In Rhode Island, Salt Comes From Two Directions

Two kinds of corrosion work on a building here instead of one. Road salt does what it does everywhere in the region once the plows start, and over the top of that the air off Narragansett Bay carries salt onto painted wood, bare metal and any mortar joint left open, all year, with no let up. On the Newport shoreline and around the East Bay a seaward elevation takes airborne salt and full sun together, and the finish there surrenders on a shorter cycle than the identical product would inland. The buildings are old even measured against the rest of New England. Providence and Pawtucket hold packed blocks of triple deckers on lots with no side yard worth the name, the mill villages strung along the Blackstone still stand with their worker housing and their stone walls, and a great deal of what is occupied in this state went up before 1900. That means plaster over lath, deep baseboards, wide casings and strip oak that gave up thickness to sandings nobody recorded. It also means a lead question comes before any sander, on nearly every property, since very little here postdates the problem.

This state is far enough from Groton that we schedule it as a run of days rather than a visit somebody drops in on, and we would rather put that on the table than sell a morning window and miss it. The walkthrough is set alongside the work, not separately, so an owner is not waiting on two trips to get to a price. In return the property gets handled once. Brick, floors, paint and the cleaning at the end come from the same company in a written order, with the scope and the number settled before a tool comes off the truck. That is the actual saving, and it has nothing to do with an hourly rate. What eats a multi trade budget is paying twice for one room because the next contractor arrived after it was already done. Exterior pointing and full interior repaints suit this model best, since they run for weeks and the travel turns into a rounding error against the project. A weekly cleaning contract is the opposite case. Whatever registration this state asks a contractor to carry gets confirmed before the first day, and we are insured on all of it.

What we take on in Rhode Island

• House cleaning, deep cleans and recurring visits
• Carpet, upholstery, area rug and grout cleaning
• Post construction and pre sale cleaning
• Hardwood refinishing and new floor installation
• Vinyl plank, laminate, tile and carpet
• Interior and exterior painting, and cabinet refinishing
• Repointing, brick and block, chimneys and steps
• Patios, walkways and retaining walls
• House, driveway, deck and commercial pressure washing

How a Rhode Island job gets scheduled

Everything starts with somebody standing in the actual place. We are based in Groton, Massachusetts, so work close to home runs on a weekly route and a same week window. Further out the job is held as a block of days on the calendar and the walkthrough is booked with it, not on demand. You hear which one your property is before you commit to anything, and either way the scope and the number come to you in writing first.