Paving Project of the Month February 2011 Pepe’s Fullerton, Ca.

February 25th, 2011

Paving Project of the Month: Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant

This month Empire Parking Lot Services’ paving project of the month goes to Pepe’s Mexican restaurant, located in the city of Fullerton, California. Bordered by Anaheim, Brea, and Placentia, Pepe’s is an amazing Mexican restaurant that is located just a block east from Cal State Fullerton on Placentia Ave. If you have ever been there, you know it is hard to walk by this restaurant and not go in. The smells coming out of Pepe’s in the morning are amazing. The reason this concrete and asphalt paving project was selected as our job of the month is because the work looked great, the customer was very pleased, and the job is a local landmark restaurant with a great reputation. But the main reason it was chosen is that I’m hoping to score some free breakfast burritos from Pepe’s (call me guys) …….Just kidding of course.

 

 

 

A Word about Quality….

Now, as a marketing professional working for Empire Parking Lot Services, I know a great deal about how companies want to appear to the general public. They say things like “we are the best” and make claims like “number one in customer satisfaction” blah, blah, blah. After awhile, it simply becomes just words you read. However, there are indicating factors that show when you truly are a quality company. Take a look at the screen grabs below from Google maps. Pepe’s is very consistent in the reviews they have received. By contrast to say Taco Bell, and no offense to them, as I love their food as well, Pepe’s receives quality reviews.  Furthermore, notice the consistency in the reviews at all of the Pepe’s restaurants. They are consistently (4 stars) and (5 stars). This is hard thing to pull off, unless you are the real deal.  This isn’t a company with a 4 million dollar advertising budget, this is a small chain of restaurants that truly focuses on quality and it shows.

I must admit, before Empire Parking Lot Services was awarded the asphalt paving contract for Pepe’s, I was already a fan. Pepe’s breakfast burritos had become a habit of mine a long time ago. To call it a breakfast burrito doesn’t really do it justice, though. It should be called a breakfast, lunch, and dinner burrito, because it is technically large enough to feed 1 person all day long, or at least a small family of 5 for breakfast. It’s really big!

About this Asphalt Paving Project in Fullerton Ca.

When Pepe’s called us they were receiving bids from several paving companies for making asphalt & concrete repairs related to their handicap parking area. They needed to provide their disabled customers with clear access to their restaurant and it needed to meet all of the local and federal requirements set forth by the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). The bid was to consist of concrete removal and replacement, as well as some asphalt patch back, plus seal coating, and parking lot striping. Furthermore, ADA signs needed to be installed in the handicap stalls, as well as the entrance to the parking lot, and lastly, they needed truncated domes where the new concrete ramps had been installed. The owners received their proposals and ended up choosing Empire Parking Lot Services. The pricing was tight, and that is always a good sign for the customer that all the contractors are bidding the same scope of work. When the smoke cleared, however, Empire Parking Lot Services got the job. With the bidding process being over, the paving work was scheduled and completed.

Empire Parking Lot Services performs asphalt and concrete removal at Pepe's restaurant Sidewalk Repair Fullerton Ca. Curb construction and repair in fullerton ca. 877-760-2757

We started with asphalt and concrete removal, especially where it met up with the existing curbs. Additional asphalt removal needed to be done up against the sidewalk and would be paved back in after the installation of the new concrete sidewalks. Next, we did the concrete side walk demolition.  The removal of that area took approximately two hours. With the old concrete sidewalks out of the way, we started the next phase of the project, which was the forming and pouring of the new concrete sidewalks. The new concrete sidewalks needed to be built in such a way that they didn’t exceed the maximum slope allowed by the ADA of 2%. Once all of the concrete curbs and sidewalks were installed, we turned our attention to the asphalt. All of the asphalt patching that was up against the concrete curbs was installed as well as some skin patching. Skin patching is a light surface patch that is used to raise a small area of depressed asphalt that is still mostly intact. The skin patches were installed to control water flow in one area, as well as evening out the walkway that lead from the handicap parking area to the front of the restaurant. The next part of the project was the application of seal coating and the painting of the parking lot striping. With the area blocked off we applied a thick coat of slurry seal to the entire work area and waited an hour for it to dry. Once that was done, it was time to paint all of the line striping and handicap striping back up to the new ADA codes. Lastly, we needed to apply several truncated dome mats. These mats are used to communicate to visually impaired people that they are walking into a path of traffic and to be careful. These mats actually had to be installed a week after the concrete sidewalks where repaired because the concrete had to cure  enough to allow the mats to adhere to them.  The whole project from start to finish was done in four moves. One move for the concrete, one for the asphalt repairs, one for the seal and striping, and lastly, one move for the truncated domes that were installed.

