And that’s exactly what he and his crew did on the under-the-gun parking lot paving job that won Asphalt Contractors Inc. Pavement’s Paving: Parking Lot Award for 2018.
Initially the job was barely on Asphalt Contractors’ radar: A small mill-and fill patch in front of Burlington Coat Factory and Ross Dress for Less at Highway 50 Plaza in Kenosha, WI. “During final inspection for occupancy, the building inspector noted that the approved plan included the repaving of the parking lot and that it was not done. So the building inspector would not issue an occupancy permit,” Kordus says. “Turns out the owner had deleted the parking area in the job specs to save money.”
The inspector told the owner and store manager that they had to do a 2-in. mill-and-fill on the entire 300 ft. x 600 ft. parking lot – and it had to be striped to spec before the stores could open. The owner contacted Asphalt Contractors on October 5 – with a grand opening set (and promoted to the tune of $50,000) for 9:30 a.m. on October 7.
“The nature of the job changed completely,” Kordus says.
So Asphalt Contractors rearranged their schedule to accommodate the last-minute project.
Starting at 5:00 a.m. on October 6, Asphalt Contractors had two milling crews on site. Crews barricaded the lot, moved dumpsters and basically created a plan on the fly to get the work done in time for the grand opening.
“Nobody knew we were coming because we hadn’t known either,” Kordus says. “So nothing on site was ready for a paving job.”
Kordus says crews milled, swept and then tacked the parking lot by mid-afternoon, and it was ready for the paving crews that arrived at 4:00 and began the 500-plus ton paving job. “It was very well orchestrated,” he says.
He says the fact that Asphalt Contractors owns their own hot mix asphalt plant made it possible for them to even consider getting the job done in time for the customer. “We were capable of scheduling delivery for ourselves,” he says. “That enabled us to keep our paver moving. If we had to rely on someone else’s plant there’s a good chance we wouldn’t have been able to place as much mix as quickly.”
Then the job got interesting: It began raining at 6:00 p.m. and rain was predicted for three days. The paving crew kept at it until 9:00 p.m. when paving was halted due to lightning. Crews resumed paving in a light rain at 6:00 a.m. the next morning – the day of the grand opening – and finished paving by 8:00 a.m.
But now it was raining harder.
Striping in the Rain
“The biggest thing on the job was the building inspector who, for some reason, didn’t want these stores to open. Considering the circumstances he could have allowed them their grand opening, but he just wouldn’t do it,” Kordus says. “So I just thought, ‘this guy’s not going to beat me’.”
So in a driving rain Kordus striped the lot himself on a Graco LineDriver attached to his Graco LineLazer. Because they couldn’t use chalk in the rain Kordus used yellow wax crayons to mark the pavement. And two crew members dragged a 200-ft. steel cable to mark where the lines should be.
“I striped right along that cable and as fast as they kept moving the cables I could stripe the lines,” Kordus says.
But what about the paint? In the rain? On freshly placed asphalt?
“Our company has been striping for 35 years and we’ve learned a few tricks along the way,” Kordus says. “Water beads on the surface of fresh asphalt because there’s a very thin layer of oil on the surface between the asphalt and the water. The LineLazer will blow that water off the oil just long enough to let you put the paint down and to allow the paint to get onto the asphalt. Because we were using oil-based paint it dissolves that oil film and adheres to the pavement.”
He says that as soon as he finished a parking stall the building inspector followed right behind him, measuring the width of each stripe and each stall and the width of the paint on the handicap logo.
“The inspector was going out there and digging his foot into one stripe and twisting it and nothing was coming up,” Kordus says. “He should have been working with us to get those businesses open instead of working against us. But when I realized he was going to be such a stickler I took extra time to make sure I put down exactly what was on the plan.”
Striping was completed by 9:15 a.m. – 15 minutes before the store was scheduled to open.
Kordus credits his team with getting the job done.
“We have really good guys who are hour-hungry,” he says. “Not one guy complained despite the schedule change and late days and lousy weather.
“It was a perfect paving job done under the worst conditions you can imagine,” Kordus says. “And I was not going to quit, not going to give in. We were going to get it done.”
Kordus says that since completing that job and enabling those stores to open on time, Asphalt Contractors Inc. has been awarded three other jobs by Burlington Coat Factory (whose Midwest Regional Vice-president witnessed the striping and congratulated Kordus and his crew afterwards). “They know we can perform and that we can perform under adverse conditions,” he says.
“Initially I thought I’d get the lines down to enable them to open and then I’d have to come back and restripe,” Kordus says. “But we never needed to. It looks as good today as the day we put it down.”
