Parking Lot Striping Problem Suggestions

This one came all the way from Georgia.  We received a e-mail from a frustrated project manager who was dealing with the issue of parking lot striping laid out incorrectly.  He was looking for a fair solution for dealing with the parking lot striping contractor who had made the error.

His letter went something like this:

“Dear James     -

I would appreciate your advice on how to remove some new striping that was put in the wrong place and subsequently, ‘blacked out’.

This obviously doesn’t sit well with the new owners and the outfit that did the work is un helpful as to possible solutions.

Any ideas or suggestions (pressure washing, sand blasting, shot blasting) that could help me (new project manager) would be greatly appreciated.

Please see attached pics and thanks again for your time.

Sincerely,

C. C.

B.  Co.

My response was that I have seen this many times through the years and had even made the mistake myself once or twice. The solution is a simple but sometimes costly one.  The parking lot striping contractor that made the layout error needs to sandblast off the old striping and re-seal the areas effected by the wrong design then, re stripe per correct layout. Now that is a costly repair for a small parking lot striping company to have to make but I personally feel that the property owner should get what he/she paid for. Also the striper should always remember to measure twice and cut once. In our shop we call this experience tuition.

Parking Lot Striping at night in the early morning hours is a tricky trade.

If you can totally prevent all foot and vehicular traffic in a given area, there is no reason why you can’t stripe just about any time. Just keep in mind that no matter how little paint you apply, it will dry a lot slower than the same paint applied later in the day when the asphalt has a chance to heat up. Consider these variables that affect the speed of paint drying on asphalt or concrete:

1. Sunlight/Shade
2. Wind
3. Heat in the pavement
4. Temperature
5. Relative Humidity
6. Moisture in the Asphalt

In the very early a.m., you probably won’t have the assistance of:

1. Sunlight
2. Heat in the pavement
3. Warm temperature

these are the very things that give your paint the ability to dry.

The time span between application and the point at which it will not cause “tracking” may be as short as 15 minutes to several days, depending on the weather and the product used.  The biggest enemies of paint not drying are humidity, shade and temperature. So watch for them! One thing that we do at Trueline Striping is to use rapid dry products for times when we feel there is a drying risk. Also make sure to carefully block off areas that are wet so knows one can wonder in to those areas. One slip can mean BIG problems for you.

Good Luck and happy Line Painting!

Full-time striping contractors with years of experience tend to use airless machines. They also tend to agree on three primary reasons:

1. The machines themselves are very sturdy and durable. They never seem to wear out as a complete unit. Instead, various components are replaced as needed, such as tired, engines, cables, and guns.

2. They have learned all of the idiosyncrasies of the machine and know how to repair or adjust it to obtain peak performance.

3. They have substantially modified the machine. Sometimes, these modifications seem to be a radical alteration of the standard, factory made model.

Our company is personally fond of the Titan speeflow series. We find them to be durable, easy to repair and very strong pumps. They can handle epoxies and urethane’s better than other parking lot stripers. We currently have about 20 titans in our fleet. We also have some machines we have manufactured ourselves. We find that there is still a demand for good strong but small machines in the parking lot stripers arsenal.

All in all stick with a quality made product such as Titan and you cant go wrong. There piston pumps are work horses and there frame design is superior.

What do you guys think?

From time to time, a customer will want you to remove some old parking lot striping lines. Usually, their request involves changing the width of the parking stalls, especially when implementing ADA requirements or changing from straight-in stalls to angled stalls.

The quickest and easiest way to conceal old stripes is to use “blackout” (asphalt) paint or “block-out” (concrete) paint. Of course, that only delays the eventual reappearance of the offensive stripes. There are three methods used to permanently remove old stripes.

1. Pressure Washing
2. Shot Blasting
3. Sand Blasting

As with most services, each type used in removing stripes has advantages and disadvantages. Call Trueline Striping today when you need to get answers in regards to which method is best for you and your parking lot striping needs.

