Recladding

Good Recladding A House Can Save You Money, Bad Recladding…….

Is your home more than 20 years old?
Have you seen leaks in your house after a heavy storm?
Does the outside walls of your home look badly worn out?

These are just a few of the reasons that people need to reclad their home or buildings.

Let’s look a bit deeper.

Why do older Auckland homes often need recladding

If the outside of your home is looking more than tired, sometimes a new coat of paint is simply not going to be enough to fix the exterior of your home. Weatherboards, monolithic plaster board, and other external wall coverings can all get worn and deteriorate with age. This is a common problem for homes more than 20 years old, especially if previous owners have not maintained or repainted the cladding materials. In fact, ignoring your exterior walls is the biggest cause of materials to fall into disrepair and ultimately fail.

If you put off attending to your external wall coverings, this can lead to more serious problems for you. Small cracks can let in water which will start to cause damp, mould, and other serious damage in your home. This isn’t limited to “leaky homes” but almost any type of home can be susceptible to leaks and water damage. So it’s important that you keep on top of any issues with your exterior cladding.

An obvious sign that you might need some recladding maintenance can be after the heavy rainstorms that we get in Auckland. If you see pools of rain-water on window sills, that is an obvious sign, but there can be unseen aspects of leaks and water ingress.

It is a good idea to have an inspection of your house just to make sure you do not have any major leaking problems so that they can be addressed before they become too serious.

Recladding your home

If you do need to reclad your home, you need to find a tried and trusted builder with experience in recladding homes of different materials. Not all building contractors are skilled in recladding so tread carefully before you commit yourself.

Recladding is not a cheap job, if it’s done properly so be aware of a builder offering a low price. This is usually just to get the job, which then has some nasty add-on costs.

Here is what you need to look for when you need a builder for recladding your home

Find A Builder With A Lot Of Relevant Experience

You need to make sure that the builder you hire knows exactly what they are doing. If you work with someone that has tackled plenty of recladding jobs before, you can assume that you’re in good hands.

Simply having experience isn’t going to be enough. You need to make sure that you work with a builder that has experience that is actually relevant to your job. Does the builder have experience with the material that you need – wood, plaster-board, metals, or whatever cladding material you have on your home.

Work With A Builder That Has Good References From Former Clients

You should work with someone that has impressed their clients in the past. When you’re considering a builder for recladding, one of the first things you should ask them for is a list of references.

Contact all of the references and talk to the builder’s clients and see what experience was of not just the finished recladding, but how they performed against the budget, the time schedule, and the overall building work. Clearly, if those references have favourable things to say, then you can take it to the next stage and get a firm quotation.

Search For A Builder That Can Work With Your Budget And Schedule

You probably have some sort of schedule in mind for your recladding project. You’re going to want to make sure you choose a builder that will be able to stick to the schedule you have set. Some builders are very busy, which means they might not be able to get to your project for a few weeks or more. If sticking to a schedule is important to you, you need to make sure you find a builder that can work with your time frame.

Sometimes you may need an emergency job such as after a heavy Auckland storm. If you need to have the project finished right away, you’ll want to work with a builder that will be able to start on the job immediately.

In either of these cases, some recladding firms will charge way more than others. This is often a sign that they don’t want the job but at the same time, you probably don’t want to pick the cheapest either. The low-price recladders generally have add-on costs so the recladding of your home can end up a lot more expensive than a medium-priced firm.

Make Sure Your Builder Has The Right Credentials

It’s always important to confirm that your builder is fully licensed. You’re also going to want to make sure you work with someone that is properly insured. A lack of paperwork could be a major red flag.

You may want to ask a builder to show you their credentials. The majority of builders will be happy to comply with a request like this, and it should give you some peace of mind.

There are a lot of things you have to take into consideration when you’re choosing a builder for recladding a home. This isn’t the kind of decision that you should make lightly; you should think carefully about who you should work with and why you want to work with them.

At Fever Pitch, we are proud of the work we have done for our clients and more than happy to share references with you to verify our quality and capability.

For a one-hour, no obligation chat about your home renovations or house extension project, free to call us on 021 209 2214 or email at admin@feverpitchbuilding.co.nz.