What an EIFS Repair Contractor Does in the Lower Mainland

Homeowners in Coquitlam and Burnaby usually find us the same way. There is a stain under a window, or a crack that came back after the last painter caulked it, and three estimates that don't agree. One says patch and recoat for $4,000. One says tear off the whole wall. One never called back. The question underneath is what an EIFS repair contractor in the Lower Mainland is supposed to do, and which of those estimates describes the actual job.

This guide walks through the work in the order it happens on site, from the first moisture reading to the last sealant joint, with 2026 costs and timelines for Greater Vancouver. It is the same sequence we follow on a detached house in Burnaby and on a four-storey strata building in Surrey. The details change with scale. The order does not.

What does an EIFS repair contractor actually do?

An EIFS repair contractor finds where water is getting into the wall, opens the foam and finish at those points, replaces wet or rotted sheathing and framing, rebuilds the flashings and membrane so the wall drains, then reinstalls foam, mesh, base coat and finish to match. In the Lower Mainland, a single window opening typically runs $7,000 to $18,000 and takes 3 to 6 working days.

The finish is the last 5 percent of the job. Anyone quoting only the finish is quoting the part you can see.

Why EIFS repair is its own trade

EIFS (Exterior Insulation and Finish System) looks like stucco from the sidewalk. It is a different wall. Stucco is cement plaster, roughly 20 mm thick, on metal lath. EIFS is foam insulation board, 25 to 100 mm thick, with a base coat, embedded fibreglass mesh and a textured acrylic finish on top. The skin over the foam is often only a few millimetres thick.

That thin skin changes everything about repair. You cannot trowel a stucco patch onto EIFS and expect it to bond or move with the foam. You cannot cut into it with the tools a stucco crew uses without shattering the edges. The new mesh has to lap into the old mesh, the base coat has to be compatible with the original system, and the finish has to come from the same manufacturer family or you put the warranty on everything around it at risk.

We covered how the two claddings perform in coastal weather in stucco vs EIFS in BC. For repair, the short version: a stucco crew and an EIFS crew are not interchangeable, even when they work for the same company. Ask who will actually be on your wall.

Two systems exist in Lower Mainland buildings, and the contractor needs to know which one you have before quoting anything:

• Barrier EIFS, common from the 1980s to the late 1990s. Foam glued straight to the sheathing, no drainage path. Any water that gets past the face stays in the wall.
• Drainable EIFS, standard since the early 2000s. A drainage plane plus grooved foam or a drainage mat let water that gets behind the foam run down and out through a track at the base.

A repair on barrier EIFS is not the same job as a repair on drainable EIFS. More on that below.

Step 1: Finding the water

Most people call when they see a symptom. A stain below a window corner. A soft spot that gives under a thumb. Hairline cracks running diagonally from the corners of openings. Sealant that has pulled away from a window frame.

The symptom is rarely where the water enters. On EIFS walls we find the entry point above and to one side of the stain more often than directly behind it, because water travels along the sheathing and the back of the foam before it shows.

A proper assessment includes:

• A visual survey of every elevation, with attention to window heads and sills, roof-to-wall junctions, deck ledgers, hose bibs, dryer vents and light fixtures.
• Moisture probing. Two small pins go through the finish into the sheathing at suspect spots and read moisture content. Each hole gets sealed afterward. Readings above about 19 percent in wood sheathing mean wet. Readings above about 28 percent mean conditions where rot can start.
• Inspection openings at the worst readings. A small cut, usually 100 to 200 mm square, to look at the sheathing directly. Photos go in the report.
• Thermal imaging, sometimes. It can show wet areas on a cold, dry morning, but it misreads on sunny walls and never replaces probing.

Cost for a single-family home runs $400 to $1,200. For a strata building with multiple elevations, thermal imaging and selective openings, expect $2,500 to $8,000, often done alongside a building envelope consultant. Our guide to building envelope consultant reports explains how that report shapes the repair.

A contractor who quotes an EIFS repair without a single moisture reading is guessing. Sometimes they guess right.

Step 2: A written scope that plans for what's hidden

After the assessment you should get a written scope of work that names every opening and area to be repaired, the method for each, and the finish plan. On EIFS that document needs one more thing most lump-sum quotes leave out: unit prices for concealed damage.

Nobody knows exactly how far rot runs until the foam is off. A good scope prices the known work as a fixed number and adds unit rates for what might be found. Ranges we see in 2026:

That table protects you more than it protects the contractor. Without it, a hidden-damage discovery becomes a negotiation on a day when your wall is open and it is raining. With it, the extra cost is arithmetic.

Ask for the finish plan in writing too: patch and blend, or refinish to the nearest corner or joint. That one line decides whether you can see the repair from the street two years later.

Step 3: Access, weather and the calendar

EIFS materials are particular about temperature. Most manufacturers require air and wall temperatures of at least 4°C during application and for 24 hours afterward, and fresh base coat and finish can't take rain until they cure. The Lower Mainland gives you roughly May to early October when that is easy to hit.

From November to March the job still gets done, but the wall needs a tented enclosure and heat. On a single house elevation that adds several thousand dollars and a few days. On a strata building it can add tens of thousands. A contractor who promises winter work with no enclosure is either planning to cut corners or planning to wait.

