Last updated: September 14 / 2008

 What is My Lead-time?

Schedule Reliability?
I would not want get behind schedule or to give you false hope, so I try to factor in time for unexpected small projects and complication that could arise within my time-line.  It should not be later than the time listed above and it could be sooner if all goes well. 

What about small simple projects?
It is common for me to fit in small simple fabrications in between major projects that would only take a few hours to complete like: flashing kits, ridge caps, and small basic turret or gazebo roof caps. Usually within a week or two. If you want a larger ornate roof cap with a weathervane or finial support pipe installed; it would need to wait for my schedule to clear.

What if your schedule changes before we work out the details and I can send in my deposit?
That could certainly be an issue. I do all I can to swiftly respond to each e-mail and I answer my cell phone personally to help work this out as quickly as possible. If you feel confident that we will be able to work up a satisfactory deal and need to get in my cue as soon as possible; you can mail in an estimated amount for the project you want to get the ball rolling.  I will adjust the price according to the arrangement we work out later.  Only half down payment for projects over $500, or only a 1/3 deposit for larger projects over $2k. 

This also takes the pressure off you to make a hasty decision about the details of your project. If for any reason we are not able to work out a fair deal, or you just change your mind; that deposit is 90% refundable upon request. No need for an explanation. 

 Latest News

This is a copy of the interview for Angie's List we did for their July 2008 magazine. I seem to be the only one to report I have been doing better than ever these days; attributing it to good communication through this web site and swift responses to e-mail:

We have a new address and larger workshop (7/07)
We moved across town into a newer place with a 24' x 42' shop space out in the country with horses and cows to go with our 2 pygmy goats. It is in Eagle Creek, Oregon just 5 miles North of Estacada, which is just 30 miles Southeast of Down Town Portland. The address is listed on my Contact web page.

 How Do We Arrange for a Quote?

I strive to check and respond to e-mail at least a couple times each day morning and night. I am prompt to respond to those e-mail within 24 hours even on weekends, unless we happen to be out of town, but that is very rare. So this process should go swiftly.  I do have a toll free phone# listed on my Contact web page.

On-line Estimate:
I have personally authored this web site with real price examples and more photos than you will find else where.  I have gone to great effort in order to provide you with all this information, so you can avoid the risk of a sly high pressured sales pitch, in order for you to anonymously see if I can do what you are needing at a reasonable price.

You can e-mail me about your needs and I try my best not to to use any sort of slick sales tactics to make you feel compelled to sign-up with me. It is very helpful to list these details in your e-mail:
(1) very close, if not exact measurements of your project, or the quote would be invalid.
(2) the type of roofing you have and the pitch of your roof
(3) diagrams (if possible) to show me what you have in mind; sent as an image file attached to your e-mail
(4) any digital photos that you can send of your house are very helpful.  You never know what I might notice that could be a serious issue.  I have DSL, so file size is not much of an issue, but it seems that it should be under 2 megs per e-mail. My PC screen resolution is 1280 x 768 pixels
(5) any cost limitation or time lines that have to be met, so I can let you know if this is workable.

The more info you send; the more chance that I can give you an accurate quote.  I will try to be as flexible as possible, but you will want a ceiling cost, so your project does not get out of hand. My final cost may be a little lower than my quote, since on large projects I will re-price the final cost to reflect only the material actually in the custom fabrication.  This way you are only paying for what you get at the quoted cost per square foot of copper actually in these projects.

On-site Estimate:
My contractors license and liability insurance is for gutter replacement and other sheet metal work in Oregon only. I could do some other work like some high end fence and deck building, but I am not able to do any roofing related work, so I could not install the custom copper roof caps and chimney caps I specialize in making. But I can assist with getting measurements if you happen to be local to us.

If you happen to live in or near the Portland Oregon Metro Area and are interested in my high-end gutter replacement, I am required by the CCB to supply potential clients with free bids within a reasonable geographical area from my location. I can usually go out to your place to write up a free estimate within a business day or two, as long as you are local to us (within 20 miles or so). If my wait time to do the actual installation (http://dmr-gutters.com/news.htm) is not a problem, feel free to e-mail me with your address, contact info, and any details you think is relevant to your needs, so I can service you with a bid.

If you feel you need to talk to me about your special needs, you can call David's mobile phone at 503 351-7082.

 What are My Costs and What Sort of Deposit is Required?

My base rates:
From what I have heard I have some of the most competitive rates you will find. I have a small overhead working just outside of our rental home. Most custom copper work runs $20 per pound* (not including the crate and shipping charges). This translates to these rates per square foot:
$25 sq' - 20oz copper
$30 sq' - 24oz copper
$40 sq' - 32oz copper
$60 sq' - 48oz copper

Discounts:
For simple flashing kits and ridge caps with 20oz copper I can make them for as little as $15 to $20 per square foot depending on the quantity ordered. I do not recommend the thinner 16oz copper sheet metal typically used for roof flashing and gutters. It dents too easily and will not hold up as long still looking good.

