOA keeps their cost down and we book it on our schedule.
If you are considering painting next year, give us a call soon so we can give you the best price possible for a beautiful paint job on your property.
Life is always full of challenges, so if your property is giving you too much of a challenge with its peeling, rusting paint and rotten wood, give us a call. We will take on that challenge and see you at the finish line when we give you back a beautiful looking building.
Give us a call at 818-951-3207. You can also fax or e-mail us at greg@ferrispainting.com. Best,
Greg lewis
IRONMAN RACE
I hear so many people tell me they enjoy reading our letters, so we are happy to keep them coming to keep you updated on our activities here at Ferris Painting.
After a 3 year pause, I finally was able to train for and finish my 6th Ironman Race. The race took place August 7th in Boulder, Colorado. Ironman races consist of a 2.4 mile swim, followed by cycling for 112 miles and finishing with a marathon run of 26.2 miles. These 3 events are done consecutively without stopping. The start is marked by a canon firing at 6:30am as 1500 of my closest friends and I began the 2.4 mile swim. We are allowed 17 hours to complete these 3 back to back to back events. I finished in 11 hours and 44 minutes which was 15th place out of 135 in my age group. That puts me into a high “intermediate” category but of course, I’m always trying to do a little bit better. Now that I have my competitive juices flowing again, I am looking at doing my 7th Ironman next year in Whistler, BC Canada but more on that later.
Back in the 1970’s, Hawaii had a large athletic community and there was always a friendly rivalry between swimmers, cyclists and runners each bragging about which sport produced the best athlete. So, to answer that question, in 1978 the first Ironman Race was held on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. 15 people paid an entry fee of $3 and started the race on the shore of Waikiki Beach. 12 people finished and a runner named Gordon Haller won the race in 11 hours and 46 minutes.
If you ever wondered how the race organizers came up with these odd-ball distances of 2.4, 112 and 26.2…they took the 2.4 mile distance from the annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim…the 112 mile bike came from the distance the locals used to cycle in order to go around the perimeter of the island...and finally, they determined the run distance of 26.2 miles from the iconic Honolulu Marathon.
In 1980, a TV show called ABC’s Wide World of Sports aired the race and popularity grew so much that in 1981, the event organizers had to move the race to the big island of Kona, Hawaii because they had enough room there to handle all the extra people riding and running up and down the Queen K highway. This year the event is on October 8th and it is so popular that now it has over 2000 racers that literally come from all over the world, all of whom need to qualify, instead of simply paying $3 to enter.
As you can probably tell by some of our previous letters, I like challenges. So if your property is giving you too much of a challenge with its peeling, rusting paint and rotten wood, give us a call. We will take on that challenge and see you at the finish line when we give you back a beautiful looking building.
Please call us today for your free estimate at 818-951-3207. You can also fax or e-mail us.
All the Best, Greg Lewis
COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE
We have been members of Community Associations Institute (CAI) for over 20 years now. CAI holds luncheons and other seminars that provide valuable education to board members and property managers on seemingly ever-changing laws and regulations that affect Home Owners Associations (HOAs) and the way they are run.
We are members of both the Los Angeles chapter and the Ventura County chapter. We set up our 6’ table about once a month at one of their events in order to meet new people and promote Ferris Painting for any painting needs these HOAs have coming up soon. Over these past 20 years, we have met and shaken hands with thousands of people.
CAI publishes a magazine called ‘FOCUS’ and a few months ago I was reading their latest issue and as I was looking at the front cover, I saw a building that looked very familiar. It was a building we painted last year and it looked so nice, CAI decided to put it on the front cover of their magazine. We made a bunch of copies, of just the front cover, and included it behind this letter in your envelope. The “focus” of the cover page I included is about retrofitting buildings that are considered “soft-story construction”. This is where cars park underneath a building in a carport like setting where units are directly above the cars. Those type of building are the ones at most risk during an earthquake and the ones being repaired all over the city.
