Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
When you need wisdom and advice.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Seek out a guru.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
When you need wisdom and advice about remodeling and design.
Lock on and listen right now to Nick the Construction Guru.
Here is award winning remodeling expert Nick Kerzner.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
New Talk eleven thirty WSN Nick the Construction Guru. I
just want to make an announcement again this week. If
you don't get a chance to listen to the show
at nine on Sundays because of church or because you're
going out with the family, we are now on the
iHeart app. We have a podcast there and you can
listen to all the shows on there as well as
this one. You all know this guy, He's been on
(00:43):
the show many times. We talk about him. Actually, we've
talked about you in the last two shows. Just right, Greg,
we talked about Tom Eliota from Lake Country Concrete. Tommy
has always welcome to the show. Love to have you here.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Let's talk Thanks Nick, I appreciate you having me back
as a guest.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Let's let's talk about Lake Country Concrete a little bit.
Tell us because it's not just slabs. You do all
kinds of stuff. Let's talk about that and give out
some information in case people are thinking about getting an
estimate or want.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
To get something done right away. Absolutely, we do seat
walls nick as you well know, seat walls or little
walls with columns around the fire pit area patios. It
kind of gives you a little slash privacy wall. We
also do retaining walls, dry stack or mortared walls, so
we you know, we do standard concrete, decorative stamp concrete.
(01:32):
So if you need a driveway and then you might
have a patio orre you like to do a little
entertaining or something like that, and you just want to
spruce it up a little bit, and then we can
give you a custom stamp decorative patio in the back
or a walkway going up to the entrance to your home.
So people like to dress up there, you know, the
front entrance for curb appeal and things like that.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
So and I just want to mention this. If you're
many people sit around with their iPads and laptops while
we're talking, go to Lakecountryconcrete dot com and take a
look at some of the work that Tommy and the
crew does. Because I think that you probably, at least
in Wisconsin, you were one of the pioneers in the
stamped concrete.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, we were. We've been doing it for years. It's
over thirty years now for sure. I mean, like I said, Nick,
we still I mean by all means we don't want
to turn down any work. We still do standard concrete.
So if someone is not looking for any you know,
higher end type concrete, we still do the standard driveway
asphalt replacements type of deal.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You know, I am laughing Tommy, it is because it's
not really fair. Again if you go to Lake Countryconcrete
dot Com look at some of these pictures. To be fair,
Tommy has put a couple of standard concrete patios in there,
But when you look at him next to this stamp stuff,
you're just you know, it really does pale in comparison.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It does. I mean, it's it's a night and day difference.
But you know it adds huge curb appeal to your
house and value as well.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So you know, strategically, you put a picture in here
of all standard concret eat on one job. Then the
other picture you showed standard concrete with a stamped concrete border,
and then you get to the gray stamped concrete, and
then you have the colored stamped concrete, this one in
the middle on the picture here, I'll hold it up
to the mics so people can see it. But I love,
(03:17):
I love the colors you put in here, you know,
I mean it really looks like real stone. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I mean sometimes people have veneer or stone on their
house and they have you know, multiple colors like gray's,
dark grays, some tan, some rust colors. We're able to
actually burn acid stain into the concrete squares and kind
of simulate the veneer on the home, which is nice.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Absolutely. And then you have different coatings. You have some
high gloss, you have some matte finish, and you have
some flat. So I mean you can really get whatever
look you want from these guys. And what I love
about it is, you know, stamp concrete is not as
much as real stone, and you don't have to reset
it every couple of years.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Absolutely, yeah years ago. We haven't done, Nick over thirty
years actual you know, late paver bricks or something like that.
Not in Wisconsin just because of the frost and thaw cycles.
The grounds constantly moving. And as you well know, Nick,
you see it in your line of work too. You go,
you go walk some of your job sites and you
look at an old paver patio, sometimes not even that
(04:15):
old four or five years, you see the weeds growing
through it. So not only do you maintain your lawn,
but you have to maintain your patio, you know, the
weeds and then things just kind of move through the
frost and thaw. And with the concrete you can give
you the same look that you're looking for. And it's
five inches of solid concrete reinforced with steel and fiber,
and you.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Can't actually if it moves at all, it's moving as
one piece.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Absolutely. Yeah, you're not getting you know, you're not getting
that individual movement where you know, you have, like I said,
quite a bit of settling in one area and none
in the other.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And you know, on several jobs we partnered with you
to do different stamp concrete and stuff like that. And
I've watched the guy's work. What I love about it
is you put enough guys on the job that it's
not a six month project. Oh no, how many guys
you typically put on the.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Job seven to eight depending on you know, and we
got usually a dump truck or two and some equipment.
And for sure we have seven to eight guys on
a job and then myself as well. That's helping out
on poors. And and you.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Know, I'm thinking back to I'm sure some of the
listeners saw us on Contact six when the guy out
in Gray Scene County took a young couple of homeowners
for a ride and and sold them a patio in
the back and then never showed up, just took the
down payment and ran. What was his name, what did
they call him? Bam bam?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, bam bam. Yeah, I remember that that was on
on Facebook.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, And and and you know, so you went out
and made her hole? Did that? Did the project for
free for her to make her hole, which was a
huge undertaking money wise for you. And the reason I
bring this up is you guys had that slab all
straightened out, all the forms were put up, and it
was poored the same day, smoothed out and ready to go.
(05:58):
And even she was freaking out because she was waiting
six or eight months to get her patty went from
the other guy and she goes, it was a day's work.
I said now that it wasn't a day's work for them.
It was a day's work for a lake country. Because
you do send a lot of guys out there.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well for sure. Yeah. We so we were in and
out and we were able to take care of her.
