The world's foremost resource on decorative concrete
Potential clients often struggle with visualizing what decorative concrete will look like at their home or business. The new Deco-Con Wizard from Depiction Software can help remove the mystery by quickly and easily showing them what selected decorative concrete patterns will look like on their property.
There are many regions where the weather does not seem winterlike but is cold enough to affect concrete placement. This is where cold-weather placement practices become very important. Not following the rules because it does not seem that cold potentially leads to concrete that is weak and substandard.
Have you ever gotten that early-morning or late-night call from an unhappy owner telling you that the color is lighter than they wanted … or darker … or does not match from one pour to the next? If you haven’t been on the receiving end of one of those calls, good for you! If you have, then you know what we are talking about.
For your decorative concrete business to grow, it must be built on a foundation of innovation. If you don’t do so, you will find it increasingly difficult to create lasting value for your business and your customers.
Two recent decorative concrete projects on the Strip — for two very high-profile ventures, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and the CityCenter Las Vegas development — illustrate why working in Las Vegas is a unique undertaking.
The cold truth is that our industry has seen its share of truly talented decorative concrete individuals fail, and it’s not because they weren’t good at their craft. Today’s artisans must be more than talented — they must be capable of overlaying talent with an entrepreneurial spirit. That’s where training and education comes in.
There are four different overlay systems used in creating decorative concrete floors: microtoppings, stampable overlays, multipurpose overlays and self-leveling overlays. All have different characters and makeups with which to achieve decorative looks.
Taking steps to incorporate a maintenance program for your customers is a great way to ensure ongoing business.
Let’s look at several ways you can promote maintenance services that help relieve headaches and save the industry from a tarnished reputation.
When we think of sculpting, most of us probably picture statues or abstract artistic shapes, not a combination of walls and steps and terraces that enhance the natural surroundings. Yet that is what the sculpting of a hillside is shaping the landscape into an attractive blend of man-made and natural elements.
Happenstance led Tyson Long, president of Calgary-based Hardscapes Inc., to the new location of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame museum in Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park, where he used white and clear epoxy coatings to transform the floor of the museum’s ice-hockey exhibit room into a virtual ice rink.