We work with all types of buildings and it is our “focus” to maintain the Health and Safety of your building. While it’s clearly not a law, it’s always wise to perform preventative maintenance by painting your property to ensure your wood, metal and stucco stay in tip-top shape so you don’t spend your hard earned money replacing any of these surfaces.
Give us a call at (818) 951-3207 or email me at greg@ferrispainting.com for your free estimate. Sincerely,
Greg Lewis
June 2017
I just picked up a copy of the last letter we sent out and as I was reading it, I started thinking and reminiscing about both of our boys. Two boys, born 3+ years apart, raised in the same house by the same 2 parents and yet they are so different.
In the recent decade from 8 years old to 18, our older son was focused on doing well in school and wanting to make sure everything in his life was in order, while our younger son wasn’t concerned about over-achieving in school and wanted to be outside moving and experiencing what life had to offer.
Our older son took the path of Computer Science and will be graduating from college in New York next spring. Mixed in with his studies, he has been working for a fairly well-known Silicon Valley software company. He’s on a team with 14 others, sometimes creating new software and at other times making sure their software is safe from unwanted attacks. In some ways, we are similar but in many ways, we are not alike and I couldn’t be more proud of him. He’ll do great!
Our younger son, who is starting his college experience in August, has chosen a degree in Kinesiology, which is the study of the body and human movement. His college is well-known in this field and with our society needing more and more health care as time moves on, instead of people taking pills to solve their problems, he will be able to help them remain healthy, strong, fit and mentally sharp. The natural way, not the chemical way. Again, in some ways he and I are similar but in many ways, we are not alike and I couldn’t be more proud of him. He will also do great!
Two kids that should seemingly be very similar but aren’t relates very well to painting 2 projects that should also be very similar but aren’t. Just like the experience with our boys, your property may need more focus on its woodwork rather than on the wrought iron. Or maybe your property needs more focus on its decks rather than its doors.
Whatever the case may be, we at Ferris Painting are here to focus on what’s right for your property and your particular situation rather than doing the same thing for everyone, regardless of their needs.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your property with a fresh new paint job, give us a call at (818) 951-3207 or e-mail me at greg@ferrispainting.com for your free estimate.
All the best,
Greg
GRADUATION
Our younger son will be graduating from high school this month and heading off to college in August. That will mean both our boys will be off at school figuring out how to conquer the world while my wife and I will be left in a quiet home. At least it’ll be quiet until our 2 dogs hear us say the magic word “walk”, when they turn into crazed animals trying to be the first one out the front door.
As you know from some of our previous letters, I enjoy doing athletic events from ocean swims to trail runs to Ironman races. Growing up, my son has seen me do these events so he has done 4 triathlons along the way. Now that he is in his final high school semester he wanted the 2 of us to get out of town for a road trip and do a Spartan Race together. The race we chose was in Littlefield Arizona, about 90 minutes past Las Vegas on the Nevada/Arizona border.
Spartan races are obstacle course races combining running with a variety of barriers to get past and they come in different distances. This one was a 9 mile trail run with 30 obstacles to navigate our way through. Some of these obstacles had us crawling in the mud under 50 yards of barbed wire while being sprayed with a water hose, carrying a sandbag a couple hundred yards, carrying a 5-gallon bucket full of rocks, throwing a spear, climbing a rope, running through rivers, carrying a round cement atlas, monkey bars, as well as climbing up and over way too many wooden walls to count. It took us about 4 hours to get thru the course on a very hot day in the desert and even though we looked like we’d been through a battle when we finished, we had a great time and I enjoyed every minute of being with him. And I know he enjoyed it too!
As our boys get on with their lives, we don’t get to spend as much time with them as we used to so I really look forward to these times when we are together. Completing the Spartan races and painting buildings have surprising similarities. They can both present you with obstacles that you must overcome to move forward and when you do reach the finish line, you are very proud of your accomplishment and your building.
As you can tell, activities around our house will be getting quieter so if you’ve been thinking about upgrading your property with a fresh new paint job, give us a call at (818) 951-3207 or email me at greg@ferrispainting.com for your free estimate. I’ll be needing something to do!
Sincerely,
Greg Lewis
C-33 LICENSED PAINTING CONTRACTOR.
