EP#236: Ed Rivas Is Turning Plain Concrete Into Works of Art Right Here in Frisco

What makes Ed Rivas with Concrete and Epoxy by CSI a good neighbor?

Ever looked at your plain, cracked concrete and wished for something more? In this fascinating conversation with Ed Rivas, founder of Concrete and Epoxy by CSI, we discover how ordinary concrete surfaces can be transformed into stunning, durable works of functional art.

Ed takes us through the full spectrum of concrete beautification – from practical solutions like driveway extensions and sidewalks to artistic creations using stamped patterns, decorative overlays, and epoxy coatings. Born during the pandemic when Ed found himself with extra time and construction experience, the company quickly evolved from focusing solely on epoxy applications to providing comprehensive concrete services. His story perfectly captures the entrepreneurial spirit that emerged during COVID, showing how challenges can become opportunities.

What truly sets Ed's company apart is their unwavering commitment to quality. As he puts it, "We don't run away" – meaning when issues arise, they return to make things right. This dedication has earned them a growing reputation throughout Frisco and the DFW area. With the region's notorious soil conditions causing concrete damage everywhere, there's never a shortage of projects for Ed's team. Whether it's transforming a dusty garage floor into a gleaming, stain-resistant surface guaranteed for 20 years, or creating a patio that mimics natural stone, Concrete and Epoxy by CSI brings both technical expertise and artistic vision to every job.

Ready to reimagine your concrete spaces? Connect with Ed through their website at csiusnet or bestconcretedfw.com, or find inspiration on their Instagram and Facebook profiles. Your concrete transformation awaits!

To learn more about Concrete and Epoxy by CSI  go to:

https://www.csius.net/

Concrete and Epoxy by CSI

972-292-8057

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a concretebeautifier?
Well, one may be closer thanyou think.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
ed Rivas, with his company,concrete and Epoxy by CSI.
Ed, how are you doing today?

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Doing great.
Sofia, Thank you for invitingme to your podcast.
How are you doing?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I'm doing well, ed, so we're excited to learn all
about you and your business.
Can you tell us a bit aboutyour company?

Speaker 3 (00:45):
thank you.
Yeah, I'm a lot thank you forfor being interested in my
business.
I can tell you that we wededicated to beautify concrete,
as you said.
Uh, we are.
Well, we do concrete forconcrete and we also able to
beautify.
What I mean is like we can doas simple as a driveway

(01:05):
extending a patio, like justconcrete for a patio sidewalks.
Many people need to havesidewalks on the side of the
house because it's too muddy,they don't get enough sun.
We do a lot of those works, butmany times people is like well,
I don't want just great concretelooking which is well done, it

(01:26):
looks good, and that's what wedo.
But we also have the ability todo what is called stem concrete
.
So we do different, differentstems in the concrete, make it
look like wood and make it looklike stone, with different
colors and tones.
Or if you already have aconcrete and you add concrete to
it, we do something that iscalled a decorated concrete

(01:49):
overlay.
So we match the new concretewith the old concrete with a
nice color based on whatever theclient wants.
Unlike different, differentshapes and different colors, we
make it look nice.
We also do epoxy, like thecompany's name is Concrete and

(02:11):
Epoxy.
It's very popular right now,after COVID, when people started
looking at the garages alonebecause they were using it for
work and office.
You know concrete on yourgarage many times after you put
your car all the time it lookslike gray with stains and it's
dusty all the time.
So we put a coating which iscalled epoxy, combined with

(02:36):
another very good materialcalled polyaspartic.
That will make your garage binlooking nice and you protect it
against stains, oils, you canjust clean it and it will be
nice, guaranteed for 20 years soed how did you get into this
business?
you know, um, when kobe hits, uh, we went to work for home.

(02:59):
I was very, very uh, fortunatethat I didn't I didn't lose my
job, I.
But we were kind of like doingnot much and I was bored.
I was so bored I was biting mynails.
What do I do?
Just doing not much?
Because the operations of thecompany that I used to work for

(03:20):
went down a lot.
So I said, you know what?
Uh, I, I have past experiencewith construction and I started
for something else to do.
I talked to a friend that wasdoing polish, polish concrete,
which we can also do, like thewarmer that the concrete shines,
we can do that.
So he was doing that and we gottogether to start working on.

