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Choosing the right manufacturer is a dilemma every contractor in our industry faces every day. I’ve heard many analogies used to describe the decorative concrete industry over the years, but two comparisons have always resonated the most: “Polished Concrete is part Art and part Construction,” and “The polishing industry is still the Wild West.”
Between the money you dole out each week on wages, payroll taxes, insurance and worker’s comp, you spend more on employees than all your other assets combined. Even though this is a fact, most contractors have a hard time recognizing employees as assets. Why is this and how can you remedy that situation?
The difference between a professional contractor and an unprofessional contractor often comes down to communication. Obviously, the quality of your work goes a long way.
The maintenance for polished concrete is simple. Basically, you sweep it regularly, scrub it on a schedule with appropriate cleaners and burnish it a few times a year. This sounds simple, right? In some cases, this works out perfectly. In others, not so much.
Concrete contractors are inundated with small tips and tricks that hopefully one day will help them out in specific situations. Very rarely does anyone talk about business or industry growth as it relates to your specific company.
Here are four things that will help you and your polishing business today.
A dissipating cure is exactly the right compound to use on a polished concrete floor. Generally, these types of curing compounds break down from traffic and exposure to sunlight and are mostly gone within a few weeks.
As we come out of the winter, I always deal with multiple polishing projects where the concrete was placed during cold temperatures. Although there are ACI standards for cold-weather placements, I still experience quite a few slabs that have issues related to cold weather.
As a polishing consultant I get to wear several different hats, but by far the largest amount of my time is spent managing polished concrete programs for retailers. Polished concrete is an aesthetically beautiful and valuable flooring solution, but it is fairly specialized.
A “punch list” is the final review of a project. It is usually completed by the project architect and is most often completed after the project has reached a milestone called “substantial completion.” And for a decorative concrete contractor, the punch list is probably the single largest money-losing piece of a project.
I went through this transition as a polishing contractor, so I thought that I would give you a few helpful tips and things to think about before you embark on this journey.