Parking Lot Maintenance Orange County

Challenges on this Paving Project

The biggest challenge that we ran into on this project came during the concrete removal process. Once we started demolishing the concrete, it became clear to us that one of the previous contractors that worked at Pepe’s before us had installed a water pipe, as well as an electrical line in conduit through the existing concrete sidewalks and paving. Not under the sidewalks, but in the concrete sidewalks themselves. This is a very large “no-no” in the construction industry, as it can get people killed. Luckily for us, our bobcat operators are always on the lookout for these issues and spotted it right away. Once we removed concrete from around the pipes, we let the owner of the restaurant get his electrician and plumber to move the pipes underground where they belong. We even trenched the earth for them to allow the pipes to be safely placed underground. There ended up being several hours of downtime, but it was important to get the problem fixed before the new concrete sidewalk was poured.

About Empire Parking Lot Services

Empire Parking Lot Services is an Orange County based asphalt and concrete paving company that specializes in the repair and maintenance of parking lots. Our main goal on every project is to make sure that our customer’s expectations are met or exceeded. Our customers range from small business owners to large property management companies, with many types in between. Like Pepe’s, our customers recognize that Empire Parking Lot Services is not your typical paving contractor. We take a lot of pride our work, as well as providing you good service and quality workmanship that is unmatched in the industry. Our paving contracts are always done correctly, they are always bid fairly, and our customers are always satisfied. Empire Parking Lot Services can provide you with a free estimate anywhere in Southern California.

Just give us a call toll free at 877-760-2757

or

Check us out online at www.Empirepls.com

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Not Just an Asphalt Paving Company

January 19th, 2011

Empire Parking Lot Services Can do More than Just Pave Parking Lots

So as you may know Empire Parking Lot Services does a lot of asphalt paving and maintenance services such as sealcoating, striping etc but did you know we also offer a whole list of warehouse services. Services such as warehouse striping, warehouse sign hanging and warehouse surface treatments. Though these services are much different than parking lot maintenance services we still do them with the same quality we put towards our asphalt paving projects. This week we performed one of these projects in Carson California. This city is on the south end of LA in an area known as South Bay. Surrounded by the cities of San Pedro, Torrance, Gardena, and Long Beach, Carson is probably most famous for California State University, Dominguez Hills. The Home Depot Center Sports Complex is also located there. This week Empire Parking Lot Services was called out to do some warehouse floor striping there, and the job went great.

About This Job:

This project was for an international tile company that specializes in very high-end products. They needed to move their distribution company to a new location, but before they moved into that new location it needed to be cleaned and striped for their product staging. That’s where we came in. We were hired to clean the warehouse floor using our mechanical scrubbers and brooms. Basically these machines are like small street sweepers that can sweep up the dirt or mop up the dirt and grime that builds up in a warehouse over time. They cover large areas quickly and this job was over 30,000 linear feet so they came in handy. Once we swept and cleaned the warehouse floor we started the line painting process. The work actually consisted of 4400 linear feet of 4” yellow line in 2 part epoxy. After the lines where painted we also painted number stencils on the concrete using the same paint type. We installed 510 (8”) number stencils that indicated where there pallets belonged. Warehouse manager have been using these systems to track and manage product for years now. The technology we use to organize your product and inventories has become very easy to afford. Many companies have been using our warehouse maintenance services as well as our asphalt paving services at their facilities. One call gets it done and that convenience can save you time and money, while getting a truly superior product.

About This Asphalt Paving Company

Empire Parking Lot Services has been maintaining asphalt and concrete surfaces for only a short time, but our team here is made up from industry veterans. Our experts have come from very diverse backgrounds. They are some of the best asphalt paving experts, concrete experts, sealcoating experts as well as parking lot striping & warehouse striping experts. Most of our employees have been employed in there industry for over 15 years. If you have a warehouse striping project, paving project or any project that involves asphalt or concrete give Empire Parking Lot Services a chance.

You won’t be disappointed!

Call empire at: 877-760-2757

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Empire Performs Big Asphalt Repair in a Small Amount of Time.