In our 42 years of painting here in Southern California, I recently calculated that we have painted over 7000 buildings. Some have been large and some small with a whole lot in-between. Although we do mostly paint buildings complete, we recently started the first phase of a 600 building project where we will be painting all of their wood trim. We really like these types of jobs that allow us the time to get to know our clients and enable us to establish a good working relationship.
We are a C-33 licensed painting contractor.
When you hire us, we are the actual people that come to do the work. We are not a general contractor, as they can only perform wood replacement and must sub-contract the painting out to a crew or another company you don’t even know.
In our current time of high Workman’s Comp insurance rates as well as high General Liability rates, we have been hearing stories of company’s taking painting jobs and then when the job is started, it’s another company doing actual the work. This is a problem for you, the customer. You don’t know who this other company is, you don’t know if they have proper liability insurance, or even any workman’s comp insurance. We have had several people come in for interview’s recently that tell me the painting company they were working for was paying them as an Independent Contractor. Not only is that illegal but it puts the workers health in jeopardy and it puts you, the person that owns the property, at risk of an injury claim that that worker may sustain. It’s just not worth you taking the risk! A close family member of mine didn’t know about this potential problem and it ended up costing them an additional $80,000 because of a claim. Take These Steps To Ensure You Are Protected:
1. Make sure the company you hire is going to perform the actual work.
2. Make sure their workers are W-2 employees, not independent contractors.
3. Make sure to get their Workman’s Comp Certificate.
4. Make sure to get an Additionally Insured Certificate from their General Liability Insurance Company.
5. Make sure that they have a valid contractor license.
6. Make sure to ask for at least 3 references.
If you think your large project is overwhelming you or too complicated to handle, give us a call at (818) 951-3207 or email me at greg@ferrispainting.com. We can do it!
Sincerely,
Greg Lewis
PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY
Each week, we are asked to bid about 20 properties that want to have their buildings painted and we currently have about 500 bids that have not been let and are still pending. We check in with a board member or property manager about once each month to see if there is any news on our bid, and having their property painted. Sometimes they need us to attend a board or homeowner meeting, where we can answer questions, or other times they need help with photo renderings so they can choose colors and get a better idea of what their property will look like when its finished. Here is a short story about one particular bid we did for a Homeowner Association back in 2011 and each time we check in with the property manager, we are told “they have a very conservative treasurer” that talks the board into going “One More Year” before painting. So the story goes…Our bid to paint their property was for $105,000 but each year costs increase and it gets more expensive to paint. So that “very conservative treasurer” thought they were doing a good thing by holding on to their reserves and not voting to spend any money on maintenance. The only problem is that for the 6 years that their bank account was increasing, they started to develop wood rot. The wood rot has been gradual over these past 6 years and I just spoke to the property manager who told me about this story and she said now they must special assess for $400,000 in repairs to fix all the rotten wood. Then to add on top of the $400,000, they are going to have to add another $120,000 to paint it. So as you can see, if they followed their Annual Reserve Study recommendations, they should have painted twice. Once back in 2011 and then painted again now in 2017. That would have kept the property looking fresh and at a total cost of about $225,000 for both paint jobs. Instead, they deferred the painting maintenance and now they must spend about $520,000. Both amounts are a lot of money but I’d rather opt for the $225k version instead of the $520k version. Wouldn’t you???!!! If it’s been 6 years since your last paint job, don’t be that “conservative treasurer”. Instead, you can be the “proactive treasurer” and VOTE FOR the paint job that will PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY. We are booked for the next couple months and are now scheduling for late spring and summer. Call us now and plan ahead, so you don’t get that very painful bill to replace your rotten wood. If you think your project is too large and overwhelming you or too complicated to handle, give us a call. We can do it! Sincerely, Greg Lewis
REASONS TO CHOOSE US :)
Reasons to Choose Ferris Painting for Your Next Project A competitor of ours just went out of business and today I ended up buying some of their equipment from them. We had been seeing them around on job walks and at trade shows for the past few years and I’m actually sorry to see them go. They seemed like good, decent people.
