Lead craftsperson
Rosie Pollard: estimates, repair and joinery.
- Site visit and written estimate
- Splices, joinery and repairs
- Final fit and sign-off
How hours are billed
Hours are billed by who does the work
Three people, three hourly rates. The estimate says how many hours of each, so you can see the price being built.
Journeyman
Solomon Avery: glazing, priming, painting and cord.
- Reglazing and priming
- Two coats of paint
- Cord, weatherstrip and tuning
Apprentice
Himari Tanaka: protection, removal, scraping and vacuuming.
- Room protection and cleanup
- Sash removal and rehanging, with a lead
- Wet scraping and vacuuming
Rates cover labor only. Paint, putty, cord, weatherstrip and any lumber are listed on the estimate. Travel beyond the service area, scaffolding and a lift are listed on the estimate if the job needs them.
Typical hours
What common jobs take
Working time for each job, as a starting point, by whoever does it.
Windows
Per window; hours shown are working time.
Free a painted-shut window and fit new cord
About 2 hours.
Weatherstrip and tune one window
About 1.5 hours.
Reglaze, prime and paint one sash
About 3 hours.
Restore both sashes of a double-hung window
About 9 hours.
Trim and sills
Per piece; rot found behind it changes the hours.
Splice and repaint a section of sill
About 3 hours.
Repair and repaint one window casing
About 4 hours.
Clean back, repair and repaint a bracket
About 1 hour each.
Doors and storms
Per door or sash.
Free, repair and repaint one door and its frame
About 6 hours.
Repair and repaint one wood storm sash
About 2 hours.
Examples, not quotes. Each starts from the lowest hours that do the job. Yours is written after a site visit.
What moves the hours
Four things that change the number
What's behind the paint
Soft wood found as we work is the biggest change. We call before the hours go up.
The number of panes
A window with twelve lights takes longer to reglaze than one with two.
Height and access
Upper windows may need a ladder or a lift. It's listed on the estimate.
The age of the paint
Paint from before 1978 means set-up and cleanup the federal rule asks for.
Questions about the billing
Why is an hour of this work more than an hour of house painting?
Because most of the hour isn't painting. It's reading old wood, making a repair that will hold, and doing it with the setup that old paint calls for.
Will the final bill match the estimate?
It should be within the hours written, and if the work needs more we call you first. The bill lists hours by person and materials.
Do you charge for the site visit?
The estimate lists what the visit covers and whether there's a charge, in writing, before you agree to it.
The rate is the start of the story
Read where the hours go on a single window.