Transcription
What's up everybody? In this video, I'm joined with my buddy Chris, and we're going to be walking through how to seal coat a parking lot, uh, from start to finish. We're going to be taking a look at a bunch of, uh, seal coating footage that Chris recently got here and be walking you guys through every single step of the process with regards to how to seal coat a parking lot. Chris, how's it going, man?
It's going good, Justin. How's everything?
Everything's going good, man. Everything's going good. So, uh, in this video, we're actually gonna be looking at, uh, Chris doing some in-person training. He's going to be breaking down, um, everything for the person who's doing in-person training with. If you guys are interested in checking out Chris's in-person training, we'll have it linked in the comment section and the description of this video. You can come out, learn parking lot striping, you can learn seal coating, can learn crack filling, uh, pretty much all of these huge commercial upsells that, uh, make a lot of money.
Um, we're also going to take a look at this job from, um, a street view or, you know, from an overhead view within Quote IQ. If you guys need a way to, uh, keep up customers, send estimates, invoices, or collect payments, be sure to check out Quote IQ. It'll be linked in the comment section and the description. Uh, but it's essentially, this is the parking lot that we're going to be taking a look at today, right, Chris?
Uh, yes, sir. Yeah, that on this particular job, we did the works. We did crack filling, seal coating, and, uh, parking lot striping for our in-person trainee when he came from, uh, out of state to get the full hands-on experience, to learn how to operate the equipment, learn how to price the jobs, learn how to perform the operational aspects in relation to the service. And, uh, uh, when he got done, he went away with a comprehensive understanding of how to perform the job and go out and sell the job and, most importantly, make more money.
Absolutely. So if you guys are interested in that, it'll be linked in the comment section description. Chris, how much would you charge for a job like this if, if we were going to price it out?
Uh, I would typically, if it is a small commercial or a, uh, small residential, I would try to do about anywhere between 40 cents a square foot, uh, depending upon the surface of the ground. And then with larger commercial, we would try to be under 30 cents, between 25 and 30 cents a square foot.
Okay, beautiful. And obviously, there's some, uh, some different prices on here, like you would have the price specifically for the seal coating, you'd have the price specifically for, uh, the parking lot striping, and as well as the crack fill and everything else. So, uh, I just wanted to show you guys this within Quote IQ because you can do all your map measurements within here, you can put together all your pricing within here. So if you want to check it out, it'll be linked in the comment section and the description. Let's go and jump into this footage. Chris, we're going to be taking a look at at a bunch of footage of you, uh, doing in-person training. First and foremost, though, what are the first steps we want to do with regards to, um, seal coating a parking lot?
Well, the first thing you want to do is make sure that the surface preparation is done to the best of your ability. Uh, and that's why we took the trainee, his name is Billy. We took Billy out in the field and we gave him a great, uh, we gave him a great, uh, aspect to training where we taught him prep work. We taught him how to prep the area for seal coat. As you can see here in the training part, he is using the steel power broom. And really, what this broom is doing, it is knocking loose all of the debris, uh, in the cracks and some residue dirt that's left over, maybe from rain or, uh, dried dirt, so on and so forth. And that power broom really knocks it loose because what happens is, is if you try to apply the seal coat on top of a dirty surface, it will not stick. And if it doesn't stick, and you charge your customer several thousand dollars, then they are not going to be happy. That's why it's important to make sure that you ensure proper surface preparation before the application of the seal coat.
Okay, sweet. So in this video, you know, we're obviously seeing them use this power broom. I've actually never really seen one of these before, Chris. But besides this, what other pieces of equipment are we going to need to have in order to kind of prep that surface properly?
Sure, yeah. I mean, a budget setup is, is going to consist of a power broom and a backpack blower. Preferably, I would get a steel because, uh, not only is it, uh, dependable and durable, but it's going to, uh, come with a warranty, so on and so forth. So I would definitely get a, at least a backpack blower and then a power broom for your essentials. And then maybe a stiff wire brush to break up some of that, uh, more, uh, caked-on material that you can't get with your power broom.