I then started thinking about the buildings they had painted over the past few years and how those Home Owner Associations (HOA) and building owners that they painted for, no longer have a warranty on those buildings. So any peeling, flaking or rusting that may occur over the next couple years will have to be paid for AGAIN by the HOA or building owner.
It depends on the job and what’s being painted but warranties for peeling and flaking can be good for up to 10 years. That’s a lot to give up!
Here are great reasons to choose Ferris Painting for your next painting project.
1.We have been in business a long time, since 1975. Stability!
2. We stand behind our work and honor our guarantees so if your paint job is experiencing a problem, we will take care of it. Reliability!
3. As owner of the company, one of my jobs is to make sure all of our crews are booked out as far into the future as possible. This ensures company Viability!
4. I have 5 employees that have been with us for at least 15 years with the longest at 20 years. Longevity!
5. We work with over 220 management companies and each one has dozens of properties. Capability!
6. With the last and most important being Integrity!
Try us, we’ll do our best to make sure you like the revived look of your buildings now and for years to come. Estimates and consultations are free, give us a call today at 818-951-3207 or email me at greg@ferrispainting.com.
Sincerely,
Greg Lewis
TAKING CARE OF YOUR BUILDING
We just finished another wonderful large 5-month long job. We sure have noticed an increase in a lot of properties painting their COMPLETE building instead of just painting the stucco or just painting the trim. I was curious why it increased, so I started asking these owners “Why did you choose to paint everything all at once?” Here are the top reasons I heard for why folks chose to completely paint all their surfaces.
1. Easier to Stay on Schedule - When painting everything at the same time, we don't need to keep track of which year we are supposed to paint our wood or our wrought iron, or is it the walkways? Oh wait, maybe it's the doors, or is it the stucco? Confusing right?
2. Less Inconvenience to Our Homeowners - Our homeowners have a lot of plants and decorations on their balconies which are difficult for them to move often.
3. Overall Better Curb Appeal to Prospective Buyers and Tenants - We like to paint our entire complex because the duty of our board of directors is to preserve property values so our HOA looks its best.
4. A Better Commitment to Making our Residents Happy.
5. Aesthetics – We Would Never Have a Completed Finished Look - Sure enough, when we used to just paint the trim, the surfaces we didn’t paint ended up looking worse when we saw them right next to what was just freshly painted. When we finished, we ended up needing to paint the rest of it so EVERYTHING looked great instead on just one part. That Would Have Saved Us MONEY!
6. It Costs Us Less Money Overall- We used to only paint one building each year but we found out that by doing all our buildings together, we ended up saving a lot of money because we got a better deal for doing everything all together. Estimates and consultations are free, give us a call today at 818-951-3207 or email me at greg@ferrispainting.com.
Sincerely,
Greg Lewis
VALUE OF OUR WORK
Last month we asked for your feedback to 3 short questions. Your replies were fantastic and we thank everyone for your valuable feedback. The names of everyone who replied were placed in a hat and the 3 lucky winners each won a $100 Gift certificate to the restaurant of their choice. Enjoy!
The overwhelming theme to most of the replies we received were that customers wanted a high quality job for a low price. While we always strive to give you the best price possible, what I like to stress to our customers is VALUE. There is value in painting your property and there is different value to different paint jobs.
A low price is great, however that usually means corners have to be cut. There are many ways to cut corners, such as…using lower quality products that may fail or fade sooner than they should, cutting the prep work which can cause even high quality paint to fail sooner, subbing work out to others who are not the company’s employees (which opens up the HOA or property owner to increased liability and financial risk). That last one I know from personal experience…as well as many other problems. Getting a high quality paint job usually means the price will also be higher than the “low-bid”. Paint jobs can be of Low Value or they can be of High Value. The low price of a Low Value job may be wonderful at first but how long will it last? A High Value job may cost more initially but it will last and look better longer and will eliminate the need to paint as often which will, in turn, ACTUALLY SAVE YOU MONEY. When a property has to paint more often, it didn’t save anything!
