Pli-Dek to Raise Prices September 1st

Pli-Dek became the third manufacturer in the last week to announce a price increase recently in their wholesale prices to distributors.

Pressure from increasing costs of materials, delivery and raw goods is the cause...

Buy now and save!

Deferred Maintenance on HOA Draws a $27,500 Special Assessment

A Nevada HOA has passed an Special Assessment for $27,500.00 per unit...defrred maintenance dontcha know... View the TV report on video at Channel 4's website by clicking our headine to go to TV 4's site.

Residents of a Reno housing complex are upset over being hit with $27,500 assessment bills from their Home Owner's Association with little help from the courts.

The Housing Association hit 32 property owners at the Riverside Terrace condominiums with a $27,500 a piece assessment bill even though records show a majority of the home owners voted against the assessment.

"The lady next door, she's single," Elmer Morgan said, Riverside Terrace resident. He says it's a hardship on everyone he has spoken to in the community.

Morgan says the association has refused to do basic preventative maintenance, such as roof repair, for years and that's why he says the complex is in its current bad shape.

The property assessment reports that "maintenance has either been inadequate, deferred or both."

After years of seeming neglect, now the association wants to perform a million dollar upgrade at the residents' expense.

Another one bites the dust...another one bits the dust...and another one gone and another one gone...

No it's not Queen and Freddie Mercury rising again, it's the sound of falling developers...and their developments going up for auction.

In an areas less than a mile apart, are 4 very different developments-3 of which are in trouble or closed down. Dove Creek, currently owned by Centex, still has breath left in it, but Southside Condo's on El Camino Real is closed down and now Las Lomas, with RW Hertel and Tri-Mark Pacific owning various lots are kicking off. Hertel apparently is in big financial trouble on this project, with some houses and lots set to be auctioned next month. Tri-Mark has problems, but has sold all their homes except for 4, which are worth less than what they owe on to the bank.

In retrospect, I am glad some of these jobs, which I had bid on a couple years ago, were jobs I didn't get. Hopefully the subs have got paid...

Read the article below from the Tribune


From the Tribune's Biz Buzz section...
Las Lomas, a large housing subdivision started in 2003 in south Atascadero, has come to a stop and is in financial trouble. Only 60 or so of the 279 projected homes have been built and occupied, and part of the 100-acre-plus tract is in foreclosure.

Part of the tract is owned by developer Ronald W. Hertel, operating under Atascadero Ventures LLC, and the rest is owned by Trimark Pacific Homes of Westlake Village near Los Angeles.

County records show that Hertel’s firm owes more than $21 million to two real estate lenders: Point Center Financial of Orange County and De Witte Mortgage Investors Fund of Santa Barbara.

Currently 21 lots on Via Cielo, Azor Lane and Monte Verde are scheduled for public auction next month. About half of the to-be-auctioned lots have newly-built, high-end, 3,000-square-foot homes that were on the market—but did not sell — for between $800,000 to $1 million. The rest are vacant.

Hertel and other company representatives could not be reached for comment.

Trimark Pacific bought a portion of Las Lomas from Hertel in 2005. That portion of the project has also stopped, said Kirk Chittick, Trimark Pacific’s vice president of sales and marketing.

Of the 19 homes that his firm has already built, he said four remain to be sold at asking prices around $700,000.

Trimark has stopped building because it “owes the bank more than the houses are worth,” Chittick said.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON OUR HEADLINE...(note, this link will only be good for a few days, then the Trib will want $ to read their article.

CSLB Revokes License's, Including Deck Master of La Jolla, + see the Updated "Most Wanted List"

Don't know if this company does deck coatings or builds decks, but in any case, Carl Lewis Becker's contractors license, dba "Deck Master" was revoked for several causes under a case/complaint (#2 2007 001183)

Business & Professions Code
7107
Abandonment without legal excuse of any construction project

Business & Professions Code
7083
Failed to report license changes.

CSLB lists all suspended/revoked licenses, be sure to check your contractor out first.

Maybe you can help CSLB track down these violators...

See CSLB's "MOST WANTED" List by clicking the link...

by clicking the link...pictures and information on the top violaters in California, protect yourself from unscrupulous contractors, due diligence is the word!

Pli-Dek Joins Waterproofdeckcoatingadvice.com as a Paid Sponsor

Pli-Dek Inc of Murrieta CA has joined us as a sponsor of our Blog and website, becoming the first major manufacturer to step into the pool as it were...

We are glad to have Pli-Dek on board, they are a reputable company that has proven systems for waterproofing decks over plywood and concrete substrates, as well as a line of epoxy for coating concrete floors.

Be sure to visit their new website and make sure you tell them you found them here at Waterproofdeckcoatingadvice.com's Blog!

Welcome aboard!

Deck Expert Goes on a Field Trip

Just like in high school, I loved going on "field trips" to see competitors jobs after they are completed. See the job, check what they've done, how they did it, details, and of course, to see if any problems exist or evidence of problems.

So last week on Friday, Deck Expert went off with a buddy to trip down to Rancho Bernardo to the 4S Ranch, where apartment homes were recently built by Saris-Regis Homes...

Rumor has it that it's a job with Westcoat on it, so we're looking for evidence of any failures over wp-40 in particular.

Most of the walkways are well covered with overhangs, protecting them from the heat of the sun, which out here, can easily reach 105 degrees I'm told on many days. There's also private decks and entry decks too so we check them all out, or at least what we can get on... many of these have some sun exposure so maybe we'll find something.

Our field trip revealed some interesting observations and strange details, many of which I personally would never have covered over. We found hot water heater closet doors without any thresholds, that are actually lower than the decks, meaning when it rains, water could run under the doors into the closets. Hope they called that out before waterproofing the closets and decks...

We also found the trim on the doors down onto the decks, which can allow water to wick up into the trim and cause rot, edge details where the material is pulling away or never adhered to begin with. We also saw details like the post bases being covered over, the bolts and bases covered with materials, just barely.

Then as it was looking like there was nothing of significance failing, I spotted a big deck at the leasing center on the second floor, looking out over the pool. Totally exposed to the sun, during the hottest parts of the day.

So into the leasing center we went, up the stairs and out onto the deck. JACKPOT!

So here are the pictures of the cracked deck, multiple cracks everywhere. We found areas where the deck sounded hollow, like it wasn't attached to anything...it moved too, with my weight on the areas...

So is this a Westcoat product job with ALX and WP-40? We're going to find out for sure, we're sending the pictures to Sares-Regis and I'm going to ask them who did it and with