Blog
March 14th, 2011
According to this piece on forconstructionpros.com gas prices will continue to rise this spring and summer. The article interviews Dan Kieler who led the way around the flatbed truck and pointed to the gas meter. “Look at this, $200 for (around) 50 gallons,” said Kieler, who appropriately is from Kieler, Wis. He stopped to fill up while hauling some equipment for Epic Construction. “I think they’re higher than hell,” said Kieler, of current fuel costs. “A few years ago, diesel was always cheaper than gas. I don’t understand that.”
The article explains, “Fuel prices have increased significantly in recent days, as unrest continues in the Middle East and northern Africa. The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released this week found the average price of gasoline in the U.S. rose 33 cents in the past two weeks. There’s a 25 percent chance gas prices for regular unleaded will rise above $4 per gallon by the summer, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Tuesday in a short-term energy outlook. This latest increase has sparked a fresh discussion about just how high prices will go and what the remedy should be.”
Whether or not this increase will affect prices in the paving industry is hard to say. The article continues, “some business owners who make deliveries as part of their operations say current fuel prices are a concern, but they have not spiked enough to cause subsequent price increases. ‘We would have to see a pretty drastic change before I’d increase my delivery prices,’ said Andy Parker, owner of Custom Futons. Sue Butt, co-owner of Butt’s Florist Inc., said the business has a routing system for deliveries they try to follow. ‘Sometimes you need to be a little more creative,’ she said.”
It looks like we will have to wait and see how this increase in price will impact industries all over the country. For any of your paving needs contact My Pavement Guy at 410-636-8777 or here today!
Tags: forconstructionpros.com, fuel prices, gas price impact business, increase in gas prices, My Pavement Guy, paving industries, paving maryland, rising gas prices
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on Gas Prices May Hit $4 a Gallon Soon
March 6th, 2011
The National Asphalt Pavement Association had its annual meeting in January in Orlando, Florida. As this write up announces, there was something for everyone in the pavement world. Over 800 people attended the NAPA conference this year. The event contained four days of non-stop educational and networking opportunities. From the Young Leaders’ hosted golf tournament on Saturday morning to the Super Bowl Diamond kick-off reception to the final evening dinner and dance event, it was declared the “best-ever NAPA Annual Meeting.”
As hotmix.org declares, “Highlights from the event include the “State of the Industry” address by four industry prognosticators, Jim Roberts, Granite Construction Inc.; Randy West, NCAT; and NAPA’s Mike Kvach and Howard Marks. Washington DC beltway insiders Pete Ruane of ARTBA and John Horsley, AASHTO gave attendees the current pulse on federal transportation funding and legislation. Keynote speaker, John Foley, a former Blue Angels lead pilot gave the crowd an outstanding presentation on what true, precise teamwork really requires and the benefits companies can learn from the rigorous training required to be a Blue Angel. To the delight of the attendees, NAPA’s Associate Members shared the history of equipment and the outlook for the future through the antics of the Ebenezer Skidmark family and their asphalt company in the fourth General Session.”
The educational sessions were filled to the brim during the entire conference. Some high points from the educational series were programs on asphalt cement pricing, economic outlooks, performance testing, the latest in warm mix provided timely tools and information to members. All in all, the conference was a great success. Next year’s event will take place at the JW Marriott Desert Springs in California, January 22 – 25.
For information on NAPA or any paving needs contact My Pavement Guy at 410-636-8777 or here today!
Tags: asphalt Baltimore, asphalt maryland, My Pavement Guy, NAPA conference, National Asphalt Pavement Association, paving maryland, PTG Enterprises
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on 2011 NAPA Meeting
February 25th, 2011
According to this article produced by the Asphalt Alliance, asphalt has many benefits including its role in intersections. A new publication put out by the same organization titled High-Performance Intersections (which can be viewed here) lays out new helpful guidelines for pavement designers. These designers deal with many challenges in the asphalt process such as the difficulties of dealing with high volume places like intersections and other high-stress pavements.
