ARTICLES

3 Reasons to Sand Your Hot Pour
Have you ever heard of putting sand on top of molten crack filler? There are several reasons every contractor should think about taking the extra step to enhance their work, while adding value of course.

On the Parking Lot: Decoding the Mystical Art of Sales
Nowadays you hear and read a great deal about “scientific salesmanship.” Though the term may sound complicated and scholarly, or even “mystical,” don’t be frightened by it. There is nothing mystical about selling. We salespeople don’t have to be magicians and pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Contractor of the Month: Sunrise Asphalt
For over 30 years, Sunrise Asphalt has been providing Arizona with successful paving solutions. Sunrise Asphalt, located in Tucson, Ariz., is family owned and operated by Les Silberman, who holds three contracting licenses in Arizona, is certified as a master applicator by Seal Master of Arizona, and is an active member of his community.

Your Winter To-Do List:
With snow covering the ground in some areas, paving season is over. Take a well-deserved break and enjoy watching the snow fall while you sip hot chocolate…for a little while.

Mike Musto Gets More Jobs
Successful businessman Mike Musto has changed the asphalt industry with his entrepreneurial spirit. President of the multi-million dollar company U.S. Pavement Services Inc., and founder of the 1-800 PAVEMENT Network, Musto has used his keen marketing skills to grow his company, as well as to help others find success too. In the past 27 years, Musto developed many unique marketing tools, which he has then shared with other contractors.

MRL EQUIPMENT: Answering the Call for New Equipment
“Yes we can do that!” This phrase is frequently mentioned by the sales and engineering staff at MRL Equipment Co., as an increasing number of contractors contact MRL to inquire about designing and building specialized equipment for their job requirements.

On the Parking Lot: Customer Loyalty
As a leading manufacturer of sealer additives in the pavement maintenance industry, developing customer loyalty is always the top priority for Maintenance Inc. Sadly, I have observed loyalty diminish in many types of businesses in the past few years.

Be Green to Save Green
Be kind to the earth by recycling asphalt, and save yourself some money as well.

9 Gifts that Keep on Giving
Holiday gifts are a great way to promote team building and brand awareness.

Contractor of the Month: Kasi Infrared II Asphalt Restoration
Once a firefighter and police officer, Jarrod Filion is now a leading contractor using infrared technologies through working with his family’s infrared companies.

EZ-Screen 1200XL plays big recycling role for Key West, Florida general contractor
Key West, Florida, is long on sunshine but short on gravel pits and stone yards. Even so, that scarcity of material puts the general contracting company of Mike Anson, owner of Grader Mike’s, at the forefront of what could be a big opportunity for operations around the country facing similar conditions.

In a word, it’s recycling.

Assessing Your Insurance
With winter on the way and paving jobs slowing down, now may be a good time to assess your insurance needs. Insurance should be assessed yearly, and depending on the size of your business and changes within the company and industry, you may even want to review it more often than that.

On the Parking Lot: Getting Into a Customer's Head
You should be proud to work for any company that is a leader in its field – one that has been in existence for many years. But beware of touting this fact while approaching a new customer. Upon constantly talking about your company's position in the field, you are in danger of causing resentment in the mind of your prospective customer and weaken your chances for the sale.

Kasi Infrared Goes Global
“What should we order, or not order, for dinner?”

That’s a question Kasi Infrared President Roger Filion and General Manager Thomas Allen have dealt with many times in the past years.

Since the infrared company based out of Newport, N.H., expanded business globally three years ago, deciphering international menus and adjusting to new cuisines are all part of the business trip experience for the management team that travels to countries like China, Hong Kong and India to set contractors up with Kasi equipment. With clients in over 18 countries, Filion and Allen find themselves learning about differences in paving and culture from country to country.

Contractor of the Month: Statewide Stripes
When San Diego’s Lindberg Airport needs striping services done, they call Statewide Stripes.

By using their engineering services team and customized equipment, Statewide is able to work productively. Their unique system, able to paint-cover 1.5 million square feet in less than 60 hours, amazed their airport clients. Statewide Stripe’s efficiency differentiates them from the competition.

