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[alexwright]

Thanks everyone, I'm doing some last minute wheeling and dealing to see if anything comes up and trying to finish up some paperwork before I leave, if it comes to that. The showroom I just finished looks great. They put the sealer on Sat. and still needs two more coats. Good thing they did it Sat. because it rained Sat night and on Sunday they went to put more and they found water everywhere from some leaks in the roof. I placed a small overlay today and will stain it tomorrow then they can finish sealing it tomorrow evening or Wednesday. Anyhow they love their floor and I have a showroom if I stay. They are talking to everybody that comes in for me, its the talk of the town when they come in. Like I said I really don't want to leave but its a "have to " right now. I'll try to post some pics eventually.

[Lindy]

It's sounds to me as if you have a strong foundation to build your business on in Texas; which along with family connections is a winning combination. Furthermore, as I am sure you are aware, the overall cost of living is substantially lower in Texas than out there in California. The Oddessa/Midland and Permian Basin area could prove to be furtile ground to grow your business along with a healthy crop of dollars.

I used to make the trip out there frequently from Waco (at least a couple of times a year) to Monahans (my ex/first husbands parents lived there). My grandparents lived in El Paso, so traveled there frequently as well (they both died within a few months of each other last year). Also had an aunt and uncle that lived in Ft. Stockton; they have now moved to Scottsdale Arizona. All my reasons to go to west Texas are now gone. Personally I'm firmly rooted (as I have been since 3rd grade) here in Central Texas (Waco) ... I love it here, with my mother, brother, and entire family within only a few miles and minutes of each other.

Lindy A.

[alexwright]

I just landed pouring a stamped driveway and am currently working on that. I have an appointment tomorrow with a potential customer at my showroom, they are driving about 40 minutes to get to here. That's not far but with all traffic its an effort. At least this driveway will buy me some time here at home to tie up some loose ends and hope for the next one. Mean while I'm still planning for Odessa if it comes to that. My sister's husband is from Monahans and they go there often. An aunt used to live in Ft Stockton. All my family is in Odessa and majority of Aunts,uncles, and cousins live in Lubbock. I'm playing this week by week and see how it goes. I should be done with this job on Tues and from there I can focus on other things then. Right now just wrapping up alot of little undone chores around house and biz.

[NS'Creter]

Cool! Maybe enough work will come in and you won't have to go anywhere....and if you do have to, you have family where you'll be going.
I didn't realize that you were stamping Alex, I used to do that. Sometimes I wonder if I still shouldn't.

[alexwright]

I pumped concrete for 6 years and we pretty much specialized in stamped concrete. That was my original business, before I added this and this just took over, plus my biz name leans me that way. I turned concrete jobs away for a while because staining is just less headache and more money and I was busy at the time. Just these few days I am reminded why I like to do the staining more than pouring.

[NS'Creter]

Absolutely! I'll stain and engrave before placing any time. There's more of a profit margin, it's lighter, easier work and there's no helpers to deal with. Placing can be such a pain and ten there's warrenty to stand behind...oh it can be such a headache. I've got one past customer that calls me every time a bird poops on their patio. Literally.
For me the placing came out of neccessity though. If I wanted to I could be doing that every day. I just don't want to have a full time staff...not right now anyway.

[Lindy]

Placing/pouring/finishing/stamping = more days on the job and headaches of dealing with numerous employees, then there are the occasional hot mixes and/or late truck/concrete delivery, strain on your joints and pain in your back that comes from this type of work. This doesn't even take into account dealing with the elements of Mother Nature (heat, cold, wind, rain, etc.). If you are lucky enough to make it through all these landmines that can blow up on you at any time, if/when the stamped concrete surface develops some sort of crack (even it if is hairline), it is deemed your fault in the eyes of the property owner.

I VERY briefly, back in the late 70's & early 80's considered offering stamped concrete. I went out on a few jobs with a friend/contractor down in Houston (about 170 miles from me). This was back when stamps were the heavy metal type and there were not as many of the retarders and/or other concrete additives that are available in modern day stamping times. After a couple of days of working with him in the Texas sun of summer I decided "this is NOT for me."

