Novatech Surfaces

Novatech will travel to other areas in the New York City Metro area like this project featured here in Tribeca New York City completed jointly with Mirage Studios.

The process for  applying the decorative concrete floors started with surface preparation ensuring the floor was free of contaminents and bond breakers. The second step was to apply a self leveling concrete eveining out the floor raising the height to match adjacent rooms and areas at doorways. The self leveling concrete is Param 5500 available at Duraamen based in the Edison, New Brunswick and Piscataway area of New Jersey.

Once the self leveling concrete cured overnight the concrete floors decorative coating was applied using Sgraffino, a thin concrete overlay. Coloring was achieved by mixing colorants into the Sgraffino and application of a  topical dye. The final step was applying a few coats of sealer to the decorative concrete floors.

Total size of this project was approximatley 8,000 among 3 floors. The beauty of the process is the ability to customize the design of each floor using the same product.

For more information about this project click the link to visit the Novatech Surfaces web site.  Novatech is located in Central New Jersey in the Edison, New Brunswick and Piscataway area.

For infomation about the products used to create the decorative concrete floors in this project visit the Duraamen web site or contact Victor Pachade at   646-875-8690 

August 28-29 Workshop  

Duraamen will be conducting a workshop August 28-29 in Lancaster Pa. The hands on workshop will feature the products in the Duraamen line for creating functional and artistic decorative concrete floors using various overlays and the Param 5500 self leveling concrete. The workshop will include stains, dyes, epoxies Urethanes and Polyaspartics. Contact Victor at the number above.

Flooring Insurance

I ran into this company in Vegas at the World of Concrete. Ram Board. It seems that this product is always needed when it’s needed. No one seems to think about ordering a product like this ahead of time.

It doesn’t matter what kind of flooring is put down in a construction project there will always be contractors doing finish work after a floor is put in. Lighting, painting, signs whatever. Contractors want to do their job and if you don’t protect yours too bad.

If a floor is not protected it will get damaged. It’s going to cost someone and I’ve never seen the client eat a contractors mistake.

Whether you’re the client, general Contractor or sub bookmark this company. Ramboard

EliteCrete Newsletter

This morning I received a great e-mail. It was the EliteCrete Newsletter.

EliteCrete Newsletter

The EliteCrete newsletter was about profitability. More specifically it was about how to help their contractor client base be more profitable and more productive.

How to run and build a business is critical. As we can see in the current economic environment companies are falling. Could it be that the brass on the top forgot about their employees that produce profits. Look at Merrill Lynch. Merrill was one of the top companies in the world. They thrived based on their core business of managing private individuals money. When ex-broker and chairman of Merrill retired high flying investment bankers took over. They moved into a high risk realm and crushed the business. Maybe they should have stayed focused on supporting their core employees, their producers.

During the next few years their is going to be a massive shift of property ownership. residetial homes and soon commercial properties will be foreclosed at an unprecedented rate. All these properties will be neglected and need remodeling.

Decorative concrete will be in huge demand. Those companies who are focused on not only the decorative aspect of their products but business profitability of their clients will thrive. Decorative concrete is a great industry with tremendous profit potential for those who know how to run their business.

EliteCrete Newsletter

Based on what I read in the EliteCrete newsletter their customer support is going to draw new talent as professionals look for new markets where they can prosper. Like with Merrill Lynch companies who have lost perspective of their core business will falter. Those who maintain a disciplined focus will be the leaders. Though real estate is suffering it will start to stabilize. Decorative concrete will be in huge demand and companies like Elite Crete will be the leaders of the new market.

If you own or are looking to purchase a retail center and want to add value here’s an inexpensive solution with an application of one of Stardek’s concrete coatings. The system here is a decorative concrete spray system which can be viewed by video by visting www.metrocrete.tv .

Curb appeal with any property is critical. Think about walking into a grocery store, walking down an aisle and grabbing a jar of lets say … peanut butter. Nine times out of 10 a shopper will grab the one with the nice label. An inferior quality product with an attractive eye catching label will outsell a superior quality product with an unattractive label.

The same theory holds true for real estate.Think in terms of a retail center with 10 stores. I don’t know if there is such thing as $20.00 per square foot retail anymore but lets use it for a quick analysis.

Assuming that rents are net of expenses and taxes and the center is 10,000 square feet, a 1 dollar increase in net rent will go from $200,000 to $210,000. It doesn’t seem like much at first but $200,000.00 net income captitalized at 7% equals $2,857,000.00. $210,000 of net income capitalized at 7% equals $3,000,000. Thats a $143,000.00 increase in value.

If the area to be resurfaced is 200 feet long and 8 feet deep thats a total of 1,600 square feet. If you hire a pro at $7.00 per square foot, thats a total cost of $11,200.00. The improved curb appeal should result in at least a $1.00 psf incease in value or net $130,000.00 increase in value.

I use retail as an example because I see it everywhere. There are 10,s of thousands of small retail centers with unattractive value draining concrete everywhere.

Take a look at these photos of a retail center sidewalk resurfaced by a Stardek installer. You may be wondering if there are other options. You will find there are no economically viable solutions. If you notice there is a handicap ramp leading from the street sidewalk. That creates code issues so you only have the option of thin concrete coatings. The same holds true for stairs. Anything thicker than a 1/2 inch will violate code. That eliminates stone or tile. Entrance into the retail stores will have height issues at the doorways. Concrete overlays are the solution…period!

If you are looking for an expert to resurface your concrete contact Stardek. They have over 4,000 trained applicators nationwide.

Their resume runs deep -Universal Studios, Holiday Inn, Starbucks, McDonalds, Lowes, Cypress Gardens, Best Western, Firestone, Harley Davidson …the list goes on.

This first photo is before an investment in Stardek Decorative Concrete Coatings.

The project is partway there.

Here’s the finished product with money in your pocket.

Let me know what you think about this blog post. Is this info valuable to you? What kind of information would you like to find here?

The project was completed over 10 years ago and still in excellent condition. There are a few spots that could use some small patches. Considering the exposure to intense sun and salt I would say it has held up extremely well.

I hope these images answer some questions about durability, function and curb appeal potential of concrete overlays.

The first photo does not have an overlay. For video tutorials visit www.metrocrete.tv