Okay, excellent. So step one, obviously, go ahead and seal, uh, go ahead and clear all the surface area so that way everything's kind of prepped, uh, for the seal coat to come on. Like you said, Chris, if it's not cleared properly, then, um, the seal coat will not adhere. Have you ever had any problems with that, like on a job, like, you know, you skip the step or you didn't clear it properly?
Yeah, I mean, we have. We have those types of problems. Um, I mean, even on this job that you're looking at, I had a worker on site with me, uh, during the in-person training, kind of taking care of all the prep work behind the scenes as I'm am coaching Billy. And, um, what happened was, when we got to the point of applying the seal coat, there were a couple places that were missed. And, um, so essentially, what you have to do is clean to the best of your ability. And then ideally, if it's too caked on, you would need, uh, to essentially soft wash it first. But, uh, luckily, the debris wasn't too bad. We were able to properly apply the seal coat on this job, and then, um, the customer was very satisfied when we got done.
Okay, sweet. So you guys, step one, obviously, clear out all the debris, make sure everything's good to go with regards to, um, you know, that not being on there so that way your sealer can stick. Step two is obviously going to be crack fill, right? Right, Chris, or are we missing anything?
No, no, no. Um, crack filling, yeah, after the prep work, definitely crack filling. Depending upon the width of the cracks, obviously. This was a pretty smooth job. I mean, there's no grass growing out of the cracks. There is no, uh, you know, they're not wide. I mean, if you got cracks that are two inches wide with grass growing out of them, then there's a deeper problem. But as you can see, we are filling these cracks. They're maybe an eighth of an inch. So we're not using that material, but it, the cracks are wide enough to where we are able to apply the crack filler within the crack and then still seal it and bond it to create that watertight seal. Because ultimately, what we want to do is we want to prevent any more water, uh, infiltration into the pavement. Because what happens is, is water gets into those cracks. When water gets into those cracks, especially with colder temperatures, when that water freezes, it expands, and that's how you get potholes, alligator cracks, so on and so forth. So the reason why we're sealing the cracks is to prevent future damage to the pavement, ultimately to protect the pavement asset. And, um, so that's what we're doing here. Typically, with your crack filling, you can get anywhere between, on a large commercial, 75 cents a foot, uh, and with a medium-sized commercial, anywhere between a dollar to $2 a foot, depending upon the width of the crack.
Okay, sweet. So crack fill is obviously, you know, a great opportunity to make some more money, uh, on these, on these jobs. And, you know, this parking lot looks like it has a ton of cracks on it. Is this, like, a, you know, a normal amount, or is this, you know, more than normal? What would you say, Chris?
I'll be honest with you, man. Um, this was probably one of the easiest properties that we've had to service thus far. I mean, we were able to knock the debris loose and then essentially prep the area in a short period of time, and then we were able to, uh, crack fill it. And we spent the first day of our in-person training session crack filling. And, uh, the way that we broke the in-person training schedule up is we spent Monday prep work and crack filling, we spent Tuesday seal coating and striping, and then after the seal coat had cured for 48 hours, we went back on Wednesday to stripe over what we had seal coated.
Okay, excellent. So I think it's important to note, you know, if you're going to be doing, uh, this kind of service, that it does take a couple days, especially if you have some of those other services added on there, like the parking lot striping. So, Chris, we've cleared all the debris out, uh, we're using the crack fill machine. I guess maybe tell us a little bit about this crack fill machine, how much does one of these cost, and, um, yeah, just anything else about it about operating it.
Sure, well, um, first, safety is going to be the number one priority because you are operating a hot rubber crack filler machine. You are essentially taking blocks of, uh, crack filler, and it's, it's heated up to a temperature of anywhere between 300 to 400 degrees. Um, and what you do is you just open that latch right there on the front, you just undo that latch, make sure it's, it's heated up, and then this is just a, uh, you know, a quick melter applicator. So you're able to melt and apply all from this one system. Um, this machine is about 2, a little over $2,000. But really, when you think about how many cracks you can fill and how many linear feet of cracks there are on asphalt seal coating jobs, this, this machine can get paid off very, very quick. And, um, typically, a box of rubber crack filler is anywhere between $33 to $34 a box. And when you melt that, you can get anywhere between 200 to 300 linear feet of crack out of the box. So if you're charging a dollar per foot for each box, you can maximize between anywhere between $350 to $300 to $350 a box of crack filler. So you could take $33 bucks and then turn around and make $350 with it, no problem.