August 18th, 2010

Paving Job Of The Month |Aug 2010

Customer Type:

Property Manager

Project Type:

Retail Center

Project Location:

La Verne California

Scope of Asphalt Work:

Empire was asked to do some asphalt repair including, removing 12 areas of broken & damaged asphalt throughout the center, and replacing it with new asphalt. In addition to that, the customer was looking for some additional skin patching in 4 other areas, and then asked us to re-stripe the lines and legends wherever the new asphalt affected the old parking lot striping layout. In total the work was to be completed in just one day.

The Challenges:

The biggest challenge Empire Parking Lot Services faced on this project was timing and safety. Getting as much of the asphalt removal & asphalt replacement done as quickly as possible while maintaining public safety was our chief concern. The golden rule for us is to try and keep businesses open during the construction process. This center had many small restaurants in it and for them even losing one lunch day can cost thousand of dollars.  Although some projects require us shutting parking lots down overnight, this was one we were confident we could do the pavement repairs in one day safely. The amount of asphalt repair were large but no impossible.


How the Job Went:

As we predicted the shopping center was very busy. By 5 am cars where already pouring into the center from every direction. With a fitness club and a bank on the property, our project site was a first stop for many of the local early morning commuters. We quickly laid out the areas  of asphalt repair and started the asphalt removals on the shopping center by saw-cutting and using a backhoe to remove them. In total the removals were completed in about 2 hours.  Not bad considering there was over 100 tons of asphalt removed and hauled away. Once the old and broken asphalt was hauled off we started prepping the areas to be patched by compacting the surface and tacking the edges of the existing asphalt. By 10 am the hot asphalt started showing up and the asphalt paving process started. We off loaded the new asphalt into the newly prepped patches and spread it with a skip loader. The asphalt is always installed in two lifts when you hire Empire Parking Lot Services.  Some contractors skip this step and just toss the new asphalt in hole and roll it. While this will work some times what more often happens is low spots will form where asphalt was compacted poorly. By installing the new asphalt in multiple lifts better compaction is achieved and  a longer lasting product is whats created. Once the second lift of asphalt was installed the areas where rolled and opened as soon as they cooled to an acceptable level. Empire Parking Lot Services tries to strike a perfect balance between installing a superior paving product, and getting a parking lot open fast for the tenant and customers affected. Once rolled the project was finished and the entire lot was opened up.

About Empire Parking Lot Services

When it comes to asphalt repair, no other contractor cares about you and your property the way Empire Parking Lot Services will.  We give you more quality and value than any other asphalt contractor hands down. We always leave our customers happy and satisfied or we don’t leave at all. It is absolutely imperative for us to do the best we can do on every asphalt repair project that we take on.  If you have an asphalt repair, concrete repair, seal coating, or parking lot maintenance project that we can assist you with than please give us a call.  We would love to serve you today.

Call us toll free at 877-760-2757 or check us out online at www.empirepls.com

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Asphalt Raveling | Industry Term of the Week!

May 27th, 2010

Asphalt Paving Glossary Term of The Week


Asphalt Paving Company Orange County

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Asphalt Paving For All of Orange County

March 24th, 2010

Quality Asphalt Paving You Get What You Pay For

Empire Paves with Quality & Service in Mind First

So if you’ve seen one paving company you’ve seen them all, right?

That’s what I used to think when it came to roofers, plumbers, mechanics etc.  I thought that basically when you ran your finger down the Orange County yellow pages or surfed the net, there wasn’t a huge difference between company VS. company B.  However, after many years of seeing Empire Parking Lot Services work versus others, I have come to the conclusion that there is a big difference. After looking at the two photos below. What you’re going to notice is a prime example between asphalt paving services performed with quality in mind versus profits in mind. Now we like profits just as much as the next guy. Just not at the cost of our company’s reputation.

Quality Asphalt Paving Contractors

About These Asphalt Paving Patches

Take a close look at those two asphalt patches.  They were both done in a three year time frame and they are located in the same parking lot.  The first thing to note is that these patches where done by two different contractors.  The one on the right was done by a company that took short cuts in order to make more money on the job while the one on the left was done by a company that took its time and did the job correctly.  I can almost guarantee you that when they were originally repaired they both passed the visual test.  But after time the quality or lack of really starts to show. It is unfortunate today that property owners and managers face very tough challenges.  They have to go out into the unknown and determine a quality contractor from a greedy one.  Many times, property managers and owners will meet with the contractors, get there proposals, as well as a sense of the paving companies understanding of the asphalt industry. After all of that they give the job to the lowest bidder. This is where the mistake can often be made. I’ am not suggesting that low bid is always going to equate to a poor job, but typically the price difference between 2 bids shouldn’t exceed 10 percent in most cases.

