Unusual challenges we faced and how we overcame them

Even the most seasoned commercial cladding refurbishment experts like us here at Cladding Coatings can find ourselves faced with something new. Here are some of the latest challenges we’ve encountered, and how we solved the problems to deliver for our clients every time.

At Cladding Coatings, you’d expect that we’d seen it all when it comes to external building maintenance. With multiple decades of commercial cladding refurbishment experience amongst our team, we’ve visited highly problematic buildings, refurbished multiple units on single sites, and travelled the length and breadth of the country for household name clients.

Yet every project and every client is unique. With that comes individual challenges, and even our experienced team are sometimes surprised by the new things we come across when working on projects.

Let’s take a look at some of the unusual commercial cladding refurbishment challenges our team faced in the last year, and how we overcame them:

Bird netting at Brother Industries

In October 2020, our team were already prepared to tackle the fresh challenges we faced when our client, Brother Industries in Wrexham, fell subject to Wales’ national covid lockdown. Yet we soon discovered something new to confront: bird netting.

The bird netting was in place on the front of the unit’s façade. As such, we needed to cut this down in order to access the cladding, repaint the steel columns at the property’s entrance, and complete our commercial cladding refurbishment work. Then, we needed to reinstate the bird netting when our work was complete. As this fell outside of our, albeit extensive, areas of expertise, we recommend an allowance from pest control to reinstall and, if needed, repair the netting. And, once our onsite spraying and commercial cladding refurbishment work was completed, we instructed a firm to reassemble new netting.

Thankfully, before our work began, we’d already been on site and provided an onsite survey. This meant we’d discovered the bird netting in advance, so its removal and reinstatement was all part of our quote, meaning every detail, however unusual, was planned and taken care of for our client.

Painting external machinery

It’s all part of a thorough and professional commercial cladding refurbishment project to make every inch of your property’s exterior look professional and polished, and perform well. For Brother Industries, this included painting the machinery that sat in front of the unit we were working on.

It wasn’t something we’d usually cover. Yet our conscientious approach is all about taking care of every detail for our clients, so we painted the external machinery as part of our overall project. We used our tried and tested approved system, Rust-Oleum Noxyde®, which is backed by our minimum ten-year guarantee. This meant that no matter the unusual nature of the work, our client was supported with complete peace of mind.

Dangerous plants and a waiting game

When we asked the gardener at Howard Tenens in Andover, Swindon, to cut back some trees so we could fully access the cladded elevation, we expected this to be a fairly straightforward task. The gardener was supportive and obliging, yet explained this wouldn’t be possible. The trees had an adverse effect on humans if they were disturbed, so there was no other option for health and safety but to wait until the leaves fell in autumn and cut back the trees then.

Naturally, we returned to our client’s site as soon as it was safe for the gardener to cut the trees back. That way we could access the elevation and complete our commercial cladding refurbishment work, at no extra cost to the client.

Commercial cladding refurbishment may be our area of expertise, but it’s natural that now and again new challenges arise. We’re proud to say that we tackle them with knowledge, skill and a commitment to a health and safety that’s unwavering for our team and our clients.

Take a look at our case studies here to see the types of projects we’ve been involved with this last year. Then get in touch with our team to discuss your commercial cladding refurbishment needs today, no matter how unique they may sound!