Okay, beautiful. I want to do a whole video on crack fill because I think it's a, it's a cool standalone upsell, obviously, but it is a part of the seal coating process as well. Um, so anything else we want to mention with regards to, uh, crack fill, Chris? Like, obviously, you know, uh, you were doing some in-person training on this one, and like, was there any particular questions that this guy had about it, or is it, is it pretty straightforward?
Well, there, there are, um, several things that you have to cover with the trainee. As I mentioned in the beginning, it was safety. The next thing was your walking pace because what happens is, if you're walking too fast, then the, the application of the crack filler is not, is not applied thick enough, right? So if you're moving too fast, it's almost like whenever you're parking lot striping, right? You're pushing the machine, you're squeezing the trigger, uh, there's a lot that's involved. And though it looks simple, if you don't understand how to do it, what temperature it needs to be at, how fast you need to walk, having a good understanding of the machine, you can end up wasting a lot of material. So that means like, if you, on the material, if you heat it up to above 400 degrees, then, and what that's going to do is cause the material to be too runny. So when you engage the trigger mechanism, it does seal the crack, but the material, you're wasting a lot of material. And, uh, that was something that the trainee had to learn. And, uh, luckily, by the start of the job, he was kind of, you know, learning how to do it, but by the end of the job, he was able to crack fill and, uh, successfully complete the job for sure.
Excellent. And that's one of the things that we, you know, focus on obviously with these in-person trainings. You want to make it to where, like, when the person comes out, they don't know everything with regards to the machines and and and everything. And by the time they leave, they're ready to do a whole job by themselves. And that's, you know, pretty much the whole idea behind doing it that way. So, Chris, now that we've kind of covered, uh, the debris removal, the crack fill, let's kind of jump into the next part of this, which is is going to be the seal coating. Maybe before we do that, though, we can kind of take a look at this trailer. Anything with regards to, uh, this setup that you can walk us through? Maybe how much it costs and things of that nature.
Sure, yeah. Um, it is a custom trailer build. I had a friend of mine, uh, build me a custom skid unit and then he mounted it to a trailer. And then, uh, it is a hand agitation, but it is equipped with a 2-inch diaphragm pump. So when we're spraying sealer on the ground, uh, I like to mix sand in it. A lot of people don't, but I like to mix sand in it. It makes it better for skid resistance, makes it last longer, helps it bind better, and, uh, overall, it just provides a better quality product. Uh, it's got 150-inch, or I'm sorry, 150-foot hose reel, which is really nice because as you're going to see here in a minute, when the trainee takes the hose reel, he is able to fully walk onto the under end of the parking lot where we begin the edging process. And, uh, see, when he came out, he had no knowledge of crack filling, no knowledge of seal coating, no knowledge of striping. And, um, one of the things that we do for in-person training is we not only let them use the equipment, we let them make mistakes. But I throw them in on the job because that's the fastest way to learn how to do this is by experiencing mistakes and doing it yourself. So it's equipped with an air compressor. And then right there on the nose of the trailer, as you're fixing to see, there is a 30-gallon, uh, melter. That way I don't have to wait for those crack fill blocks to, um, melt. And what I can do is I can just go to that melter and then pour some of that crack filler back into the applicator and then get it done. So overall, I mean, it's, it's an amazing setup. Uh, I like it. It's a custom build. You know, there's a lot of other, uh, uh, manufacturers out there that you can get it from, but I like the fact that it's a custom trailer build. And, uh, whenever I want to upgrade and get a bigger tank, you know, 500, 750, I don't have to, you know, buy an entire unit. I can just disconnect the tank, use the plumbing, same air compressor, same pump, and then continue on.
