The inside story about this 5000 s/f custom home in the Wolfe Estates area of Donner Lake, CA, is that the builder of the home supposedly put on 80 gallons of water based transparent stain prior to it being constructed.  Knowing what I now know about the complexities of the ladder work that it takes to efficiently apply stain to this home, staining it prior to being built seemed like a rather smart idea.  So when the client told me that she was pretty sure that there was no stain left on the siding and that she was sure that it needed it re-application, my initial hunches were that either A.  The person(s) applying the supposed 80 gallons of transparent stain at $40 per gallon forgot to stir the material, or B.  The transparent material was applied in too cold of an environment.  Supposedly, the wood had been kiln dried, or that certainly would have contributed to  product failure.  I was called to this home in late June 2012, and she was right.  It was as dry as a popcorn fart.  I was able to reapply 70 gallons.  The builder was still around doing odds and ends during the time that I was beginning this process.  Even he said that it never looked the way I made it look, and was happy that his construction was being buckled up prior to the upcoming winter.