Access is the other big number. A ground-floor repair on a rancher in Richmond needs ladders and a plank. A third-floor window on a Burnaby townhouse needs scaffold, which in 2026 runs roughly $2,500 to $7,000 for one elevation of a house, including setup and removal. Mid-rise strata work near Metrotown or Lonsdale often means swing stages or scaffold wrapped around the building, and that line can reach 15 to 25 percent of the total.

Ask where scaffold appears in the estimate. If it doesn't, it will appear later.

Step 4: Cutting back to sound material

Once the area is protected, the crew cuts the EIFS skin and foam back to sound, dry material. We typically cut at least 150 mm past the last soft or wet spot, then square the opening so the patch lines up with windows, corners or reveals instead of floating as a random shape in the middle of a wall.

Cutting technique matters more than most owners would guess. A clean cut leaves the existing mesh intact and exposed along the edges so the new mesh can lap into it. A rough cut, or one made with a grinder at the wrong depth, delaminates the surrounding finish and turns a 1-metre repair into a 3-metre one.

This is also where the contractor photographs everything. Before, during and after removal, every stud bay and every sheet. On strata work the consultant usually needs to see the open wall before anything gets closed. On a house, those photos are your record if you ever sell, claim or dispute.

Step 5: Repairing the structure behind the foam

With the foam off, the real job is visible. Common findings in Lower Mainland walls:

• Wet sheathing that is still sound. It can stay if it dries below about 19 percent within the schedule. Fans and heaters help. Closing it up wet does not.
• Soft or delaminated sheathing. OSB swells and loses strength; plywood separates at the edges. Both get cut out and replaced.
• Rotted framing. Usually the bottom plate below a window, the jack studs beside it, or the rim joist at a deck ledger. Sistered or replaced depending on the extent and whether it carries load.
• Mould on framing surfaces. Cleaned and treated when the wood is sound, removed when it isn't.

Larger structural repairs may need a building permit. Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey and most other Lower Mainland municipalities treat like-for-like cladding repair differently from work that changes structure or the wall assembly. A contractor who works in these cities every season will know which side of the line your job falls on, and should say so in the scope.

Step 6: Rebuilding the part that keeps water out

This step separates a repair from a patch. The foam and finish don't keep water out on their own. The flashings, membranes and sealant joints do. If the repair only replaces what was damaged and rebuilds it the same way, it will fail the same way.

On a typical window repair, that means:

• A sill pan or sloped, membrane-lined sill under the window, turned up at the ends, so water that gets past the frame drains out instead of into the wall.
• A head flashing over the window, lapped under the membrane above it, not sealed on top of it.
• A water-resistive barrier over the new sheathing, lapped shingle-style into the existing barrier around the repair. Liquid-applied or sheet, as long as it is compatible with the EIFS system.
• Kickout flashings at any nearby roof-to-wall junction. They are small, inexpensive parts, and missing kickouts are among the most common reasons we open EIFS walls in Surrey and Langley.

Our article on window and door flashing details goes deeper on the sequence.

On barrier EIFS, this step raises a bigger question. Adding drainage at one window opening while the rest of the wall stays a barrier system buys you very little. Water that gets in 300 mm away still has nowhere to go. That is where a repair conversation often becomes a recladding conversation.

Step 7: Foam, mesh, base coat and finish

Only now does the visible part go back on.

New foam board is adhered to the substrate, usually with notched-trowel adhesive in vertical ribbons on drainable systems so water can run down behind it. The board is rasped flat to the surrounding surface. Any high spot shows through the finish later.

Then reinforcing mesh gets embedded in base coat. The new mesh has to lap the existing mesh by about 65 mm (2.5 inches) on every edge. Without that lap, the joint between old and new becomes a crack line within a winter or two. At grade, near walkways and anywhere a ladder or bike will hit the wall, we add heavier impact mesh underneath.

Sealant joints at windows, doors and dissimilar materials get backer rod and sealant bonded to the base coat or primer, never to the textured finish. Sealant on top of finish lets go when the finish weathers, and it takes the joint with it.

Last comes the finish, and the honest conversation about colour. EIFS finish fades and weathers. A new patch in the same colour code will not match a 15-year-old wall exactly. The options:

1. Refinish to natural breaks. Carry the new finish to the nearest corner, reveal or control joint so the eye reads it as an intended change. Most repairs should end here.
2. Recoat the whole elevation with a manufacturer-approved coating once repairs are done. More money, uniform result.
3. Accept the patch. Sometimes fine on a rear wall nobody looks at.

A contractor who promises an invisible patch in the middle of a south-facing wall is being optimistic.

Step 8: Closeout and what you should receive

When the job is done, you should have in writing:

• The final scope, including any concealed-damage items and their unit costs
• A photo log of open walls, repairs and flashings before they were covered
• The EIFS product names and finish colour, so the next repair can match
• Workmanship warranty terms
• Any manufacturer documentation that applies

That paperwork is worth more than it looks. When a strata owner sells a unit or a homeowner lists a house, a buyer's inspector who sees EIFS will ask about moisture history. A repair file with photos answers the question. A receipt that says "EIFS repair, $9,800" doesn't.