Excellent. Chris, so if anybody wants to like watch this video and then go out there and actually do this for themselves, as far as equipment costs go, what do you think a ballpark would be for, um, starting a seal coating business?
Man, in all reality, I mean, you can start a driveway seal coating business for, um, I don't know, man, a couple hundred bucks. I mean, you can go and get some sealer and some tools to start prepping. I mean, obviously, you'd have to maybe get a tote and then you could just, uh, you know, gravity feed it out. You know, you don't have to have a compressor necessarily, though it probably is recommended. But I mean, you could, a person can get started relatively cheap, um, in this industry. I mean, I, I started with striping, and then the striping just, uh, it just took off. I mean, we just, we just, we just ended up getting so busy to where it was like, it seemed logical instead of trying to subcontract out seal coating to other people, the next logical phase in our business was to add seal coating. And I'm super glad that we did.
Okay, excellent. Glad we got to kind of cover some of the, uh, you know, logistics with regards to the equipment. So phase one, clear the debris. Phase two, crack fill. The next thing is going to be what you call edging, Chris. So can you kind of walk us through that? Maybe some of the things that could go wrong and what we're trying to accomplish here?
Yeah, sure. The, the trainee learned the process of edging. Um, right now we're edging on an incline. And what happens is, is that sealer, we put it on the edges because in a little bit, you're going to see us spraying. And, um, if you don't edge the exterior part of the property, what's going to happen is, is when you go to spray, unless you have a cover on it, you are, uh, liable to make a mess and get overspray everywhere. On this job, we got a little bit of overspray because, uh, we kind of miscalculated, uh, the length of the edging. But right now, you're seeing me walk the trainee through the process of how to edge the asphalt. And we're, we kind of go a little bit further in this one because we are on an incline, and that sealer is dripping down. So what I'm trying to do is, uh, educate the trainee on how to edge and how to do it properly, that way whenever we go to seal, as you'll see here in a little bit, when the edges are are covered and you start spraying, you're not going to get any overspray on the concrete, none on the, you know, landscape, none on the curbs, right? Whenever you go to spray the sealer on the ground, we edge so that we can, um, you know, give yourself that buffer.
Right, Chris?
Yeah, 100%. Yeah. And here now, you see the trainee after I kind of gave him some guidance on how to do it. I mean, he just took over from here. I mean, as far as a, a, uh, a trainee is concerned, this has probably been one of the best trainees. He was able to comprehend it quickly, uh, and get the job done successfully.
Okay, beautiful. And as we mentioned, like, just the coolest thing about this is is the possibilities. Like, this particular job right here that you guys are watching, uh, Chris said, you know, you would have quoted around seven or eight thousand. Now, Chris started his business, um, in a particular way in order to leverage reviews. And Chris, do you want to speak a little bit about, you know, this particular job and, um, how you kind of did the same with this one?