The Stages of Asphalt Deterioration

If you have or manage or own a asphalt parking lot in Southern California then you probably already know how expensive asphalt is to lay down.  At upwards of 1.00 to 4.00 dollars per square foot, asphalt is one of the single most costly items to install or repair on your property. With this in mind it is important for a property professional to keep maintenance up on their parking lots on an annual basis.  By seal coating and doing minimal property asphalt repairs to the asphalt once a year you greatly reduce the chances of having to do a major asphalt repair .  Take a look at your asphalt to see the what stage of damage has occurred.

Stage #1  Total Asphalt Failure

If your asphalt has become brittle and large cracks are starting to appear then you may need asphalt replacement. Once this type of damage occurs water can then permeate through the cracks, and that’s when the bad stuff really occurs. Once water is allowed to get below the surface of the asphalt massive damage can take place.

Stage #2  Advanced Asphalt Deterioration

If your asphalt parking lot has fine cracks and a worn surface, than this is where you must act to stop the true damage from occurring.  At this point in the asphalts life span you can avoid a lot of potential cost by doing some asphalt crack filling and seal-coating the parking lot with a couple of coats of slurry seal.

Stage #3  Minimal Asphalt Damage

If your asphalt driveways are smooth and have a slightly faded seal coat, this is the ideal time to get the asphalt re-sealed and re-striped. This is by far the least expensive way to keep the big damage from occurring.

There are many stages in the total life span of asphalt. So take some time to look at your parking lot asphalt  and make an evaluation. Then give us a call and we will come out to discuss your options. Trueline understands that budgets cuts and services are making things tough all over so lets up come up with a smart approach to keeping your asphalt in top shape.

Asphalt Line Striping

Are you looking for a great company that can handle all of your asphalt line striping needs?  Look no further than Trueline Striping.  We are a Southern California contractor with 18 years of experience in the parking lot & asphalt line striping industry. We place a heavy emphasis on three main things when it comes to your project. Safety, Quality & Value.  We are a small but strong company that can handle the largest to the smallest jobs throughout the state of California. Are services include most parking lot related services but also a few others. Take a look below and give us a call if there is anything we can help you out with. Are estimates are always free and we look forward to the chance to work with you.

Services offered in Southern California

• Asphalt Line Striping / Parking Lot Striping
  
• ADA Upgrades and Handicap Repairs
• Curb Painting / Stenciling
  
• Parking Lot Re- Stripes
• Sand Blasting & Shot Blasting
• Traffic Sign and Parking Lot Signs
• Truncated Domes
• Sealcoating and Minor Asphalt Repairs
• Wheel Stops and Speed bumps  installed
• Warehouse Line Striping / Warehouse Floor Markings

There are many other services we offer not listed here so give us a call if you have any questions about your project. But Asphalt line striping is the number one service we specialize in.

File under: Striping Cost, parking lot striping pricing, parking lot striping Prices.

I received this question in my email box a lot so I thought I would address it again here. It is in regards to starting a parking lot striping business and knowing where to put your parking lot striping pricing. When people are starting out they often times have no clue what to charge for their parking lot striping services. Your parking lot striping prices should be like any other project you estimate. Just use this simple formula.

Labor+ Materials+ Overhead = Pre- Mark up Total

Now,

Take that total and then next add about 20% mark-up. On smaller jobs I would even go as high as 30%. On large jobs you may want to consider 10%.  Stay away from price sheet estimating. In this day and age cost are changing rapidly and it’s important to be flexible. If your need to know about what a “single white line” cost or a “no parking” stencil should cost then it’s not a bad idea to call some competitors in the area and get their pricing. I know this sounds funny but companies have been doing it since the beginning of business. Even huge big box companies like Best buy or Wall mart use these practices and that’s a good thing. It keeps business competitive and helps out the consumer in the end. Also with the economy being so wonky lately you really want to be as competitive as possible. A lot of people ask me what I charge here in California for parking lot striping. I try to explain to them that it won’t help them because every area is a little different and that local research needs to be done. But I will give you this example.

