Our Week at The National Pavement Conference: Passing What We’ve Learned to You
Every year, The National Pavement Conference(sometimes referred to as The National Pavement Expo) is held. Typically, this three-day educational event is held in person in a different city every year. But due to COVID restrictions, the conference was held virtually for the first time. While many presenters lamented not being able to meet in person, it presented a unique opportunity for many others who typically would not be able to afford to fly out and attend in person.
The conference had tons of terrific presentations from a range of topics including company culture, paving best practices, technology in the field, marketing, budgeting, hot pour mastics, contractual liability, sweeper performance, sealcoating, and more. We can’t go over everything that was covered at the conference, but we can share some highlights with you.
Best Practices of Residential and Commercial Paving
Brian Hall gave a detailed and enlightening presentation on paving best practices on the first day of the conference. Hall took us through important topics such as understanding commercial and residential paving practices, proper operation of pavers, paving techniques, and how to improve the quality of our work. Hall’s moto: “Good is the enemy of great.” Hall discussed the importance of focusing on the basics: proper planning, making sure everyone is on the same team, and never cutting corners. Of course, these are all things Dare is well versed in but it’s always good to remind yourself about the importance of the basics in order to maintain the highest quality of work. Below is a great slide from Hall’s presentation with advice for anyone in any industry:
Seal Coating and Hot Pour Mastics
Steve Young taught us how to be seal coating pros in his detailed presentation that covered both the professional side of sealcoating and the nitty-gritty of the application process. Young emphasized professionalism throughout his presentation, from the work itself, to how your employers present themselves. Young often echoed Hall, highlighting the fact that just because something isn’t broken, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it better.
Later, Rick Stone taught us about hot pour mastics, an alternative to conventional pavement repair as explained in this slide:
It has versatile applications, it can be applied year-round, and it lasts for years to come. While it’s not an end-all-be-all to all pavement related problems, it’s a fascinating alternative and provides yet another tool against pavement wear and tear.
Productivity and Profits
And lastly, we had a great presentation on the relationship between productivity and profits in regard to sweeper performance. The summary: maintenance, maintenance, maintenance! Making sure your sweeper is functioning at 100% is the surest way to maximize your productivity and thus maximize profits. While investment in maintenance has its costs, it’s nothing to the costs of major repairs and the resulting loss of productivity due to the sweeper not performing at 100%.
Dare knows pavement and has a solution for whatever particular problem your property may be experiencing. But we don’t just know pavement, we do landscaping, retention basin repair and cleaning, sign repair, painting, and more.