It's just it's one of those things, Nick, you and
I were talking and I seen it on the news
and it's like, man, my wife just looked at me
and said, let's go get that taken care of. And
that's what we did to get together. We were out there. Yeah,
and we made it happen and it was a good thing.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It was and and and you know, I think that
went a long way with with with a lot of
the Narry people too, thought that was a really nice
thing that you did and straightened it out. But the
thing was is that and I think the Contact six
did a nice job because they filmed a lot of
the work going on and kind of showing you guys
were like ants on an hill. Man.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
It was like, well, you can still pull that up.
They have it, you know, if you can google that
and you can pull up the actual installation that we
were out there on an interview and all that.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, yeah, that really worked out well. So another thing
that I know about Lake Countries, you guys do all
your own excavation. I know a lot of times that's
farmed out to other people, which and here's why I
bring it up, doesn't mean you're going to get a
bad job. But if you have a driveway, especially out
where we are in Lake Lake Country, a lot of
those driveways are long. To get to the front door,
you know, the guys tear out the driveway and then
(07:19):
don't come back for you know, three or four weeks.
Now in spring, you got mom trying to bring in
the groceries or the kids and all of that kind
of stuff. You know what I mean. Correct, absolutely, So
you're parking on the street for you know, three four
weeks and then trying to walk through a mud hole.
I don't think a lot of people think about that.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
No, we don't start multiple jobs, Nick. We start one
job and we finish one job and then move on
to the next. So when we pull up with a
dumb truck and equipment and our guys, we usually will
remove an asphalt driveway or a concrete driveway. We try
to get everything removed, get everything set up and excavated
in one day, and then pour the next day. That's
our goal. Obviously mother nature has something to do with that,
(07:57):
so we have to monitor the weather. And on occasions
for a couple of days just because it's raining. Otherwise
we're on it.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
So, Tommy, one of the things I want to talk
about that would make a lot of guys squirm in
this business is a lot of times when you look
at stamped concrete, the surfaces are breaking off, the colors
are fading. I want to talk about that because I
had a situation at my house that you guys took
care of. The front stoop was cracked and there was
(08:27):
a seat wall on the front that sat on top
of that. So it was a major undertaking for me
to break that out and replace it. You came with
a solution for that, and I wanted to talk a
little bit about that because I think it really demonstrates
the difference in the materials that you used on stamp concrete.
At my house.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, for sure. I remember. I think I maybe had
fifteen guys on your job. Nick, you had a big driveway, Yeah,
and we ripped the whole driveway out, and then we
took a look at the We got that port for it,
and and you had that issue up front by you're stooped.
Now we had a wall on top and there's a
foundation underneath it. So we didn't want to disturb that
because structurally it looked like it was hanging in there.
(09:09):
So what we did was we uh, we overlaid it
with a with a product you got to pick out
your color, and then we two toned it. And it's
incredible because it is.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I had no expectations for that to work. Man. I'm
just telling you.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
That the final yields on that Nick were actually stronger
than what we just poured new. Okay, because you use
pure pigmented Portland cement and you mix it up, you
overlay it. No, I won't try. I don't want you
to laugh at me on the air here. So we
got you squared away and there's pictures of all that
stuff on the website Nick that people can look at.
(09:44):
So it's it's it's it's a less expensive way, but
yet doing it right and something that's gonna have longevity,
you know what I mean, where it's not gonna break up,
it's not gonna chip. I mean you could take a
sledgehammer to this stuff. That's how you know solid. It is.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Another thing before we go on break, I want you
to to tell me because I think this is so
important and I think the listeners are going to understand this.
How long have you had the same crew?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Oh, I've only lost one guy in eighteen nineteen years. Yeah,
I've had the same crew forever. This is going on
my fortieth year, Nick. Yeah, I'm old. I'm getting up there.
I feel it every morning. But this is my fortieth year,
you know, installing driveways, patios, walkways and that type of deal.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
And you have several family members working with you, and
soon you're going to be a second generation business, right correct.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, my son will be taking things over. It'll be
a transition here in the next two to three years.
I'll probably stay on and work for him, just reverse roles. Yeah,
and he'll be carrying it on.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Then you'll have to listen to him.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, I do now sometimes you know, I mean he's
trying to push me out, Nick.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, well, you know, I do have to say younger guys,
these guys, they have the same work I think you do,
which freaks me out out. I Mean, I work a lot,
but you guys are like, I mean, you're working four
or five months, but you're going almost twenty four to
seven during those four.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, it's it's seven months. Nick, it's from April, okay
till November fifth, and then we shut things up. And
as you well know, then I I'm an official snowbird now,
so I leave for the winner because there's nothing for
me to do here as far as concrete. You know,
we don't do any plowing work or anything like that anymore.
So looking at your trucks, yeah for sure. So I
(11:29):
lay you know, I just lay low in Arizona, enjoy
the winters out there and the weather's nice, and then
come back and like I say, come back the first
week in April. We load the trucks up so we're
ready to go.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
We can talk about a little of that after break,
because you're a completely different guy when you're in Arizona's
I know we're gonna take a short break time and
when we come back, we'll talk some more about stamp
concrete and seat walls and go from there on Newstalk
eleven thirty wisn S Talk eleven thirty wsn returning from break,
Nick the Construction Group listen. If you're thinking about a
(12:00):
remodeling project, every show I say you should get a
few estimates. Check us out on the web at kurznerink
dot com. You can see before and afters of many
of the projects we do. One of the things that
I always like to let people know as well is
that there really is no job too small for us.
We do do repair work on on drywall, we do
all kinds of different things on the interior of the house.
We kind of feel like it gives the homeowners an
(12:21):
opportunity to take a look at our work before they
comit to a big project and get a little bit
of taste of how we service people. Another thing I
just want to mention before we get started back with
Tommy Eliota from Lake Country Concrete. The Construction Girl now
has a podcast on the iHeart app, so you can
certainly get down there and listen to some of the
shows that you might have missed and get some of
that information coming from the experts. Tommy, thanks for coming
(12:43):
in before we went on break. I kind of wanted
to give you an opportunity to give out your information
because you know, now's the time for concrete, patio seat walls,
all that kind of stuff. Can you give out the
information so if people are looking for you there you.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, absolutely, it's Late Country Concrete specialists, but you can
go to Lake Country dot com and you could also
call the office at two six two five three eight
one seven nine seven. I also I have my cell
phone that people are more than welcome to call me
on if you want to bypass the office, we can
get something scheduled to come out and give you an estimate.
