R.A. Rich Concrete, Inc.:

Putting a Stamp on Southern California

Juliet Farmer, ConcreteNetwork.Com Columnist

Rod Rich, owner of R.A. Rich Concrete, Inc., has cumulated over 25 years of experience in the concrete industry and melded that knowledge into a busy concrete stamping company in Riverside, Calif.

Rich started working with concrete while he was still in high school, first pouring concrete at a company owned by a member of his family. After several years of field experience, Rich landed a job with Campbell Concrete, eventually working his way up to running the company before venturing out on his own five years ago.

"Originally, concrete offered me a job right out of high school, and I did it well," Rich explains. "But I was looking for something different...then I found decorative concrete, and I realized I could turn out stamped concrete products as opposed to regular dull gray concrete." The rest—as they say—is history.

Like so many homeowners, Rich was hooked on the possibilities stamped concrete presented—the patterns, colors and shapes concrete yields make just about anything possible. "I prefer stamped because of what it looks like (as an end result)," Rich says. "And I get satisfaction out of the end result, out of what I produce...my product."

And although Rich is partial to stamped concrete, his company also offers numerous other options including colored concrete, concrete driveways, concrete house foundations, concrete patios, decorative concrete, concrete demolition, and concrete pool decking.

Rich is currently focusing his efforts in his own neck of the woods—specifically the immediate areas of Riverside, San Bernardino and North Orange Counties--working with homeowners to find the right combination of patterns and colors to enhance their hardscapes.

Rich says that although Ashlar Slate was a common request eight years ago, today the trends are across the board. "People request all of my stamps, not one over the other," he says. As for popular colors, Rich says the earth tones are always top picks because they go well with the stucco used on many of the homes in the area.

Then there are the unique projects, such as the outdoor area Rich created for a home in Riverside. "The owner was looking for something different, so I created a two-foot-square slate band with a slate infield pattern," says Rich of the patio area adjacent to the homeowner's tennis courts. The project took a little over a week, and all told there was about 2,500 square feet of concrete tied together.

Another project Rich created for a homeowner in Corona involved crafting a patio area around existing brick ribbon, a feat that Rich completed with the help of plastic. "I put plastic on the bricks to protect them from the concrete, but (you can) also use soap," he says.

Currently, Rich is focusing only on residential work and says he gets most of his clients the high-tech way—from the Internet. "People find me through the Concrete Network and word-of-mouth referrals (the most)," Rich says, adding, "I also get referrals from Campbell and Ready Mix."

"I was reluctant to have a website and go on the Internet," he adds. "(But) the website is great...it gives people ideas of what they want before we meet...it's kind of a pre-sell."

"The decorative concrete industry will only get busier as more and more consumers catch on to its uses and realize that the look can dress up hardscapes," Rich says. "The price is competitive compared to real stone, and overlays cost as much or more than stamping...for the money stamped concrete is great."

R.A. Rich Concrete, Inc.
Rod Rich
P.O. Box 20037
Riverside, CA 92516
(951) 662-6675
(909) 388-3079 Pager
Send Mail Now - Click Here
www.rarichconcrete.com

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