I'm getting estimates to fix up the leaky, rotten, neglected, can't hold a paint job, sand blasted 1942 red cedar siding on my cape cod with all new Certainteed polymer siding. I contacted Tkd after getting a referral directly from Certainteed. After an overly long conversation, on the phone with Tkd, I can honestly say these won't be the guys doing it. I don't even want to waste my time getting a quote. The salesguy was repeatedly hesitant, doubted my word that I wanted the entire siding replaced, and repeatedly interrupted and talked over me. This was one of those awful mansplaining "conversations" that you just never want to get into. Period.
Yes there are issues. Tkd was upfront saying he doesn't deal with houses that have siding issues because he doesn't fix the mistakes of others. Well that's fine, if you are in the business of building your own homes. However, Certainteed seems to think Tkd installs siding and is not a homebuilder. The salesguy himself waffled back and forth as to what business he was really in. To make matters worse, this allegedly located in the same town I live in, Reading, which has virtually no home building going on and actually has a fairly large historical district near my house. But I guess the salesguy, or whoever this guy was (he didn't really properly introduce himself), doesn't do business in the town where he is located.
But I digress...
The house was built in 1942 and several areas of the siding need replacement. And silly me wanted to replace it all with Certainteed polymer siding. I tried to explain this, and the various areas of the siding that need replacing and why (e.g., sunroom addition from 2 owners ago has issues, the 3 year roof had an ice damn that only leaked water behind the siding and not into the house, there is a leak in the siding from a 2006 a/c installation, and on and on thanks to the history of permits maintained by the town)... but Tkd salesguy was having none of it, preferring to interrupt me and talk over me.
Tkd only does entire siding jobs, not repairs.
Oh wait a minute... I wanted an entire siding job but I don't want polymer/vinyl siding slapped onto the issues since that disguises water leaks... as any COMPETENT vinyl installer should know (FYI - I installed vinyl clapboard siding with a group of volunteers on a Habitat for Humanity build, so I know something beyond a mere Google search).
Tkd salesguy did listen just enough to say that they fix issues they find while removing the old siding... but then he continued on with his mansplaining about doing entire siding jobs and not fixing the mistakes of others.
Hello? Bueller?
Whether I ever go through to him is unclear...
I told Tkd salesguy that they weren't the contractors for me and hung up the phone.
There is no way I would hire someone who doesn't have enough respect to listen to a prospective customer. read more