One area where painters may gain an advantage is in proficiency with the spray gun. Although the coatings can be sprayed, they rarely are, according to Barbara Bates of Dryvit. Spraying has been developing in the last couple of years. Higdon is sure enough that the boom will continue that he is working with local distributors and manufacturers to promote more of EIFS use in his area. A meeting was held in Peoria in January, attended by architects, developers, and entrepreneurs.
Plans are under way to build a model home as something of a demonstration.
Lack of knowledge is the biggest problem. Not everybody understands the system yet. Although Higdon stated that with a little plastering experience and good desire an individual can learn the process in a reasonably short period of time, he issued a warning of his own. You'd better do your research, and you'd better train your people, because it's very competitive. It's becoming a high volume item.