Important questions to ask your contractors that will help you get a High Value job: What material will be used? Don’t just ask if they will prep but ask “What prep work will be done?” What will be caulked and what won’t? How long have they been in business? (Contractors that have been is business longer typically use better quality materials and techniques because they’ve learned, the hard way, the problems caused by using the low price stuff doesn’t pay off for them or their customers. And no one that I’ve ever talked to needs any more problems in their life, that’s for sure!). And make sure they won’t sub the work out to someone else because in the paint industry, it sure does happen.
I bet everyone can relate to buying something for cheap and then a short time later you are disappointed because it didn’t last as long as you thought it should. Buy Value, buy things that will last.
We love painting the large properties and if you want a paint job that will last a long time, give us a call at 818-951-3207. You can also fax or e-mail us. Alena, my assistant extraordinaire, will be happy to write up your request and hand it over to our friendly estimator George. All the Best, Greg Lewis
HOA BOARD MEMBERS
Thank you to all the HOA board members!
You are the ones that make the HOA world exist. As a teenager in the 1970’s, I remember seeing apartment buildings start to convert to condominium homeowner associations. My best friend at the time was named Gordon and his mom lived in a highrise apartment building on San Vicente & 3rd St., near Cedars Sinai hospital. Her building was being converted to an HOA and I didn’t really understand what that meant. Since I also lived in an apartment, I wondered if my building was going to be next and what that meant for us.
As time went on, I understood the differences between an apartment building and an HOA. There is a lot of work in operating an HOA and much of that work is done by homeowners that volunteer their time and they don’t get paid for it! The #1 responsibility of a Board of Directors is not to keep the dues low and it’s not to hoard reserves.
The #1 responsibility is to Preserve Property Value.
And remember all the fantastic Property Managers out there!
HOAs don’t run themselves. A lot of time is spent by both Board Members and Property Managers. They sure have their work cut out for them!
They run board and homeowner meetings – these normally happen at night when the rest of us are home relaxing eating pizza and ice cream. At least that’s my normal dinner.
Handle continual phone calls and e-mails regarding maintenance issues – even when residents have been given the proper vendor #’s to call for their questions, they still call the board members and property managers.
Find a solution so that Mrs. Quiet in unit 302 can live peacefully next to Mr. Loud in unit 303.
Handle cash flow to ensure maintenance items are done and the HOA continues to thrive.
These are only a few of the responsibilities that I could fit on this page. There are many more and if you have some that you’d like to mention, e-mail us at greg@ferrispainting.com. And if you need to have your property painted, give us a call at 818-951-3207. We can handle all the ongoing homeowner questions to at least take that off your valuable time. Sincerely, Greg Lewis
Happy New Year!
The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. I’m sure those must be lyrics to some song, but they’re more than just that. The sun setting earlier is not always a bad thing. The end of the year brings a lot of fun; seeing little kids in their Halloween costumes, bigger kids coming home to be with their families for Thanksgiving, and the big surprise of what might be under the tree at Christmas (as well as any other celebrated holiday where you enjoy decorating your living room with strewn wrapping paper and ribbons all over the floor).
And finally, we start off the New Year fresh with endless possibilities of what might be to come….Ahh Happiness!
The same goes for us here at Ferris Painting. We get together with friends and family that we haven’t seen in a while, eat, laugh and eat some more! Oh yeah and one more thing, WE PAINT!
Living here in Southern California enables us to paint every week of the year. We have paint that can be applied even when it gets down as cold as 35 degrees. That’s cold for me, since I’m a born and raised Californian, but not too cold for the paint. When I grow up, I want to be tough like paint. :)
Our crews work 10 hours per day and 4 days per week (we actually had to apply to the State of California for special permission). Here are the top 3 benefits to you when we do this:
1. If we do miss a day or two due to rain, we have 3 more days in the week to make up that time. This keeps your project on schedule. Hooray!
2. We only have to set up and break down 4 times per week, not 5 times. That saves about 40 minutes per man per day, and over the duration of the job ends up saving you money by us being able to eliminate waste and keep our costs down.
