Historic Mural Restoration and Consultation Services Getting the correct information to plan for the preservation and restoration of a historic mural can be a problem... and getting the wrong info can be an expensive and time wasting process. I recently was called by an Army base in Texas with a cautious request: How much would I charge to come to the base, evaluate and estimate the options for the art conservation treatments of a mural painted by a WWII POW? The caller was first stupefied that I would charge so little. Then was reticent to tell me they had just finished dealing with an historic preservation firm in Florida that charged them $45K to evaluate and plan the work. They did a battery of scientific tests and analysis and then gave them a bid that was more than triple the reasonable amount AND did not answer their questions or meet their needs. What an administrative mess it created. I was surprised that they, after having spent the time and money, would still want to move forward with getting the job done right. In the end, we split the project into phases for easier budgeting and they spent less for us to estimate the project AND complete the 1 st phase than they paid for just the $45K 1� useless report alone.
Click on this very short video introduction and example of consultation One of the complications on a project like mural conservation that can arise is the balancing of interests from several different entities that are associated with the project in one way or another. An experienced conservation professional with good communications skills is a major asset that doesn’t reflect in the budget. Scott M. Haskins has been consulting on mural projects and has been performing the preservation, conservation and restoration work on murals since 1975. The professional expertise that he has acquired is indeed versatile and can be put to work for your project. In fact, much of the reputation of Fine Art Conservation Laboratories (FACL, Inc.) is based on difficult problem solving both on the wall and is based on our ability and determination to work well as a team member on a