Ever wonder why finding a good paver sealing contractor in this area is so difficult??? Or finding a decent contractor in any trade for that matter? For the last few years I’ve been trying to figure out the answer to this. While I’ve come up with a couple different theories, I’ve yet to determine the exact cause for such an overwhelmingly large amount of shady business owners. I’ve read in multiple places that Florida has the highest self-employment rate in the country. That’s possibly part of the reason. Instead of people going to work for other paver sealing companies, receiving the proper training, etc., they simply decide to start their own business. While I highly admire an entrepreneurial spirit, there’s an incredible amount of responsibility involved with it.

What is so disturbing is that pretty much every paver sealant manufacturer that I know of offers training sessions to business owners so they can learn the proper techniques to seal your brick paver driveway or pool deck. A lot of the time, these training sessions are even free. Other times they’re a very minimal investment of $40-$50. Most suppliers in the area offer similar training experiences. Even YouTube can be a phenomenal resource when used properly. There’s a lot of guys out there, like myself, that are willing to share what they’ve learned over the years.

Unfortunately, I see almost on a daily basis, paver sealing contractors that are using cleaning and sealant application methods that have been outdated for at least 10 years. There’s still companies out there using the wand from their pressure washer to clean brick pavers, causing incredible damage. I see companies still using solvent based sealers even though there have been incredible advancements in water based sealers over the years that offer a longevity 3-5 times longer than most solvent based sealers. I see companies still using a paint roller to apply the sealant even though they could purchase or easily learn how to build their own spray rig.

A lot of times, our “competitors” are our best salesman. On pretty much every paver sealing consultation I go on, I can walk down the street and show them a bad sealing job at a neighbors house and point out all of the mistakes. Usually very sloppy, lazy mistakes. Visible sand sitting in the paver joints, improper cleaning of the pavers, damage to the pavers caused by cleaning, areas where they missed applying the sealant, areas where they got sealant on surfaces they shouldn’t have, a big mess of sand and mud sitting in the curb that they neglected to clean up. The list goes on and on. After showing my potential clients these sloppy mistakes first hand, it makes my job of selling them on the proper technique a lot easier!

Lately it seems that I’ve been dealing with more than my fair share of slimy business owners for services that my company requires as well as work that needs to be done at my home. It’s sad when a friend or neighbor asks for a recommendation for a plumber or electrician and I don’t have a name to give them. It seems that so many of the companies I have to deal with believe that high pressure sales tactics, scare tactics, deadlines, threats of price increases, etc., are the proper way to do business. For some reason, they don’t learn that these types of sales approaches NEVER work! Add to that the fact that nobody wants to return phone calls, they historically show up 2-3 hours late (if they show up at all), their appearance and presentation is far from professional and the quality of their work is sub-par.

Have you ever wondered why there’s companies that brag on their Facebook pages about how incredibly busy they are yet they never post any pictures of the work that’s supposedly keeping them busy? They’re apparently so busy that they don’t have time to post pictures of their work yet they have plenty of time to post non-relevant things 2-3 times a day. They supposedly have 10 crews out cleaning and sealing brick pavers yet not one of their employees owns a smartphone and can snap a couple pictures of the sealing project they just finished??? Something just doesn’t add up.
I wish more homeowners would pay as much attention to these types of inconsistencies as I do. When I catch someone lying to me, I immediately start to question everything they say. If they lied to me once, what else have they been lying about? My rule: I don’t work with liars.

It’s high time that Florida homeowners start demanding higher standards from the people they hire. You need to question why a paver sealing contractor would be willing to drive an hour and a half to two hours to complete a small job. Why don’t they have enough work in their own geographical location? To me, this is a MAJOR red flag. In a future blog post I’ll explain in depth how the numbers work with your paver sealing project. Hopefully by sharing this information it will help you identify the red flags you need to be looking for.

Like in any industry, doing your homework before hiring a contractor is vital. It's always important to find out if your contractor is properly licensed through the state, is fully insured, has a great reputation with his past clients, etc. It's also incredibly important to make sure they're properly trained for the task you're asking them to perform. This couldn't be more true when hiring a paver sealing contractor in the Sarasota area.

