Picking The Right Asphalt Contractor in a Recession

April 30th, 2010

Picking a Good Asphalt Contracting Company:

Times are tough and moneys tight however, asphalt maintenance and parking lot maintenance still needs to happen.  Its times like this that property owners and managers should take some time to pull out their expense files and look to see if they are getting the appropriate return on their parking lot maintenance investments.  If your spending tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars annually and still having large asphalt and concrete problems than you may be a victim of  slick asphalt contractors.  Some contractors are sneaky in that they find ways to do less a less each year on your properties for the same or sometimes more money.  Empire Parking Lot Services takes great care to give their customers exactly what they paid for.  That’s crazy right!  I know it’s a simple concept but it’s true.  We are not always the least expensive asphalt contractor nor are we always the most expensive.  We are the middle of the road contractor that gives people what they paid for.

Getting what you paid your Asphalt Contractor For:

Asphalt contractors are a unique breed in that they have ways of confusing customers with terminology and jargon. Empire Parking Lot Services always speaks in plain English and simple numbers. We believe the only things our customers should have to see are three simple things.

  1. What type of repair they are looking to have done.
  2. How many Inches of asphalt they need.
  3. Square footage of asphalt

Try to make sure that all paving contractors are bidding these same factors.  At Empire we like to be the company that helps you put the scope of work together so that when you put the information out to bid you can get three prices that are truly apples to apples.  Here is a familiar situation that we run into. Customer calls up and says “Hey, I need a bid on work on this, this, and this.” We go out, look at the job and make recommendations and then go back to the office and put out the bid. Later that week our salesman follows up with a call and says “how do we look?  The customer says “oh man, you guys are really high. After asking a few quick questions we find out that we are bidding (2”) of asphalt and the other guy is bidding (1”).  Ah ha! There is always a reason why. Once the other contractor is on the same asphalt quantities as us we are usually right in the ballpark!

Value is the New Coupon:

These days everyone is giving 10% discounts here or ½ off asphalt.  Half off? Lol, how do they do that?  We know their overhead isn’t way over or under ours, we know that they are paying their labor about the same as us; we know that they have the same trucks and tools etc. So how does a contractor offer these amazing discounts? It’s simple they are taking quality out of the job at your cost! Now the other day I was ordering envelopes on line and got a coupon for 30% off. I had shopped the envelopes and all the companies where about the same. The only real difference is that one company had a 30% deal. Well I figured it out! Shipping is where they tried to get me. They wanted an insane amount of money to ship their envelopes that in return put them way over the others, even with the coupon.  I know sometimes it’s impossible to see where they are going to zap you so instead of taking a chance just do the sensible thing! Call Empire Parking Lot Services. 877-760-2757

About Empire Parking Lot Services:

Empire Parking Lot Services is Southern California’s premier parking lot maintenance company.  Every day we help our management customers, contractors as well as our direct owners with many of their parking lot maintenance needs including asphalt contracting.  Empire Parking Lot Services offers top notch parking lot repair and warehouse maintenance services to the entire Southern California area.  Our service area includes Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside County, San Bernardino, San Diego as well as parts of Ventura.  Contact us today if you have any questions about any project you may have upcoming.  Empire Parking Lot Services is a fully licensed & fully bonded asphalt contractor company.

Call us at: 877-760-2757 Or look us up on the web at www.Empirepls.com

California Asphalt Contractors Selection in 3 Easy Steps

April 27th, 2010

What to look for in good California Asphalt Contractor

Quality People, Tools, Products (yes. . . they make inferior seal coat and asphalt products)

Whether you hire an asphalt contractor from The OC, LA, Riverside, or The Inland Empire, it’s important that you choose a quality company.  But distinguishing a quality company from the big, flashy, or cheap companies can be tricky.  A quality asphalt contractor is someone who not only meets your year to year asphalt repair needs, but also helps with your annual budget needs, your project planning, or simply helping you with posting notices for your customers on the day before the job.  A good asphalt contractor understands that these are some of the things that will come up from time to time on the job.  Though not every one of your customers will need help with each one of these extra added services, it’s comforting to know that your asphalt contractor does them.   So much of what we do as an industry is very much the same.  We get our materials from the same plants and we put the asphalt down with the same rakes and shovels.  However, when Empire-PLS sells you a 4” overlay, that’s what you get, not a 2” overlay.  Sometimes customers think they are getting a better deal by going with the low bid, but many times they pay less for a job and still don’t get what they pay for.  I think what truly makes a quality contractor are the little things that make such a huge difference in the long run.  Empire-PLS strives to achieve these goals with each job and each customer.  We really do give as much care on small patch and repair contracts as we do on our larger asphalt projects.  Every job and customer receives the same quality treatment.

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FLV Version of Video: Asphalt Repair Orange County

About Empire Parking Lot Services

Empire Parking Lot Services is Southern California’s asphalt contractor.  Every day we help our management customers, contractors as well as our direct owners with all of their asphalt maintenance needs including paving, concrete, seal and stripe.  Empire Parking Lot Services offers top notch parking lot repair and paving services to the entire Southern California area.  Our service area includes not only Orange County & Los Angeles but Riverside County, San Bernardino, San Diego as well as parts of Ventura.  Contact us today if you have any questions about any project you may have upcoming.  Empire Parking Lot Services is a fully licensed & fully bonded asphalt contractor company.

Give us a call Today

714-633-0300