What boards and administrators ask

Paint in buildings built before 1978 may contain lead. The EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule covers paid work that disturbs paint in homes and in child-occupied facilities built before 1978, such as a day care, a preschool or a kindergarten class. A firm doing that work has to be certified by the EPA, and ours adds its firm number under Credentials. A church or hall with no program of that kind may fall outside the federal rule, and your state or city may have its own. We ask for the building's age before we write a proposal, and we tell you in writing which rules the work follows.

The EPA's definition is a building, or part of one, built before 1978 that the same child under six visits regularly: on at least two days in a week, at least three hours each day, at least six hours in the week and at least 60 hours in a year. A weekday preschool, a day care or a kindergarten class in your school wing usually meets it. A nursery used one morning a week usually does not. If you are not sure, tell us how the space is used and we will help you work it out before anyone picks up a scraper.

Not in the same space. The proposal splits the building into zones and says which are closed on which days. Sanctuary entrances stay clear on service days, funerals and weddings are put on the schedule before we start, and a school wing is painted when the school says it is empty.

Our own crew builds it, ties it to the building and takes it down. Working levels have rails and toe boards, and we stop for lightning and high wind. If a scaffold needs an engineer's design or a city permit for the sidewalk or street, the proposal says so.

Many of the city's older neighborhoods are local historic districts, and some buildings are landmarks. Whether a repaint needs review depends on the district, the building and the change: the Historic District Landmarks Commission covers most of them and the Vieux Carré Commission covers the French Quarter. We look up the rule for your address and, when review is needed, prepare photographs and a color schedule for your board to submit. The decision is the commission's, not ours.

The surfaces and areas, the repairs, the number of coats, the products and sheens, how we get access, the schedule by zone, cleanup, the payment schedule and the warranty terms. We write it after a walk-through of the building, so it describes your building and not a typical one.

Yes. Boards often ask for a full scope and a smaller one so the vote has something to compare. We write the options on the same pages, with the same headings, so the differences are easy to find.

Many congregations paint in stages: the steeple and the street side first, the hall and classrooms later. We write each phase so it stands on its own, and a later phase is looked at again when you are ready for it.

Someone with keys to every space, including the attic, bell tower and boiler room if we are to see them. Any plans, earlier proposals or paint records you have, and the name of the person who will sign off for the board.

It depends on the height, the condition of the wood and plaster, and the weather. The proposal gives a range of working days for each zone. It is a range because weather and what we find under old paint can move it, and we tell you as soon as it moves.

Pews, rails, carpet and floors are covered, and anything fragile or consecrated stays with your sexton or music director's plan: they tell us what must be moved by your people and what we may cover in place.

Exterior paint needs dry surfaces and dry days, so we move exterior work to the cooler, drier months where the calendar allows. From June to November we watch the forecast, and when a storm is named we secure or take down the scaffold and tell you the new plan.

The written warranty says what is covered, for how long and what is not. Terms, limits and exclusions are in your written warranty, which we give your board with the proposal.

Yes, one goes to your board with the proposal, and we can name your congregation or institution on it when your insurer asks. Coverage amounts and dates are on the certificate itself.