The Facts about Refined Tar Sealers & PAHs
Over the last few years, more precisely since the ban on the use of Refined Tar Sealers (RTS) in Austin, TX, in January 2006, there has been a great deal of enthusiasm among counties, municipalities, cities and states in various parts of the U.S. to jump on the band wagon and challenge the safety of RTS. As a result, Refined Tar Sealers have been banned in some cities and most recently by the state of Washington (where no RTS is used anyway). The news stories that have appeared in the past have taken off on the RTS ban stories creating concern with the public-at-large. These articles apparently have not taken time to find the facts and have jumped the gun to sell their stories for the sake of sensationalism.

Got Brooms?
There is no doubt that West Coast Equipment, a major manufacturer of quality street sweeper brooms, is set to clean up. The company is located in Glendale, Ariz., and has a successful trading history spanning more than two decades. The founder of WCE, Phil Prohoroff, first began working with brooms at the tender age of 12 years old, alongside his father in the family business. Fast forward to 2011 and despite a recent bout of illness, he is the guiding force behind a major West Coast broom manufacturer. WCE is a broom manufacturer with a difference, one which clearly demonstrates adaptability and an innovative approach to both product and business development.

Sweep in the Cash
Expand your paving business and bring in extra money by turning one person’s trash into profits. Those street and parking lots you pave each day probably need to be swept clean of trash and other debris on a weekly or daily basis. Instead of allowing other sweeping companies to be hired for these jobs, why not offer to sweep the streets and parking lots yourself?

Going back to the basics: How the 1-800-Asphalt contractors are responding to today's economy
Tough times are here and we all know that we have a long road ahead before things improve. I was recently asked, “What do you think we should do to get through these slow and tough times?”  My response was simple: Market your company. I think back to the time of our grandfathers, fathers, and uncles.  How did they market their company when they were starting up their businesses?  How did they get to where they are today?  By marketing in good times and in bad. Sometimes we forget how we got to where we are today.

On the Parking Lot: How to handle complaints
“To err is human.” – Alexander Pope

Errors and mistakes resulting in complaints are an integral part of trade and commerce. Big businesses are able to address this issue by establishing complaint or adjustment departments with trained customer service personnel. For pavement maintenance professionals, though, complaints have to be dealt with by salespeople or the owner. The best way to handle complaints starts with the right attitude.

Ways to create team building and company loyalty
In recent years, many successful companies have focused on team building and fostering company loyalty within their organization. Some businesses have taken their staff on wilderness survival courses, skydiving adventures, and outdoor retreats. Others have opted for simpler activities such as company picnics and outings to achieve loyalty and team building. No matter what activity a company chooses, loyalty and team building are important in keeping good employees.

KM International is committed to its industry and customers
“After 28 years the song remains the same,” says Cliff Cameron, marketing and sales Manager for KM International in North Branch, Michigan. “For KM International it is much more than just selling equipment, it is developing long lasting relationships with our customer that is based on helping our customers in every way to MAKE MONEY.”

On the Parking Lot
With the hot weather we have encountered this summer, contractors and their employees are becoming burnt out from the heat, literally. I have already had a few of my distributors tell me that some of their contractors have had complaints about their seal tracking in the extreme heat, which is typical for this time of year.

New Generation Paving Products: Offering Experience and Technical Solutions
With a little over 200 years of combined experience in engineering, manufacturing, sales, and marketing of asphalt paving equipment, New Generation Paving Products in Troutman, North Carolina,

This Changes Everything Gordon and Rich Rayner Impact the Industry
Gordon started in the pavement maintenance industry in 1974 and formed California Pavement Maintenance Company (CPM) in 1979 when his brother Rich joined him full time. Together they have established CPM as a leader in the pavement maintenance industry, not just in California, but recognized around the world.

