When work picks up, finding time to learn a new service or improve your process becomes harder. Training now gives you time to consider what you want to offer, how you’ll perform the work, and how you’ll price it. The Wizard of Wood’s two-day Exterior Wood Restoration Boot Camp takes place November 6–7, 2026, in Shamong, New Jersey—an opportunity to prepare for next season with classroom instruction and hands-on experience. Decide What You Want to Offer Next Season Your next

Watching a restoration video can introduce you to a technique. Working through the process with an instructor allows you to ask questions, examine the surface, and understand why each step matters. That’s the experience behind the Wizard of Wood’s Exterior Wood Restoration Boot Camp, happening November 6–7, 2026, in Shamong, New Jersey. Step onto the Training Deck Our training deck provides a setting for hands-on learning with Everett Abrams, the Wizard of Wood. Instead of tr

Want to add wood restoration to your services—or make the jobs you already take on more profitable? Join Everett Abrams, the nationally recognized Wizard of Wood, for a two-day Exterior Wood Restoration Boot Camp in Shamong, New Jersey, November 6–7, 2026. With the 2027 season ahead, this is an opportunity to build your skills, improve your estimating, and prepare to offer customers more. Practice on Our Training Deck Your customer’s deck shouldn’t be your practice deck. Work

Most contractors initially see deck restoration as a single additional service. A customer needs an older deck cleaned, stripped, and stained, so the company accepts the project. However, that first deck can become much more than an occasional job. With the right knowledge and systems, it can become the foundation of an entire wood-restoration division. The opportunity extends beyond decks. The same customer may also have a fence, pergola, wood siding, outdoor furniture, or a

A 500-square-foot deck could be a straightforward restoration project—or a job that destroys an entire week’s schedule. That is why square footage should not be the only number contractors use when estimating exterior wood restoration. Customers frequently ask for a price per square foot. Giving them a quick number may feel convenient, but it can leave the contractor responsible for hours of labor that were never included in the proposal. Two Decks the Same Size Can Require C

# Why the Wizard Uses DRP Stripper Plus When Coatings Fight Back A stubborn deck coating can quickly turn a profitable restoration project into a labor problem. The crew arrives expecting to apply stripper, allow it to dwell, and rinse the old finish away. Instead, the coating barely moves. More chemical gets mixed, more time goes into scrubbing, and a one-day preparation job threatens to disrupt the rest of the week. For contractors, the goal is not simply to use the stronge

Contractors sometimes look at education as an expense. A failed deck-restoration project changes that calculation quickly. When a finish fails, the cost is not limited to another gallon of stain. The contractor may have to return to the property, remove the failed coating, prepare the wood again, purchase replacement materials, pay the crew, and delay other scheduled work. Depending on the size of the project, one failure can cost more than an entire year of professional trai

A pressure washer can remove dirt, mildew, and surface grime from a deck. That does not automatically mean the wood has been professionally restored. Customers may use “washing,” “staining,” and “restoration” as though they mean the same thing. Contractors should understand the difference. If you only know how to clean the surface, you may be walking away from larger projects that require coating removal, surface correction, stain application, and future maintenance. A Clean

Pressure washers and painters are already working around decks, fences, wood siding, and other exterior wood. You have the equipment, customers, and experience operating a service business. What you may be missing is the knowledge required to turn those surfaces into complete wood-restoration projects. This offseason gives you time to close that gap. Instead of waiting until a customer asks about a difficult deck next spring, you can learn the process, organize your pricing,

One of the easiest ways to get an exterior wood restoration project wrong is to choose a product before diagnosing the surface. A weathered deck does not automatically need stripper. A deck with an old coating usually needs more than cleaner. Brightener has a specific job in the restoration process, and stain should not be expected to hide poor preparation underneath it. The professional approach is to inspect first and choose the process second. Here is how a wood restoratio

There is a big difference between knowing how to pressure wash a deck and knowing how to professionally restore exterior wood. Wood restoration requires an understanding of the surface, the coating, the chemicals, the preparation process, the finish, and the conditions surrounding the project. For contractors, there is another layer: you also need to know how to estimate the work, price it correctly, explain the process to customers, and build a profitable service around it.

Exterior wood restoration can look simple from the outside: clean the wood, prep it, apply stain, and move on. But anyone who has worked on enough decks, fences, wood siding, or log homes knows that every project can present a different set of problems. That is exactly why Everett Abrams, better known as the “Wizard of Wood,” created the Exterior Wood Restoration Manual. It takes decades of hands-on experience and puts that knowledge into a resource wood-care professionals ca

One of the fastest ways to get into trouble on an exterior-wood job is to assume that wood is wood. It isn’t. Pressure-treated pine, cedar, redwood, and other species begin with different grain structures, densities, natural colors, and surface characteristics. Then age, weather, previous coatings, sanding, cleaning, and years of maintenance add even more variables. For a restoration contractor, identifying the wood is not trivia. It is part of understanding the surface you a

A contractor who knows how to restore a deck already understands important exterior-wood fundamentals. But a log home is not simply a bigger deck standing on its side. The scale changes. The geometry changes. Exposure changes from wall to wall. Coating history can become more complicated, and one incorrect assumption can be multiplied across an entire house. For contractors who want to expand beyond decks, the first lesson is simple: carry your restoration principles with you

The most important part of a deck-restoration job may happen before you unload a single piece of equipment. Experienced contractors learn to read the deck first. Wood, coatings, repairs, weather exposure, and previous maintenance all leave clues. Those clues can tell you whether a project needs cleaning, coating removal, repairs, sanding, or a completely different plan than you first expected. The Wizard of Wood philosophy is simple: stop treating every deck like the same dec

One of the most expensive mistakes a wood-restoration contractor can make happens before the pressure washer starts, before the stripper is mixed, and before a stain color is selected. It happens when the contractor assumes they know what is already on the wood. An old deck may have been maintained by several homeowners and contractors over its lifetime. A log home may have multiple coating layers from years of maintenance. One side of a wood-sided house may have been refinis

Deck restoration can be a profitable add-on for contractors, pressure washing companies, painters, remodelers, and exterior cleaning businesses. Homeowners already have decks that need cleaning, repair, staining, and maintenance. Many of those decks do not need full replacement. They need someone who understands how to restore and protect exterior wood. That creates an opportunity. But starting a deck restoration business is not as simple as buying a pressure washer and a few

Callbacks are one of the fastest ways to lose profit on a deck staining job. You finish the project, the customer is happy, the deck looks good, and you move on. Then weeks or months later, the call comes in. The stain is peeling. The color looks uneven. The boards feel sticky. Water is not beading. A shaded area is turning dark. Now you are back on the job, spending unpaid time trying to figure out what went wrong. For contractors, avoiding deck staining callbacks starts lon

A lot of contractors get into deck restoration because it looks like a natural add-on service. If you already do pressure washing, painting, remodeling, exterior cleaning, or deck building, offering deck staining and restoration makes sense. But deck restoration can become a problem fast if there is no system. Without a system, every job is different in the worst way. You guess at the prep. You guess at the stain. You guess at the price. You hope the weather cooperates. You h

One of the biggest mistakes contractors make in deck restoration is pricing the job like it is simple labor. They look at the deck, guess how long it will take, throw out a number, and hope the project goes smoothly. Then the deck needs more prep than expected. The old coating does not come off easily. The boards need sanding. The weather slows things down. The customer wants repairs included. Materials cost more than expected. By the end, the contractor is busy, tired, and b