Yes, 100%. Um, really, what happened was, is in the beginning stages of my business, instead of being so focus driven on profits, which I believe that's the mistake that people make all the time, is they're so focused on profits. And though they may have a good year, if they're in a market that has a lot of people doing the same exact thing, they're going to struggle. I mean, I know people that did 100 grand their first year, now they, they've done 40 this year, right? So we, we always want to make more than what we did last year. And if we don't, then there could be a problem. And I think that branding is a problem for a lot of people because they don't take the time to build that brand. And while they might make a lot of extra money in the front end, on the back end, when it comes to building that brand, a sustainable brand that can generate organic traffic through GMB, a lot of people don't have that. They don't do that. And so I realized that early on in my business. And what I did was, I essentially, when I started striping, I bought my experience. I, I paid for paying at a low cost. I did jobs for free, for some of them for free, and some next to nothing in order to build our reputation within the community as a reputable company. And then from there, it just, it just, uh, it became a core value that we integrated within our company. I mean, it became something that not only did we do it to leverage social proof, but we did it as a company because we like to use our skill and our craft, uh, to help other people. So on this job, uh, the property owner initially contacted me wanting to get a price for some parking lot striping. It was just a couple lines. I told him that I would, uh, I, you know, it'd be no charge, just let me come out and do it for free. I just was feeling generous, wanted to do it for free to be a blessing to him. Well, after I did it, he, uh, he, this is a fraternity. Well, man, he sent my review link to a whole bunch of college kids. And man, telling you what, I got probably 10 reviews just off of this one customer. I mean, them, them, them kids just kept leaving a review after review after review. And, uh, you know, I was, I was talking to my wife the next day and I thought, you know, uh, really, what he needed was a crack fill, seal coat, and stripe. And then I thought, well, if he'd be willing to cover the cost of material, I'd be willing to go out there and perform that labor for free so I could get those seal coating keywords because, you know, we already rank within the highest, uh, in relation to parking lot striping in my state. I mean, how we optimize our GMB profile. And really, that's what we teach within the how to stripe course is to properly optimize a GMB profile for maximum results, that way you can drive organic traffic and not be on year three or year four still handing out business cards, wondering why your sales are at, you know, $5,000. So what we did was, is we made an agreement with the property owner that we were going to, uh, is if he would cover the cost of materials, that we would be willing to crack fill, seal coat it, and restripe it. Um, and, uh, what happened was, is we had a trainee that came out. So it kind of worked out. I mean, we had an in-person training, uh, scheduled. And, uh, really, the trainee wanted a hands-on experience. So, um, when we were there, then we just went, we were just like, well, let's just go ahead and put this trainee on this parking lot. Him and his wife came down, of course, and they got the full, the full experience. They learned how to crack fill, seal coat, uh, and stripe. And, uh, by the end of the day, this trainee was working all by itself.
I love it. Okay, beautiful. Chris, I just wanted to, you know, share that a little bit. You know, so we covered all the steps leading up to the actual seal coating. So maybe let's kind of, uh, talk through some of the seal coating. Maybe before we do that, though, what are the biggest mistakes that you can make? You know, what are the things to keep in mind whenever you're actually performing, laying this down?
Sure, yeah. Well, uh, and that's a good question. I mean, it's kind of like, you know, it's kind of almost a lot similar to pressure washing. I mean, if you know, if you're pressure washing and you're, you're spraying your sh over a bunch of shrubs and you're not keeping those shrubs wet, I mean, what's going to happen? It's going to kill that, you know what I mean? It's going to, it's going to, you're going to get too much bleach on it, you're going to, you're going to kill something. And so what, what we did was, it's kind of like similar in that regard, but you just, you make sure that you edge the sides. And then, uh, for this application, we just overlaid it. And the goal is not to make a mess. The goal is not to get sealer anywhere that sealer shouldn't go. We don't want sealer on sidewalks, we don't want sealer on curbs, we don't want sealer on walls or, uh, you know, landscape. And, uh, ultimately, what we did is just to overlap coat. Um, and, uh, you know, we would overlap it and then have the trainee back up and then overlap it again and, uh, do it that way.
Okay, beautiful. And then, you know, you kind of see here that, you know, he was getting some, uh, sealer on this curb right here. And so, you know, you had another employee come in with with with some protection. Was it because maybe he didn't have enough buffer on that, um, initial outlining of the of the, um, you know, parking lot?
Yeah, it was, it was. I mean, like right there, you see, we, we didn't edge far enough back. And also, we're using a bigger spray tip. Um, you know, and it happens. I mean, it's, it's not really a deal, you know, it's not really like too big of a deal. I mean, obviously, the, the customer didn't notice it. We have a trainee die for it. But, but I mean, realistically, we probably should have edged further back that way that didn't happen. But it's good and it's okay. And I'm, in all honesty, I'm glad that the trainee did that because whenever people come out for in-person training, like I was saying, I let them make mistakes. I intentionally let them direct the job. I let them make mistakes because when they look at me and they're like, oh, you know, I got stuff on that wall, and I'm like, yeah, you know, and, and that happens. And if you don't edge out, you know, far enough, that's what happens. And because you learn by making mistakes, and if you learn by making mistakes, and then you make the mistakes, it helps you learn faster, and then you grow, and ultimately, it just makes you better at what you're doing.