In California our minimum charge is about $300.00 but that’s mainly because of the high cost of labor and heavy traffic we have to sit in just to get to those jobs. Also consider we are a 18 year old company that has overhead a small start up wont have. That being said we also provide a level of service a small start up can not provide.  Every area  has its own unique economy and situations.  Plus your business may have a unique situation to consider as well. Figure out what your area will bear by doing research and talking to your accounts.  Also once you get your feet wet with bidding you should start to get a better feel for your local market and where you need to be to be competitive.

Feel free to post comments and ask questions. I would love to hear from my parking lot striping, sealcoating and asphalt  friends out there.

James Farley
President
Trueline Striping Inc.

Are you thinking about getting some parking lot striping done in the near future? If so than you may want to read through this quick guide to getting you parking lot striped the right way. Skim through this article and apply some of these points and I guarantee you will be glad you did. This information comes from over 2 decades in the parking lot striping industry.

First and foremost:

• Always get at least two prices.

There is no way of telling if you are getting taken to the cleaners unless you get at least two or more prices.  By doing this you do three things. First, you get to see the numbers both contractors are bidding and this allows you to ask lots of questions about how hey came up with their totals.  Second you get to see discrepancies. In one call we received about doing some handicap striping services a very frantic customer asked me to look at her bid to see if things looked correct.  Sure enough,  there where a few large items she did not need and after a few minutes we got the price lowered by almost a thousand dollars.

• Make sure you are dealing with a Parking Lot Striping Company

If you are contracting with a general contractor, paving company, maintenance company etc, you are paying typically 10 -25 % more than you should.  In most cases all these companies will do is take down your information then get on the phone and call a parking lot striping company. Yes,  a very small fraction of these contracts will have in-house striping employees but more often than not that isn’t the case. Also,  many times when they do have in house striping it is a service they don’t specialize in so your not getting the same level of professionalism you would from dealing with dedicated parking lot striping contractor.

• Make sure your contractor has the know how
  

A lot of contractors will sell jobs and services they have no idea how to do. That’s not to say they will do it wrong. The truth of the matter is “you get what you pay for”  is the bottom line when it comes to the parking lot maintenance industry. There are always cheap and low cost companies that will get your job done. But often times it comes at a price. Here is an example. We where contacted by a warehouse logistics company to give them a quote to layout and paint 30,000 linear feet of 2 - part enamel painted line. We gave them a great price and they shopped it with a guy located out of state who was  very cheap.  Six months later we got the call from the same company asking us to come in and fix the job. It seems the contractor they hired for less wasn’t aware that the paint they where putting down required floor prep and most of the 30, 000 linear feet needed to be removed and re-sprayed. That’s a tough lesson to learn. Hiring the contractor that is qualified often comes at slightly higher price, but is a sound decision to your bottom line.

Call Trueline Striping today if you have any parking lot striping or warehouse striping jobs coming up. We will get you a fast bid, followed up by a guaranteed product and customer service that is unmatched in our industry. Why will even throw in a T-shirt and a cup of coffee!

www.Trueline.Net

ORANGE COUNTY PARKING LOT STRIPING BY ZIP CODES

If you are located in Southern California and have a Parking Lot Striping or Parking Lot Painting project coming up, please feel free to give us a call. We work through out Southern California and are located in Anaheim California. We have been located here in Anaheim for over 18 years and love it.

Anaheim Parking Lot Striping :

92801, 92802, 92803, 92804, 92805, 92806, 92808, 92809, 92812, 92814, 92815, 92816, 92817, 92825, 92850, 92899

Brea Parking Lot Striping:

92821, 92822, 92823

Buena Park Parking Lot Striping:

90620, 90621, 90622, 90623, 90624

Costa Mesa Parking Lot Striping:

94925, 94976, 92626, 92627, 92628

Cypress Parking Lot Striping:

90630

Dana Point Parking Lot Striping:

94017, 92629

Fountain Valley Parking Lot Striping:

92708, 92728

Fullerton Parking Lot Striping:

92831, 92832, 92833, 92834, 92835, 92836, 92837, 92838

Garden Grove Parking Lot Striping:

92840, 92841, 92842, 92843, 92844, 92845, 92846

Huntington Beach Parking Lot Striping:

92605, 92615, 92646, 92647, 92648, 92649

Irvine Parking Lot Striping:

