The best artisans in the country generally do not work under
church decoration companies. Why? There are a number of reasons. First, some
background.
After hundreds of residential woodwork refinishing projects
we began taking commercial real estate apartment projects. Milwaukee’s east
side has dozens of 1920’-30’s Tudor style old wood laden buildings. The
hallways were lined with old quarter sawn oak woodwork, doors and frames. The
units always featured leaded glass oak buffets and beamed dining room ceilings.
We did a ton of that work. Problem was real estate investors are horrifically cheap.
So when we had the opportunity to work with the a big nationally known church
decorative company on a church renovation project we jumped at the chance. To a
young, inexperienced kid (of sorts) they were impressive! Big full color photos
of massive historic places we could only dream of working in. We were
awestruck.
The reality turned out to be a bit different. Unlike
standard general contractors, church renovation companies take a much bigger
percentage than the typical 15% addition to our price. It tends to be more like
nearly double. Thus the price we charged for the work was nearly doubled to
attain the margin they sought causing them to need us to be very, very thrifty
on our price. In the beginning it was a recipe for doing a lot of work for
nearly nothing.
We worked for several of the best known church restoration companies
in the country. Some were fairer than others. As a rule it seems that the
smaller they are- the more likely they are to be fair. Beyond that- none had
any real loyalties to the subcontractors who worked under them. If difficulties
came up we were expected to take the heat if we wished to continue to get work
from them. It was frustrating to also not be able to talk with the clients
directly about our work such that the communication, expectations/goals and
outcomes are clearly understood.
As time passed we became better at our work and secured many
notable national historic preservation wood restoration public projects. On
many of them we assisted the architects in writing the specifications for the
work and then went on to perform it. We learned that having control over our
own efforts was more likely to result in good work.
That’s why the best trades people in the country are not likely
to be working with church decorative companies. Their experiences are similar
to our own. I can think of dozens of examples in marble, terrazzo, plaster,
mural restoration, stained glass and so on. ALL the people I’ve come to see
regularly at the major preservation projects around the country are
independent. The only contractors that are willing to work under church
interior design/decorative companies are those that NEED the work, are willing
to work cheap and don’t mind having no control over the quality of the outcome.
Is that who you want for YOUR project?
Is that who you want for YOUR project?
I understand that the ease of having a project be all
inclusive is attractive. But spending the extra time to investigate who will perform
your work under a church decorator and WHO ELSE may be out there is likely to
be time well spent.
For the old wood or church pew restoration/refinishing- call
us! Directly! :)
Thanks!
Scott Beddome