(13:16):
That's two six two two zero six twenty four ninety.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And you know, I want to say that you probably
should call the office because then you get to talk
to Tom's lovely wife, Linda, who is We've had the
opportunity to stay with them out in Arizona, and she's
she's probably the well she really makes up for Tommy.
She's one of the best hostesses I've ever I've ever
stayed with. So it's it's great in between you keeping
me working out there when I'm out there.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Right, Oh for sure. Yeah, absolutely, We've always got something
to do.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So Tommy, let's talk about one of the things that
I don't think people realize, and honestly, I never thought
about until we started having you on the show several
years ago. When you look at different bids, one of
the things I noticed that's different about Lake Country is
you guys, do five inch poor rather than a four way?
Is that important?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Well, the thicker the concrete, you know, your final PSI
pounce per scranches is stronger. It's just stronger, Nick, That's
why you go into airports and it's two feet deep.
You know, okay, planes constantly landing on them and taking off.
But so you know, there's there's there's a little bit
of a difference between the four inch and five inch.
Five inch is gonna give you a little bit more strength.
(14:24):
We make all our concrete, our patios, our driveways, and
our walkways all five inches thick. It just makes it easy,
you know, it'll minimize cracking, and then we reinforce it
with steel rods and and fiber and it just keeps
callbacks down and happy customers and happy customers are good
for business.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Now, another thing I know about you guys. Every now
and then something will happen, and like us, you take
service very seriously. So you've done and you've even done
some work for some of my friends and peers where
you've repaired things, recoded things, all the that kind of stuff.
So yeah, absolutely, service is a big part of your business,
even if it's somebody else is right.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
It is. Well, once you do the job, you're a
customer for life. It's just not it's just not the
time that we're working on your job. Nick, if you
ever have a problem, you call back and it gets handled.
I mean, that's just the way we that's just the
way we work. We've been working like that for forty years.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Well, like us, you're a BBB accredited business and that
makes a difference too.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, we have a great impeccable record with the BBB.
We like to keep it that way, and we take
care of our we take care of our customers.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Let's run through the boring stuff real quick so people understand,
and then we'll talk about some design and stuff. So
some of the things that you do differently and in
your recipe, let's just talk about real quick. You know,
it's the six bag mix. What does that mean? Wire mash?
We kind of get that compact. What preparation so important?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Right, You're only as good as as your prep work
and your basnic I mean, we get in there, we
remove a driveway. There's a reason why this driveway is operated.
All the asphalts cracked up. You got all these little potholes,
little duck ponds all over. You got to deal with
the bass. So you take the you take the driveway out,
whether it be asphalt or concrete, and then you look
at the base. Your next thing is look at the
(16:13):
base and make sure that you know that you're able
to address that.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
We want to know I am laughing. I know you're
trying to so that I don't get you laughing. I remember,
I remember when when you came over to my house.
You're talking about asphalt all cracked up, and I said, yeah,
it's time to replace. And you said something like yeah,
about ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, oh, I remember, I remember, yeah, And uh, finally
you did it and now you got a nice you know,
you got a nice concrete driveway and it looks nice.
But getting back to the prep work on the base, Nick,
you had mentioned you're only as good as your your base.
You got to prep that base. You got to make
sure you got a good three quarter inch TV in there,
(16:52):
five six inches compacted. The whole thing is you want
to get that base half the strength of your concrete.
So you want to be so.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
If a guy comes in with a bid, where's he
going to shortcut you?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
You know it could be anywhere, Nick, it could be
you know, they're just going to slap the forms and
pour it back on on the base they had. They
don't compact properly. You know, you pour three inches instead
of four or five. I mean there's a lot of
you don't use. Well absolutely, uh, there's there's there's I mean,
you can get someone that you know. Now I'm not
(17:24):
talking about legitimate businesses, but I'm talking about you know,
side job type deals. And we've gone up to jobs
that were an inch and a half thick, two inches thick,
and they they failed, No, no, they failed. So again
you want to make sure the contractors putting a good
gravel basin there. It's compacted and number number one concern
(17:45):
is it's a reputable contract, like you said, a better
BBB accredited business. They've got a good reputation. And you
got to do your homework.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Yeah, I know that one of the things that you
do on your contract, which I think is important. And
then we'll get to the fun stuff. You basically just
check everything off that you're gonna do. I mean, there's
no questions when you Here's what I'm gonna say, and
let me explain myself before you strangle me your contract.
(18:14):
A fifth grader can understand. If there's not a lot
of technical jargon in there, you you know exactly what
you're gonna get. You can watch the guy's port you're
seeing what you What you see is what you get.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Right right, absolutely, yep, everything's right there. It's all spelled out,
it's all checked off. Everything you're getting. I don't know.
If I have one on me, i'd show you, but.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You're gonna kind of you've already seen I've seen it,
but I just, you know, I'm just thinking that, but
I do see he's going through his paperwork. Another thing
that you guys provide is a waiver of lean.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Absolutely, well, that's that's not common anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, you know, well yeah, people people should really request
that because you don't know that the contractor is paying
for materials, and all of a sudden, the six months
down the road, you're getting a lean slapped on your
house because the contractor never paid.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, you paid them, but they didn't pay for the materials.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Didn't pay for materials, so they put a lien on your.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
And people say, how can that happen? Well, typically you
get thirty to sixty days to pay your supplier. Well,
if guy pours a couple driveways and doesn't pay a supplier,
supplier cuts them off. Now he can't make any money
to keep paying Robin Peter to pay Paul.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And yeah, and it's not just concrete, it's any materials.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
It's our construction too.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
So you got checkboxes here, six bag mix excavat and
hauling compacts sealed with a CS three to ZHO nine
curing compound. What is that?
