Doors, trim, decks — and the rot behind them

Questions we get asked about this

Can you fix a door that will not latch without replacing it?

Most of the time, yes. Shaving and planing, re-hanging, jamb and casing repair or replacement, and hinge and strike adjustment are all routine. A replacement door is the answer when the slab itself has gone, and it is cheaper to be told that at the walk-through than after somebody has spent a day on the old one.

Do you repair decks and porches, or only build new ones?

Repair and rebuild is the work on record here: board and structural board replacement, stair rebuilds, handrail and sloped-rail installation, settled steps re-levelled, skirting, and composite as well as timber. Four homeowner deck and porch jobs have been invoiced in the last eleven months, for four different customers.

Can you replace a window?

We have done both a made-to-fit screen and a full structural window installation with the exterior envelope rebuilt around it. Those are not the same job and no single price describes them, so that one is quoted after we have seen the opening rather than off a page.

Do you install cabinets and countertops?

Yes — cabinet door repair and replacement, installation and demolition, backsplashes, shelving relocated and reinforced, and toe-kicks. We cannot publish a price for it, because in eleven months of invoices this work has only ever appeared inside a larger project total and never on a line of its own. Rather than invent a plausible figure we will quote yours.

Do you charge a call-out fee or a trip charge?

No — and no diagnostic fee and no charge for a return visit either. Attendance and diagnosis of the items you reported are included in the job price, and there is no minimum charge and no call-out minimum on any of the 84 written quotes this company has issued. Where a job is far enough out to need several days of round trips, a mobilisation figure is agreed with you in writing before anything starts, or the schedule is compressed into fewer longer days instead.

What happens if the job turns out to be bigger than the quote?

It becomes a written change order, priced and agreed before the work goes ahead, and it appears on the invoice by name. Anything outside the written scope is $65 an hour plus materials, and only with your approval — that rate is printed on every quote this company issues.

Do you mark up materials?

No. Materials are supplied at cost with the receipt attached, and the invoice record says so rather than the marketing: across eleven months, materials are $10,080 of $210,693 billed on labour-and-materials lines, which is 4.8% of it. On larger projects plenty of customers buy the materials themselves, and those are shown on the quote at no charge.

Are you insured, and do you hold a contractor licence?

Fully insured, and a W-9 and a certificate of insurance go out with every signed quote without being asked for. On licensing we are direct, because it is the question that matters and the one most trade websites blur: the Michigan residential builder licence is not held and no contractor licence is claimed or implied. Electrical and plumbing work here is repair and like-for-like replacement on what already exists — new circuits, panels, service upgrades, water-heater replacement and anything else requiring a licensed trade is referred out and named as such on the quote.