Exterior contractor in Birmingham, MI
Birmingham is a city where the outside of a house is taken seriously. Streets have a consistent character, houses are maintained to a standard, and much of the stock is either original pre-war architecture or a substantial modern rebuild done to a design.
That changes what exterior work is here. Elsewhere it is a maintenance decision. In Birmingham it is usually a design decision with a maintenance benefit attached, and the specification has to stand up to being looked at closely.
Appearance is part of the specification
On most houses a gutter is sized and hung and nobody looks at it again. On a Birmingham elevation the profile of that gutter, where the downspouts land and what colour they are all matter, because the whole front of the house is composed.
The same goes for trim proportion, exposure width, the line where siding meets masonry, and where a vent or a flashing is visible from the street. None of it costs much more to get right. All of it is obvious when it is wrong.
What we do in Birmingham
- Roofing — roofing in Birmingham · residential roofing · repairs · storm damage
- Siding, soffit and fascia — siding in Birmingham · vinyl · fiber cement
- Seamless gutters — gutters in Birmingham · seamless gutters · leaf protection · copper
- Everything else on the outside — drainage, windows, painting, masonry, decks, additions and commercial roofing
Check what the city wants before anything is ordered
Birmingham takes an active interest in the appearance of buildings, and parts of the city have review beyond an ordinary building permit. What applies is set by the city and it changes, so we check for your specific address rather than telling you what applied to the last job we did here.
Practically that means the product and colour go on the quote by name, the order goes in after any approval rather than before, and we supply the product data that a review process normally asks for rather than leaving you to chase it.
How we run a job on these streets
Mature trees, established landscaping and houses set close to the road mean site management is a real part of the work. Where material is stored, how planting is protected, and how the street looks at the end of each day are not cosmetic concerns here.
We agree staging and storage at the estimate, cover what needs covering, and clean daily rather than at the end. That is the difference between a job your neighbours tolerate and one they complain about.
Work we are most often asked for here
Whole-house replacements are less common in Birmingham than elsewhere. Most of what we do is specific:
- Gables and dormers only, on an otherwise masonry house. Small areas with a lot of detail, and often the element that makes a well-kept elevation look tired.
- Copper gutters and downspouts where the architecture justifies them, and matched aluminium where it does not.
- Soffit, fascia and frieze, which on a house with deep eaves is a visible band around the entire building.
- Roof replacement where the appearance of the shingle matters as much as its rating, including on steep and complex pre-war rooflines.
- Rear elevations and detached garages, usually the parts that have been left behind while the front was maintained.
Questions from Birmingham homeowners
Do I need approval before changing the outside of my house?
It depends on your address and on what you are changing. Requirements are set by the city and they do change, so we check with the building department for your property before anything is ordered rather than relying on precedent.
Is a small job worth your time?
Yes. A good deal of our work here is a gable, a run of gutter or a section of trim. Those are the jobs where getting the detail right is most visible.
Can you match an existing profile or colour?
Often. On trim and gutter we can usually match closely, and on fiber cement a specific colour is straightforward. Where a genuine match is not possible we will say so rather than let you find out on installation day.
Do you do copper work?
Yes. It is a different trade from standard aluminium gutter and it is priced accordingly, but on the right house it is the correct answer rather than an indulgence.
Nearby
- Exterior contractor in Bloomfield, MI
- Exterior contractor in Royal Oak, MI
- Exterior contractor in Troy, MI
The full coverage list is on our service area page.
Free estimate in Birmingham
Tell us what you want looked at, however small. The visit and the written specification cost nothing.
Request a free estimate or call (586) 533-8343.
