Maybe all of it matters.

If we really pay attention to ourselves, we may notice that we say the same things (to ourselves or out loud) repeatedly.  One of my mantras has been “there are easier ways for me to feed my family than making stuff out of concrete”.  I say this because I feel like I could do anything, and this work makes my body hurt pretty regularly. There is no good reason to share that here, though.  

The point is, I am drawn to making things out of concrete for the same reason you are reading this.  There has to be some meaning here. Concrete is rad because the day it is placed is frozen in time. Man, material, intention, and this physical world all collide and fossilize the moment. If it is decent, it will be there 50 or so years.  Because humanity is imperfect, concrete installations are usually imperfect. Just as there are “perfect games” for pitchers in baseball, there are “perfect pours”.  Element7concrete is about the spiritual perfection available to humanity applied to concrete.  We apply it to concrete for the same reason serious street artists melt wax into walls, or etch their tag if possible. We know everything temporal will pass, but there is something in us that wants to make it last.  Something permanent. Something beautiful. We are not happy if it doesn’t come out. We need to come correct with the art within us. 

We can sear our consciouses, and pretend like non of this matters. It might not. It’s hard to really tell for the same reason it is precious. But maybe all of it matters. Maybe that part of us that gets outraged and enlivened and that is realer than anything keeps score on E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.  Maybe not. But I will bet on it, because I know even if I lose, I will sort of win. I loved that you read all of this. I hope we can hang out someday and not be distracted at all.  I haven’t written much of anything outside of bids and project worksheets for a long time now, and I am glad we could share this time. I hope your day is just straight-up magical. 

Stoked to keep on.

This interview between James Altucher and Austin Kleon inspired me yesterday:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-james-altucher-show/id794030859?mt=2

Especially striking was the idea that great works come with little chunks of time we seize from each day.  Nobody gets 3 months and free canvasses in Paris.  We have to steal the parts from Resistance to make our weapons for The Revolution.  James doesn't have a real pretty voice, but this talk is rich.

First of 7 stories - The Founder's Story

A guy dropped out of college and worked construction one summer like a million guys before him.  One day he was installing a roof on a college, watching all the other kids his age moving into their dorms.  Out of jealousy he decided to go back to school someday.  Someday turned out to be some 3 years later.  He thought he was bad at math, so when he took his first math class he bought 2 extra, outmoded textbooks so he could work 3X as hard as the smart kids and catch up.  He discovered almost anyone could be smart if they wanted to mentally work hard/long enough, so he changed his major to math to see how high he could climb up that hill before toppling over.  He kept working hard, and that tumble never happened.  Along the path, he got married and had a couple of kids, so the pressure to decide what to do when he grew up mounted.  He felt he had learned the big life lessons of college before getting any framable paperwork, so he dropped out and moved his family halfway across America to take over a little decorative concrete company.  The physically creative nature of the work was very enlivening.  He loved how his customers continued to love their floors and wanted more of that in the world. He wanted others to wake up to the joy of feeding their families by making pretty things. So now, he focuses on crafting consistently great customer experiences, the longest lasting floors possible, and meaningful jobs for the people around him. 

Stories to come:

The Homeowner's Story

The Artisan's Story

The Homebuilder's Story 

The Office Manager's Story 

The Shop Manager's Story... 

Example of element7concrete

Element7concrete is concrete with a dollop of creativity infused in it.  Here is a great example of someone using masonry materials in a very cool way:

http://www.viralnova.com/dream-dome-home-thailand/

This guy is right.

I was just reminded to take personal responsibility, no matter what I or you are doing.  There is no greater mindset for you and everyone else.

Here's what reminded me:

http://profoundlydisconnected.com/mike-rowe-third-times-the-charm-or-so-we-believe/

He's absolutely right.  Providing PPE (personal protection equipment) is an employer's responsibility, and we should never encourage dangerous behavior.  We should chide our guys when they are not wearing respirators, or glasses when appropriate, but I think back to every time I told my guys their safety was my concern and cringe now.  Carelessness is the real enemy.  The way to fight carelessness is to point out who is really gambling the most with safety.  I can't wait to re-address this with my crews before they go out tomorrow.  The takeaway for you?  Whatever you are doing, take personal responsibility.  There is no greater mindset for you and everyone else.  Encourage this with others, and maybe we will all do less stupid things and live better.  Amen?

Profile of a successful project.

My team and I recently completed a 4450sf stamped concrete project and it could not have gone better.  Here are some counterintuitive things that may have contributed to our success:

1. Use cheap concrete. Johnny Maldonado of Epic Concrete made the call to just get a 5" slump 3000 PSI mix over lots of steel.  This is wise because a huge house slab will usually crack because of a lack of substrate preparation or tensile strength rather than a lack of compressive strength, and high performance mixes tend to set up faster and less predictably than these.  Also, welded wire mesh is less expensive than "fatty" concrete and can impart tensile strength towards the top of the slab while the heavier steel bears the engineered loads towards the bottom. 
2. Two big crews.  Epic Concrete had at least 10 guys to place and finish the concrete and Element7concrete brought 12 to stamp it.  Both of these jobs are hard work, and the stamping requires a high attention to detail, so having a fresh set of guys to take over and finish strong is worth the labor costs.  You only get one chance to really do it right.
3. Two separate crews.  Sometimes the things that make a guy good at placing a lot of concrete make them bad at decorative work.  Similarly, the attention to detail that the element7concrete guys have makes them bad at big placement jobs.  Put negatively, we are slow and they are sloppy.  Go sloppy first and finish slowly and it is very good.
4. Pray, tithe, and give thanks.  At the end of the day, 40% or so of this game is luck.  Nobody gets hurt, nobody woke up sick, the weather held, the bleed water evaporated at just the right time, the pump didn't break, we all just got really lucky.  We are all lucky to be here.  Make great stuff and enjoy your days.  Thank you for reading.

Please replace me with a robot.

This is one of the coolest stories I have come across lately.

http://innovation.uk.msn.com/design/the-3d-printer-that-can-build-a-house-in-24-hours#scpshrjwfbs

One main reason I work in the decorative concrete industry is to create strong middle class jobs.  So, I find the the part of the article where they address the social concerns of innovation most interesting. The idea that a rising tide does anything other than raise all ships is ridiculous.  Any good tool frees us up to work more creatively and efficiently than before we had it.  I guess the only negative thing about innovation is that by removing the constraint, we may become lazy.  That is, if we don't have to work, some of us will not work.  Some of us work best when we are free, though.  Am I all alone caring about any of this though?