Speaker 2 (19:27):
That's basically nick. After you pour a driveway, we usually
seal it with the sealer, which is a CUS three
or nine. And what it does is that it locks
the moisture in the concrete. So with concrete, the slower
it cures, your final yields are stronger. Years ago, you know,
we used to see burlap sacks nice and wet on
concrete on bridges and stuff like that. Well, now they
(19:49):
have chemicals for that, you know, the sealers for that.
And what it does is it locks the pores. It
closes the pores in the concrete, keeps that moisture in
the concrete, slows down the curing the drying process.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Does it help with staining in that too.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
A little bit I mean if you've got a you know,
if you got a truck that that leaks like crazy
and you're als parking in the same spot, you know
eventually it's gonna work its way through and you're gonna
end up on an oil stain.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
But you see you have low shirt. You want to
give us a quickmentit.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, yeah, we have six bag load shirt cement. We
pour everything with the low shirt, which is your concrete's
made up of your Portland cement, your sand, and your gravel. Okay,
that's in the mix and then they add water to it. It
comes out in the big trucks. You see him going
down the road. Well, the shirt's important because people think
it's just a stone in the concrete. But you can
(20:37):
go with small stone air and trainment concrete. Well, you know,
it has a high moisture content in the aggregate. We
want to make sure we have a dry aggregate, so
we poured low Shirt, which is ninety nine point nine
percent shirt free, meaning moisture free. Because in the winter
and when it's twenty degrees here, Nick, which I haven't
seen in a few years, you know, the concrete freezes
(20:58):
and that moisture will span. So when you see concrete
that's you know, pitted or popped up on the surface.
That's what's happening that moisture. The stones that are close
to the surface after it's been finished will expand and
pop the surface. No different than you're gonna listen to
the Burrors game. You pull out a Miller light or
something and you go into the you know it's not
chilled enough, so you put it in a freezer just
(21:20):
for twenty minutes, right, You sit down in your favorite
recliner and you fall asleep. Well, mama wakes up and
goes into the refrigerator for something, and there you go
the freezer. The bottle imploded. Same with the moisture outside
when it's in the driveway.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
So people know what kind of beer would it be.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
It'd be Miller Light for me.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, all right, just so we know, now, wire mesh,
that's kind of We get that gravel included if needed.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, he's building a base. There's there's absolutely there's every job.
You may need a load or two of three quarter
inch TV, so yeah, it's all included in the base.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Once.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Once I quote you a price, Nick, that's the price.
If we need two loads, two truck loads, three truckloads.
It's not something like are hitting you out up for
extras or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Okay, hand tool joints. I think people understand the control joints.
So all concrete is going to crack. You control, we.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Control, well, yeah, we we We hope that we can
minimize it, and we do so. But we put the
controllers in there to control the crack, and we want
to tell the concrete word to crack. You don't see them.
They're into control joints and that's that's that's they're important.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Expansion felt when you butt up to something else.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
When we butt up to something else, we got to
have expansion felt in there. That's a code. Okay, so
we have to follow code. You'll know that. In the
building trade, there's things you have to do and there's
things we have to do. Well, there you go. You
get down to that. You know, hiring a reputable contract,
you're just going to follow the rules and pull the permits.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
And all that. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Pure footings that's something
separate if if you're next to the house or something
you don't want.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, you pure footings for for decks and things like that.
We've done some of those for you. You've built nice decks
in the back of the house, and we've done that
for Kurzhner.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
And then of course it lays out decorative and standard concrete,
and then you have several different several different types of
decorative concrete that you can use. Absolutely, I mean color wise,
how many colors you.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Got, Oh, we have over thirty forty colors? Yeah, you could?
You know, I lay a colored chart out for you.
We walk out and you can you know, we got
just like when you're picking out paint or something.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
How many different patterns.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
There's quite a few different I could even, yeah, more
than I know.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
No, you're not relegated to one or two patterns.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
No, you can go at rough stone texture, you can
go to slate pattern, you can go running bond. Anything
that you can do with pavers, you can do it.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I've talked to other guys at Stamp Concrete and then
I'll say, you know, how many do you have? And
they'll go three, and I'll go, how come we only
have three? And they go because you know how expensive
those stamps?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeah, so those stamps are ten fifteen thousand dollars. We've
got a beautiful cobblestone stamp yeah, like stone.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Yeah, especially on borders on in that you do a
great job with that. Tommy, give out your info. We're
running up against the clock here. Let me just say this,
if you want to see some of this work, it's
worth your time to go to Lake Countryconcrete dot com.
There's some beautiful before and after pictures of patios, driveways, sidewalks,
even some specialty stuff that that Tommy's taken on and done.
(24:14):
You can you can mix standard concrete and stamped concrete
if if, if you know, that keeps the price down
a little bit, but it beautifies the project absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah. And this time of year, Nick, you call, my
wife will send me out. I come out personally. I'll
see you within a day or two. And if it's
something you want to get done here in the spring
so you can enjoy it for June, July and winter,
you know, now is the time to get it done.
We'd be able to within the next couple of weeks
get you a you know, a full refurbished backyard with
(24:43):
a custom a stamp patio or standard patio or seat
walls or whatever you want. You can jump online and
take a look at Lake Countryconcrete dot com, or you
can call the office at two six two five three
eight one seven nine seven.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Or yourself And if you want to get a Tommy
right away is two six two two o six. That's
where I call it. Two six two two o six
two four nine ers.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Absolutely, you can call me on that as well.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
All right, Hey, tom thanks for coming in on a
Sunday morning spending some time with Guru. Remember that this
is going to be on the iHeart app for podcast
if you don't have time to listen to it all,
it's worth listening to because Tommy goes through a lot
of the specifics that make the difference in good concrete
in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Thank you, Nick, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Absolutely. We'll we return again next week on News Talk
eleven thirty WISN
When you need wisdom and advice.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Seek out a guru.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
When you need wisdom and advice about remodeling and design.