3. We are on the job working and making noise only 4 days per week and not 5. One more day of quiet peace, and the job still stays on schedule. What could be better?
We live in one of the best climates on earth so even after it rains, our humidity is usually so low that stucco, wood and metal dry out quickly and we can get back to work beautifying your property and the world around you.
If you would like a free painting estimate, Click here to contact us today!
Your Interiors Need Love Too
Most people know us for specializing in painting the exteriors of buildings, but we wanted to let you know that we also paint common area interiors of buildings such as lobbies, hallways and stairwells.
We know you want the exterior of your property to look like a million bucks but remember your interiors! They need love too! The general public doesn’t see your hallways or stairwells but you may see them every day and they should be something nice for you to come home to.
Have a look around the interior common areas of your property. Does it have a fresh, clean look or does it look old and dingy?
Here is a recent recommendation we received from one of our customers that we thought you would like to see.
“I want to thank you all for a job well done. I am well pleased…I so appreciated all the crew - Jaime, Alex, Pedro. They were patient, helpful - moving a lot of heavy pots, always with a smile. Michael (our superintendent) was patient and helpful with color changes. Jaime (our foreman) always went the extra mile. I will miss their company. I am most thankful for your help.” -A.Z.
If you would like a free painting estimate, Click here to contact us today!
Painting Your Building COMPLETE
We have noticed an increase in a lot of properties painting their COMPLETE building instead of just painting the stucco or just painting the trim. I usually recommend painting complete but was curious why it increased, so I started asking these owners “Why did you choose to paint everything all at once?” Here are the most popular answers I heard:
1. Easier to Stay on Schedule -
When painting everything at the same time, we don't need to keep track of which year we are supposed to paint our wood or our wrought iron, or is it the walkways? Oh wait, maybe it's the doors, or is it the stucco? Confusing right?
2. Less Inconvenience to Our Homeowners -
Our homeowners have a lot of plants and decorations on their balconies which are difficult for them to move often.
3. Overall Better Curb Appeal to Prospective Buyers and Tenants -
We like to paint our entire complex because the duty of our board of directors is to preserve property values so our HOA looks its best.
4. A Better Commitment to Making our Residents Happy.
5. Aesthetics – We Would Never Have a Completed Finished Look -
Sure enough, when we used to just paint the trim, the surfaces we didn’t paint ended up looking worse when we saw them right next to what was just freshly painted. When we finished, we ended up needing to paint the rest of it so EVERYTHING looked great instead on just one part.
That Would Have Saved Us MONEY!
6. It Costs Us Less Money Overall-
We used to only paint one building each year but we found out that by doing all our buildings together, we ended up saving a lot of money because we got a better deal for doing everything all together.
If you would like a free painting estimate, Click here to contact us today!
“You get what you pay for...”
There is a widely used saying that “You get what you pay for”. Here is another example confirming that.
We just received a phone call from a distressed board member of an HOA. She said they need one building completely re-painted AND the paint is fading on all the trim of the rest of the buildings that face south after having the complex painted less than two years ago. The trim was a medium-brown color but the south sides now look a reddish-pink color. We did not do this job, so I asked her why the contractor that did, didn’t come out to look at the problem. She said they are now out of business. The HOA originally chose them because they were the cheapest bid but the $170,000 they paid wasn’t money well spent.
The board now knows why they were the cheapest bid…..because they weren’t the best bid!
Painting is valuable, but the quality with which it is applied can vary greatly. You usually get what you pay for. There are different levels of quality in painting and contractors, just like everything we buy from paper towels all the way up to the home we live in.
A few questions to ask your paint contractor next time you are deciding on who to choose.
1. Explain the type of paint that will be used on each surface and why.
2. How many years has the contractor been in business?
3. How long is my guarantee and what does it cover? Is it in writing?
4. Are they licensed and insured to work on your type of property?
5. When you meet with each contractor, pay attention to their behavior. Are they businesslike and professional?
6. Get references of properties similar to yours in your area. Call the references and go see the properties. Ask about their experience with that contractor.
If you would like a free painting estimate, Click here to contact us today!
