Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Employee Training a Priority

Greetings from the Arctic!  Ok, it really isn't the Arctic but it sure feels like it here in Ohio. It was 1 degree below zero this morning, warming up from a frigid 17 below yesterday at this time. However, the sun is shining and the snow is a beautiful sparkling white. And spring will arrive soon (I hope!)

I have been remiss on posting about the great training our staff has attended over the last few months.  It is very exciting how we are always learning new things to make sure we are offering the best of our trade to our customers. In August our entire staff, except our admin, attended various training sessions at the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC) Annual Conference held right in our back yard in Columbus, Ohio. What a great opportunity!  Two of us attended the Rocky Geans' Concrete Construction Business School. This training had two information packed days of everything to do with operating a concrete construction business, from marketing and sales to estimating and job costing and everything in between.  The crewleaders of our business attended "Construction Leadership from A to Z", while the rest of the crews attended seminars on controlling cracking and placing concrete in bad weather. All agreed it was worthwhile training and fun to interact with other concrete professionals.

Border StampSafety training is a must in the industry and within our company. We have been trained on a variety of topics this past year including, but not limited to, general safety awareness, hearing conservation, the new Globally Harmonized System and Hazardous Chemicals, operating a fire extinguisher, personal protective equipment, CPR/AED and more.

Most recently, two of our guys attended training at Deco-Crete Supply in Columbus, OH on Vertical and Decorative Overlays.  The guys loved the training and are very excited about what they learned. We now have the ability and skills to overlay flatwork (on the ground) and also on the vertical (on a wall.)  It can be done in a regular broom finish, a knock off finish, stamped, stenciled, or hand carved. And with the freezing temperatures outside, they have been able to use their skills to overlay two walls and the floor in our conference room.  In the photos you can see that they overlayed and stamped the lower section of our conference room in a mountain dry stack pattern and also overlayed, stamped and hand carved the column. All of it was stained and sealed. The floor is the next project with a decorative overlay and an epoxy finish. You'll have to visit our office to see how it turns out!

These finishes would be great in a new or existing basement or around a fireplace. Have you considered cultured stone? We can create the same look with vertical overlays. We'd love to help create your dream home or even your ideal man cave. The possibilities are endless! Do you have an idea for  using decorative overlays? Share them with us!