Bonded abrasive polished concrete:
The standard polished concrete

Again, here’s the definition of polished concrete: The act of permanently changing a concrete surface, with or without aggregate exposure, to achieve a specified level of finished appearance.

So far, we’ve learned about burnished polished concrete (BPC) and hybrid polished concrete (HPC) and that they both have places in the flooring industry.

Now, let’s learn about the third type of polished concrete, Bonded Abrasive Polished Concrete (BAPC). It’s the type installed most often and is currently THE standard people think about when they hear the term polished concrete. Most likely, it’s because it’s the only type your company currently installs.

Here’s the definition of BAPC: The multistep operation of mechanically grinding, honing and polishing a concrete surface with bonded abrasives to cut a concrete surface and refine each cut to the maximum potential to achieve a specific level and class of finished appearance for new concrete or random aggregate for existing.

This method is the:

• Most labor intensive, requires the most skill
• Longest lasting and most durable
• Most decorative, easiest to clean
• Most costly to install, both time and money
• Safest, provides the highest coefficient of friction (COF)

You now know there are three types of polished concrete and can articulate the differences for your advantage.

Here are the tips

1. Be the experts. Educate your sales staff, your estimators and your customers.
2. Put on a training and teach your crews to install all three types. By doing this, you’ll then have three options to install and sell. Your competitors will only have one type of polished concrete.
3. Ask your customers these questions:

• What are the floor’s uses, level of traffic and maintenance plans?
• Do they want a specific aggregate exposure or shine level?

Once you know which items meet the specifications and the needs of the client, educate your customers and bid accordingly.

No matter what someone asks for next time, you’ll be ready. With professionalism and follow-through, the results will come not only in more profitable jobs, but the job will satisfy your customers and you’ll be remembered as the expert!