It began innocently – it always does. I was running into Home Depot for something quick when my senses were assaulted right at the front door by the glare of Santa’s Wonderland. And so, from this early October moment, begins that internal debate, that will inevitably be vocalized at some point amongst family around the Thanksgiving table as to how long is the appropriate amount of time for stores to wait to put out Christmas decorations. For this fun debate, there is not really one right answer. However, when it comes to the decision every stucco homeowner must make in terms of waiting to have their stucco inspected and any issues quickly resolved, there is only one right answer: don’t wait.
Don’t wait on weather: In Houston, in the spring and summer this year (and many years), we were gifted with a wide range of dicey and wet weather. It is possible that something on the stucco presented itself during one of these episodes for the very first time, but our experience suggests that often those unusual weather moments simply remind people of something they had forgotten about or hoped wouldn’t be an issue. It is always better when you can be in control of the schedule, selection of inspectors and repair groups, and not feel pressured by the suddenly urgent weather-related issue.
Don’t wait on a sale: We mention this a lot because we see this play out on a weekly, if not daily basis. While we love supporting real estate professionals to aid in a transaction, having sellers and buyers have the full extent of needed stucco repairs revealed in the middle of a transaction is stressful at best and a deal killer at worst. We specifically target current homeowners with longevity in our customer pursuit efforts because we find that they make the most informed and house forward decisions. It is this current and ongoing investment into the stucco that helps cement the best possible future sales transaction. We will always welcome realtors, buyers and sellers but we will also always encourage everyone to not wait until that moment to think about stucco.
Go ahead and Wait for the Right Group: There is one thing every stucco homeowner should wait on – that is a group that can be trusted to do the stucco repairs. We do one thing and try to do it extremely well – residential stucco repairs. From that place, we try to abide by a set of simple values and offer homeowners a quick, thorough, and transparent proposal and interaction. We have received those desperate calls (and accommodated as many as we could) from people who used a group that did not honor their original claims. We are interested in becoming that group that allows a homeowner to feel good about us as their long-term stucco solution. We talk about it in terms of value exchange – while we must be competitive in our pricing, we find that quality work is our customer’s highest priority.
Christmas decorations, I’m afraid, will continue to make their way to into stores earlier and earlier. Telling retailers to wait is likely fruitless… they’re just being proactive (ok, so they want to extend their peak selling season). But proactive is the right word to describe what every stucco homeowner should be as it relates to keeping their home beautiful and any potential maintenance issues manageable.