Is it necessary to paint stucco?
Homeowners often wonder if it is necessary to paint stucco. The answer is absolutely!
First of all, what is stucco? Stucco is a rough substance, containing cement, sand, and water, used for covering the exterior walls of many buildings here in the Southwest. It is inexpensive to maintain provided it is painted, however problems occur when it is left unpainted. Mildew and moisture can be absorbed into the structure of your home during a sustained rain causing mold, and also by improperly aimed sprinklers. Unpainted stucco stains easily during periods of rain, which bring dirt and other pollutants into the stucco. Moisture can also cause stucco to crack and crumble.
Painting: Painting stucco with a high quality water-resistant paint provides a water barrier which helps prevent moisture from penetrating into your home while also allowing moisture vapor to escape to the outside. This keeps the interior of your home dry. The waterproof “black paper” that was installed when your home was built lasts about 30 years before it begins to degrade and crack, which can allow moisture to get inside your home. To maintain a waterproof barrier, it is therefore especially important to keep a good quality coat of paint on the outside of older stucco structures.
Fog coating: Another option to painting is to “fog-coat” your home. Fog coating is a thin watery coating of colored cement applied to the existing stucco surface. This is usually done with a plastic pump that sprays a mist of color…kind of like a fog.
The benefit of fog-coating is that the surface looks refreshed and it is cheaper than painting. But the drawback to fog-coating is it still doesn’t protect against mildew, moisture, mold and staining. You are also not able to change colors, so whatever color was popular back when your home was originally built is what you are stuck with. In addition, it is only an option if the stucco has never been painted.
Paint provides better protection than fog-coating and paint sticks to stucco extremely well and when correctly prepared, does not usually peel. Also touching up a wall tagged with graffiti is very simple and inexpensive. You can’t cover that with fog-coat.
The popularity of colors changes every decade or so and painting current attractive colors when ever you want maximizes your property value which benefits you…the homeowner!
So, if you ever wondered if you should paint your stucco-covered building, now you know. We are experts at this and would be happy to help you maintain the life & beauty of your property.
If you would like a free painting estimate, Click here to contact us today!
"Raspberry"
Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays! It puts a smile on my face just to say all that. I always look forward to this time of the year.
More happiness here at Ferris Painting……………Our steadfast office manager and executive assistant, Angela, and her husband, are just days from having their first baby, a girl…that I have named “Raspberry”. When Angela first said she was pregnant, she described it as the size of a raspberry. Ever since then, that’s the name that stuck with me and I like it!
Angela will be out for about three months and filling in for her will be Jeri. Jeri has been in our office learning the five million things Angela does for a couple weeks now. Jeri has caught on very quickly and we are very happy to have her. So if you call and hear a different voice on the phone, please welcome her. She is already doing a great job!
I am also pleased to say that our superintendent, Michael, is back to work after eight weeks of dealing with a bum back. He is feeling much better now and I’m sure diet and exercise will keep him going strong for many years to come.
I’ll be giving our crews Christmas week and New Years week off to spend time with their families. We will have a limited staff available, but our office will be open...so if you are considering painting next year, call us soon so we can get you a free estimate. Click here to contact us today!
A little about my life...
Well, another year, another Ironman race successfully done. I’ve now completed 5 Ironman races since 2007 as well as about 75 other shorter distance races.
This year’s race was on Sunday, September 22nd, in Lake Tahoe. An Ironman race consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and ending with a 26.2 mile marathon. The race starts at 6:40am and the clock continues to run until you finish the swim, the bike and the run so you don’t stop until you cross the finish line or they pull you from the course for being too slow.
Lake Tahoe sits at 6200’ elevation which means the mornings and nights can get cold. Adding to the cold, a random storm passed thru the area the day before the race and we got SNOW! And more cold!
This years race started on the north side of the lake at King’s Beach. I awoke at 4:00am on race morning and got myself down to the start and put my wetsuit on at about 6:30am. I then walked across the sand and as I was walking, my feet felt strange. I looked down to see the sand was covered with frost and the temperature was 32 degrees. Oh boy, it’s going to be a cold one! The day stayed cold, but at least the sky was clear and racing amongst the snow capped mountains was beautiful.