92602, 92603, 92604, 92606, 92612, 92614, 92616, 92617, 92618, 92619, 92620, 92623, 92650, 92697, 92709, 92710

La Habra Parking Lot Striping:

90631, 90632, 90633

La Palma Parking Lot Striping:

90623

Laguna Beach Parking Lot Striping:

92607, 92637, 92651, 92652, 92653, 92654, 92656, 92677, 92698

Laguna Niguel Parking Lot Striping :

92607, 92677

·Lake Forest Parking Lot Striping:

92609, 92630

Los Alamitos Parking Lot Striping :

90720, 90721, 93440

Mission Viejo Parking Lot Striping:

92675, 92690, 92691, 92692, 92694

Newport Beach Parking Lot Striping:

92657, 92658, 92659, 92660, 92661, 92662, 92663, 92657

Orange Parking Lot Striping:

92856, 92857, 92859, 92861, 92862, 92863, 92864, 92865, 92866, 92867, 92868, 92869

Placentia Parking Lot Striping:

92870, 92871

San Clemente Parking Lot Striping:

92672, 92673, 92674

San Juan Capistrano Parking Lot Striping:

92675, 92690, 92691, 92692, 92693, 92694

Santa Ana Parking Lot Striping:

92701, 92702, 92703, 92704, 92705, 92706, 92707, 92708, 92711, 92712, 92725, 92728, 92735, 92799

Seal Beach Parking Lot Striping:

90740

Stanton Parking Lot Striping:

90680

Tustin Parking Lot Striping:

92780, 92781, 92782

Villa Park Parking Lot Striping:

92861, 92867

Westminster Parking Lot Striping:

92863, 92684, 92685

Yorba Linda Parking Lot Striping:

92885, 92886, 92887

Please feel free to give us a call today if you have a Parking Lot Striping or Parking Lot Painting project coming up in the near future. We have estimators standing by to assist you on your next project.

Call us at 714-630-9060

Or Toll Free at 1-800-603-1116

Or look us up on the web at www.Trueline.Net

If you are located in one of the area codes below and are in need of a Parking Lot Striping Company or a Parking Lot Maintenance Company please give us a call today. There are many ways our parking lot striping customers find us using there web browsers. With that in mind we here at Trueline Striping are always on the lookout for great ways to get found. Last week we talked about using zip codes to find us on the net so this week we thought we would try area codes. By implementing some special codes on our web site we should now come up for your search for parking lot striping + what ever area code in the Southern California area that you type in. We here at Trueline Striping take our parking lot striping and parking lot maintenance serious. If you need some parking lot striping and maintenance projects done correct on time and to budget then please give us a call.

Parking Lot Striping + Area Codes Los Angeles:

• Parking Lot Striping 209
  
• Parking Lot Striping 213
  
• Parking Lot Striping 310
• Parking Lot Striping 323
• Parking Lot Striping 408
  
• Parking Lot Striping 415
• Parking Lot Striping 424
• Parking Lot Striping 510
• Parking Lot Striping 530
• Parking Lot Striping 559
• Parking Lot Striping 562
  
• Parking Lot Striping 619
• Parking Lot Striping 626
• Parking Lot Striping 650
• Parking Lot Striping 661
• Parking Lot Striping 707
• Parking Lot Striping 714
• Parking Lot Striping 760
• Parking Lot Striping 805
• Parking Lot Striping 818
• Parking Lot Striping 831
• Parking Lot Striping 858
• Parking Lot Striping 909
• Parking Lot Striping 916
• Parking Lot Striping 925
• Parking Lot Striping 949

If you don’t see your area code on this map and you are located in or near Southern California please feel free to give us a call and ask us to add your area code. Trueline  Striping has been offering Parking Lot Striping and Parking Lot Maintenance services for over 18 Years through out California. Trueline Striping is available here:

Toll Free in Southern California:                    1-800-603-1116

fax                                                                               1-714-630-8787

email                                                                      L.gilbert@trueline.net

snail mail                                     2941 East Miraloma Ave. #6 Anaheim Ca. 92806

Web:                                                                          www.trueline.net