Why hiring the cheapest isn’t the best

Have you ever seen those retaining walls that are sagging in your neighborhood or the patio that looks more like a rolling hill than a flat surface. These are just a few of the common issues we deal with everyday when customers call and want us to fix a project gone bad. 

For commercial and municipal projects, ICPI promotes specifying certified installers in its webinars and continuing education presentations seen annually by hundreds of licensed civil engineers, architects and landscape architects. These ICPI presentations earn credits toward civil engineers’ professional development hours, and continuing education programs administered by the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Green Building Certification Institute.

The ICPI Concrete Paver Installer Certification can be supplemented with three additional courses resulting in three designations: Residential Paver Technician, Commercial Paver Technician and Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavement (PICP) Specialist. Specifiers are encouraged to include the appropriate designation in residential, commercial/municipal or in PICP project specifications. By specifying that an ICPI Certified Installer be on the jobsite as foreman or crew leader, this can help assure that installation is done according to industry best practices.

To obtain and maintain certification, an installer must attend a course, pass an exam and meet minimum installation experience requirements. If a Certified Installer is in the specs, the contractor has a legal obligation to place a Certified Installer on the job. Obviously, it’s up to this person to manage the crew and jobsite according to ICPI best practices.

For residential projects, the contractor is often the designer and specifier who works in cooperation with the homeowner. For these projects, the homeowner’s big question is this: Can I trust this contractor to get the job done right? ICPI Concrete Paver Installer Certification is one of several things that can answer this question affirmatively. Other affirmative answers come from positive contractor job references, an impressive project portfolio and the manner in which the contractor relates to the homeowner.

Residential and commercial contractors can use ICPI Concrete Paver Installer Certification to promote their company to the homeowner and specifier markets. Certification is another marketing and sales tool accompanying a fair price, a history of quality jobs and timely service.

An ICPI member paver manufacturer might offer an “authorized contractor” service that refers residential customers to a group of reputable contractors that purchase concrete paving products from that manufacturer. Paver manufacturers should include ICPI certification as part of their requirements for qualifying contractors to participate in an authorized contractor program. This is one of several assurances to the manufacturer that its authorized contractors install segmental concrete paving systems according to industry best practices. This helps minimize complaints and callbacks.

This article was provided by the ICPI http://goo.gl/WXGrpo