Finding the Best Paver Sealing Contractor in Sarasota

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on a daily basis, paver sealing contractors that are using cleaning and sealant application methods that have been outdated for at least 10 years.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.