Concrete Creations:

Using the Internet to Build Business

Juliet Farmer,ConcreteNetwork.Com Columnist

Lawson Edwards, owner of Concrete Creations, understands what marketing is all about. If you call him and get his voice mail, he includes his website address in his outgoing message—something so easy to do, it's a wonder more people don't do it.

"I can't stress enough the importance of a website, and of including the address in voice mail messages," Edwards explains. "My website has been a big part of the success of my business, and it's not even flashy."

Edwards also had the foresight to buy several domain names a few years ago, right before the Internet boomed. "I was lucky enough to do that at the right time," he laughs. "A lot of people find me through the Internet...It's been a gold mine for me.

Concrete Creations, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City, has been working a lot of big commercial jobs, as well as mixing in residential work. "We started in Oklahoma City, because it's centrally located in the state," says Edwards. "I recently moved to Tulsa, near where I'm from, and found an untapped market."

He adds that although his work used to be mostly residential, Edwards now works with several general contractors in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Florida, where the company is creating over 40,000 square feet of concrete floors for a fireworks facility. Concrete Creations is also involved in repairing hurricane damage to an airport in Ft. Meyers, Florida, where they will be acid staining the floors.

Edwards started concrete flatwork at the age of 18, and in the late 90s, he ran into a friend who was doing decorative concrete work. He worked with that friend in Oklahoma City for a bit, where Edwards says, "I found out there was more to concrete...it opened doors for me."

At about the same time, Edwards had another friend in Las Vegas who was doing decorative work. "When I visited him in Las Vegas, and I saw what was being done, it blew me away," Edwards recalls.

Edwards got the urge to go on his own. "I needed to make my own money," he explains. "I knew I had a niche for it, and I wanted to make it on my own." Because Edwards had connections and knew lots of builders, it was only a matter of selecting his company name, Concrete Creations, and getting his website running, and before long he had more work than he knew what to do with.

Since then, Concrete Creations has done lots of work in Las Vegas, including working for the general contractor that built the Stratosphere Hotel. They've also worked on the Oklahoma University campus, as well as with both the Oklahoma City Zoo and the Tulsa Zoo, where they've used vertical stamping and Fossil Crete to create interesting and unique works.

The Oklahoma City Zoo, a charity project arranged by the Junior League of Oklahoma City and Doug Bannister of The Stamp Store, involved concrete overlays and various stamps, including exotic species' animal tracks. "Doug asked me to help, and I jumped at the opportunity," says Edwards, adding that they created vertical stamped trees and even a concrete alligator.

Giraffe

Alligator

Another project that touched Edwards was his involvement in the new Oklahoma City FederalBuilding, which replaced the one destroyed by the bombing in 1995. "The general contractor knew about acid stained concrete, and I had worked with him in the past, so I was called in," explains Edwards. "I did several samples. We ended up getting the job, which was a simple installation—one I would have done for free—that included several thousand square feet of sidewalks, as well as a fountain and walls."

Vertical stamping appears to be a niche for Concrete Creations, which is working with the developer of an Australian-themed Day Care Center franchise to be installed in malls across the country.

"We did a residential project with stamped overlays for a guy, and he told me about his new business venture," says Edwards. Concrete creations wound up creating a seven-foot diameter, 18-foot-tall concrete tree, as well as four smaller trees, for the first day care center. The project was built in the Woodland Hills Mall in Tulsa, and its success has led to two more centers opening in Dallas-Ft. Worth and Oklahoma City, with almost 300 to be built in malls across the U.S. in the near future.

"I was in the right place at the right time," Edwards explains of winning that job, which stemmed from a small residential project. "It's been a big hit at the mall."

As for what else is keeping him busy, Edwards says his clients are asking for acid stain, as well as water-based polymer stains. "I use the Rainbow System a lot in place of acid stain," he says. "Acid stain is unpredictable, but with water-based, we can make it look like acid stains."

Stamp work is also popular, with seamless looks and Italian slate, as well as the always-requested Ashlar Slate, topping the request list. Saw cut designs are also gaining in popularity among Concrete Creation's clientel.

Edwards was also busy at the recent World of Concrete, where he helped stamp with Fossil Crete during the Mega Demo. "Very few people want to venture into vertical stamping," observes Edwards. "You've got to be pretty creative...It's working out great for us, I have too much work and too little help." Seems like a good predicament to be in.

Lawson Edwards
5103 S. Sheridan, Ste. 551
Tulsa, OK 74145
918) 812-8829 Office
Send Mail Now - Click Here
http://www.acidstainedconcrete.com

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