ClickReady Marketing Interview With The Paving Guys General Manager Russ Furman

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with the General Manager of The Paving Guys, Russ Furman, to discuss everything related to The Paving Guys. Our goal was to do a deep dive into how Russ became involved in the paving business, and how he got started with The Paving Guys. We also wanted to learn more about asphalt parking lots, concrete parking lots, paving repairs and maintenance, and their ADA parking lot compliance service. Read on to learn more about all things The Paving Guys and their parking lot paving and repair services!

All About Our Parking Lot Paving Company

To start out with something easy, can you describe The Paving Guys in three words?

Russ: Trusted, reliable, and detail-oriented.

Great! To get the interview going, can you start by telling us about three things that The Paving Guys value the most?

Russ: The three things that The Paving Guys value the most are satisfying customers, providing a good solution for the money they spend with us, and earning their trust so they feel comfortable coming to us time and time again. 

Now, can you tell me a bit about how you got started with The Paving Guys? What was your journey like with this parking lot paving company?

Russ: I had done some contracting work in the past, and I really like the idea of being able to provide a service that solved a problem for them while giving them immediate satisfaction. That desire to provide a service like that is what led me to buy the company 15 years ago.

What made you interested in joining the paving industry, and what did you think would set you apart as a commercial paving company owner?

Russ: I felt like I could provide people with a service that is trustworthy, consistent, and professional. I wanted to offer detail-oriented solutions for a commercial market.

What obstacles did you face while building up The Paving Guys, and how did you overcome them?

Russ: When I first started in the industry, I knew it well, but there were some details that I didn’t fully understand. I solved this by getting out into the field myself and learning with the crew while doing jobs. When we looked into expanding into other areas like the ADA parking lot compliance market, we had to start by doing our research and beginning with simple jobs. From there, we were able to learn more and slowly grow into doing more complicated jobs. 

Why does The Paving Guys matter to you?

Russ: It’s important to me to provide a high-quality service that people respect, appreciate, and they know they can count on when looking for solutions. I care about ensuring that the company has a good reputation and that we’re making people happy. We want to leave our customers  feeling satisfied and have them come back to us the next time they need help. Our goal is to be our customers’ go-to provider when they have something that needs to be done to their parking lot.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

Russ: I enjoy meeting customers and coming up with solutions to their problems. This gives me the satisfaction of knowing we’ve done a good job while also giving the customer the satisfaction of having a beautiful parking lot. I also enjoy the challenge of developing, estimating, and providing solutions for complicated problems that other people can’t do as well as us. I think that comes back to the fact that we can do and are good at doing almost anything in any kind of parking lot from an asphalt parking lot to a concrete one.

If there was one thing you wanted people to know about the company, what would it be?

Russ: It would be that we’re honest. We approach every job by being straightforward and explaining everything in detail while giving customers honest solutions. When they work with our parking lot paving company, they’re always going to know exactly what they’re getting, and they can be assured that no one is cutting corners.

With that in mind, why should people choose The Paving Guys? What sets you apart?

Russ: We have a very high percentage of repeat customers, and that’s because we approach our customers with the end goal of providing them with trustworthy, honest service. Our customers know they can rely on us, and they trust us to give them what they need each time.

Going off of our last question, we know that one thing that’s important to customers is that they’re hiring a paving contractor they can trust. What makes The Paving Guys trustworthy and how do you convey that to your clients?

Russ: All of our employees value the relationships we have with our customers, they’re all straight shooters, and they’ll always do the right thing. That’s the kind of people they are and how they operate both their personal lives and their business. We also convey our trustworthiness by giving all details upfront so that customers know from the beginning exactly what they’re getting and they know that we’re delivering everything we’ve promised.

All About Our Asphalt Parking Lot and Concrete Parking Lot Paving Services

We know you offer a variety of different services. Can you briefly describe each one and tell us who each service would benefit the most?

Russ: All of our services are commercially focused. The high-level categories that our services fall under are asphalt, concrete, maintenance, and ADA compliance.

The asphalt parking lot services that we do beyond simply paving an asphalt parking lot is milling and replacement, overlay, or repair work. Overlay and milling benefit deteriorated parking lots while replacement benefits parking lots that have a lot of potholes or other similar problems. 

Our concrete work includes paving, replacement, and doing projects like sidewalks, curbing, and dumpster pads. Again, these services are great for someone whose parking lot has deteriorated with lots of cracks and breaks or has old concrete.

One of our maintenance services is seal coating, which is a protective spray put over an asphalt parking lot to make it last longer as well as to beautify it. We also have crack filing services. When asphalt gets long cracks, water can seep in and cause damage. With this service, we plug in those cracks and seal them off to keep water from getting in. Both seal coating and crack filling help to protect your parking lot and keep it lasting longer.

Our ADA Compliance service covers everything needed to get a parking lot up to ADA standards. This includes creating handicapped parking stalls, ramps, and sidewalks, all the way up to the front door. We ensure that everything is up to governmental ADA regulations that all commercial businesses are required to follow. 

Now that we know a bit more about your services, can you tell us about the most common problem you see in your field and which of the services you just talked about can solve this problem?

Russ: The most common problem we see is property owners not keeping up with parking lot maintenance and waiting too long to check in on how it’s doing. When people do this, after a certain point the parking lot starts to deteriorate quickly, and this leads to them needing more expensive solutions rather than simple repairs. Once a business owner’s parking lot reaches this point they may have to tear it out and redo the whole thing.

The services we offer to solve this problem depend on the extent of damage done to the parking lot. We’ll come out to the property and evaluate what needs to be done in that case. Most of the time it’s asphalt or concrete repair. If the parking lot isn’t too aged it could be one of the maintenance services, but if it’s too far gone then it will need milling and overlay which are larger and more involved services. 

Call The Paving Guys for Your Parking Lot Paving Needs

The Paving Guys are your trusted partners for the highest quality paving solutions. Whether you have an asphalt parking lot or a concrete parking lot, The Paving Guys are ready to help you with paving and milling, repair, crack filling, seal coating, ADA Compliance, and more. If you need a commercial paving company that cares, contact us today to learn more about our services.