"Choosing a Manufacturer"

by Jeff Potvin, The Concrete Network

When a contractor decides to throw their hat into the decorative concrete ring, they need to choose a product manufacturer. After searching the Internet, reading trade publications, visiting tradeshows, and receiving many referrals from other contractors- the confusion begins. In this article, I will explain what I feel is important when choosing a manufacturer of decorative concrete products.

First verify that the company you are looking at is truly a manufacturer of the product. True manufacturers include companies that may just formulate their products and have another company blend them. These particular companies are still responsible for quality control.

The reasons for dealing directly with a manufacturer can vary; if a product problem occurs you will need a resolution fast. Contacting the manufacturer directly will eliminate confusion, especially if you are able to talk with a technician; when custom colors are being produced, direct contact with the manufacturer can resolve any issues with color variation you may have; a manufacturer will also have better control over inventory. This will shorten turn around time on orders, especially for those who needed the product yesterday.

Technical support is the next thing that you look for in a manufacturer. This includes direct contact with a trained employee, training seminars, and printed installation directions. Some manufacturers train their entire company. Their employees are continually trained through seminars designed to provide support to their customers. These types of companies have more than one person to answer questions. As the contractor, you do not have time to waste waiting for someone to call you back.

Today, most manufacturers provide training seminars with the intention to make a sale or to provide the contractor with the knowledge needed to properly install their products. I would recommend attending more than one seminar so that you can get a better feel for how different companies use their products. You should walk away with enough information to be able to make some samples so that you can practice and get a feel for how the products work. Once you have attended a couple of seminars and it is time to get to work, it is nice to have written directions to reference. This does not mean one-page step-by-step directions. Make sure the manufacturer has detailed step-by-step directions that include "do's and don'ts", most commonly asked questions, and troubleshooting.

Using a manufacturer with a wide product selection allows the contractor to provide his customers with choices. Some manufacturers only produce a specific type of decorative finish- the upside to this is that these manufacturers may have a better understanding of how that product performs. The downside, of course, is the lack of choices. The companies who produce more than one product may only have a few products that the contractor prefers. In this case you have to purchase product from a number of sources, which can become a problem when you mix systems. To prevent these problems try to stick with one manufacturer for each decorative application.

Marketing is how you get work. Marketing locally for a contractor includes Internet sites, home shows, mailers, yellow page advertisements, etc.

Some manufacturers make available brochures that their contractor clients can use to show patterns and colors. Other manufacturers also market their products to designers, architects and engineers. This is considered top-down marketing that helps get their products specified and to achieve national recognition. These manufacturers' help their contractors land those large projects without any out of pocket costs by the contractor. Other marketing tools that a manufacturer can offer are product samples, sample yellow page ads, pictures, and as mentioned above- brochures.

In this article I did not address manufacturer pricing. This is because I believe that you will get more bang for your buck seeking technical support, a quality product, and marketing support. Manufacturers should be there to help you with these items.

In my opinion, researching the manufacturer is crucial to building a long-standing decorative concrete company.

Jeff Potvin

Jeff Potvin, a Civil Engineer and the owner of Architectural Concrete Consultants, has nearly fifteen years of experience in the architecturalconcrete industry. His experience includes stamped concrete, overlays, form-liners, acid stains, counter tops and coatings.

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