Lock on and listen right now to Nick the Construction Guru.
Here is award winning remodeling expert Nick Kerzner.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
New Talk eleven thirty WSN Nick the Construction Guru. I
just want to make an announcement again this week. If
you don't get a chance to listen to the show
at nine on Sundays because of church or because you're
going out with the family, we are now on the
iHeart app. We have a podcast there and you can
listen to all the shows on there as well as
this one. You all know this guy, He's been on
(00:43):
the show many times. We talk about him. Actually, we've
talked about you in the last two shows. Just right, Greg,
we talked about Tom Eliota from Lake Country Concrete. Tommy
has always welcome to the show. Love to have you here.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Let's talk Thanks Nick, I appreciate you having me back
as a guest.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Let's let's talk about Lake Country Concrete a little bit.
Tell us because it's not just slabs. You do all
kinds of stuff. Let's talk about that and give out
some information in case people are thinking about getting an
estimate or want.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
To get something done right away. Absolutely, we do seat
walls nick as you well know, seat walls or little
walls with columns around the fire pit area patios. It
kind of gives you a little slash privacy wall. We
also do retaining walls, dry stack or mortared walls, so
we you know, we do standard concrete, decorative stamp concrete.
(01:32):
So if you need a driveway and then you might
have a patio orre you like to do a little
entertaining or something like that, and you just want to
spruce it up a little bit, and then we can
give you a custom stamp decorative patio in the back
or a walkway going up to the entrance to your home.
So people like to dress up there, you know, the
front entrance for curb appeal and things like that.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
So and I just want to mention this. If you're
many people sit around with their iPads and laptops while
we're talking, go to Lakecountryconcrete dot com and take a
look at some of the work that Tommy and the
crew does. Because I think that you probably, at least
in Wisconsin, you were one of the pioneers in the
stamped concrete.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, we were. We've been doing it for years. It's
over thirty years now for sure. I mean, like I said, Nick,
we still I mean by all means we don't want
to turn down any work. We still do standard concrete.
So if someone is not looking for any you know,
higher end type concrete, we still do the standard driveway
asphalt replacements type of deal.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You know, I am laughing Tommy, it is because it's
not really fair. Again if you go to Lake Countryconcrete
dot Com look at some of these pictures. To be fair,
Tommy has put a couple of standard concrete patios in there,
But when you look at him next to this stamp stuff,
you're just you know, it really does pale in comparison.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It does. I mean, it's it's a night and day difference.
But you know it adds huge curb appeal to your
house and value as well.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So you know, strategically, you put a picture in here
of all standard concret eat on one job. Then the
other picture you showed standard concrete with a stamped concrete border,
and then you get to the gray stamped concrete, and
then you have the colored stamped concrete, this one in
the middle on the picture here, I'll hold it up
to the mics so people can see it. But I love,
(03:17):
I love the colors you put in here, you know,
I mean it really looks like real stone. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I mean sometimes people have veneer or stone on their
house and they have you know, multiple colors like gray's,
dark grays, some tan, some rust colors. We're able to
actually burn acid stain into the concrete squares and kind
of simulate the veneer on the home, which is nice.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Absolutely. And then you have different coatings. You have some
high gloss, you have some matte finish, and you have
some flat. So I mean you can really get whatever
look you want from these guys. And what I love
about it is, you know, stamp concrete is not as
much as real stone, and you don't have to reset
it every couple of years.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Absolutely, yeah years ago. We haven't done, Nick over thirty
years actual you know, late paver bricks or something like that.
Not in Wisconsin just because of the frost and thaw cycles.
The grounds constantly moving. And as you well know, Nick,
you see it in your line of work too. You go,
you go walk some of your job sites and you
look at an old paver patio, sometimes not even that
(04:15):
old four or five years, you see the weeds growing
through it. So not only do you maintain your lawn,
but you have to maintain your patio, you know, the
weeds and then things just kind of move through the
frost and thaw. And with the concrete you can give
you the same look that you're looking for. And it's
five inches of solid concrete reinforced with steel and fiber,
and you.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Can't actually if it moves at all, it's moving as
one piece.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Absolutely. Yeah, you're not getting you know, you're not getting
that individual movement where you know, you have, like I said,
quite a bit of settling in one area and none
in the other.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
And you know, on several jobs we partnered with you
to do different stamp concrete and stuff like that. And
I've watched the guy's work. What I love about it
is you put enough guys on the job that it's
not a six month project. Oh no, how many guys
you typically put on the.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Job seven to eight depending on you know, and we
got usually a dump truck or two and some equipment.
And for sure we have seven to eight guys on
a job and then myself as well. That's helping out
on poors. And and you.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Know, I'm thinking back to I'm sure some of the
listeners saw us on Contact six when the guy out
in Gray Scene County took a young couple of homeowners
for a ride and and sold them a patio in
the back and then never showed up, just took the
down payment and ran. What was his name, what did
they call him? Bam bam?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, bam bam. Yeah, I remember that that was on
on Facebook.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, And and and you know, so you went out
and made her hole? Did that? Did the project for
free for her to make her hole, which was a
huge undertaking money wise for you. And the reason I
bring this up is you guys had that slab all
straightened out, all the forms were put up, and it
was poored the same day, smoothed out and ready to go.
(05:58):
And even she was freaking out because she was waiting
six or eight months to get her patty went from
the other guy and she goes, it was a day's work.
I said now that it wasn't a day's work for them.
It was a day's work for a lake country. Because
you do send a lot of guys out there.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well for sure. Yeah. We so we were in and
out and we were able to take care of her.
