A few of Bloomington's older streets still show brick beneath the patchwork, and the houses along them have been held together by somebody's steady attention for a very long time. Scott's Exterior Maintenance Co. treats the outside of a property as one continuous job — mowing, trimming and edging in season, leaf and yard cleanups when the trees turn loose, and snow plowing, walk clearing and salting once winter takes hold. The exterior is what a place says before anyone knocks on the door, and it says it every single day. The craft hides in the unglamorous parts: the same line down the same lawn each week, the same clean cut at the curb. Central Illinois offers no shortage of chances to prove it.