FAQ

This is a minimum charge for any job. We do a lot of small repairs such as cracks, vents, woodpecker holes, and that little gap left all around your new door or window. These jobs cannot be priced by the square foot; they are priced by the job. We have a base rate of $350 + tax for sending out the van or truck and trailer

We generally book work approximately two weeks in advance, however, if your job is small and we are in the area, we can sometimes get it done in a day or two (depending on weather of course)! If you have a special time frame, let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you. 

Our pricing is budget friendly! Conventional stucco prices usually start around $15 - $18 per square foot and go up from there. Acrylic stucco prices usually start around $16 - $22 per square foot and up. Both pricing tiers include paper, wire, basecoat, and top coat. Why is acrylic more expensive? Because it multiplies the work and the product costs more! Stucco painting and liquid stucco prices start around $4 per square foot.

Things that will naturally affect the pricing include peak height, levels, terrain, finishes, amount of prep, number of crew required, time required, distance, special equipment needed, and timing. If you’re not sure just how much you want to do, we can work with you to give you options.

Cheques:  Can be given to your applicator at the end of your project, or mailed into our head office. Don't forget to put your invoice number in the memo line!

Credit cards: Can be processed by calling our head office. Payments by credit card are subject to a 3.4% processing fee

E-transfers: Can be done through your online banking and sent to [email protected]. Please note that when choosing this option, we request that you use your invoice number as your "answer" to your security question just to be sure your payment is attached to the correct account.

Cash: We will only accept cash if it is arranged ahead of time and paid fully and immediately upon completion of the job to your applicator, who will have a receipt ready for you.

Woodpeckers and flinches, and yes one of them is in the endangered species, and no you can’t shoot them. So, this is my take on them over the last 19 years with the aid of my business banker, who watched them from his office window for years destroying EFIS stucco (External Finish/Foam and Insulation Systems), that is paper thin.

These birds would cause havoc, drilling holes and making several nests, which is kind of odd, because they only need one nest, but here’s the kicker - They would make it for other birds.  And you might think that’s kind of nice, but the reality is other normal birds move in not knowing that the big bad wolf was coming for an omelet breakfast.  

The disheartened birds move on to greener pastures and the slum lord woodpecker comes back in and clears out the nest and waits for the next poor family to move in.  Probably not what you wanted to hear, but what a mess of Styrofoam balls and bird detritus floating around your complex or home.

At Stucco Surgeon we have a maintenance plan that seems to work. Repair and fill in the holes, you may have to plan on us doing it two or three times in the season. We will have to do an invoice for each visit, but you will win.  Think of it this way, you are out camping and all set up, and on your return back to the campsite you find that the wind has knocked down your tent. You may set up your tent again, but when you return from your day fishing and find your site in the same condition as before, you may try setting it up again but probably find a better placement for your tent in the trees. The same goes for these pesky birds, they leave and set up camp hopefully in the trees.

Why did this happen in the first place to your home?  On day one when your house was completed, the birds did not know about your place and only by chance in the early spring, one of these birds stumbled across your place.  He makes his holes.  Now your place is in danger for other birds seeing the new opportunities to move in. The birds are protective of their areas so the new woodpecker moves in down the block and so on. Each year these birds come back to your place because it’s home, and raise their family of half a dozen kids that make nests close to their own family - And it only gets worse from here on.  Repairing one or two holes is very efficient but evicting several families takes a few trips.

Now on several buildings that we worked on that looked like Swiss cheese back in the day, with over 40 active nests, are down to calling us on year three or four to fix up one or two spots from random displaced rogue birds - The birds that are trying to find a new home from other structures that they were chased off from.

What things can I do to prevent the birds from coming?  Two things:

1) Bird netting - Now this does not work in all situations as the netting cannot touch the surface and the birds are fearful of getting caught up in it.

A person may say it looks ugly and the netting will break down with UV rays, and we may agree with this - But Christmas lights that are half burnt out and have no theme for the placements of colours, badly damaged by UV are still being turned on. The netting really is not that noticeable, preventing the birds from punching holes into one’s home. I’m thinking that the bird holes may be uglier than the netting.  The netting will last years and years and if it starts to fail, it can be pulled down without damaging the stucco. Once the netting is removed from your place, your home is probably safe for years as other woodpeckers already have a home and don’t know about your place anymore.  If a random woodpecker picks on your house again, you should call us before it gets way out of hand again, for repairs and putting up what I call summer decoration - The netting.

2) Bird boxes - You can make your own.  Looks simple enough to build, drill an entry hole and screw a chunk of bark on it for a perch and fill it full of chainsaw chips to the top.

The woodpecker will find this around your home or complex and start to clean out some of the wood chips. Yes, this does make a bit of a mess, but it’s wood chips that could be swept/raked up and it's biodegradable, unlike the Styrofoam that floats around with the breeze. The choice is yours.  We talked about woodpeckers being territorial, keeping other birds away from their area. A complex of 85 standalone homes made three of these boxes a few years ago and placed them on the outside edges of their property, and had no more damage to their own houses.  Placement of these boxes could be anywhere, such as if you have a flat top roof which would be a great vantage point for the woodpecker to ward off any other intruders. You could also place them facing your home - So there you have it, these handy tools can definitely lend a helping hand in protecting your investment.