Rules
Part of 5 details of historic home restoration people miss
4 takeaways on historic home restoration
Fifteen questions that separate a restoration contractor from a remodeler, covering written specifications, mock-ups, hazard certification and repair method.
What to take away
- Ask which published method the crew will follow. A restoration bid that names no method is a remodeling bid wearing different clothes.
- Require a sample or mock-up on anything visiblemortar color, paint sheen, plaster texture, sash profile.
- Confirm hazard certification in writing before demolition, not after dust is airborne.
- The person who answers your technical questions should be the person who will be on site.
Hiring a historic home restoration contractor is less about price than about method. Two bids can differ by a factor of three and describe entirely different work on the same wall. These questions expose the difference early.
Questions about method
Start by asking what the crew intends to do, in words, before asking what it costs.
Questions to Ask About Method
- Which published procedure covers this work?
- Will you repair the existing feature?
- What happens to removed original material?
- How will adjacent finishes be protected?
- Who writes the specification?
That first question is more useful than it sounds. The National Park Service keeps a free technical library: its index of Preservation Briefs covers masonry cleaning, repointing, windows, plaster, roofing and porches in enough detail that a competent contractor will recognize the titles. The published method a bid should name is the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation — the yardstick state historic preservation offices and local preservation commissions review work against, and the standard the federal rehabilitation tax credit is built on.
The General Services Administration publishes comparable material for its own historic buildings. Its written technical procedures are a useful template for what a real specification contains: materials, sequence, testing and acceptance. The same discipline applies to what goes on the wall, where a sample tested on the actual substrate settles an argument faster than a data sheet.
Questions about hazards
Anything built before 1978 should be treated as containing lead paint until a test says otherwise, and anything with mid-century pipe wrap, duct tape mastic or resilient flooring may contain asbestos. Two federal rules frame that work: the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (40 CFR 745) for disturbing lead paint in pre-1978 housing, and the asbestos NESHAP, which many states layer with their own notification and accreditation requirements. Ask directly:
Hazard Questions to Ask
- Are you certified for lead paint work?
- Who tests, and do I get results?
- Which licensed abatement firm do you use?
- What containment and cleanup will be in place?
Never accept a verbal reassurance here. Ask for the firm's EPA lead-safe certification and the renovator's individual certificate, for the asbestos inspector's accreditation, and for any state notification requirement in writing. Written answers protect both sides.
Questions about the contract
| Ask this | Because |
|---|---|
| Who pulls the permit? | The permit holder carries the liability |
| What is an allowance and what is a fixed price? | Allowances hide discovery costs |
| How are change orders priced and approved? | Verbal change orders end friendships |
| What is the retainage and punch list process? | Closeout is where projects stall |
| Which parts are subcontracted? | You are hiring the sub as much as the contractor |
The allowance row is the one that moves the most money after signing, which is why the questions about how a price is structured deserve a conversation of their own. One approval sits outside the contract: if the house is in a local historic district, the preservation commission's certificate of appropriateness, or whatever your local equivalent is called, has to be issued before work starts, and the permit holder is usually the one who applies for it.
Questions about the people
Ask who will actually swing the hammer. Restoration work depends on individual craft skill more than most trades. A firm that wins the job on its owner's knowledge may staff it with a crew that has never repaired a sash.
Ask for two addresses of finished work you can see from the sidewalk, and one client whose job went badly. The second reference is the informative one.
For the wider sequence these questions sit inside, see the whole-house restoration guide. For license, insurance and reference checks in detail, see our contractor vetting walkthrough.
