Everything shop owners ask first

A single front is usually one to three nights, depending on size, how much prep it needs and the weather. The written plan gives a range for your front, not a promised date.

The plan is built backward from the hour you open. It names which surfaces are dry enough to use, which stay behind wet-paint signs, and who walks the front with your opener. If a night is lost to rain, we tell you before you open, not after.

It can. Crews working nights are paid differently, and the estimate says so in a line of its own, so you can compare it with a daytime price.

We don't paint wet or salt-damp surfaces. Rain moves a night; it doesn't shorten the prep. The plan lists the nights we hold and who calls you.

Salt left on a surface keeps drawing moisture and lifts new paint. A fresh-water rinse and time to dry come before scraping and priming. The salt-air page walks through it.

Yes. We scrape and treat rust, prime bare metal and finish with a coating made for the coast. We paint the frame, not the fabric; your awning maker handles fabric.

A foreman and crew, named on the plan. The night foreman's number is on the plan, and he answers it while the crew is on site. The office answers by day.

Only if the inside is part of the job. For exteriors we work from the sidewalk and entry. For interiors we agree on a key, a lock-up routine and an alarm contact in the plan, and write down who holds what.

We keep a clear path past the front and cover what we can't move. If a lift, a scaffold or a sidewalk closure needs a permit, the plan says who applies and when.

Yes. EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to paid work that disturbs paint in homes and child-occupied buildings built before 1978. Tell us the year; the firm number is in the footer. Most shops are not child-occupied, but a school, a daycare or a home above a shop may be.

It lists surfaces, repairs, coats, products and sheens, colors, protection, night schedule, cleanup and payments. Rot, failed substrate or extra colors found after the old paint comes off are written up and priced before we continue.

We buy it. The estimate names the product and sheen for each surface. Ask for the product data sheet and we will send it.

We match to a chip, a sample or an existing wall and put the color name on the estimate. A sample patch goes on in daylight before we order the whole job.

Yes. Boards and managers get the same plan, plus a document list: certificate of insurance, vendor details and a notice for residents. The condo page has the details.

Tell us and send a photo. We come and look. What the work is covered for, for how long and what is excluded is written in your agreement; ask to read it before you sign.