Absolutely. Uh, so Chris, another question that I have for you, man, um, damn, I lost it, bro. Uh, okay, so let's get into the next. Oh, oh, how would you, how would you fix an issue like that? So, like, let's say that you got some sealer where it's not supposed to go. Is there a way to fix that? Is there a way to remove that?
Yeah, I mean, as long as, as long as it doesn't dry, I mean, you can use soap and water real fast. I mean, um, you know, you could get it with soap and water and kind of scrub it a little bit. I mean, but you, all realistically, you would need to, um, you know, you would need to try to grab it and pick it up as soon as possible instead of just letting it sit there.
For sure. Yeah, it's kind of like when you're painting something, right? Like, you know, if you paint something and you go out of the lines, you really want to try to get it up as quickly as possible. So completely understand. Um, you know, just, I was just curious how you would fix an issue like that. So, Chris, we've walked through, that feels like most of the steps, right? We got the clearing of debris, we got the crack filling, and then ultimately, we got the edging and then we have the seal coating. Um, what kind of happens after this? I mean, obviously, maybe, maybe let's talk through this first. The way you had to maneuver the truck and the way you had to do it was in a way so that you didn't box yourself in. How important is it to kind of think through the flow of the parking lot before you get started?
Well, it's, it's, it's very, very important because what happens is, is as you're moving and, uh, you know, sealing a certain particular area, you never want to roll over it. And in all reality, we want the sealer to cure, you know, we want the sealer to dry, not only dry, but to cure properly, right? So we don't want any footprints on it, we don't want any tire tracks on it because what happens is, is if the sealer is not cured properly, and you got people walking on it, you got tires driving on it, guess what? When it cures, that's how it's going to dry. And so you're going to see those foot marks, you're going to see those tire marks, you're going to see the imperfections in it if it's not cured properly. And what, what we did was, is usually we just, we just set up the caution tape, you know, over there, and then we worked our way around the facility that way whenever we go to the exit point, we've got the entire parking lot sealed, everything's looking great, and then it cures. And, uh, with this customer, I mean, I asked him, please stay off the property as long as you possibly can. The customer stayed off of, uh, the parking lot for, uh, about 48 hours, which allowed it to cure really, really nicely. And then, uh, I went back yesterday, as a matter of fact, to see what it looked like, and, uh, and it cured really good. Cars had driven on it, and, you know, it's, it looked really, really good. I mean, I seen a few footprints, but as far as like tire tracks, it wasn't holding tire tracks. And, uh, you know, it was just a good blend of sealer, sand mixture, and, uh, you know, it just, it cured really, really nice. I went back to look at it to maintain quality control, and it, it looked really good.
So I want to ask you a question about this real quick, Chris. Like, are you just adjusting the nozzle to get more out for, um, you know, this outlining to happen?
Yeah, we're taking it out. Um, when you, that, that sealer is controlled with air compressor. And so when you have that air compressor running and you have that sealer coming out, when that spray tip is in that sealer, it's, it's almost like when you're striping, but when you engage the trigger mechanism, that's when the paint comes out. When you engage that, that lever, that's when your sealer is going to come out of the hose. But, but if you don't have a spray tip in it, it's going to come out all sludgy. So whenever we're edging, we just take the spray tip out of it and then, um, you know, we kind of just do it that way.
Um, yeah.
Okay, sweet. And Chris, I want to talk a little bit about this too. Are, do you have to put two coats on this, uh, parking lot? Like, is that what he's doing right now? Is he putting a second coat on there to kind of add some thickness to the middle of it, or what?