There are about 25 Ironman races held each year throughout the world and this year’s race in Lake Tahoe has been labeled the toughest race they’ve ever held. 2,751 people paid their $700 and signed up for the race. Over 1,000 people didn’t finish the race which gave it the highest DNF (did not finish) rate of any Ironman ever at over 35%. I finished in 13 hours and 17 minutes, which was 2 hours slower than my last race in Arizona. Ironman races are supposed to be tough, and this one was especially tough. I am very happy I did the race and proud I finished it.
My older son will be heading off to college next year, so I’ll be skipping Ironman in 2014 in order to spend more time with him. Instead of racing triathlons, I’ll be racing around the country checking out colleges with him. Should be fun!
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Changes
If it wasn’t for changes, how would we know any time has passed?
When I was a kid, every few years, I would see my grandmother, Kathryn, known as “Oma“. She was a strong-willed German woman born in 1907. I seldom saw her because she lived far away. When I did finally see her, she would always pinch my cheeks and coo over how much I’d grown. And when it happened, I wondered what the big deal was. I mean, I looked in the mirror every day. If there had been a big change, I would have noticed!
Besides, “Oma” always looked just the same!
Of course, personal changes keep happening over our lifetimes. I just celebrated my 50th birthday. My hair hasn’t disappeared but every time I look in the mirror, it’s a little grayer and a new line seems to have taken residence somewhere on my face. For those of us to whom 30 is a fond but increasingly distant memory, we occasionally run across an old friend, and think, “Holy cats! He looks old! ” Tactfully, we say no such thing and only marvel aloud over how good it is to see them. We say nothing about what’s really on our mind. Hopefully, they don’t either!
But with the people we see from day to day, we usually don’t notice these changes because they occur over such a long time period.
Paint jobs are exactly like that!
Day by day the paint fades a little bit, wears a little bit, peels a little bit. Because it’s so gradual, we often don’t notice how shabby the old paint job has gotten over the last few years. After all, paint lasts for five years on wood and steel and can last for as many as 20 years on stucco (though ten years is really the average). What changes that occur to your paint job on any given day are microscopic and gradual. But gradually all things come to pass. And gradually it becomes time to paint once more.
Looking at the personal level again. If your hair is a little gray, you can dye it. And if you’re a little overweight, well you can diet too! But there is no real way to turn the clock back to the 70’s or 80’s or 90’s.
Paint jobs are not exactly like that.
An old building can become newborn with a paint job. Professional patching, priming and painting can turn the structure that has gradually become a geriatric case, into a bouncing baby building.
If only there was such an easy solution to getting older!
So take a look at your building with the eyes of a stranger, not with the everyday eyes that are seeing it “how it’s always looked”. It just might be time to give the old place a facelift!
If you need a timely paint job done right, Click here to contact us today!
What we've been up to.
There have been a lot of great things and exciting news happening at Ferris Painting lately!
We have been painting some really great jobs that I want to let you know about.
We just finished 157 units at Carefree Living for Sammie Needham in Port Hueneme. We paint between 100-200 units each year for them. Sammie is an incredible manager and makes it a pleasure working for them.
We are halfway thru painting 16 buildings at Highland OA near the Hollywood Bowl. They changed colors and we added another accent color to the stucco. The residents are raving about it. It looks like an Italian Villa now. The old salmon color was definitely dated and the new colors look incredible.
We painted two buildings for Erik at Management Emporium in Glendale, one on Brand and one on Louise. These buildings look fantastic now.
And the best news for last…on June 29th, our dependable office manager, Angela, just celebrated her 10 year anniversary working here at Ferris Painting. Thank you Angela! And with that she announced…“we are going to have a new employee in a few months.” Angela is due to give birth to her first child in November, a bouncing baby girl. I know she will be a great mom!
Hmmm, it looks like I’m going to need some help finding paint brushes for two really small hands. I wonder where I can find some?
If you would like a free painting estimate, Click here to contact us today!