Comment by Dion Battles on April 19, 2011 at 3:11pm

A couple of things from my end;

 1. The Mortar Sprayer is awesome! I use it a lot and it is no trouble or hassle at all. The only thing I recommend is get a compressor the puts out the correct cfm. The unit requires (I believe) 9.7 cfm for the small jets and 12.6 for the large jets. The standard wheel barrow style compressor puts out 6.7 cfm continuous and the unit requires 9.7. What you will find is that the sprayer will work great for a little bit until the volume of air runs out and then the material will more like drop out of the sprayer rather than spray out. If you stop and let the compressor build up air you can go again for a little bit and then repeat the process over and over. Believe me when I tell you that this is how it works, cuz I did it for a short while! The Mortar Sprayers are awesome and they are a very great tool to own if you are going to do this business, but if you are going to buy one, invest in a compressor that will keep up! Despite how easy this unit puts the material on your substrate, you also use it to speed up the process of putting on the material! If you are always waiting on your compressor? It will piss you off like it did me! I POSTED A VIDEO ON THIS FORUM AND THE RAT FORUM OF THE MORTAR SPRAYER IN USE ON ONE OF OUR RECENT PROJECTS, CHECK IT OUT. THEY ARE GREAT TOOLS!

 

2. I agree with David on how common and blah residential curbing has become. We need to take it to the next level! In my neck of the woods residential curbing sells from $2.25-$3.50 l.f. The higher priced stuff is for the stamped and stained stuff. With that being said, they make their $ by laying down the footage! Which them curbing machines will do a lot of footage in a days work. I would be very interested to see what everyone thinks a good price per l.f. would be and still make $. The prep is the same with both methods, pulling up the sod and prepping the ground. The main difference is the speed in which the curb machines put down the curb and the simple materials it uses versus the lath, rebar?, scratch coat and carve coat this new method would require.

 

 This is an interesting topic to me and I opinion is that 1 in 100 curbing jobs, the full hand carved curbing would make bank! I think I would keep it for the high end clients that have a very large landscaping budget! 

 

 I know I am planning on doing a lot of this at my personal home this season. It is 2nd to none as far as curbing!

Comment by David Driggs on April 19, 2011 at 3:15pm

And I know everyone has differing views on pricing. I have never been a high-volume, tight-margin guy. I am interested in pricing ideas that reflect getting something special and paying what it's worth.

Comment by David Driggs on April 19, 2011 at 3:34pm

Dion-I almost missed your comments here. The nursery that contacted me asked me if I could do a great looking border for $9 per linear foot. I didn't respond due to lack of interest in Kwick-Kurb (or however they spell it) looking stuff. I have a hard enough time trying to separate myself from driveway stamp looks so I can charge $15 s/f or more for interior overlays. I do know that the nursery looked into pricing for the fanchise stuff, and based their pricing on that, but hoping for something more realistic. That is definitely present in this photo we're discussing. This photo also shows a much more substantial border than the typical stuff. One local company uses a 3/16" steel cable for their rebar (no joke). I mean it is a joke, but they're not joking. I made a file last year withmore info, I'll dig it up and pass along any pertinent info here.

Comment by Christian Maucieri on April 19, 2011 at 4:51pm

Kwik Kurb doesn't use rebar. at least they didn't when they did my parents house about 9 years ago. Depending on where you are your pricing will vary. Where I am $9 a linear foot better be on top of your material cost or your not going to make anything. Russel's curbing is also much more substantial in comparisson to Kwik Kurb. Because what you are doing in my opinion is better than what your going to get from Kwik Kurb, you should charge at least as much or more. More sounds better as you're doing this all by hand without the aid of a little curbing machine.

Comment by Dion Battles on April 19, 2011 at 5:16pm

So am I understanding this right, are you guys paying $9 l.f. for concrete curbing that is coming out of a little curbing machine and then being stamped? That is what we pay $3.50 l.f. for.

Comment by Christian Maucieri on April 19, 2011 at 5:24pm

I'll contact Kwik Kurb here and find out exactly and then I'll post it. I know my parents paid about $700 for 70 ft when they did it.

Comment by Russel Whitney on April 19, 2011 at 5:39pm

Hey guys - I think I charged $2500.00 for the edging. We had just done rock work on his pool. This was a great customer who actually gave me a bonus over and above the agreed price. His excitement over the work we had done made me feel good about my craft but I felt bad charging him for it. I still made out fine at 2500

 

Comment by Russel Whitney on April 19, 2011 at 6:12pm

$9.00 ft Sounds great! 

Pricing for me is more geared on a Base price.Two,three or what ever days of labor and materials.

If you actually figure by the foot you should consider two sides and the top . Approx 3sq to a running foot. 

DOT sand at my supplier is a very course sand . Not sure what it compares to havent had the chance

Mason sand is super fine

Super masonery is a brand of mortar we have here.

Polymer is what I meant by poly  Yea it's the glue. I use a product called Link, I get it in a 5gal tub.

The acrylic resin I use  is the resin from bond coat. It's a high solid mix.

I also use lots of fiber. I get it by the box its cheap. (not on the carve coat)

It's funny I take it for granted that we all have the same supply's  and materials. 

To be honest I haven't had many people to share with on comparing materials. If anything though I am probably a little behind. Been using the same things for a long time. just did a door with tru-pac and that stuff is awsome!

Comment by Russel Whitney on April 19, 2011 at 6:16pm

Thanks for the info on the sprayer.

Comment by Russel Whitney on April 19, 2011 at 6:26pm

The curbing guys don here are killin the whole market with the price wars. It's crazy $2.25 ft is the going rate according to my supplier. We have been mostly doing  water features and Poolscapes.  So I really havent paid attention to these other areas

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