(03:43):
You know, let's do polish now,right off.
Being a new company is not likeoh.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
I'm gonna do points country right now.
You have to have experience,having Qualifications, because
most of the time Polishcountries commercial, so it's
not like I'm new.
And so we got into that issue.
We say, what else we do thatsimilar?
We started doing oxy directionsdo that is similar?

(04:13):
And we started doing epoxydirections very easy to learn it
.
And we, we, we met with anothercontractor that does the same
and he was very good with us.
He just had to do it, introduceus to his uh, his vendors, uh,
I'm still friends with him anduh, and we started doing epoxy
directions.
But at the beginning the name ofthe company was Concrete Smart
Industries.
So I was going to appointmentswith potential clients getting

(04:37):
ready to measure the garage andthey were taking me to the
backyard and said, well, I wantto extend this patio and put new
concrete.
And I was like, oh, we don't doconcrete, oh, but your company
name is concrete smartindustries.
So at the beginning, instead ofchanging the company name, we
decided to learn how to doconcrete.
So we got together with peoplethat have been doing concrete

(05:02):
for many years.
We got with them, we hired someguys and we started doing
concrete.
Uh, sometime we changed thename to Concrete and Epoxy by
CSI, since we do the two things.
Csi is Concrete, smartIndustries, that's why it's
Concrete and Epoxy by.
CSI, and that was at the end of2021 and we're still in business

(05:26):
.
Many epoxy companies don't lastthis long.
We're doing pretty good forwhat we do.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
So, ed, who are your target customers and, in terms
of marketing, how do you attractthem?

Speaker 3 (05:41):
That's a good one.
I mean concrete.
Imagine there is concreteeverywhere.
Right, everybody needs concrete.
But we target mostly as uh, wedo.
We can do residential and wecan do commercial jobs too.
We do both.
We have all the insurance thatare necessary to do both.
But uh, most than anything, wetarget, like uh, homeowners via

(06:07):
instagram, facebook, google, viaInstagram, facebook, google.
Now we get a lot of business onword of mouth because people
like what we do and they prefera lot of people, but pretty much
anybody that needs concrete.
I mean we can do new concrete.
You know Dallas forward has anissue with the soil, moves a lot

(06:27):
, so you probably seen concretebroken many places, like dry
waste all cracked up andsidewalks, which is actually a
trip hazard.
So we we target to to do those,those jobs like remove a
driveway, put a new one, removea sidewalk, put a new one, and
we have our own equipment so wecontrol the whole process since

(06:52):
breaking the concrete, remove itand dispose it in a safety way
and then put in a new drivewayon it, or whatever.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
I would imagine in your industry you would never
run out of projects, especiallyhere.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
That's the idea.
I don't think this will bereplaced by ai anytime soon I?

Speaker 2 (07:14):
I don't think so either.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
So, ed, please tell our listeners one thing they
should remember about concreteand epoxy by csi something that
characterize our company andpeople that referrals can say
about it and actually ourreviews in Google will say about
it, is that we do quality work.

(07:38):
We're not a company that cutcorners or that just to give you
the happy face to get the joband then if something goes wrong
I mean construction orsomething can go wrong, we do it
right, and if something goeswrong we fix it and do it the
right way.
We don't run away.
So first is our qualitymaterials, our warmanship, and

(08:02):
we honor anyone that maynecessary.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
And how can our listeners learn more about
concrete and epoxy by csi?

Speaker 3 (08:14):
we have our presence on instagram, facebook and our
website is csiusnet or bestconcrete, dfwcom well, ed.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
I really appreciate you being on the show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward sophia,
I'm so happy that you invited us.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
Thank you very much, looking forward to always be
listening to you with yourpodcast and, uh, I mean we are
raising Frisco, so we're veryhappy that we can be part of
this Frisco podcast and part ofthe community.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpfriscocom.
That's gnpfriscocom, or call469-221-9345.