It's just it's one of those things, Nick, you and
I were talking and I seen it on the news
and it's like, man, my wife just looked at me
and said, let's go get that taken care of. And
that's what we did to get together. We were out there. Yeah,
and we made it happen and it was a good thing.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It was and and and you know, I think that
went a long way with with with a lot of
the Narry people too, thought that was a really nice
thing that you did and straightened it out. But the
thing was is that and I think the Contact six
did a nice job because they filmed a lot of
the work going on and kind of showing you guys
were like ants on an hill. Man.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
It was like, well, you can still pull that up.
They have it, you know, if you can google that
and you can pull up the actual installation that we
were out there on an interview and all that.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, yeah, that really worked out well. So another thing
that I know about Lake Countries, you guys do all
your own excavation. I know a lot of times that's
farmed out to other people, which and here's why I
bring it up, doesn't mean you're going to get a
bad job. But if you have a driveway, especially out
where we are in Lake Lake Country, a lot of
those driveways are long. To get to the front door,
you know, the guys tear out the driveway and then
(07:19):
don't come back for you know, three or four weeks.
Now in spring, you got mom trying to bring in
the groceries or the kids and all of that kind
of stuff. You know what I mean. Correct, absolutely, So
you're parking on the street for you know, three four
weeks and then trying to walk through a mud hole.
I don't think a lot of people think about that.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
No, we don't start multiple jobs, Nick. We start one
job and we finish one job and then move on
to the next. So when we pull up with a
dumb truck and equipment and our guys, we usually will
remove an asphalt driveway or a concrete driveway. We try
to get everything removed, get everything set up and excavated
in one day, and then pour the next day. That's
our goal. Obviously mother nature has something to do with that,
(07:57):
so we have to monitor the weather. And on occasions
for a couple of days just because it's raining. Otherwise
we're on it.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
So, Tommy, one of the things I want to talk
about that would make a lot of guys squirm in
this business is a lot of times when you look
at stamped concrete, the surfaces are breaking off, the colors
are fading. I want to talk about that because I
had a situation at my house that you guys took
care of. The front stoop was cracked and there was
(08:27):
a seat wall on the front that sat on top
of that. So it was a major undertaking for me
to break that out and replace it. You came with
a solution for that, and I wanted to talk a
little bit about that because I think it really demonstrates
the difference in the materials that you used on stamp concrete.
At my house.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, for sure. I remember. I think I maybe had
fifteen guys on your job. Nick, you had a big driveway, Yeah,
and we ripped the whole driveway out, and then we
took a look at the We got that port for it,
and and you had that issue up front by you're stooped.
Now we had a wall on top and there's a
foundation underneath it. So we didn't want to disturb that
because structurally it looked like it was hanging in there.
(09:09):
So what we did was we uh, we overlaid it
with a with a product you got to pick out
your color, and then we two toned it. And it's
incredible because it is.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I had no expectations for that to work. Man. I'm
just telling you.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
That the final yields on that Nick were actually stronger
than what we just poured new. Okay, because you use
pure pigmented Portland cement and you mix it up, you
overlay it. No, I won't try. I don't want you
to laugh at me on the air here. So we
got you squared away and there's pictures of all that
stuff on the website Nick that people can look at.
(09:44):
So it's it's it's it's a less expensive way, but
yet doing it right and something that's gonna have longevity,
you know what I mean, where it's not gonna break up,
it's not gonna chip. I mean you could take a
sledgehammer to this stuff. That's how you know solid. It is.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Another thing before we go on break, I want you
to to tell me because I think this is so
important and I think the listeners are going to understand this.
How long have you had the same crew?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Oh, I've only lost one guy in eighteen nineteen years. Yeah,
I've had the same crew forever. This is going on
my fortieth year, Nick. Yeah, I'm old. I'm getting up there.
I feel it every morning. But this is my fortieth year,
you know, installing driveways, patios, walkways and that type of deal.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
And you have several family members working with you, and
soon you're going to be a second generation business, right correct.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, my son will be taking things over. It'll be
a transition here in the next two to three years.
I'll probably stay on and work for him, just reverse roles. Yeah,
and he'll be carrying it on.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Then you'll have to listen to him.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, I do now sometimes you know, I mean he's
trying to push me out, Nick.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah, well, you know, I do have to say younger guys,
these guys, they have the same work I think you do,
which freaks me out out. I Mean, I work a lot,
but you guys are like, I mean, you're working four
or five months, but you're going almost twenty four to
seven during those four.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, it's it's seven months. Nick, it's from April, okay
till November fifth, and then we shut things up. And
as you well know, then I I'm an official snowbird now,
so I leave for the winner because there's nothing for
me to do here as far as concrete. You know,
we don't do any plowing work or anything like that anymore.
So looking at your trucks, yeah for sure. So I
(11:29):
lay you know, I just lay low in Arizona, enjoy
the winters out there and the weather's nice, and then
come back and like I say, come back the first
week in April. We load the trucks up so we're
ready to go.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
We can talk about a little of that after break,
because you're a completely different guy when you're in Arizona's
I know we're gonna take a short break time and
when we come back, we'll talk some more about stamp
concrete and seat walls and go from there on Newstalk
eleven thirty wisn S Talk eleven thirty wsn returning from break,
Nick the Construction Group listen. If you're thinking about a
(12:00):
remodeling project, every show I say you should get a
few estimates. Check us out on the web at kurznerink
dot com. You can see before and afters of many
of the projects we do. One of the things that
I always like to let people know as well is
that there really is no job too small for us.
We do do repair work on on drywall, we do
all kinds of different things on the interior of the house.
We kind of feel like it gives the homeowners an
(12:21):
opportunity to take a look at our work before they
comit to a big project and get a little bit
of taste of how we service people. Another thing I
just want to mention before we get started back with
Tommy Eliota from Lake Country Concrete. The Construction Girl now
has a podcast on the iHeart app, so you can
certainly get down there and listen to some of the
shows that you might have missed and get some of
that information coming from the experts. Tommy, thanks for coming
(12:43):
in before we went on break. I kind of wanted
to give you an opportunity to give out your information
because you know, now's the time for concrete, patio seat walls,
all that kind of stuff. Can you give out the
information so if people are looking for you there you.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, absolutely, it's Late Country Concrete specialists, but you can
go to Lake Country dot com and you could also
call the office at two six two five three eight
one seven nine seven. I also I have my cell
phone that people are more than welcome to call me
on if you want to bypass the office, we can
get something scheduled to come out and give you an estimate.
