Merry Xmas

[ECI]

I hope everyone has a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.
We can take this time to be with family and friends and enjoy what we have , Be it much or little. Hopefully next year will be better and we can
all be more involved in this message board as we need to stay in touch.

I would like to thank everyone here and at the old board for their help and support through the year as I sure needed it and I hope to contribute some info back to any and all. Thanks again

[Lindy]

2008 was not great ... but hoping the New Year provides to be fine in 2009.

We must strive to SURVIVE in these bad economic times, keep the faith, focus on the blessings that have been bestowed on us, and enjoy the holiday season surrounded by the warmth of family and friends.

As I always say, "none of us are islands, floating alone in the sea, instead we are all part of the World of Concete and must strive to help each other navigate successfuly through the many challenging channels of it."

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

Lindy A.

[NS'Creter]

Yup 2008 was definately a year to remember Oh well, gotta keep on keepin' on. One day we'll meet, hopefully at W.O.C...until then we'll keep in touch.

[glow=red,2,300]Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays[/glow]

[alexwright]

What a year. I'm glad it's coming to an end. God willing the next year will be better. Right now I'm applying at different places trying to pay bills. Please keep me in your prayers. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[NS'Creter]

Things are gonna be fine in 2 double oh 9!! ;D That's the attitude I'm havin' anyway.

[glow=red,2,300]Merry Christmas[/glow]

[alexwright]

Got a small job doing some cuts. Hopefully I'll get a re-seal and touch up that I'm bidding. Plus going to hit up this neighborhood I'm working in and going to try selling cuts. Nice homes and some already have nice driveways but just need that little bit more to break up the open-ness. If that's a word. I'm giving killer deals just trying to pay bills. Plus one of my customers is due for a re-seal and they told me last year to automatically put them on schedule so we''ll see.

[NS'Creter]

That's cool Alex...it's been long enough now that the maintenance work is startin' to come. I got a call for cuts only too. The homeowner placed their floor with integrl color...sealer hasn't been mentioned yet. What do you charge for cuts only? This fella was lookin' for some 24" diagonal tile and maybe some other tile patterns. I haven't gone to see the job yet.

[glow=red,2,300]Gonna be fine in 2 oh-oh 9!![/glow]

[alexwright]

I typically aim at $1.00-$1.25 sq ft. Seeing that times are what they are I am just wingin' it. The job I just did was a driveway that was 1,700 sq ft. Which would typically be $1700. But I gave it to the guy for $1,000. This was'nt the typical tile pattern at a 45 degree angle, it was 4 ft squares. So considering that the edges of the drive acted as an edge plus the control joints already in the concrete those were cuts I did not have to make. Plus I had to remove some caulking he had placed in some cracks a few years ago that was making his driveway look like an eyesore. My 4,000 psi did away with that pretty quick and what did'nt come out I took out with a screwdriver. I cut with the goose but when I got back the next day, the cuts really did'nt stand out so I cut them deeper with my skilsaw and diamond blade. One 8 hour day and the second about 6 hours. Not bad. Plus I gave the driveway a scrub with buffer with a concrete brush. The other day I did the same thing with a customer that was needing a flagstone pattern outside entrance. It was only 130 sq ft or so and should have gone for about the same $1500-$1800 but I could not let it go and I did it for $1,000. I knew the job was mine, I could see it and i did what I had to do. I had left over stains and sealers so no problem. Like I told my wife, if I'm trying to get a night job or even a day job if one pops up, why not drop my prices to survive and do my same work?? Right now as it stands if I can hustle up small jobs and make $1,000 a week I will be OK. I am about to attack some neighborhoods and go door to door and knock and hopefully strike up some (cutting) deals with the homeowners. Keep in mind when you are going to do cuts in which blade to use. For instance some jobs you can see which (width) blade to use. I use the fat 1/4 blade for lots of my cuts, but on this job I knew that it would be best to use the narrow blade. Why? Because I was doing squares and I also knew that if I had to go deep which I was sure I was going to have to, you can cut deep with a Skilsaw and also touch up easy with a grinder. But remember I was not going to simulate tile but big square stones set in place. I like to do the tile cuts at an angle mostly because it looks fancier plus it is easier for the eye to see the cuts. On the other one by using the thin blade and cutting deeper you get a shadow which obviously makes your line stand out more. Little notes to remember when offering cuts. Plus rember for darkening lines we can always use the good old Permanent marker. Plus is the job indoors or outdoors, what type of light on it will help you or hurt you. Hope this helps.

[NS'Creter]

I hear ya about lowering yer prices to get work...I've done it too. So long as there's still somethin' in it...a piece of the pie i better than none at all, right? Thanx fer the tips on the cuttin' too. I was thinkin' that I should get a buck per square foot...it's not a detailled or involved job so $1,500.00 would work fer me. Now, I'm not certain that I'll even be able to do it anyway. My son isn't confident enough in his ability with the saw and I can't do it at all.

