Asphalt Answers
Categories
Is It Time For A New Piece Of Equipment?
The answer may surprise you. By Brian Hall 2023 has certainly been a great year to be in the asphalt business. What started out to be the most significant supply chain challenge we may ever see has turned into a hot market. As a manufacturer, we have had to juggle...
Which Sweeper is Right for You?
By Shawn Hutchings Most jobsites require some sort of broom or sweeper to manage loose material or debris. These sweepers help contractors and municipalities with the cleanup task requiring less effort than a good old push broom and shovel. Even the smallest of jobs...
What Keeps You Up At Night?
By Brian Hall No matter what your role in any organization, something concerns you. Lute men worry about having quality tools, roller men worry about compaction and rolling patterns, truck drivers worry about pulling away from the paver with a full load of asphalt,...
My Spec is Bigger Than Your Spec!
By Shawn Hutchings Have you ever tried buying a new piece of construction equipment and were overwhelmed with all the different specs and options? If you said yes, then you’re not alone! My son is in the seal coating business and when he bought his first seal coat...
The Real Truth About Buying New Equipment
By Brian Hall Well, we blinked and it’s June. Now that we are finally adjusting to live as we used to know it, many contractors are breathing easier and looking at adding to their fleet. With all the good news concerning infrastructure and building, the demand for new...
Sustainability, I am thinking Thrive-ability!
By Shawn Hutchings I hope you all had the opportunity to attend the ConExpo-ConAgg this year, it was an awesome conference, and the energy was through the roof! ConExpo 2023 broke records with over 139,000 attendees and more than 2,400 exhibitors! ConExpo-ConAgg is a...
Where is this Paving Train Headed?
By Brian Hall Much has been made of this ride we have been on since the COVID pandemic. ConExpo marked 3 years since the world hit the pause button and it’s been a little quirky since. Post pandemic has given us 2 things; high demand and short supply. Infrastructure...
Where are you going this year?
By Brian Hall I recently heard one of my favorite speakers give a talk on staying focused and the main thought principle was that “your direction, not your intention, determines your destination.” While it might sound like common sense, if you dig deeper, that is on a...
The Inevitable New Year’s Resolutions
By Brian Hall Welcome to 2023. Most of us are catching our breath after a busy 2022 and all of us are asking the question, “How can I make 2023 even better?” Doesn’t matter if you are a crew member or an owner of a large construction firm, you always want to be a...
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
By Brian Hall Well, it happened again. We blinked and it’s December. In talking to contractors around the country, it has been a good paving year, in spite of some speed bumps. Different obstacles, specifically work force issues, hindered a lot of the production for...
The Basics of Screed Management
By Brian Hall Too many times I’ve gone to the job site to fix problems such as “I can’t get my screed to do what you told me it would do”. Many times this can be corrected by an easy screed setup or just a few twists and turns. Every screed, no matter who the...
Stop and Smell the Asphalt (and Profits)
By Brian Hall Strange days, indeed. I’ve been in this business for 25 years and thought I had seen it all. Recessions, inflation housing booms and busts. But in all my born days would I ever think that the construction industry would be so robust that it would outrun...
Set Yourself Up For Success
By Brian Hall Perfection. It’s what we all strive for, whether it’s on the jobsite or in our personal lives. Sometimes we get close, many times we fall short, but the pursuit never should cease. When talking to contractors, I always tell them, “give yourself the best...
Where’s Your Dealer?
By Brian Hall Let’s take a break from the strange goings on in the country, shall we? Here we are in August and we are putting down asphalt as fast as the plants can fill the trucks. Life is good, but something doesn’t seem right. Ah, that’s it. Time for the old 250...
Sweating The Small Stuff
By Brian Hall I was working in the southern part of the US a few weeks ago wondering to myself who would choose to work in 95 degree heat with 300 degree asphalt, and then choose to get up the next morning and do it again. At least I can get back in the air...
Chip Sealing: It’s Not Just For Municipalities Anymore.
By Brian Hall Well, summer is here. I know, it’s not technically summer, but it really feels like we went from pushing snow to laying blacktop in a matter of days, completely bypassing spring. During my travels, it is really great to see the smiling faces on the crew...
What a Difference a Year Makes
By Brian Hall In thinking about this month’s article, I considered a couple of different topics, many of which have been hashed and re-hashed over the last couple of years. But after attending this year’s World of Asphalt, I scrapped it all and said that it’s time to...
Let’s Hit the Ground Running
By Brian Hall As much of the country is thawing out and ready to get back to work, both contractors and customers are eager to get asphalt on the ground. I live and work in an area that is fortunate enough to pave year-round, but most of the country is calling their...
It’s Trade Show Season
By Brian Hall February brings many seasons, football playoffs, basketball, baseball spring training. But there is another kind of training I am thinking about – winter training for our industry. Chances are, you are reading this article while you are attending one of...
It’s 2022. So Now What?
By Brian Hall Welcome to 2022. We are almost 2 years separated from “Two weeks to flatten the curve.” While the past 20 months or so have been a challenge for most, one thing that has stood the test is the construction business. We are staring down the barrel of a...
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
By Brian Hall Well, it happened again. We blinked and it’s December. In talking to contractors around the country, it seems to have been a good paving year. Supply chain issues and cost of materials has surely affected us all, but the work is there. With the new...
Is It Time For A New Piece Of Equipment?
The answer may surprise you. By Brian Hall 2021 has certainly been a roller coaster ride. What started out to be the end of a historic pandemic, has turned into the biggest supply chain challenge many of us have, or will ever, see. As a manufacturer, we have had to...
Tack Coats:
Yes, No or Maybe. By Brian Hall Since the main thrust of our articles have been heavily focused on “Best Practices” (Whatever that is), I thought we would spend some time discussing one of the items that gets more overlooked, but gets most of the blame for failure....
Buckle Up
It’s Going to Be a Wild Ride. By Brian Hall As we (seem) to be nearing the end of the pandemic and getting back to whatever normal is, the paving industry has had a different set of challenges. While work seems to be plentiful, other “opportunities” have reared their...