“All engineers know that heavy, slow-moving traffic found at intersections, toll booths and other such locations can expose pavements to the highest stress levels possible,” explained Wayne Jones of the Asphalt Institute, one of the authors of the document. “But a well-designed, well-constructed pavement at these locations can deliver the same outstanding performance as all other asphalt pavements.”
High-Performance Intersections lays out a four-point strategy to ensure high performance at high-volume asphalt locations. To illustrate the principles, the publication chronicles two head-to-head competitions between asphalt and concrete intersections. Through much testing over the past 10 years this report finds “the strongest intersection” that has needed little to no maintenance. This intersection is in Illinois and is composed of a steel slag mixture that has held up the test of time and weight.
For more information about asphalt read the whole article here or contact My Pavement Guy at 410-636-8777 or here today!
Tags: asphalt alliance, asphalt intersections, asphalt maryland, high-performance intersections, high-stress pavement, My Pavement Guy, pavement designers, PTG Enterprises
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on Intersections: Asphalt Does Them Better
February 18th, 2011
The production and installation of asphalt emits less greenhouse gases than other surfaces, reports this article. According to a recent study, asphalt pavements require about 20 percent less energy to produce and construct than other pavements. The less fuel that is used in the process—the less carbon dioxide that gets released into the air.
The article goes on to say that “Between 1970 and 1999, the asphalt industry decreased total emissions from plants by 97 percent while increasing production by 250 percent. Emissions from asphalt plants are so low, the EPA considers them as only minor sources of industrial pollution.”
Warm mix asphalt is another way that asphalt is cutting down on its emissions. The asphalt is mixed at a lower temperature than before, thus needing less energy to heat up. Asphalt also helps to move traffic along quickly, allowing drivers to get to their destination rapidly. The process for applying asphalt is very fast so traffic does not usually result. This saves drivers time and also helps cut down on carbon dioxide released into the air.
The urban heat island (UHI) effect—the phenomenon that makes cities 2° to 10°F warmer than nearby rural areas on a hot summer day is another issue to consider. However, recently it has been proven that it is not necessarily the color of the pavement in the city that causes this effect but also the texture and thickness of the pavement. This can affect the way a pavement retains, radiates, and/or releases heat. Research is being done to now to look into more porous surfaces that can help lessen this effect.
For any of your asphalt needs contact My Pavement Guy here or at 443-463-1536.
Tags: asphalt, environmental asphalt, green asphalt, My Pavement Guy, pavement
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on Asphalt Causes Less Carbon footprint than Other Pavements
February 12th, 2011
Practically every industry or business segment in this nation is represented by a local, regional, or national trade group. Ours is no exception. PTG Enterprises, Inc. — MYpavementGUY.com — belongs to the Asphalt Institute (AI), a trade association founded in 1919. Our membership in AI with petroleum asphalt producers, manufacturers, and affiliated businesses, helps us keep current on the engineering, research, and educational aspects of liquid asphalt use. In fact, AI’s members represent 90 percent of the liquid asphalt produced in North America.
This would simply be interesting information of questionable relevance for the average client were it not for the fact that our membership in AI yields specific benefits to the clients of MYpavementGUY.com. Foremost among these benefits are the technical support and environmental oversight that AI offers to its members. Through various committees and partnerships, the Asphalt Institute serves its members as a center of excellence for health, safety, and environmental matters — topics that, like us, our clients care about. AI promotes petroleum asphalt as a safe and environmentally friendly construction material for highways, streets, and roofing systems through a program of scientific research and technological developments. AI’s network of regional engineers throughout the U.S. and Canada provides technical support to member companies and users, and so we can tap fast and accurate information if we have questions about a particular project.
A thoroughly professional organization such as ours is happy to be affiliated with a trade group with the size and scope of AI, and we hope our clients understand how beneficial such an affiliation is when they entrust their projects to us.
Tags: AI, Asphault Institute, liquid asphalt, My Pavement Guy, pave, pavement, paving, paving contractor, PTG Enterprises
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on Info about the Asphalt Institute
February 6th, 2011
Recently, we joined the Community Associations Institute (CAI) and were listed in its service provider directory. We’re thrilled to be part of such a great organization that does a lot of valuable work helping communities across the country. We’re also honored to be among the providers CAI recommends to its members.
