Carlton Concrete LLC: Helping Make Homeowners Dreams Come TrueFor Doug Carlton, owner of the Carlton Concrete LLC, the decorative concrete industry pulled him in literally. "I fought with all my might to stay out of the decorative industry, he explains. But I ended up in it anyway theres nothing wrong with it, I just didnt want to get involved because I was in my comfort zone." His comfort zone consisted of making custom home foundations mostly catering to high-end homeowners. As a third generation concretist, Carlton says he felt he had a good thing going, but his clients kept asking him about decorative concrete. "They saw it in Las Vegas and Disneyland basically, the market drove us to it," he laughs. When he started his decorative concrete company in 1987, Carlton says he found little information about stamped concrete, that is, until he attended a World of Concrete event and met a man who offered to train him in the art of stamping. The rest -- as they say -- is history. Carlton says he still serves the high-end market, such as the client who owns a $3-million-dollar, 10,000-square-foot home hes been working with for about four months now. A devoted family man Carlton says he rarely strays beyond a 30-mile radius of his Visalia, Calif., office, although it does happen from time to time. As for the website hits he gets from consumers in places including Australia, Carlton says he always sends them to the Concrete Network to find a contractor in their area. As for what his clients are asking for, Carlton says stamping and staining are very hot and probably not going anywhere. "Anything we can produce that's timeless is popular," he adds. "Brick stamping around a home, or the duplication of stone or slate, are very popular but designs that are cheesy or fake-looking is going to be played out." Carlton says his goal is to meet the needs of his clients, and he knows that often means going above and beyond the work contract. For example, recently when Carlton was getting ready to pour a front entry and walkway for a home, he noticed there were no irrigation lines under the concrete, so Carlton laid them for the landscaper. "All trades do things the homeowner may never see or know about, but it makes the whole teams job easier," he says. To make it easier for his clients to visualize his work, Carlton is also breaking ground on a new 5,000-square-foot showroom this August that he plans to have open by the spring of 2005. "That way clients can come in our work area and see how we run the shop, they can see decorative concrete in several different areas on the floor and outside, and see how it wears in real life that way people get a true representation of the product," Carlton explains. Carltons team is the same crew he uses on all of his projects. "A smooth transition from sales to design to the construction team is a must. We keep our team small enough so the right hand knows what the left is doing. This requires patience from waiting clients but results in satisfied customers." He adds that's the kind of attention his clients can expect when its their turn. His company is about to get some attention of their own. They were recently asked to take part in the ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, an opportunity that was too good to pass up. "A simple phone call can turn your life upside down," Carlton says recalling when QC Construction Products, a show sponsor, had the producers of the show call to see if he was interested in participating in the show. The premise of the show is to reward a deserving family with a new home that's built in a weeks time, with the help of several crews and volunteers that is, after the existing home is torn down to the foundation. "Ultimately, doing the job wasn't any different than any other job we do, except that there was a crew filming it," Carlton explains. "A fast-track project requires organization on the front end as well as during installation. Not unlike any other successful decorative project." "The men and women on the crews on the show all have pride in their work," Carlton adds. "Its about a team of people pulling together to do good for the community, and ultimately that's why we did it and why everyone else was involved as well." The Carlton Company Find a Concrete Contractor 23 Services in 200 Metros -- U.S. and Canada © 2008 ConcreteNetwork.com None of this site may be reproduced without written permission |
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