Pavemanpro.com - Asphalt paving sealcoating striping crack sealing infrared resource site

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could comment on how receptive people are to Infrared Repairs.  It would be good if we could post on topics such as, getting past the gatekeepers, Marketing Do’s and Don’ts, What people think of Infrared technique vs. traditions repairs and really anything else that you can think of.

John

I WAS THE FIRST CONTRACTOR TO OWN AND OPERATE AN INFRARED UNIT WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN 1988. I BOUGHT A TRUCK-MOUNTED POWER RAY UNIT FROM CLAREMONT NH. (NOW RAY-TECH). AT FIRST I WAS STRUGGLING TO FIND WORK. ONE DAY A MAJOR PAVER NEEDED HELP LOWERING SOME TRUCK DOCKS THAT WERE TOO HIGH. I GOT TO THE JOB SITE AND HIS CREW WAS USING BURNER TORCHES TO HEAT AND SCRAPE THE HARD ASPHALT, LOOKED LIKE CRAP! I DROPPED MY 6X8 PAN AND HEATED THE AREAS FOR ABOUT 4 MIN. AND ROLLED IT WITH A ONE TON VIBRATE ROLLER. IT COMPACTED IT TO JUST WHERE THEY NEEDED IT TO BE. I HAD THAT PAVER’S BUSINESS FOREVER AFTER HE SAW THAT UNIT WORK. WHEN YOU BRING IN A NEW UNIT TO AN UNEDUCATED AREA FOR INFRARED, BID IT AS JUST A PATCH LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! KEEP IN MIND THIS, INFRARED HAS ITS LIMITATIONS. I ALWAYS SAID IF THE BASE IS EXPOSED, DON’T INFRARED, R&R;THOSE AREAS. BUT INFRARED DOES SO MUCH COST EFFECTIVELY. I COULD IN 15 MIN. HEAT, FRAME, RAKE, ADD ASPHALT AND ROLL A PATCH. I AVERAGED 40 HEATS PER 4 TONS OF ASPHALT. AT THAT TIME I WAS GETTING $90.00 TO $120.00 PER HEAT!! NOT TODAY, THE NATIONAL AVERAGE FOR ONE 6X8 HEAT REPAIR IS AROUND $50.00 PER HEAT. WITH THE HIGH COST OF ASPHALT TODAY, AN INFRARED UNIT IS A GEM TO HAVE IN PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE BUSINESS. DO NOT BE APPREHENSIVE, GO FOR IT. I ACTUALLY DO NOT KNOW OF ANY LARGE PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE COMPANY THAT DOES NOT HAVE ONE. THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF INFRARED UNITS ON THE MARKET TODAY. I WILL GIVE YOU A FEW NOW AND YOU CAN CALL THEM AND HEAR THEIR PITCHES AS TO WHY YOU SHOULD OWN THEIR MACHINE. IF YOU CALL ME AT 800-892-6701 OR EMAIL ME HERE AT PAVEMAN PRO I WOULD BE HAPPY TO FURTHER DISCUSS YOUR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS. HERE ARE A COUPLE YOU CAN CALL TO GET YOU STARTED. (RAY-TECH 800-884-2072 ASK FOR (WES.) 2. (K-M INTERNATIONAL 800-492-1757) GOOD LUCK AND AS ALWAYS YOU WILL FIND ALL THE PEOPLE AFFILIATED WITH PAVEMAN PRO ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO HELP YOU WITH ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE ABOUT ANY PHASE OF THE ASPHALT AND PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE INDUSTRY. THANKS FOR YOUR QUESTIONS… MARK MCLEOD MAINTENANCE INCORPORATED.

Hello John.

Mark has offered some good advice regarding the infrared process and marketplace. It seems that the IR market and it’s information network is still dominated by the manufacturers, and henceforth, they are the best source of info. I don’t mean for that negatively - as if the mfrs. are controlling the market - it is this way because the overall market is still developing to the maintenance contractor & consumer. Which is likely why you are researching answers to IR repairs vs. traditional R & R, marketing ideas & gate keepers.

Each regional market place does seem to react differently to ideas and “new concepts.” I’m not sure if this is because of regional personality in general, or if the asphalt paving traditionalists have enough influence to keep things “as is.”  To say that IR techniques are new concepts really isn’t true anymore. The process & equipment options have steadily grown for at least the past 20 years. Previous to that there was activity among a couple of equipment manufacturers and contractors who are most likely responsible for the early development of the IR repair industry.

I’ve bounced around a bit, I’m sorry, I’ll attempt to directly address your questions.

You have to look at it from two different directions when marketing. If you are marketing to an experienced asphalt paver or maintenance professional, then you will likely need to validate the credibility and circumstances of when & where to use the IR process. Is he/she the gatekeeper? If so, then the best marketing is always physical demonstration. Do a repair. Like Mark did. He saved somebody’s a_ _, is a quality oriented craftsman and made a profit. If you get the opportunity to take down a high spot for a paver who has water trapped because of a bad paving seem, and his customer is holding a big check, I promise you will have just made a friend.

Now, if you are marketing to the end consumer i.e. homeowner, property manager, and alike, then you will win them over by explaining to them that you can “In Place Recycle” the damaged area, add minimal new asphalt from a hotbox, re-level & recomoact. They will at first be intrigued by the idea, they won’t fully understand it (even with pictures), they will question the durability, and then they will ultimately be most impressed by witnessing a rake go through previously hard pavement. The end consumer is mostly conerned with repair durability, or longevity, and of course money. How much does it cost?

The key to IR repairng is to learn the craft. The more you do, the better you get. The more experience you gain, the easier it is to evaluate when & where to use the process. Like Mark said, it is not a “cure all.” Base failure is base failure. And twenty year old pavement is old pavement.

IR repairing is most cost effective to the consumer and most profitable to the contractor when you are facing a variety of small defects (small usually meaning 15’ x 15’ and under) that you can re-heat, add new asphalt as needed,  and complete the repair efficiently. Compare it to a contractor arriving at same job, sawcutting multiple repairs, removing tons of asphalt, hauling the removed asphalt away, buying all new asphalt, hauling to the job, dumping, leveling & compacting.

There is often a great cost & time advantage when comparing the above scenario but only having one or two areas in need of repair.

Overall, the IR repair process is gaining popularity within the asphalt maintenance community as well as the paving & installation community. This is helping to market it to the consumers.

I hope I’ve helped answer your questions.

Bryan

I am in the Milwaukee market and Infrared is used extensively here. We also are easily able to get $125 per heat. Maybe that just has to do with our market though. We have 2 trucks with mounted 5’x7’ plates and hot boxes. Its great to have 2 crews that can go and patch all of the jobs that we have. It gives you the ability to make even smaller customers feel important as its easy to quickly get around to doing the work for them.

The Milwaukee market is a well educated IR market.. i am not surprised you are getting up to $125.00 per heat in the smaller contracts. IR will always be an arm for patching in any legit professional pavement maintenance company. Nice job keeping two going and taking care of your market!! Thanks.