CAI is a national organization dedicated to helping the volunteer homeowners who run community associations. It provides education and resources to these leaders as well as to professional managers and management firms.
If your community’s association requires any kind of assistance, we recommend visiting CAI’s Website. For paving repair or repaving in projects, contact us.
Tags: CAI, community association, Community Associations Institute, My Pavement Guy, paving repair, PTG Enterprises, repaving project
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on Find us at CAI
January 30th, 2011
In a recent post, we advised organizations looking to hire the right contractor for a paving project to make sure they get any contracts in writing. While a written contract is important, it’s worthless if it doesn’t contain the right information. All written contracts should include:
- a date when the work will begin.
- details of the improvements that will be made.
- the quality of the materials to be used.
- an estimated date for completion.
- terms for making payments.
Organizations should make sure they read the contracts carefully including any fine print. If the contract language doesn’t agree with the organization’s understanding, they shouldn’t sign it. For more on paving projects, visit our education page and contact us.
Tags: My Pavement Guy, paving, paving contract, paving project, PTG Enterprises, repaving
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on The importance of written contracts
January 23rd, 2011
If you need to bid out a paving project but don’t want to go the request for proposal (RFP) process, you can try reverse bidding. Reverse bidding is especially helpful for organizations whose budget isn’t large enough to accomplish all of its projects.
With reverse bidding, the organization reveals to potential contractors its budget for the project from the outset. The bidders then submit the amount of work they can get done for the budgeted amount. The organization then picks the contractor who can accomplish the most goals.
You can read more about reverse bidding on our education page, including how organizations can utilize the process over several years to finish a large, expensive project. Then, for help on paving and repaving work, contact us.
Tags: My Pavement Guy, paving contractors, paving project, PTG Enterprises, repaving, request for proposal, reverse bidding, RFP
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on Try reverse bidding instead of RFP
January 14th, 2011
For commercial paving and repaving work, clients issue a request for proposal (RFP) to a number on contractors. This is by no means the only method for obtaining bids on a pavement project, but it is an accepted and popular one. Here are a few things to keep in mind about the RFP process.
- An independent professional should assist with creating the RFP. This could be a pavement consultant, reverse study engineer, or a contractor you trust.
- A pre-bid meeting with the three to five contractors who received the RFP is standard procedure. Other stakeholders requesting the bid should be part of the meeting, which should be a Q&A session to make sure everyone understands the scope of the work.
- The RFP should be open for editing during the pre-bid meetings.
The advantage of going through the RFP and pre-bid process is that everyone leaves the meetings understanding the work that needs to be done. That way, when the bids come back they’ll be easy to compare. You can learn more by visiting our education page. For more on paving or to get help with your paving project, contact us.
Tags: My Pavement Guy, pave, pavement, pavement repair, paving, paving contractor, pre bid meeting, pre bid meetings, proposal, PTG Enterprises, repave, repaving, request for proposal, RFP
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on Does my paving work require an RFP?
January 7th, 2011
So your driveway, parking lot, or other roadway has been beat up or worn to the point that it needs to be fixed and repaved. It’s definitely a project you can’t tackle on your own, so you need to find a contractor to do the job. How can you be sure you find the right one? Here are six easy tips.
- Make sure your contractor has its proper licenses.
- Ask the contractor for references and check with those references.
- Look for contractors who offer a warranty with their work and get that warranty in writing.
- Ask to see the contractor’s certificate of insurance.
- Do not pay more than one third of the cost in advance (which is typically illegal anyway) and avoid contractors who pay only in cash.
- Always get the contract for the work in writing.
For more on these points, please visit the education section of our site. Then contact us to get your paving work done. We’re licensed, insured, put everything in writing, and would be happy to supply references.
Tags: choosing a contractor, My Pavement Guy, pave, pavement, pavement repair, paving, paving contractor, PTG Enterprises, repave, repaving
Posted in General Asphalt Advice | Comments Off on Hiring the right pavement contractor