For thicker copper than my standard 20oz thickness is harder to cut, drill, and bend, so thicker metal costs a good deal more to use in projects. That is one reason I find it more cost efficient to add more bracing inside the chimney cap roof sub structures, instead of just using a thicker copper sheet metal.

Deposits:
As to the payment to secure your spot in my schedule:
Full payment is required on projects under $500
For larger projects over $500 I accept 1/2 down, with the final adjusted* payment before it ships.
For large projects of $2k or more I accept 1/3 down. The second third when I start to show you I have begun work on your project through digital photos. Then final adjusted* payment before it ships.

* For projects over $500 I work with you to set a ceiling cost on your project well before I begin, but when I am finished I can weigh it to get the actual amount of cupper used, not including the cut-off waste used (which any other shop would charge you for). I then can adjust the final payment to reflect only what you will receive, so you are not paying for more for an inflated or loosely quoted price. A detail you are able to double check after it arrives to see how honest I was.

We all know it is a scary ugly world out there full of liars and cheats.  Although, I believe my Business Integrity Award from the Better Business Bureau should give even the worst critics the confidence of my ethical responsibility and devotion to my clients.  I have had less than 5% of my potential clients express discomfort with my payment policy.  This has not been much of an issue, but if you do not trust me, you should simply not do business with me at all.

What has been happening to the cost of copper?
Besides fuel prices slowly rising from $1.50 per gallon to well over twice that amount during the Bush term; it seems that sheet metal prices suddenly rose several times in early 2006 to about twice the cost, largely due to a couple worker strikes in mines in Chili and Mexico, along with a larger demand in China for raw materials than their own mining has been able to produce. You can read more on this subject at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/markets/commodities.html

At the core of these price changes is the cost of scrap metal. Here in the Portland Oregon area I take in small pieces of scrap copper for recycling on occasion. The prices had fluctuated between $0.65 - $0.85 per pound all through the 90s and half way into this decade. Now aluminum is in that price range. At the beginning of April 2006 copper was up to an astonishing $1.70 per pound. Then up to $1.90 just 2 weeks later. Then up to an alarming $2.40 at the beginning of May. In early June it had risen to $2.60 a pound, which is triple the cost I had ever seen it in the past. I expected that drastic inflation to have dropped again to a reasonable amount once the problems of supply had been resolved, but it has held steady over the last couple years with no sign of dropping.

The prices listed on this web site for custom copper work were the actual costs of those items at that time, but do not reflect accurately how much new projects will run now. My prices have not doubled, since most of the cost is labor, but I had to compensate for these cost increases. This is of course not within my control, and I have no idea where these prices will go in the foreseeable future, but analysts do not see it going down in the next few years with large oil companies controlling governments and economies.

 Do You Accept Credit Card Payments?

I have PayPal set-up on my contact Info web page , but it is not any faster for me than the US mail and cost me 3% of your order, so I prefer you just send me a personal check.

Also, not that I had any personal problems with PayPal, but they have had a very poor reputation for providing no customer service contact info for merchants and randomly seizing merchant's funds to help cover unrelated credit card fraud losses. I had closed my account in 2003 because of this concern and removed it from my web site for several years, just before Ebay bought them out. I more recently reestablished an account through them again (12/06), but a few clients have reporting trouble getting payments to go through.

I have looked into other sources, but they are expensive and complicated.

Another quick way is to do a funds transfer right from your Bank into my account. I know they charge me a $10 transfer fee to receive it, and I would not know what your bank might charge you. I can provide you with my bank transfer information upon request.

Over 95% of my non-local clients just snail-mail me a personal check. That seems to have worked out fine so far and I have not received any bad checks to date. I'll notify you when the check is received. Then send digital photos of the progress.  Finally, the tracking # when it ships with the personalized installation instructions. Note: I will need your daytime contact phone# for the shipping label.

 My Toll-free Phone #

If you are not calling about having me do work for you; please read over my Consultation Service described below, before calling me to assist you with problems you may have encountered from other contractors.

Non-local Client Orders
Most of my clients are near the opposite coast from us, so I have to rely on you to get me the info I need to create the project you need and so it will fit just right.  I cannot guaranty it will fit if I do not have all the info and correct measurements.  You will then need to do the installation yourself or hire a local contractor to do the installation. I do provide them with personalized and detailed installation instruction along with all the needed hardware to attach the units I build.