My hats off to those that do produce quality stamped concrete work, but it is certainly not for me ...I'll leave this to others that have the strength, endurance, and temperament (in relation to stress) to deal with this type of hard/labor intense work.

Lindy A.

[NS'Creter]

Even if I wanted to my back wouldn't allow me to do now. Unfortunately, stamped 'crete is still wildly popular here. It's the immediate results that get 'em I think. As I've mentioned before, there's one guy who's been at it for as long as I've been alive...his prices are outrageous, but he's reached the plateau where he can command that. For the most part, his work is good but he doesn't use top quality colorants, release agents or sealers and it only looks good for a year or two. Then there's the moonlighting guy who works for cash, uses the Town's equipment and third rate materials...his work just plain sucks. He's still more expensive than me, though. I will place 'crete and come back in a month's time to stain and engrave it, but this time thing inconveniences the customer and is also time consuming for me. This year the "stampers" outsold me considerably...just as I was gainin' on them too. It's because of my back.

[alexwright]

As for lasting, that's about the range of time for a re-seal. Just like us when using the laquer based or acrylics. They usually just give you that 1 1/2 year or so. The good thing about the stamped route if they are pouring fresh is that it is more forgiving when it comes to re-sealing. Meaning that their color will "fade" but it will not wear away as a stain. Anyhow we have top quality guys at our disposal. Alot of our guys used to go to Hawaii to do pours and would stay their for weeks pouring all the different jobs and teaching the crews there. Plus they would work in Vegas and other places teaching crews. One job about 4 years ago I had a customer that liked a stamp job at one of the local casinos and said he wanted it the same stamp. I just so happened to have the guy working for me that did that job for the casino. My old boss who I worked for for 6 years, now works for me on occasion and he has one of the biggest collection of stamps here in San Diego. He also has some old hard to find stamps from the metal days like Lindy said that sometimes need to be matched, so many big companies come knocking on his door to rent them. He does pretty good with that. Yeah, I just blew my back out again on Monday so that changed how I am doing this current pour. I'm having to spend more money than I expected, that I could have done.

[NS'Creter]

Sorry about your back buddy. Hope you get better quickly. Placing and stamping would be one heckuva chore with a bad back.
It's cool to have access to that stamp collection.

[alexwright]

As of right now I'm just doing clean up and the simple stuff that I can do, I'm getting the guys to do everything pretty much. tomorrow I need to go vacuum the release and rinse the driveway off. I'll go back in 30 days to seal. In case I had to leave I can find someone to do it for me. We stamped the border and interior bands with cobblestone on Sat. and today we die all the interior portions with Old Granite 3x3 tile design at 45 ans the porch sidewalk was done with 18"x18" tile at 45. Looks real good.

[NS'Creter]

That will be a sharp lookin' driveway Alex. Do you folks need permits for a project like that? It seems that Cali is about the strictest state for stuff like that...well from what I've read and heard.

[alexwright]

No permit for this job is needed unless you build a wall higher than 3' and other types of work. However to get my State license. I had to donate a kidney and two of my lower back vertebrate, that's the reason I have a bad back. Just kidding, but they can be pretty strict out here and the state taxes are no joke. I sure miss Texas.

[Lindy]

I wonder why the 3" rule ... is it because if it was not properly constructed and reinforced that it could tumble down when subjected to the earthquakes out there?

Personally I could no more live in California quake country than along the Texas Gulf Coast (I'm about 170 miles inland) ... if I lived in either of these areas I would not only have back pain due to our line of work, I would also be stressed out since you can't win a battle against Mother Nature (the best you can do is take cover or hide). Granted we do have the occasional tornado's in Central Texas, or out in the Midland/Odessa area the occasional blinding sandstorm ... but I can deal with the rare threat of these more than earthquakes or hurricanes. Of course, we don't have the mountains of snow and ice in the winter here either like you have to deal with up in Canada. I really like my neck of the woods in Central Texas ... I can travel to other locations for vacation, but return to the relative safety of home.

[alexwright]

Here in San Diego we can feel tremors at times but the major earthquake areas are in the Los Angeles area. I used to think the same until living here and experiencing that there is no real danger.