TTK Resurfacing Making a Splash

When Tim Schoenig made the move from Florida to Charlotte six years ago to help a couple friends run a concrete business, he never dreamed he'd have his own business so soon. Today Schoenig runs TTK Resurfacing, where he has a steady flow of clients, including a local account for one of the country's largest pool builders.

Schoenig's move north coincided with a major building boom in Charlotte and the surrounding region. Over the past four years, the city has given birth to a new football stadium and a burgeoning arts district The city also experienced a swell in office expansion and created four distinct neighborhoods with more than 1,000 new homes built in the past four years, according to the city's 2010 Vision plan document.

"We got so busy that the three of us are split up now and are running our own businesses," Shoenig said.

TTK Resurfacing specializes in acrylic cement overlays, concrete stains and sealers, concrete restoration and repair, industrial flooring, and brick pavers.

But a good chunk of Schoenig's business comes from installing swimming pool decks. In fact, he works with Anthony and Sylvan pool builders, a national company that supplies him with more than 100 Charlotte-area jobs a year. Anthony and Sylvan, which serves 29 metropolitan markets in 16 states, sold and installed more than 6,000 pools across the country in 2000.

"It's definitely challenging," Schoenig said, explaining that conflicting schedules are some of the obstacles he encounters on a daily basis. And often the conflicts come when the pool company wants him in two places at once.

The obstacles don't just come from the pool company, but from Mother Nature, Schoenig explained.

"If we're backed up by rain, then the schedule gets even more backed up," he said. But he's not complaining. "It's a lot of work — and a lot of contacts," he said.

Those contacts come in the form of additional jobs — and of celebrities and professional athletes.

Schoenig has poured the pool decks for NASCAR drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr. and John Andretti, and Carolina Panthers defensive end Reggie White, among others sports figures.

Having such big-name clients sometimes means a tougher time contacting them, Schoenig said. But having the occasional chance to say hello to the sports stars is one of the perks of the job. Photos of the finished jobs grace Schoenig's web site, www.ttkresurfacing.com.

Schoenig, who estimates he pours about 250 pool decks a year, is gearing up for the height of the season, which hits the ground running from the end of February to mid-April. It won't taper off until about December, he said.

About 80 percent of the pool deck jobs are typical concrete decks while about 20 percent involve some sort of decorative work.

"Generally they're not much out of the ordinary," he said.

He thinks the primary reason for a lack of interest in decorative concrete is that homeowners in the Charlotte area simply don't know about concrete's potential.

"It's all over Florida (more decorative and artistic uses of concrete), but it seems like it's new here," he said. "Most people don't know you can do it."

Such is the case with other aspects of TKK Resurfacing. Schoenig said he is finally reaching the point where he is getting busier with acid staining. And he is getting more calls for basement and kitchen work, color courts and brick pavers.

Schoenig said one of his goals is to expand his business so he feels comfortable with a range of concrete applications.

"I want to learn all the new stuff," he said.

Schoenig won't be the only one learning. Part of the educational process will involve educating consumers about the varied decorative aspects of concrete. As he expands his services, TKK Resurfacing is also broadening its geographic base. Schoenig's brother is in the midst of expanding to the Lakeland, Florida area.

Meanwhile, in addition to the wave of swimming pool decks, Schoenig is taking on seamless industrial flooring — a process in which a whole new surface is positioned on top of the concrete. Among other uses, it is often employed to achieve stricter sanitary standards, such as hospitals, veterinarian offices, and gyms.

"There are a lot of big buildings going up. They're sure going to need their floors done," he said of what sparked him.

Schoenig uses the 3M Colorquartz aggregate System for his seamless industrial flooring.

He said his reason for using 3M Colorquartz is simple: "I like how it looks."

3M guarantees its color will last. The aggregate is formulated with stable inorganic pigments — the same kind of pigments used to give permanent color to ceramic tile. Each 3M quartz granule undergoes a proprietary ceramic-coating process that bonds permanent coloring pigments to the quartz. The result, the company says, is bright, consistent, long-lasting color that is unaffected by harsh pool chemicals, low pH or sunlight.

While 3M Colorquartz offers bright, vibrant colors, one of Schoenig's favorite projects involves the simplicity of black and white — he created the entrance for a local Harley Davidson store that resembled a mammoth checkerboard. It is simple, but bold — an image that stays in the mind of all who walk through the doors.

"I like the projects that get the most attention, the ones that people will see," he said.

The hotel pools, the restaurants — the places that will make impressions over and over again.

TTK Resurfacing
Tim Schoenig
6061 Acadian Woods Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28227
(704) 806-8031
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www.ttkresurfacing.com

Michele Dawson writes each week on one of the contractor members of The Concrete Network (www.concretenetwork.com). She has written about the home building industry for several years and was on the public affairs staff of the California Building Industry Association.