At least twice a week I meet with homeowners who made the mistake of hiring their handyman, painter or pressure washer to seal their brick paver driveway or patio. Nine times out of ten that contractor had no idea what he was doing. He simply went to a big box store, bought the cheapest concrete sealer he could find and then rolled it on to their pavers. The result, as you can imagine, is always horrific! The worst part is these homeowners now have to pay someone else to strip that cheap sealer off and start over.

A lot of times these homeowners are calling me less than a year after they had their pavers sealed by these guys and are upset that the sealant has already worn away. Of course their handyman did not put any warranty on his work and, not surprisingly, he's not returning their phone calls anymore.

Here at Island Exteriors, it's a completely different experience. Not only are the simple things of being fully licensed and insured taken care of, with over 20 years experience in the hard surface restoration industry, there's nothing we haven't seen and conquered. I've always been a very firm believer in "specialization"...Pick one thing, learn as much as you absolutely can about it, and become better at it than anybody else! That's why we focus all of our attention on paver sealing and restoration. You'll never see our guys pressure washing roofs and siding. Nor will we be painting your family room or replacing the faucet in your kitchen. We also strongly focus on staying extremely local. With our office centrally located on Longboat Key, we normally only work on the island as well as Anna Maria, Lido, Bird Key, Siesta Key, Sarasota and Bradenton. One, this ensures a phenomenal response time to our clients. It always drives me nuts when contractors show up late to my home and that's why one of our promises is that we will be on time, every time, to your home. It also helps us keep our prices reasonable by not wasting fuel and manhours driving all over southwest Florida.

When you work with Island Exteriors, you can expect the best of everything. Incredible customer service sits right next to highly trained technicians on the top of our list. Our entire restoration process is environmentally friendly. As a Longboat Key resident, that's very important to me. To seal your pavers, we only use a commercial grade, water based sealant. This is all backed up by an industry leading warranty of 3 years. No other paver sealing contractor in the state of Florida offers a 3 year warranty on their work.

Give us a call today, we'd love to help you out! 941-444-9607

For years, realtors in Sarasota have preached the importance of curb appeal when selling your home. At the same time multiple studies have shown that a very high percentage of Longboat Key buyers know the moment they pull up to your home whether they’re going to buy it or not. Even before they step inside. Interestingly though, while all this information is available to sellers, time and again substantial amounts of money are spent on staging the interior of the home.

Here at Island Exteriors we think it’s time to start paying attention to what realtors and those studies have been telling us all these years. What better way to dramatically increase the curb appeal of your home than by cleaning and sealing your brick driveway? Many homeowners on Longboat Key are pleasantly surprised by how affordable this is to have done! Instead of spending $15,000 staging the interior of your home, most driveways can be cleaned and sealed for less than $1,500. Nine times out of ten these homeowners are also having us clean and seal their patios and pool decks too, creating a very luxurious escape.

When you have your brick pavers cleaned and sealed by Island Exteriors, you can rest assured that your project is in the hands of seasoned professionals. Our entire restoration process is environmentally friendly. Our proprietary blend of citrus and soy based cleaners do a wonderful job of cleaning your surfaces and removing any staining while at the same time having no adverse effects on the environment and our waterways here on Longboat Key.

The next steps include multiple coats of a commercial grade, water-based sealant. Don’t let your painter or handyman convince you that they can use a solvent based sealer that they purchased at a big box store unless you want to be repeating this process less than a year from now.

All of our restoration projects carry a minimum of a 3 year warranty. We then go another step and offer maintenance agreements that in some cases mean you’ll never have to worry about having your pavers sealed ever again.

Give Island Exteriors a call today at 941-444-9607. Work with a locally owned company here on Longboat Key. We’ll not only prove to be your favorite contractor, but also your favorite neighbor.

The finest customer service backed by an industry leading warranty…We’ve got you covered!