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Two months before graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a bachelor’s degree in architecture, Eric Boyd and two other students opened their own design-build firm. One of the first jobs they landed was a kitchen remodel where the client asked for concrete countertops, somewhat of a novelty back then.
Last fall, Architectural Concrete and Design Inc. was tasked with retrofitting the concourse of nearby Valley Fair Mall with a stampable overlay system. The specifications dictated that the selected concrete system was to be installed over existing ceramic tile without any demolition.
Potbelly Sandwich Works had been searching for a flooring system where they could produce the same consistent look store after store. One of their general contractors looked around online and told the Potbelly project manager he thought the Düraamen overlay products would be a good fit.
The president of Artistic Concrete Surfaces, an award-winning company in Olathe, Kan., Mike Denny says that his commitment to quality sometimes drags on the business. “I’d rather lose money on a job instead of doing a job that didn’t look right. I have a good reputation for making sure everything is done above and beyond what people expect."
A huge national remodeling project for the department store chain has kept concrete polishing contractors busy this year.
The biggest issue contractors confronted during J.C. Penney Co.’s Wave 2 of renovations in August concerned the whiteness of the Izod shops’ burnished floors.
When word hit the street that J.C. Penney Co. would ask concrete polishing contractors to help renovate its department stores across the country as part of a master plan to reinvent the chain, the news was well-received by manufacturers and suppliers of architectural and polished concrete materials.
Polishing contractors take note: There may be a future in grinding and sealing concrete driveways.
What better place is there to experiment with various decorative concrete techniques than in a high-school art classroom?
Thanks to new products and growing consumer interest, metallic-infused concrete coatings have everyone’s attention
