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I feel I'm in the pavement maintenance business," says Bob Walker, owner of Muskegon Striping & Pavement Maintenance. "Everyone else is in the pavement cosmetics business."

Walker's feeling is largely based on the company's reliance on cutback asphalt as a pavement sealer but also on the broad-based efforts to help customers keep their parking lots in the best shape possible.

Started 38 years ago as a pavement marking company, Muskegon Striping & Pavement Maintenance, Muskegon, MI, began to transform itself almost immediately into a full-service pavement maintenance firm. They added sealcoating because it fits well with striping, added pavement repair soon after, and the company bought its first drag box paver more than 10 years ago. As the only contractor in the area that runs a mill on a Bobcat, they do milling for other contractors as well as their own work. They also install drains and do drainage repair.

He says their reliance on cutback asphalt as a sealcoating material helps set them apart from their competitors. The company, which sealcoats more than 200 properties a year, also offers asphalt emulsion-based sealer for those customers that want it.

"But we have some loyal customers who want cutback and nothing else," he says. "In fact, 90% of our sealer gallons we use are cutback asphalt."