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June/July 2008 Vol.8 No.4
Teaching
Maintenance
By Mike Dawson
When selling a job, there shouldn’t be any gray areas about the maintenance of colored concrete. Educating clients about maintaining the application and managing their expectations for the future begin during the sale, say veteran troubleshooters in the industry.
“It comes down to communication between the contractor and the client,” says Chris Sullivan, national sales manager for QC Construction Products.
Colored concrete comes with a different set of expectations than gray flatwork, he says. Homeowners who write hefty checks will give it more scrutiny. Commercial customers consider it part of a business’s identity, and want the most for their money. As a prominent feature on the property, the application will serve as a showpiece —
or a black eye — for the applicator and the industry as a whole. How the appearance holds up will in large part determine whether the work serves as good or bad publicity.
Sullivan says that he’s learned from troubleshooting hundreds of installations that too many contractors fail to address maintenance as part of selling and finishing the job. The client needs this information, in writing, from the start, he says.
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