By Thomas Williams, All American Renovations – Elite member of James Hardie™ ALLIANCE · Metro Atlanta and Middle Georgia
So what happens after you call a contractor?
We’ll answer that for us here.
You fill out a form at nine o’clock at night and then you wait, wondering whether anybody’s going to call, whether they’ll show up, and whether you’re about to get a sales pitch in your living room.
Here’s exactly how it goes with us — including the parts people don’t love. If you’re calling somebody else, this is still a fair standard to hold them to.
How fast will somebody get back to you?
If you reach out at 9pm on a Tuesday, you’ll hear from us almost immediately — after hours that’s a single text, not a phone call at bedtime. If you answer, we pick it back up the next business morning.
What you get next is a scheduled conversation, not somebody ringing you at random while you’re at work. We’ll agree a time that suits you.
Why won’t you just come out and give me a price?
This is the part some people don’t like, and it’s fair to say so plainly: we won’t send somebody out to hand you a number on the spot.
Two things happen before anybody comes to your house: a conversation, and a bit of homework.
That’s the whole shape of it, and it’s worth understanding why, because the reason isn’t our convenience. It’s yours.
An on-site visit should be a design conversation, not a discovery one.
If we arrive knowing nothing, the first hour of your appointment gets spent on things you could have told us in ten minutes from your kitchen table — and you’d have taken a half day off work for it.
What actually happens on the phone call?
Somebody who can actually answer your questions talks to you about your house.
What we’re establishing is simple: what you’re trying to do, what’s driving the price on a job like yours, and whether we’re the right company for it. How much wall you have, whether there’s brick breaking it up, what’s likely behind your current siding, whether you’re thinking about pre-finished or field paint.
And then a real range for your house — not a three-bedroom ranch average when you’ve got a five-bedroom two-story.
[Why does siding cost $15,000 on one house and $60,000 on another? — post 27] is that conversation written down. A lot of people read it and answer half the questions for themselves before we ever speak, which is exactly what it’s for.
The homework, and it’s about fifteen minutes of your time.
Three things, and none of them need us there.
1 · Photographs of your house. You walk around the outside with your phone while an app tells you where to stand. Those photos build a 3D model of your actual house — which is what lets us count boards instead of guessing, and show you your own home in different colors and profiles before you commit to anything. How we measure your house with HOVER walks through it step by step, with a video of me doing it.
2 · Our pricing calculator. It’s here on this website and it’s free. Put your own numbers in and see where you land before anybody quotes you. It won’t be your final price — nothing is, until somebody has looked at your house — but it will tell you whether we’re in your world.
3 · A few things to read. We’ll point you at the handful of pages on this site that matter for your particular job. You may have already read them, since you’re already here. If so, just let us know! This isn’t a sales sequence — because a homeowner who already understands the trade-offs asks better questions and makes a decision they stay happy with. That’s the entire reason this Learning Center exists.
The trade is real: about fifteen minutes of your time up front. What you get back is not taking a half day off to meet somebody at your house before you even know whether the numbers are in your world.
And if that’s not how you want to do it — if you’d rather a guy just showed up Thursday with a clipboard — that’s a fair preference. We’re not that company, and you should call one that is.
What happens when we come to the house?
Three things, in this order.
We sit at your dining room table and discuss some questions that you may have never been asked before. We want to make sure we’re getting this right! It’s a BIG investment, and we’re going to make sure neither of us makes any mistakes. We’ll come to an agreement to be upfront and transparent with each other. If we see something that just doesn’t sit well with us, we’re going to tell you, and we need the same feedback from you.
We walk your house together, confirming what we talked about and working through the decisions that move the number — what pushes the budget, what pulls it back. [Who’s actually going to be at my house? — post 22] covers who you’ll be dealing with.
Then we put the proposal together on site, and you have it in your hands before we leave.
It’s broken down line by line — the siding, the removal, the labor, the housewrap, trim, paint — with upgrade options you can check or uncheck so you can see what each one actually costs. On a small house that might be a page or two. On a complex one it could run five or six. Estimate or proposal? explains why that difference matters more than anything else on the page.
Will you get pressured?
No. We are not a one-call-close company.
We’ll sit at your table and go through the whole thing. If you want to make a decision right there, great. If you’d rather we send it through so you can sit with it, that’s just as good an answer.
I feel strongly about this one for personal reasons. My dad was self-employed my whole life, and the thing that irritated him more than anything was somebody trying to force him into a decision before he was ready. I’m not doing that to you.
Our job is to give you enough information to make the right call. Comfortable customers make good decisions.
What if the answer is no?
Then tell us no. That’s part of the beginning of our meeting. Something just doesn’t sit right? Tell us. We’ll accept anything you tell us completely as a gift, you’re never going to hurt our feelings.
Before we leave, we try to agree on when to follow up and how you’d rather hear from us — text, email, or a phone call — so we’re not interrupting your day at random.
But if you’ve picked somebody else, just say it. Nobody likes telling a contractor they went with the other guy, and I understand that. It’s business. Nobody here is going to get mad or pitch a fit. We just want to know whether it’s a yes or a no.
And honestly — if it’s a no, that means you found somebody you were comfortable with to do the work the way it needs to be done. That’s a good outcome.
When we’ll tell you we’re not the right fit
Sometimes it becomes clear early that we’re not your company, and I’d rather say so than waste your afternoon.
The usual reason is price. If what you’re after is the lowest number on the market, we are not going to be it, and I’d rather tell you that in minute ten than in week three. I’ll even point you toward someone else to call.
What I’d ask you to think about is what the lowest number is actually buying. At the bottom of the market you’re generally giving up workers comp and general liability coverage, anybody supervising the job while it’s happening, adherence to the manufacturer’s install manual, and having somebody to call in two years when a board starts flapping. Those things are most of the difference in price. Whether they’re worth it on your house is your call to make, not mine. Why we’re not the lowest bid
If you want a contractor who carries the insurance, follows the manual, and has a project manager checking the work — that’s us, and we should talk.
What I’d tell you if you called me
Don’t sign anything the same day if you’re not ready. Anybody who won’t let you sit with it is telling you something.
Ask any contractor how they build their estimate. Measured, or eyeballed from the driveway?
A one-page proposal isn’t a proposal. You can’t compare what you can’t see.
Ask whether they carry workers comp and general liability, and ask to see it.
Ask who’s checking the job while it’s running, and how often.
Ready to start?
If you’re in Middle Georgia or Metro Atlanta, reach out and we’ll get you on a call. No charge, no appointment to sit through, and no obligation to go any further than the phone.
We’re not here to sell. We’re here to consult and educate — and I’d rather you got a good installation from somebody else than bad decisions and one you’re not happy with from us.
We’re in Hampton, with a design center in Forsyth, and we work across Middle Georgia and Metro Atlanta.
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Wondering what the numbers look like before you call? Here’s the full siding cost breakdown for Middle Georgia.
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Thomas Williams is part of the team behind All American Renovations, helping homeowners throughout Middle Georgia and Metro Atlanta make informed decisions about exterior renovations. With hands-on experience in siding, roofing, and home improvement projects, Thomas focuses on helping homeowners understand their options, compare materials, and know what to expect before starting a renovation.
