Paul B.

I was editing my post while you were reading so you may not have seen this: Double check for minimum dry times - V-Seal (800) 738-7325.

Call me silly, but I offer 6 concrete sealers for residential work. 3 Film type (at least two of these will also work on aggregate and brick pavers). The prices vary from lower to mid to high-end (of course durability and life expectancy increases from low-end to high-end). This provides the customer with a choice to fit their budget. The other three (as you may have already guessed by now) are Penetrating type sealers offered in similar mid to high-end range along with increase in quality from low to high. I provide a brief written description (benefits and protection capability) of both groups, and somewhat more detailed description of all 6 sealers, along with material cost for the customers specific area of application (square footage). Then I provide a summary area which includes: - Cleaning and sealing process and cost (in total dollars) for cleaning material and labor and sealer application labor. One price for 1-coat sealers and a higher price for 2-coat sealers. Some sealers offer a 2nd optional coat that increases durability. If etching is required I have a price line item and short explanation for it. Next I show total cost of materials only (for that specific project) for each sealer and number of coats. (I have a mark-up in the price of the sealer.) With this info a customer can pick and chose a product and add the service cost and have a final price. I also include a hand written sticky note that gives my recommendation for the best product... All this is formulated, so all I need to do is plug in the square footage and material costs are automatically rounded to full gallons and totalled. I found that I could not provide a one size fits all situation that would benefit all the customers and take most of the money available on the table. My prices range from $0.23 to $0.39 per square foot (all inclusive). So now you have my strategy...

The advantage with V-Seal is that it can and is recommended to go on a damp surface. Most if (not all) others require a totally dried surface. Double check with V-Seal for minimum dry times: (877) 738-7325. Chem Masters Poly Seal - glossy film type sealer: (800) 486-7866 $112.50 per 5 gallons Hard Film in 2 hrs.; Light foot traffic 8 hrs.; Vehicular traffic in 24 hrs; Maximum hardness is achieved in 7 days 1-coat application 3-5 year life 250-350 sq ft per gallon coverage Optional 2nd-coat application 5-7 year life 450 (+/-) sq ft per gallon coverage 25% solids contents Polyseal creates a clear glossy membrane over the surface of the concrete. Film appearance is clear (does not yellow). Protects against de-icing chemicals, salts, grease, oil, mild acids & detergents Gasoline, hydraulic fluids and peanut oil will soften sealer if spills are not removed quickly. Minimizes spalling due to freeze-thaw, premature cracking and dusting. Dries for light pedestrian traffic in 8 hrs. and vehicle traffic in 24 hrs. But sounds like you need a penetrating sealer like Prosoco Weather Seal SL40 1-coat application 40% Silane contents $125 per 5 gallons; 125-175 sq ft per gallon application rate on concrete or Weather Seal SL20 1-coat application 20% Silane contents $105 per 5 gallons; 125-175 sq ft per gallon application rate on concrete Protect treated surface from rain, foot and vehicular traffic for at least 4 hrs after application Penetrates concrete to 3/8” depth Take up to 3-4 days to reach optimal water repellency protection Does not form surface film or gloss (maintains natural breathing characteristics of concrete) No change to surface appearance (does not yellow) Reduces severity of biological staining and resists dark staining caused by fungal growth, mold & mildew Excellent survival of high freeze/thaw cycle Highly resistive to salt and acid rain damage All prices are retail - may be able to negotiate better prices I always encourage to ask - it never hurts!

Joel, That's what I was referring to above - they recommend a maintenance coat after 3-5 years. That $400 to $500 sounds like a typo and probably refers to the coverage for the maintenance coat / mist (400 to 500 sq ft per gallon). My assumption is that the concrete and coating on the surface will wear off in 3-5 years but the rest remains in tact. The maintenance recoats the top 1-4 millimeters (.04" to .16") layer.