KM International Sees a Green Future
Since 1983, KM International in North Branch, Michigan, has rooted its business on green technologies for the asphalt pavement and maintenance industry. Two contractors named Keizer and Morris saw a need almost three decades ago for an infrared asphalt recycling unit that was affordable and versatile for their pavement maintenance business.

Forty two million vehicles and eight lanes of superhighway! - It doesn’t get much tougher than that!
California Pavement Maintenance and Rayner Equipment have been doing business in Thailand for a very long time. Customers in Thailand and other Southeast Asia countries have placed 76 RoadSaver Slurry/Microsurfacing machines in service and the companies frequently cooperated in training and research programs.

Dunn Company Has a Plan That Works
From its early beginnings, Dunn Company in Decatur, Illinois, learned a valuable business lesson. “Part of our success and the fact that we stay in business is our diversification,” says Jim Schwarz, Vice President of Sales at Dunn Company.

Waterblasting Technologies: Leading Globally Through Innovation
Last month, Waterblasting Technologies celebrated the grand opening of their new international headquarters and manufacturing facility in Stuart, Florida. Even in the face of a stumbling economy, the company has achieved remarkable success both domestically and abroad.

StarJet-Plus™: A Perfect Solution for Pavement Preparation
  

The City of Henderson - 10,000,000 Square Feet of Sealcoat! Is this the biggest sealcoat job ever??

The City of Henderson can get pretty hot in the summer with temperatures well into the triple digits. Standing on a residential street in the middle of a summer afternoon you can almost hear the pavement crying in agony. A few months later freezing conditions can extract their measure of stress on the same roads.
Pavement temperatures ranging from 18° to 160° take a huge toll on roads so, as a City Engineer, how do you protect your paving investment against these conditions?

Ready, Set, Pave ASPHALT PAVEMENT: MEETING THE CHALLENGE FOR AMERICA
The asphalt industry is ready to go to meet the challenges of an infrastructure stimulus package and to help pave the way out of America’s economic downturn.
This new report from the Asphalt Pavement Alliance shows how.

Asphalt is an essential building block for the American economy. Throughout the last 100 years, asphalt pavements have created the arteries through which the nation’s life blood flows. Today the asphalt pavement industry is geared up to put the country on the road to economic recovery, with many ready-to-go projects lined up that fit the requirements of a massive stimulus package focusing on renewing the nation’s infrastructure.
 

Chuck Terpin Finds Creativity in Decorative Paving
When Chuck Terpin was in the paving business almost twenty-five years, he decided he wanted to do something a bit more creative—and possibly pump up his bottom line. So, in 1994, he took a stroll into the world of decorative paving and began stamping asphalt. “I did residential and commercial paving for years,” Terpin says. “Then, I got this StreetPrint franchise in 1994.” That was when the idea for Stamped Asphalt in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, was born, though the company did  not take that name until four years later.
Early Beginnings
   

Bidding Parking Lot Sweeping: How to Evaluate Work to be Done and Satisfy Your Customers
One of the first and most important questions asked in regards to the sweeping business is “How much does one charge for parking lot sweeping services?” Do you charge per square foot, per parking space, or acreage?

The best method for establishing an accurate price for sweeping is arrived at by setting an hourly rate to cover the amount of time spent in the total sweeping of any given lot.
A common question asked, in regard to bidding, is how to bid a sweeping job by square footage. It is impossible to estimate this way because of the great variances in parking lot conditions. A square foot of hardware store parking lot is much easier to maintain than a parking lot in front of an all night donut shop.

Mike Musto, Founder of the 1-800-PAVEMENT Network, Gives Advice for Business Success During Tough Economic Times
Though the economy has looked bleak for some time, Michael Musto, president of multi-million dollar U.S. Pavement Services Inc. in Woburn, Massachusetts, knows how to keep his crews running and succeed even in tough times.

Quality Keeps Evans Construction Running Even During a Downturn
If you ask Mickey Evans, owner of Evans Construction, in Connelly Springs, North Carolina, how his business is faring during this economic downturn, he will tell you that he has seen this all before. “I have gone through several of these,” he says. “Of course, this is the worst, I guess, that I can remember.