Well, we were, we were taking some, uh, photos. I have two drones in the sky on this project. And, uh, the guy who was filming right there, against that wall, as you can see right there, he noticed that there were some light areas, of course, because I'm, I'm trying to be as hands-off as possible, right? Because I want the trainee to learn. And, uh, the guy who was doing our filming for that day, uh, you know, Matt told me that the, um, there was a light coat. I mean, he told the trainee, hey, you know, this, we really need to go over this again. From the sky, it doesn't look good. From the ground, I mean, you probably couldn't have tell if it was bad unless you had sunglasses on. But from the ground, Matt, or from the air, Matt was able to tell that it needed to be gone over again. And, uh, so the trainee just went over it again and then covered up his footprints and then, um, you know, we kept moving on.
Is that one of the benefits of, you know, utilizing a drone, Chris? Are you us, are you usually, you know, taking videos like this whenever, you know, you're not doing, uh, the training?
Yeah, well, we take drone shots anyways, before and afters, and to really document the process because ultimately, what we want to do is we want to educate the customer, right? We want to educate the customer, we want to empower them, we want to give them all of the necessary information that we have access to in order to ensure that our customer has quality results. Uh, you know, that's why we let them know the condition of the parking lot, you know, is it, is it, is it severely oxidized? Is it brittle? You know, or there potholes? Or there severe cracks? Is there alligator? I mean, there's all sorts of things that need to be taken into consideration. And I find that the drone shots, not only just for content purposes, but like, if you have a severely deteriorated parking lot, after you crack filled it, it, it makes all the difference showing the customer, uh, you know, the condition of that parking lot before the process, during, and then after to show the completed project.
Okay, excellent, excellent. Well, Chris, it seems like we're getting down to the end of, uh, you know, this particular job. Anything else you want to add in with regards to maybe mistakes that people make, uh, seal coating, or anything else that would be beneficial for people to know if they're looking to, you know, seal coat their first parking lot?
Sure, yeah. If you're, if you're looking to seal coat your first parking lot, I would highly recommend that you, uh, don't try to just go out there and then randomly do it because you will mess some things up. Um, and, uh, luckily, our trainee, you know, our trainee knew that the best alternative for him was to get some in-person training. Uh, and then so then he came and got the training, and then he left fully equipped with it. And then not only did we seal coat this property, but we striped it. Uh, the next, no, not the next day, but the day after that, we, we, we striped it. We crack filled it Monday, sealed it Tuesday, and then striped it on Wednesday.
Yep, we're gonna save that footage, Chris, because I want to do another video on that. Unless you just want to roll it, and we'll probably just do another video on that one. Um, but basically, you know, when you, when you sell these jobs, that's what you want to sell. Like, you want to sell the whole thing, right? You want to sell the crack fill, the pothole repair, the seal coating, and the restripe, right? So, so that way you can kind of raise that average ticket price.
Yes, yes. Because I mean, you know, if they wouldn't have chose, like, let's just say that they're paying to get it striped, well, obviously, I'm going to be a lot more expensive on, on, uh, you know, the front end. If they're only going to pay to stripe it, uh, we're going to raise the price moderately if we're going to crack fill it and then stripe it. But then we're going to significantly lower the price whenever we stripe it when it comes to crack filling and seal coating. And, uh, this project, I mean, he, like I was saying, he just paid for the materials. And I mean, we literally did this for at no cost to the customer, other than for materials. I didn't make anything profit on this job. Um, we wanted to do it as a donation project, but we also wanted our trainee to have the full experience. And, um, you know, so, and he definitely did, for sure.
Yeah, and I think just going through something like this gives you such a leg up on your competition from the perspective of, you know, trying to do this on your own without knowing everything the first time. I'm sure it would be an absolute nightmare, but you've got the procedures in place, you've got the right equipment, you've got everything that you need. So if anybody's interested in getting some training like this on-site, even if it was just parking lot striping, uh, check it out. It'll be the, it'll be linked in the comment section description, should be the first link. And, um, if you need help with with your quoting, you can also use a tool like Quote IQ. If you need help sending estimates, invoices, or collecting payments. This is the parking lot that we were just looking at. And, um, it's beautiful because all you need to do is just measure it out with some clicks of a button. And, um, you can multiply that out times whatever your square footage price is. So we'll probably do some different videos on, um, quoting, um, these particular jobs. But anything else you want to mention within this one, Chris?