V-Seal can be applied to dry or damp concrete surfaces. Application to a damp surface is recommended. Do not apply V-Seal 101 Concrete Sealer when the threat of rain exists within 5 hours of application. V-Seal 101 Concrete Sealer must be allowed to dry. I would say allow 24 hours for light foot traffic and 48 hours for vehicle traffic. This should put you in a safe zone as this sealer is expensive. V-Seal can be applied with pump up, Shur-flo and airless systems in the 40-100 psi range (based on desired flow rate and orifice size). The only thing that I questioned was a recommendation to apply a maintenance coat to top 1-4 mm after 3-5 years. I don't remember where I saw it but it's in my notes. Local distributor did not confirm this. Can anyone help to confirm or dispel this? What is interesting is that V-Seal was developed here in Cincinnati by an R&D company called Cayce Chemicals, Inc. - manufacturing is ???? somewhere else. Its availability is VERY limited here (one obscure distributor that mainly handles asphalt materials and sealers - they are hidden in a small hard to find building. I walked thru the building for 10 minutes before I found 1 person working mid-week). Their prices are not as attractive as I hoped and am in process of negotiating a for a better starting price and quantity structure.

I personally like Microsoft "Access" for customer and related tracking - it comes bundled with Microsoft Office or can be purchased separately. You can print various specific reports and export mailing list info, etc. It's not the easiest to learn if you've never used a data base before. I would suggest buying a book for it vs. hunting and pecking for info with the programs help command. For a very simple tracking method you can set up an Excel spread sheet. It will not give you specific reports, but you can sort by columns/rows. You can set up several pages and tie pages together, using 1 page to enter all data, then create other pages that may contain only specific tracking data you want (simpified for viewing). There a lot of things you can do with a sprad sheet like Excel. It can be used as a Ledger, set it up to calculate mix ratios, equipment/parts list, calculate shipping costs, calculate over head costs, track purchase details (equipment/parts/supplies), track mileage and other expenses. The size of your business and budget and what software you may already have may play a determining factor in selecting a solution to your software needs. What "exactly" are you trying to track?

Thanks! Good to be here with a bunch of nice folks. I'll try not to live up to my nick-name "Mean Papa". I'm glad to see your site is doing well, but then I'm not surprised... (I'm omitting adjectives so I don't look like I'm trying to ****-** but pick a bunch of good ones for yourself and know that I meant them and was sincere when I thought about them!). Sorry, didn't think ****-** was a bad word!

OK you got me - 12 Troy oz. to a pound. Trying to see who drank coffee and who drank beer for breakfast. I only drink light beer before 10:00am! Did you know that a BBL of crude oil is 42 gallons? The Saudi's are short-changing us by 13 gallons. How did they arrive at a yard measurement? From the armpit to the tip of the fingers? 36 inches - Huge person if you ask me. If I had a 36 inch reach I could tie my shoe laces without bending over. The Troy ounce must of come from a small person.

The first few jobs you do in each category will be WAG's, after that they will be SWAG's. WAG = Wild-ass guess SWAG = Scientific wild-ass guess To take Ron's tracking method one step farther - you can set up a spread sheet or data base with the following information. Customer Name (last name first) Project Number - Each bid is assigned a number (GPC-005896-S) Type of Job (Brick Cleaning; Concrete Cleaning; Deck Cleaning, etc. Date of the Project (Month & Year) Address Areas (township, city, etc.) Type of advertising that brought customer to your company (flyer, newspaper ad, etc.) Phone Number Estimate (in dollars) Contract (awarded jobs in dollars) The Estimate and Contract columns are totaled (by month, by year, etc.) This portion of information allows you to sort by customer, date, type of job, areas you worked in, what type of advertising was most effective, how many jobs were bid, how many awarded, value of bids, value of awards. The information is retreivable quickly and can be sorted many ways. Other info I keep: taxes collected by county; travel cost by job; estimating time; travel times; chemical type, amounts and mix ratios along with costs; equipment run time; fuel used (cost); and specific notes of the estimate/job (there are others but I don't remember off top of my head). Each estimate/project gets a folder and all info goes in this folder along with photos. The folder is started as soon as the request is made for an estimate. The data base is updated at each phase or as required. Only track as much info as you think may be necessary, review every so often and make necessary adjustments.

You folks are just having way too much fun. Good people, good conversation, the only thing that's missing is a good drink ...(well, I got mine). Ratios, measurement - interesting stuff. It's too bad there are not more people realizing the value in understanding them and the benefits of proper applying them. I agree with Ron's concepts and values in knowing what chemical works on what stain vs. brand names and sounds like he has been frustrated by the X-Jet one size fits all mentality. (I've been pulling my hair out for the past year reading and trying to interpret people's posts in regards to final proportions at the exit end of whatever tool is applying the final mix.) The only thing I would disagree with Ron is on the weight of feather to gold. A pound of feathers weighs more.