Why not go with a contractor quoting only 5 or 6 bucks a square foot in design concrete work? Well, the old adage that you get what you pay for isn't always true. It is, however, something to consider when hiring a professional.

Homeowners are often disappointed when they hire design contractors based solely on price. When consumers hear that they are getting designer concrete work at only 5 to 6 dollars a square foot, they do not realize the risks. There is a solid $4 per square in materials.

Our business is not simply the pouring of concrete, but excelling in an art form. The homeowner really needs someone who loves the artistic nature of creating quality concrete forms, someone who takes pride in doing good and aesthetically pleasing work.

My gripe

Some yahoo comes in off the street with a wheel barrow and a truck, with the idea he can do designer concrete. He [under-quotes] everyone at $5 or $6 a square foot. The homeowner often does not realize is that there is $4/square foot in material costs. There is concrete, sealer, colors, lumber, etc. It is really hard for me to think that a homeowner is willing to trust their permanent piece of art (that is a large investment by the way) to someone only making a $1 per square foot. Instincively, they know a highly skilled artisan can't work that cheap. I don't blame them. They don't know any better. But, they need to know.

Even the people who pour plain concrete sidewalks and driveways make $1 per square foot or more. Are going to trust your thousand to tens of thousands dollars visual and constructive investment to someone that pays himself the same as the guy who just pours flat concrete? You want something in your front or backyard that is going to make you proud. This is one area where shopping on price alone is virtually guaranteed to dissapoint the homeowner?

When I hear about jobs priced at half of what they should be, a flag goes up in my mind. There is something wrong here.

This kind of thing can hurt the overall decorative concrete industry. In Alabama, mostly, there are no state requirements for license, workers comp, and there should be. Some yahoo can go to work for a professional decorative concrete contractor for a month or two and start up a business based on limited knowledge and no credentials. He can go out, get a stamp or two, tell everyone he knows how to do it, and start his own business. He can throw down anything, no matter how sloppy or ugly it is. The whole thing about decorative concrete work is that is an art form. Its not a... throw it out there and machine it or broom it until it is dead and walk away. It is an art. It has to be something you really have to love to do and love to achieve perfection. And my whole goal is to get it to the point to when someone walks up on my job, they do not know that it is concrete but that they think that real stone, tile, cobblestone, or brick etc. was laid. They should see one of my concrete countertops and say something like, "What kind of countertop is that?" If I do a vertical concrete veneer, they should say, "Where did you buy that stone? I have never seen that kind of stone on a wall before." That is the difference between us and the rest of the yahoos trying to imitate us. They call that the wow factor.