Decorative Concrete Forums and Decorative Concrete Contractor Locator

Home > Forums > Overlays and Resurfacing Forum > Potential Lead Generator for Pooldeck Overlays

Potential Lead Generator for Pooldeck Overlays
duggie	04-08-2008 05:15:18
Member Posts: 23 Joined: --	For years I Have wondered how to Generate more leads in regards to Overlaying pooldecks. (We all know they are out there We just Can't see them to target.) I have overlayed a few in the last 5 years and find them fairly lucrative to do, but few and far between. I have offered to tip pool maintenance companies and others that deal with homeowners with pools for leads. All to no avail. Last week As i was surfing the web I brought up Google Earth to check out the view of my place from the Sky and Low and Behold there was a birds eye view of every pool in the World just waiting for my Flyer to land on their doorstep. (Not that I'll be expanding that big anytime soon) I have since then plotted over 500 pools, on to a map that potentially could require my services and that is just in 1 subdivision about 5 mins from my place. I have always found Flyers to work well when I was in a slow down or not working in concrete because of cut throat competitors and my refusing to work for next to nothing in profit$. I figure that from previous experience in flyering that I will land between 2- 5% of the Homes that I am targeting, and that is on the low end as I find pool owner's more Willing to spend money, As their pools are the Focal Point of their Backyards and proudly take care of them. And from my Experience there are alot of Broken ugly pooldecks out there. Since I have no competition In Overlays where I live and work I thought i would share this thought with anyone here, that might be looking for a way to find new customers.

usconc	04-08-2008 15:56:28
Member Posts: 803 Joined: --	i get calls pretty regularly to overlay pool decks, but there are two problems. usually, they don't want to pay what it costs. and installing a stamped overlay around a pool is a lot of work. so i don't do too many, but you have a great idea. for people that want to work with pools, or do overlays on pool decks, that is a great marketing tip.

MC	04-08-2008 19:28:15
Member Posts: 733 Joined: 05-20-2007	Here in Az every other house has a pool. If its not regular kool decking people choose acrylic flagstone. We rarely install stamped overlays on pool decks because like usconc said people dont want to pay for it. Acrylic flagstone goes for about $3.50-$4.50 per sq ft here, so its a pretty popular finish (although most of the work looks like plastic and very fake, there are only a few here besides us :) that do a good job)

duggie	04-09-2008 03:36:14
Member Posts: 23 Joined: --	Usconc: I fully understand the work involved in doing a stampable overlay. I have done my share of stampable overlays using Scofield texture top and hated every second of it. I will not do stampable overlays anymore due to a lack of Trust in a product that mixes with water and requires no bonding agent, (until they changed the process last year and now require a skim coat on a prewetted surface, that has been saturated with water for a minimum of 24 hrs but even the skim coat is water based and basically portland trowelled out). That and the fact that the material is extremely high priced and hard to work with and even tougher to clean up the release, (and yes I have tried it with tinted liquid release which is home made using mineral spirits and hydraulic fluid and the tint of the day). There is no doubt that the powder leaves a much more realistic look I purchase my latex based polymere overlays from a manufacture in Toronto and my material cost usually runs under 15% provided that I use tape to make patterns and not use a stencil (which are also difficult to work with when texturing the surface) I have also used glue backed stencils before and find them awkward and no where near worth the double the cost of normal stencils. Perhaps if they actually stuck to the surface it might be worthwhile I can easily get $4 a square for a single colour, no pattern overlay around here( usually sprayed knock down). Which sure as hell beats pouring concrete, When the competition is still only charging the same $8 a square for stamped concrete, that I was getting 8 years ago even tho Concrete has increased a 50% minimum in that same amount of time.

scarab1	04-09-2008 07:23:01
Member Posts: 33 Joined: 10-24-2007	I find your marketing idea to be a small stroke of genius. Think of it this way, while the homeowner may not need the pool deck redone or want to spend money on the pool deck perhaps they have other decorative concrete projects they do want done. All in all it's not a bad way to find prospects and you do have to have a prospect before you can have a customer. Good luck.

usconc	04-09-2008 08:25:00
Member Posts: 803 Joined: --	duggie, if you like doing spray textures, that's great. i'm just not into that. spray textures are a less expensive, quicker option, which is good if you want to do a lot of pool decks. if i do an overlay, it's going to an acid-stained micro topping, which is really not appropriate for a pool deck, or a stamped overlay. both are more work and more expensive than spray downs. otherwise, i'm going to stick to floors.

Site Sponsors