[alexwright]

Take him to Home Depot or wherever and buy a sheet of Hardibacker board and get him confident and experienced. A couple of lines and he's ready. Practice start and stop. Just like he took out that deer, keep your eyes on the target. Except a steering wheel the handle to the saw. Sorry, could'nt pass that one up. If all else fails buy a long straight 2x4 and align the wheels or saw to blade and lign and run alongside board. I'm sure you can stand on one end to help stabilize and coach.

[NS'Creter]

He has used the saw and doesn't do too bad...I know that he can do it. The fact that it's the floor in someone's house has him nervous and broke his confidence. It's too bad because he has a good eye and could have had jobs all through tha fall. Ever since I started this biz I've been tryin' to get indoors so I'd have winter work. Well, this year, without any advertising we had several calls and I've had to pass on that work. That's a tough pill to swallow. In the new year if he's not willing to participate I'm gonna find someone who is. I really don't want to take an "outsider" in but I'm really losing a lot of work. I also don't want to push him too hard, he is only 16 and is feelin' the stress from this whole mess too.

Good one about the deer...I'll pass that on to him. ;D

[alexwright]

To show him how good he is and the confidence you have in him just show him these posts. "Hey son come here, I want you to see something and let me know what you think. " It will be his choice, it's either make good money doing this running with dad or going to work for somebody else most likely working for less money and still busting his back side. Here he is the semi-boss. Actually the boss since he'll be running the show pretty much.

[Lindy]

I only have 1 question "WHERE do you get a STRAIGHT 2"x4"? I have become increasing tired of culling through huge bundles of lumber in Home Depot and/or Lowes as I seek to find find lumber that is NOT bowed/arching up off the floor when placed on it to check for straightness. When I do find lumber that is straight, it usually has some sort of other defect (split, huge knot holes that are rough and/or protruding) etc. What happened to PRIME lumber ... price of lumber keeps going up, with quality going down. I have complained to store managers, written letters and sent emails to these big box store corporate offices, all to no avail (they don't even care enough about the opinions of customers like me to answer).

What even bugs me more is that these big box stores put the smaller lumber yards out of business due to lower initial prices; but, once the individual or small regionally owned lumber yards were gone ... Home Depot and Lowes raised their prices. One small lumber yard we had was regional Payless Cashways (had about a dozen locations in the Central Texas area). They were great ... knew you by name, simply told them what lumber you needed, they wrote you a ticket, you paid for it, then drove around to their warehouses out back (being the door number that whatever you were purchasing was located) ... their friendly staff then loaded all your materials for you, secured/tied it down if necessary with rope they provided for this purpose, and sent you on your merry way with PRIME/defect free lumber. When you go to Home Depot or Lowes you have to get a lumber cart (that always desperately need a front end alignment since pushing or pulling them where you want to go looks like you are a DWI driver), you then have to spent a great deal of labor intense time culling through the wood to find lumber that is acceptable for your use, then you have to maneuver this lumber laden cart through the store without hitting some other poor soul attempting to do the same, wait in line with all this stuff forever, push it out through the parking lot, then load and secure it all yourself ... oh, how I miss the days we had a Payless Cashways with their great PRIME lumber, pull up to the warehouse door service where they loaded it for you, and their heartfelt THANK you for doing business with Payless attitude; these were certainly the good old days.

[ECI]

Lindy you have touched on a sore subject with me! Walmart and many
other chain stores from lumber to hardware to whatever. They have put the local people out of business that carried everything you ever
wanted and have taken our choices away from what we want. Now with the ma and pop stores gone you only get a choice of what some buyer wants you to have and if they don't sell a million of them they are gone, never to be able to buy them again. I can't tell you how many times in the last 10 years while building or repairing something
the item is no where to be found and most people in the stores don't even know what you are talking about, in fact they don't even know what they are selling or what its for!! Happy New Year everybody

[NS'Creter]

What a coincidence! Earlier today we were discussing (at home) how the Mom & Pop businesses were becoming extinct. The type of store that started our discussion was a bakery. There used to be at least 6 really good family run bakeries here and now there's none. On the topic of hardware I really can't complain. The store Lindy describes still exists here...Proudfoot's Home Hardware...yep, they all know me and treat me as I feel they should. That type of service is a definate rarity. ECI brings up a point of frustration...how the employees don't know (or seemingly care) about the products. We have what's called Canadian Tire here...a national franchise that used to be mainly auto supply...anyway, if ya call lookin' for a muffler (for example) the squeaky voiced employee starts through the list on the moniter in front of him. Year, make and model of the vehicle, which engine, which transmission, 2 door or 4 door.... No kidding! All of that is relevant to the muffler how? I was with the kid 'til he got to "transmission"...they are notorious for this sort of "service".

[glow=red,2,300]Gonna be fine in oh-oh 9![/glow]