(13:16):
That's two six two two zero six twenty four ninety.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And you know, I want to say that you probably
should call the office because then you get to talk
to Tom's lovely wife, Linda, who is We've had the
opportunity to stay with them out in Arizona, and she's
she's probably the well she really makes up for Tommy.
She's one of the best hostesses I've ever I've ever
stayed with. So it's it's great in between you keeping
me working out there when I'm out there.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Right, Oh for sure. Yeah, absolutely, We've always got something
to do.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
So Tommy, let's talk about one of the things that
I don't think people realize, and honestly, I never thought
about until we started having you on the show several
years ago. When you look at different bids, one of
the things I noticed that's different about Lake Country is
you guys, do five inch poor rather than a four way?
Is that important?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Well, the thicker the concrete, you know, your final PSI
pounce per scranches is stronger. It's just stronger, Nick, That's
why you go into airports and it's two feet deep.
You know, okay, planes constantly landing on them and taking off.
But so you know, there's there's there's a little bit
of a difference between the four inch and five inch.
Five inch is gonna give you a little bit more strength.
(14:24):
We make all our concrete, our patios, our driveways, and
our walkways all five inches thick. It just makes it easy,
you know, it'll minimize cracking, and then we reinforce it
with steel rods and and fiber and it just keeps
callbacks down and happy customers and happy customers are good
for business.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Now, another thing I know about you guys. Every now
and then something will happen, and like us, you take
service very seriously. So you've done and you've even done
some work for some of my friends and peers where
you've repaired things, recoded things, all the that kind of stuff.
So yeah, absolutely, service is a big part of your business,
even if it's somebody else is right.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
It is. Well, once you do the job, you're a
customer for life. It's just not it's just not the
time that we're working on your job. Nick, if you
ever have a problem, you call back and it gets handled.
I mean, that's just the way we that's just the
way we work. We've been working like that for forty years.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Well, like us, you're a BBB accredited business and that
makes a difference too.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, we have a great impeccable record with the BBB.
We like to keep it that way, and we take
care of our we take care of our customers.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Let's run through the boring stuff real quick so people understand,
and then we'll talk about some design and stuff. So
some of the things that you do differently and in
your recipe, let's just talk about real quick. You know,
it's the six bag mix. What does that mean? Wire mash?
We kind of get that compact. What preparation so important?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Right, You're only as good as as your prep work
and your basnic I mean, we get in there, we
remove a driveway. There's a reason why this driveway is operated.
All the asphalts cracked up. You got all these little potholes,
little duck ponds all over. You got to deal with
the bass. So you take the you take the driveway out,
whether it be asphalt or concrete, and then you look
at the base. Your next thing is look at the
(16:13):
base and make sure that you know that you're able
to address that.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
We want to know I am laughing. I know you're
trying to so that I don't get you laughing. I remember,
I remember when when you came over to my house.
You're talking about asphalt all cracked up, and I said, yeah,
it's time to replace. And you said something like yeah,
about ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, oh, I remember, I remember, yeah, And uh, finally
you did it and now you got a nice you know,
you got a nice concrete driveway and it looks nice.
But getting back to the prep work on the base, Nick,
you had mentioned you're only as good as your your base.
You got to prep that base. You got to make
sure you got a good three quarter inch TV in there,
(16:52):
five six inches compacted. The whole thing is you want
to get that base half the strength of your concrete.
So you want to be so.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
If a guy comes in with a bid, where's he
going to shortcut you?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
You know it could be anywhere, Nick, it could be
you know, they're just going to slap the forms and
pour it back on on the base they had. They
don't compact properly. You know, you pour three inches instead
of four or five. I mean there's a lot of
you don't use. Well absolutely, uh, there's there's there's I mean,
you can get someone that you know. Now I'm not
(17:24):
talking about legitimate businesses, but I'm talking about you know,
side job type deals. And we've gone up to jobs
that were an inch and a half thick, two inches thick,
and they they failed, No, no, they failed. So again
you want to make sure the contractors putting a good
gravel basin there. It's compacted and number number one concern
(17:45):
is it's a reputable contract, like you said, a better
BBB accredited business. They've got a good reputation. And you
got to do your homework.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Yeah, I know that one of the things that you
do on your contract, which I think is important. And
then we'll get to the fun stuff. You basically just
check everything off that you're gonna do. I mean, there's
no questions when you Here's what I'm gonna say, and
let me explain myself before you strangle me your contract.
(18:14):
A fifth grader can understand. If there's not a lot
of technical jargon in there, you you know exactly what
you're gonna get. You can watch the guy's port you're
seeing what you What you see is what you get.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Right right, absolutely, yep, everything's right there. It's all spelled out,
it's all checked off. Everything you're getting. I don't know.
If I have one on me, i'd show you, but.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You're gonna kind of you've already seen I've seen it,
but I just, you know, I'm just thinking that, but
I do see he's going through his paperwork. Another thing
that you guys provide is a waiver of lean.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Absolutely, well, that's that's not common anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, you know, well yeah, people people should really request
that because you don't know that the contractor is paying
for materials, and all of a sudden, the six months
down the road, you're getting a lean slapped on your
house because the contractor never paid.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, you paid them, but they didn't pay for the materials.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Didn't pay for materials, so they put a lien on your.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
And people say, how can that happen? Well, typically you
get thirty to sixty days to pay your supplier. Well,
if guy pours a couple driveways and doesn't pay a supplier,
supplier cuts them off. Now he can't make any money
to keep paying Robin Peter to pay Paul.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
And yeah, and it's not just concrete, it's any materials.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
It's our construction too.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
So you got checkboxes here, six bag mix excavat and
hauling compacts sealed with a CS three to ZHO nine
curing compound. What is that?