EIFS repair costs and timelines in 2026

Lower Mainland ranges from our recent work, before GST:

These line up with the ranges in our guide to EIFS failure in BC, which also covers who pays when warranty, insurance and strata bylaws all get involved.

Two things move the number most. Access, which is why a third-floor repair can cost double a ground-floor one of the same size. And concealed damage, which is why the unit-price table in Step 2 matters.

Repair or reclad: when a good contractor tells you to stop patching

Here is the part most owners don't expect. Sometimes the best advice an EIFS repair contractor can give you is not to repair.

Patching makes sense when the damage is local, the system is drainable, and the rest of the wall reads dry. It stops making sense in three situations.

The wall is barrier EIFS and probing shows moisture at more than a few openings. You would be paying to rebuild details the rest of the wall can't support.

Repairs already cover a third or more of an elevation. At that point the cost per square foot of patching overtakes a full reskin, and you still have an old wall around the patches.

The finish is at end of life across the building, with widespread cracking, delamination or crazing.

On a strata building, repeated patching also shows up in the depreciation report as recurring spend with no end date. A council that funds one planned reclad instead of ten years of reactive repairs usually spends less and argues less.

A contractor paid by the repair has no incentive to say any of this. So ask directly: at what point would you recommend replacing instead?

Strata buildings: consultant, council and contractor

On multi-family work, the EIFS repair contractor is rarely the only professional on the job. A building envelope consultant typically writes the repair specification and reviews the work at set points. The property manager handles notices to residents. The council approves the money.

What the contractor has to bring to that table:

• Pricing to the consultant's specification, line by line, so the council can compare bids on the same scope.
• A resident plan. Which units lose balcony access and for how long, when scaffold goes up, where noise and dust fall. People accept disruption much better when they know the dates.
• Hold points. The contractor calls the consultant to review open walls before they close. Skipping a hold point is the surest way to lose the consultant's sign-off, and with it the warranty.
• WCB coverage and liability insurance, with the strata corporation named as additional insured. Councils should ask for a WorkSafeBC clearance letter, not a verbal yes.

Our building envelope team runs this coordination on strata buildings across Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster and the North Shore.

How to vet an EIFS repair contractor in the Lower Mainland

Questions worth asking at the site visit:

1. How many EIFS repairs has your crew done in the last two years? Not stucco. EIFS.
2. Which EIFS manufacturer systems do you work with, and are your applicators trained on them?
3. Will you take moisture readings before quoting? If not, what is the number based on?
4. What happens if you find more rot than expected? You want unit prices in writing.
5. How will you match the finish? Listen for "to the nearest joint or corner," not "you won't see it."
6. Are scaffold, tenting and disposal included?
7. What does your warranty cover, and for how long?
8. Can I see your WorkSafeBC clearance letter and certificate of insurance?

Red flags we hear about from owners who called us second:

• "Just caulk the cracks and paint it." Paint and sealant over wet EIFS lock the water in.
• A coating the system manufacturer hasn't approved. It can void the existing warranty and trap moisture behind it.
• A lump-sum price with no concealed-damage clause.
• No plan for weather on work booked for October or later.
• Stucco patching materials on EIFS. That repair cracks at the edges within a year or two.

FAQ

How much does EIFS repair cost in the Lower Mainland? In 2026, a single window or door opening with localized rot typically costs $7,000 to $18,000. Finish-only crack repair on one elevation runs $3,500 to $7,500, and a full elevation reskin on a detached house runs $35,000 to $90,000. Scaffold, winter enclosures and hidden damage are the biggest variables.

Can EIFS be repaired, or does it have to be replaced? Drainable EIFS with local damage can usually be repaired by cutting back to sound material, fixing the substrate and flashings, and lapping new mesh and finish into the existing system. Barrier EIFS with moisture at multiple openings, or a wall where repairs would cover a third of an elevation, is usually better replaced.

Can a stucco contractor repair EIFS? Only if the crew is trained on EIFS. The materials, mesh lapping, adhesives and finishes are different, and stucco patching compounds don't bond to foam or move with it. Ask how many EIFS repairs the specific crew has completed and which manufacturer systems they install.

Can EIFS be repaired in winter in BC? Yes, with a tented enclosure and heat. Most EIFS manufacturers require air and wall temperatures of at least 4°C during application and for 24 hours afterward, with no rain on fresh base coat or finish. In the Lower Mainland that usually means enclosures from about November to March, which adds cost and a few days.

Talk to a crew that repairs EIFS every season

MV Construction has repaired and replaced EIFS and stucco walls across Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island for more than 10 years, on detached homes, townhouse complexes and mid-rise strata buildings. We are fully licensed and WCB-insured, carry liability coverage on every project, and back our workmanship with a written warranty. Every estimate comes as a written scope with unit prices for concealed damage, so the number you approve is the number you plan around.

If you have a stain, a soft spot or a crack that keeps coming back, our stucco and EIFS contractor team can start with a moisture assessment. You can request a fixed-scope estimate online or call (778) 375-5672 to book a site visit.