About Empire Parking Lot Services Asphalt Paving

Empire Parking Lot Service believes in quality & value first when it comes to our asphalt paving and maintenance services. We strive to be the best at what we do whether its asphalt repair, concrete flow lines, parking lot striping or just installing some ADA handicap signs. We refuse to compromise quality in order to make an extra dollar on one of our jobs. This philosophy starts at the top of the company and is instilled in all of the employees that make up Empire Parking Lot Services.  That’s why quality is mentioned three times on our home page of our website. Because when we sat down to come up with the content quality needed to be emphasized.

Give us a call today and let us give you a quality paving job, at the right price, that is sure to save you money over time.

714-633-0300

Asphalt Paving Orange County, California

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Asphalt Repairs “Take the Middle Price”

November 30th, 2009

Asphalt Repairs “Why it’s Smarter to Take the Middle Price”

So you’re looking to get some asphalt repairs on your parking lot and you do the right thing and get three prices from three asphalt repair contractors.  Now all you need to do is pick the lowest priced asphalt repair contractor and run with it right? Wrong.  Read through this blog to learn how to get a closer three bid comparison.  We offer you several tactics for getting the most out of your asphalt repair prices.

How close are Asphalt Paving Repair bids?

When looking at the bids you receive from a contractor make sure that they are bids that can be compared apples to apples.  Many times when looking at multiple bids they don’t all read the same?  Whether its differences in the square footage or changes in the procedure being offered.  You need to get the bids the same across the board.  Letting one of the estimators write the scope for you can help square up the numbers. If there is one that you feel that you can trust more from your initial round of phone calls, maybe let him handle the scope design procedure.  Make sure he knows that you are having him write the scope and for the extra effort that estimator put in on your project you can reward him in one of two ways.  These are fair terms for a paving estimator.

1.)  Let him have last look at the bid.

Or

2.) If that contractor is very close in the running on the price, then consider the extra time he put into creating the scope for you to get the three correct bids.

Don’t Grind the Paving Contractors:

Never try to grind down the price by shopping it back and forth with contractors.  The main reason this is a bad idea is that because what you’re really doing is killing the quality of the project or asphalt repair that you are buying.  It’s like talking the car salesman down on the price of a car.  When he hands you a car with no wheels and no doors it won’t feel like a deal.

Asphalt paving contractors are hungry enough already.  In these current economical times you’re going to get a good deal.  Another thing to consider is that you have a reputation to consider as a buyer as well.  In every industry there are those people who have a reputation for being cheap skates.  These people will get charged more just because contractors know that they will be grind down on the price.

Remember your trying to get the most bang for your buck.   If the paving estimator is wise he will throw in a few extras along the way.  At Empire Parking Lot Service our estimators are trained to look at a project and see what extras we can throw our customers to make them feel good about their decision to go with us and build customer loyalty.  As long as the request isn’t a huge cost we will try and give it to our customers at no cost. Most of our customers have been doing business with us for a long time. Like us we know that we need to expand and shrink with the economy. A prime example might be a few wheel stops replaced or some signs updated for free. This is not something we advertise it something we give well established accounts that we have forged relationships with.

Don’t Get Ripped Off From a Paving Contractor:

When getting asphalt repair prices make sure that you don’t allow yourself to get ripped off.  Most paving companies are honest but beware of con artist.   Some of the paving companies  out there are known for being bad apples. Ask for referrals that are recent and credible.  Here is a list of good indicators of a solid local paving company.

  • They have a website: Now the website itself doesn’t mean there a good company but, it does show a little more effort put in by the company to show you more about them.
  • Look them up on the California State License Board: You don’t have to be a genius to use the CSLB website.  Just point your browser to www.cslb.gov and utilize their “Instant License Check”. Not only can you confirm their license status here but also their insurance, work comp, and bonding information. All in one place how convenient.
  • Google the Company and Look for Bad Press: If someone has had a negative experience using a paving company it will be out there.

Nothing can guarantee that the company you choose is the best match for you.  But these steps may help you avoid the disasters that are out there.  Just look  http://tiny.cc/1c5EU at the current count of 8960 asphalt rip off scam links on Google.  Always get your three prices and stick with companies that have solid verifiable reputations.

Happy Paving!

Asphalt Repair Costa Mesa

Asphalt Repair Costa Mesa

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