Excavators – Expand Your Business with Hardscape

As an excavation contractor with an established foothold in your region, you have proven your company’s worth for preparing properties for landscape renovations or solving drainage issues, but the limitations of the business model may have you considering an expansion. Entering the growing market of hardscaping will require specialized skills training, investing in tools and equipment, and a strong commitment on your part, and it may just be a perfect, complementary fit to your current work.

To help you bolster your talent and that of your team, Unilock is here to serve as a trusted partner for you on your journey, providing you with the training required for expert craftsmanship, connect you with quality products that stand the test of time, and seize the benefits inherent in the hardscape industry. We serve as a supportive force behind Unilock Authorized Contractors as they grow their companies.

A Natural Transition for Excavation Contractors

Solid industry connections, working knowledge of construction concepts, and understanding of common drainage, runoff, septic system concerns, and soil issues can aid expansion efforts as you add hardscape projects to your line of work. For excavation companies that already focus on protecting shorelines, for example, being able to fulfill more of an end-to-end solution, including setting the foundation for retaining walls and installing the walls, can be a logical match for your business fit. Rather than preparing a landscape and leaving the rest of the work to be done by other contractors, you could see the full project through to completion and minimize the number of companies that your residential or commercial clients have to find and communicate with—therefore increasing your revenue and customer satisfaction.

The Hardscape Industry’s Expanding Opportunities

As homeowners increasingly view their outdoor spaces as potential extensions of their homes, they are looking to add variety to where they cook and dine. For example, half of the homeowners who chose to renovate in 2018 also chose to improve their outdoor living spaces in some capacity.

A growing appetite for more comprehensive, stylish outdoor living spaces is one of the main drivers in demand for quality concrete pavers and walls. Inspired by magazines, social media sites, and their neighbors’ backyards, today’s discerning homeowners are seeking beautiful landscape additions, including paver walkways, driveways, and patios, that can enrich the time they spend outdoors. Spaces built with concrete pavers, in particular, are expected to experience “robust growth” in 2021, according to market research firm Freedonia Group, which predicts demand for hardscape products to rise by 5.6%.

Unilock itself has reported over 10 billion of our pavers in use over the last 45 years. With every paver guaranteed for life under our Transferable Lifetime Guarantee, hardscape contractors that choose Unilock products can confidently stand by their projects.

Fire features, including outdoor fireplaces and fire pits, are popular for adding warmth and creating gathering spots post-dinner as are retaining walls for delineating separate areas for various activities. With Unilock pavers and wall stone, these types of outdoor spaces are becoming more accessible.

Called for Drainage Issues? Upsell to Permeable Pavers

Some homeowners start to look at their landscape in a new light when they notice drainage or erosion issues—which is where your first interaction with a client may occur and where you can already offer a particular level of expertise. Excavation companies, such as yours, stand to increase the bottom line and the scope of contracts by offering permeable paver solutions to homeowners facing drainage and runoff issues.

Unilock permeable pavers divert rainwater into storm sewers and streams through the joints between each paver. Made to the same high-quality standard as other Unilock pavers yet shaped to allow larger gaps for this purpose, these products are laid on a permeable base, making it even easier for the water to flow through the hardscapes and into the ground. Offering permeable pavers as an alternative presents a broad range of powerful advantages, from being able to offer eco-friendly solutions, helping to preserve groundwater, and minimizing the risk of property damage caused by water runoff. Unilock permeable options include Eco-Line, Tribeca Cobble, and Thornbury.

Called in for Erosion Work? Sell the Retaining Wall Solution

Excavation companies called in for erosion work can increase the value of the project by also bidding on retaining wall construction. For residential, industrial, and commercial properties, retaining walls are relied upon for turning sloped, unusable areas into functional spaces and protecting against erosion.

Unilock offers a number of products intended to make retaining wall construction as intuitive and creative as possible. For example, cast from hundreds of real stone surfaces, Rivercrest Wall resembles flagstone, and can be relied upon for constructing a geogrid-reinforced retaining wall of up to 6 feet tall. Dura-Hold, a large-scale system intended for gravity walls up to 6 feet high, or for grid-reinforced walls up to 40 feet high, was designed to be an alternative to poured-in-place retaining walls. There is also the U-Cara Multi-Face Wall System, a patented Unilock product that makes it possible to build single or double-sided vertical landscape features using a backer block system with modular wall stone fascia. With this Unilock-exclusive offering, you can build retaining walls up to 3 feet high without the need for geogrid.

Learn How Unilock Can Help Your Company

The decision to work with Unilock products goes beyond access to premier pavers and walls that you will not find anywhere else. It also connects hardscape contractors with ongoing support and world-class training. Achieving the level of craftsmanship required to build reliable, durable hardscapes that meet the high standards of a Unilock Authorized Contractor and lead to strong referrals in your area requires continuous education.

With multimedia offerings, the Unilock Training & Education Center can get you started, and ongoing reminders and advice can be accessed through our YouTube channel and blog. When your projects get underway, Territory Managers are on hand to provide in-the-field support, sales support, guidance, and supplemental training. Whether you need product samples to help a client make a paver choice or help with using Uvision 3D Landscape Creator, Unilock Territory Managers are there for you. They have deep industry and product knowledge and are available for a free onsite consultation—reach out for a one-on-one session with your local TM.

We believe in empowering contractors with valuable content, training materials, and the support needed to not only get started with hardscapes but to master the craft to the highest possible level. One look at our inspiring range of products will show you how committed we are to releasing top-tier concrete pavers. And partnering with top-performing excavation companies, such as yours, is how we build a future together.