Phasing expensive repairs offers economical way to optimize cash flow - by Michael Norman

Michael Norman, Abbot Building Restoration

Building owners or decision managers often have difficult decisions to make regarding the need to make immediate repairs to their properties. Do I make the necessary repairs now and go into debt, or do I hold off and risk the possibility of more expensive work in the future? Abbot Building Restoration offers a solution to this dilemma by allowing the owner or manager to phase a project over multiple time periods while deferring the overall expense. If this provision is written into a contract, Abbot will hold its prices throughout the entire length of the contract.

Abbot guarantees the same high quality of workmanship throughout every phase so that when the project is 100% completed each phase of work will be indiscernible from another.

For example, in Abbot’s recent restoration of a Victorian house in Milton, Mass., the owner elected to phase the work over a four-year span, completing Phases 1 and 2 over 2014-2015, Phase 3 in 2016, with Phase 4 to be completed in 2017.

In Phases 1 and 2, Abbot cut and pointed all of the brick and replaced some of the deteriorated brownstone under several windows on the north (left) and west (rear) sides of the house. Significantly, Abbot was able to formulate the color of the brownstones and mortar to match the original color used on the building. Finally Abbot replaced damaged brick with matching used brick salvaged from previous projects. 

In Phase 3, Abbot continued to perform similar work on the south (right) side of the house, including replacing some damaged brick, cutting and pointing all o/f the brick, and color matching the existing mortar.

Victorian home, Milton, MA

Another example of an Abbot multi-phase restoration project involved an 11-story retail and commercial mixed-use brick, granite, and terra cotta stone building in downtown Boston.

Phase 1 of the project in the fall 2013 focused on repairs to the front elevation of the building. An investigation of the building façade uncovered several areas of vertical cracks in the brick columns due to water intrusion. Based on this evaluation, the owner contracted Abbot to repair the damaged brick areas, inspect and repair any terra cotta, completely repoint the façade, and paint all of the ornamental iron metal bands.

11-story mixed-use building, Boston

Abbot came back to complete Phase 2 of the project in the spring 2015. In this phase, Abbot completed the balance of the work on the front elevation and performed minor repairs to the interior courtyard. Abbot also repaired cracked brickwork, replaced steel lintels and flashing, and painted the ornamental bands surrounding the second floor storefronts and windows in the rear of the building. 

Michael Norman is president of Abbot Building Restoration Co., Inc., Boston.