Speaker 2 (19:27):
That's basically nick. After you pour a driveway, we usually
seal it with the sealer, which is a CUS three
or nine. And what it does is that it locks
the moisture in the concrete. So with concrete, the slower
it cures, your final yields are stronger. Years ago, you know,
we used to see burlap sacks nice and wet on
concrete on bridges and stuff like that. Well, now they
(19:49):
have chemicals for that, you know, the sealers for that.
And what it does is it locks the pores. It
closes the pores in the concrete, keeps that moisture in
the concrete, slows down the curing the drying process.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Does it help with staining in that too.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
A little bit I mean if you've got a you know,
if you got a truck that that leaks like crazy
and you're als parking in the same spot, you know
eventually it's gonna work its way through and you're gonna
end up on an oil stain.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
But you see you have low shirt. You want to
give us a quickmentit.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, yeah, we have six bag load shirt cement. We
pour everything with the low shirt, which is your concrete's
made up of your Portland cement, your sand, and your gravel. Okay,
that's in the mix and then they add water to it. It
comes out in the big trucks. You see him going
down the road. Well, the shirt's important because people think
it's just a stone in the concrete. But you can
(20:37):
go with small stone air and trainment concrete. Well, you know,
it has a high moisture content in the aggregate. We
want to make sure we have a dry aggregate, so
we poured low Shirt, which is ninety nine point nine
percent shirt free, meaning moisture free. Because in the winter
and when it's twenty degrees here, Nick, which I haven't
seen in a few years, you know, the concrete freezes
(20:58):
and that moisture will span. So when you see concrete
that's you know, pitted or popped up on the surface.
That's what's happening that moisture. The stones that are close
to the surface after it's been finished will expand and
pop the surface. No different than you're gonna listen to
the Burrors game. You pull out a Miller light or
something and you go into the you know it's not
chilled enough, so you put it in a freezer just
(21:20):
for twenty minutes, right, You sit down in your favorite
recliner and you fall asleep. Well, mama wakes up and
goes into the refrigerator for something, and there you go
the freezer. The bottle imploded. Same with the moisture outside
when it's in the driveway.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
So people know what kind of beer would it be.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
It'd be Miller Light for me.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, all right, just so we know, now, wire mesh,
that's kind of We get that gravel included if needed.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, he's building a base. There's there's absolutely there's every job.
You may need a load or two of three quarter
inch TV, so yeah, it's all included in the base.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Once.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Once I quote you a price, Nick, that's the price.
If we need two loads, two truck loads, three truckloads.
It's not something like are hitting you out up for
extras or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Okay, hand tool joints. I think people understand the control joints.
So all concrete is going to crack. You control, we.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Control, well, yeah, we we We hope that we can
minimize it, and we do so. But we put the
controllers in there to control the crack, and we want
to tell the concrete word to crack. You don't see them.
They're into control joints and that's that's that's they're important.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Expansion felt when you butt up to something else.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
When we butt up to something else, we got to
have expansion felt in there. That's a code. Okay, so
we have to follow code. You'll know that. In the
building trade, there's things you have to do and there's
things we have to do. Well, there you go. You
get down to that. You know, hiring a reputable contract,
you're just going to follow the rules and pull the permits.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
And all that. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Pure footings that's something
separate if if you're next to the house or something
you don't want.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, you pure footings for for decks and things like that.
We've done some of those for you. You've built nice decks
in the back of the house, and we've done that
for Kurzhner.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
And then of course it lays out decorative and standard concrete,
and then you have several different several different types of
decorative concrete that you can use. Absolutely, I mean color wise,
how many colors you.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Got, Oh, we have over thirty forty colors? Yeah, you could?
You know, I lay a colored chart out for you.
We walk out and you can you know, we got
just like when you're picking out paint or something.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
How many different patterns.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
There's quite a few different I could even, yeah, more
than I know.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
No, you're not relegated to one or two patterns.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
No, you can go at rough stone texture, you can
go to slate pattern, you can go running bond. Anything
that you can do with pavers, you can do it.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I've talked to other guys at Stamp Concrete and then
I'll say, you know, how many do you have? And
they'll go three, and I'll go, how come we only
have three? And they go because you know how expensive
those stamps?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeah, so those stamps are ten fifteen thousand dollars. We've
got a beautiful cobblestone stamp yeah, like stone.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Yeah, especially on borders on in that you do a
great job with that. Tommy, give out your info. We're
running up against the clock here. Let me just say this,
if you want to see some of this work, it's
worth your time to go to Lake Countryconcrete dot com.
There's some beautiful before and after pictures of patios, driveways, sidewalks,
even some specialty stuff that that Tommy's taken on and done.
(24:14):
You can you can mix standard concrete and stamped concrete
if if, if you know, that keeps the price down
a little bit, but it beautifies the project absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah. And this time of year, Nick, you call, my
wife will send me out. I come out personally. I'll
see you within a day or two. And if it's
something you want to get done here in the spring
so you can enjoy it for June, July and winter,
you know, now is the time to get it done.
We'd be able to within the next couple of weeks
get you a you know, a full refurbished backyard with
(24:43):
a custom a stamp patio or standard patio or seat
walls or whatever you want. You can jump online and
take a look at Lake Countryconcrete dot com, or you
can call the office at two six two five three
eight one seven nine seven.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Or yourself And if you want to get a Tommy
right away is two six two two o six. That's
where I call it. Two six two two o six
two four nine ers.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Absolutely, you can call me on that as well.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
All right, Hey, tom thanks for coming in on a
Sunday morning spending some time with Guru. Remember that this
is going to be on the iHeart app for podcast
if you don't have time to listen to it all,
it's worth listening to because Tommy goes through a lot
of the specifics that make the difference in good concrete
in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Thank you, Nick, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Absolutely. We'll we return again next week on News Talk
eleven thirty WISN
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