Yeah, I, it would just, just, um, just the fact that, you know, stuff like this is is possible, especially with the right, with the with the proper guidance. I mean, you know, I went out and, uh, got training for seal coating, and then I was able to take what I learned and then implement it within the marketplace and then essentially have a, a, a tangible skill that I could offer to, uh, the customer. I mean, because I didn't want to have to subcontract my sealing, right? Like I didn't want to have to depend upon someone else's equipment, someone else's crew, someone else's quality, someone else's, um, you know, consistency, right? And then we just added seal coating as an upsell. And so now, you know, we don't just do striping, you know, we do pothole repair, we do crack filling, we do seal coating, we do line striping. I mean, we have branched out into full-on pavement maintenance. And, uh, really, it kind of just, it kind of just increases your overall average ticket price, uh, whenever you do a job in general. And, um, so yeah, for sure.
I think it really diversifies your offering as well, Chris, because I mean, like when you, when you come from the perspective of starting just like a parking lot striping business as a standalone, I think it's an awesome service so you can make a ton of money with. And, and you have, and we certainly have as well. But whenever you start branching out, man, you start taking these ticket prices from, you know, three, four, five grand with with just parking lot striping to 30, 40 grand, and up, depending upon how big the job is, with, uh, some of this, uh, other, some of these other services, right?
Oh, 100%. Yeah. I mean, when I, when I began to look at the profitability aspect within seal coating, I mean, you're just, you, once you have the knowledge, I mean, you, you quote crazy jobs. And we were talking on the phone today, I mean, and I got, you know, I got a call from a company and they want to, they want the works, they want crack filling, seal coating, line striping, and it's just a massive property. It's probably going to be about a $60, $70,000 quote. And, you know, you win some, you lose some, but I mean, the, the main point is that you're getting in front of the right people in order to make the right decisions in order to, you know, achieve the right outcome. And when you diversify and add other things into your striping business, it really, you, you become, you become more dangerous, right? Because if you're a striping, if you're just a striping company, you know, if the customer, like, a lot of customers, and I really, I learned this from you, they want a one-stop shop. They want a solution. They want a customer that does their pressure washing, that does their window cleaning, that does, you know what I mean? It's, once they establish a relationship with somebody, preferably they want to work with you and not have to, you know, hire a bunch of other contractors to do the job. And essentially, we have, you know, people used to ask us, do you do seal coating? And then we'd say, no, we don't do seal coating, we're planning on it though. And they'd say, okay, well, you know, we're going to hire someone else. And, you know, and, and, and now that we've offered this, and we offer this now, they're like, hey, do you do seal coating? We're like, yeah, why don't we get you a quote for that? And, you know, not everybody goes with seal coating, you know, but just because they don't go with seal coating, it doesn't mean that they won't go with crack filling and line striping, right? So if you can't sell them on the seal coating, you can sell them on the crack filling, you can sell them on the striping. You see what I'm saying? And so there's, there's all sorts of ways that if they don't choose the higher ticket price, the higher tier item, they might choose the lower tier item, and you still make money in the backend, right? And you just put yourself in a situation where you are the one that gets to make the decisions because at the end of the day, you know, if the average parking lot striping job is 5K, and you know, you're able to get 30K on one job where you do all the works, that's six different customers that you didn't have to acquire, just because you were able to knock everything off for that one customer.
So, Chris, thank you so much for coming on. In, I think this was beautiful. Um, obviously, we're going to have some more seal coating content coming for you guys in the future. We'll dial more into equipment, more into pricing, more into everything. And we'll also have some more training for you guys. So if you're interested in in-person training with Chris with regards to learning this skill or anything else that we talked about in this video, definitely check out the links below. Uh, Chris, every guest that comes on the channel, pick the word of the day. What do you want the word of the day to be?
Sealer.
Sealer. If you guys made it this far on the video, comment down below the word "sealer" and we'll hashtag your real one. But my name is Justin, this is Forever Self-Employed. Until next time, I'll hustle and get that money, baby. Peace.
Peace.