It has been a decade since I started working in the rubber wet pour safety flooring business. During this time, I have been able to visit a few hundred construction sites all over the world and meet several hundred wet pour flooring installers on various countries and even different continents.
Some of them would rather divorce their partner than change the polyurethane binder they currently use. After several years of relationship with their binder and dozens of kilometres travelled by their knees smoothing the top layer of their sites, they have come to know the behaviour of their binder to perfection. They know precisely their opening and curing times, they can anticipate the viscosity that it will have depending on the variable environmental conditions or influence it, distinguish with the naked eye if the mixture is well or modulate the necessary mixing time, decide if they should continue the day to fully complete an area, wait for certain shady areas to appear or disappear and ultimately they know how to treat it to avoid unpleasant surprises, which may generate customer complaints or warranty issues.
They are masters in their work, which consists, as my friends are tired of hearing from me, in managing a chemical plant outdoors and without any control of the conditions of temperature, humidity, air speed, sunlight, etc.
For some of these installers, it was not love at first sight. They needed some time to get used and have enough experience on the binder behaviour or they went through different relationships with products before stabilising their current one.
Other installers, however, are constantly looking for 10 cents less in price per kg and change products often with this target. They do not get to know and master any of them. Initially, in the short term, perhaps they obtain a higher gross margin from their jobs or they manage to win a few more operations by price compared to other competitors of the first type, but I can confirm after these 10 years, that, if I review the companies that are still working and those that have disappeared or went bankrupt, the latter that were mainly looking for a price have had a higher mortality, due to warranty costs, bad references in the market or low quality. They never got past the learning phase. They were never mastering the management of their outdoor chemical plants and what is worse they caused real damage to the prestige of this type of flooring in their geographical area of activity.
On my first day of work in this rubber flooring sector I got to know CONICA binders. For two years I had a good relationship with them. Later, professional circumstances led me to other options, some were bad, and others were reasonably good, but I always had the memory of my first love. Fortunately, I had the opportunity and was able to get it back a couple of years ago. CONICA have been producing binders for around 40 years, so they know a little about these products.
I visit some of our clients who have used our binder products non-stop for decades and when I talk to them, I can learn many things, because they are true masters in their handling. They do not suffer surprising problems and rarely they have warranty claims and due to their prestige, they are regular suppliers and are frequently recommended to others by their current customers.
When I try to introduce our binder products to a new potential client, I know that if they are of the second type, I will not find them in a few years, because they will have found another cheaper product or they will probably end up disappearing. I do not have them among my priority prospects.
On the contrary, if they are of the first type and have been in the business for years, I know that I will need a great power of persuasion and I will have to explain them and convince them of the tangible and objective values of a product using the language of their daily job challenges.
After this decade if I learnt something, this is that polyurethane binders are not as “commodity” as many believe.
A final recommendation for end customers writing tender specifications or request for proposals on rubber surfacing and deciding about the right installer to be used in a new project:
- Not all polyurethane binders are a good fit if you want a nice looking, safe and durable safety surfacing, those that are cheaper are not good enough for sure.
- Are the installers of type 1 or type 2 according to my description above? Ok. I know, You cannot put this on the specs but don’t forget to check the installer background and have it in mind before deciding.
Rubberman Blog 