Concrete Curbing Blog

Great Before and After Photos!

shiffert — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:17:09 +0000

Here’s some before and after photos that really speak to the beauty of what we do.

Before

After:

Before:

After:

TV Debut

shiffert — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 17:25:05 +0000

Thanks to the great marketing folks at Buckeye Cablesystem, we are now advertising our decorative concrete landscape edging on a number of cable networks. Check out the commercial below!

To Rome!!

shiffert — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 14:03:29 +0000

Ok, maybe the curbing industury isn't quite as competitive as the gladiator specticle in ancient Rome, or the modern World Cup series. No one is being stabbed in disputes over who lays the best curb and we have yet to sign a deal with Nike to provide our workers with high performance curbing shoes. Competition, however, is heating up thanks to this wonderfully responsible piece of journalism. The Pulitzer Prize winning Toledo Blade ran an article on a company based 40 miles from toledo who recently bought into the Kwik Kerb franchise. We looked at Kwik Kerb while researching the biz and found them to be a bit steep on price and shallow on deliverables. I think it's great that someone picked up the franchise rights for this region, what I don't think is great is that the owners quoted "Estimated" gross sales for thier first year (right from the Kwik Kerb literature) and has since caused a mad dash akin to the 1849 gold rush of people trying to get into the curbing buisness here in the Toledo area.

For those of you looking to get into this business, I stand 100% behind you and your endevors, but please do your homework before jumping in. Realize that you will NOT gross a half million dollars your first year. If you decide to buy some equipment and try your hand at decorative landscape edging, please feel free to give us a call. We'll be happy to share our pricing philosophy and maybe even a few tips with you. This is still a very new product to the area and more curbers will only help educate the consumer base on the wonders of continuous concrete curbing.

Cable Strength from Down Under

shiffert — Thu, 25 May 2006 13:24:42 +0000

We are always researching new ideas to make our concrete landscape edging the best available and thus far, I can confidently say, our product is by far the highest quality offered in Northwest Ohio. In the tradition of excellence, we recently outfitted our machinery to accomodate reinforcement cable that will insure your concrete curbing stays were it's layed as well as prevent cracks and heaving. Check out the video!

Write it and they will come!

shiffert — Fri, 19 May 2006 14:08:03 +0000

Well, this blog is finally getting some attention via my good friend and colleague, Google. For those of you who searched for concrete edging in Toledo, Ohio and found this blog, I'd like to share a few things about our business, it's history and direction.

Our Decorative Concrete Curb nicely accents this customer's brick pathway.

We started this gig in 2002 after trying to find an installer in the area and coming up empty. So after countless hours of research, a trip to Florida and some creative financing, Concrete Creations was born. Our first year was a whirlwind sweat, scrapes, bruises and many tears, but we broke even and more importantly, built a solid foundation of knowledge and experience. At the end of our first season, one of our two competitors closed up shop and made us a great offer to buy his business, so we became Concrete Creations Alternative Edge. . .yeah, it's a mouthful, but he built some decent brand recognition and we didn't want to give that up.

Upon the dawn of our second season, our crew leader and now part owner was shipped to Kosovo courtesy of the National Guard for a 12 month paid vacation. . . not exactly a Carnival Cruise, but at least it wasn't Iraq. We found a suitable substitue crew leader and continued laying continuous concrete curb in the Toledo area. We installed enough to keep the lights on and built a nice customer base while doubling sales.

Year Three: Our esteemed crew leader is back from his relaxing stay at the Camp Monteith Resort and Day Spa and our phone is ringing off the hook. Our sales leader and owner/partner worked 65 hour weeks providing estimates and scheduling jobs keeping the calendar booked and our crew leader assembled a solid team of 3 skilled laborers who can pump out 2 to 3 jobs per day Again, sales is doubled.

This season, we have two new competitors in the area and welcome the competition with open arms. In the past 4 years we have laid close to 10 miles of continuous decorative concrete edging while educating an entire metropolitan area on this new product. Our competitors are helping us educate the masses and are turning more and more people on to this great, value adding, home improvement and beautification technique. They sell similar products but are nearly half a decade behind us in experience and expertise. When choosing a contractor to install your next run of decorative landscape edging, remember that there's no substitute for the knowledge and professionalism gained through years of practice.

For more information on Decorative Concrete Edging visit http://www.698edge.com .

Fun in the sun!

shiffert — Thu, 18 May 2006 14:18:42 +0000

So far this year, much of our work has been via repeat customers. Many people who had curbing installed a year or two ago love the product so much that they are putting in more. This just confirms our belief that decorative concrete curbing is simply the best product available to edge one's flowerbeds.
The seemingly endless rainfall has finally ceased and we can get back to work! Alternative Edge secured a very suitable facility to move to. We have a 3000 square foot steel barn in Oregon, OH on Rt. 2. This should significantly increase output as we can now store all of our materials in one place and stockpile sand, color and portland which will save us trips to the cement yard.

Full Speed Ahead!

shiffert — Wed, 17 May 2006 18:31:43 +0000

Just as the curbing season launched into full swing we get 7 straight days of rain! Decorative concrete cannot be installed in the rain so we have been working on estimates and securing a new facility to store our equipment and materials. Today, the weather finally broke and the crew is back at it beautifying toledo's landscape one flowerbed at a time.

Taxes and Taxin’

shiffert — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 18:18:09 +0000

It’s that time of year, when we divy up our winnings and losses for last year in an attempt to minimize our tax liability for the curbing business and ourselves. Since taking a full time job, I’ve stepped back a bit on the curbing business. This year, I plan on transfering most of my ownership to my brother who has done an amazing job keeping the business afloat and profitable. We have a board meeting scheduled in the next week or so where we will hash out the details of the transfer. I also have to code some improvements into our customer tracking database. We are amassing quite a client list who love our decorative concrete curbing in and around Toledo, Ohio. Many of our customers call us back to do more landscape edge work in thier yards.

Google PageRank

shiffert — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:52:23 +0000

So my site at http://www.698edge.com/curbing/ still has a pagerank of 0! I really don’t understand, however I figure writing a blog about it can’t hurt. The curbing season is just around the corner and we still have much to do. This weekend, I hope to meet with the other owners to discuss marketing, budgets, operations, and the such. Before we know it, we’ll be knee deep in Concrete Landscape Edging estimates and we’ll be booked out 2 months in advance for curbing jobs. The excitement is mounting.

Why I love landscape edging

shiffert — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 14:36:04 +0000

Concrete Landscape edging is more than just a pretty border to separate your lawn from your flowers. It’s an artform, a meditative symbol, a lesson in permanance and persistance and most of all, concrete curbing won’t call you at 3am for a ride home from the bar. If you want more information on how to get your very own installation of this enigmic wonderstuff simply visit the website of this Landscape Edging Company and have them quote your for your very own run or two of decorative landscape borders.