Verlennich Masonry and Concrete

Dave Verlennich got out of the restaurant management business because he grew tired of working 100-hour weeks. But now, running a thriving decorative concrete business in Minnesota, he puts in just as much time, especially during the state's limited summer season.

"I didn't want to work 100 hours a week, but now we do that anyway," said Verlennich, who laughs at the irony.

Verlennich Masonry and Concrete, based in Staples, Minn., specializes in stamped concrete, overlays, stenciling, and staining.

Dave and his brother Mike took the company decorative last year, after dabbling in decorative concrete for about three years. Dave was introduced to concrete back in the early 1990s, when he did exposed aggregate work for a custom builder in the Minneapolis metropolitan area.

The company's market area is based in the Brainerd area and expands to about a 100-mile radius. About 80 percent of their business comes directly from homeowners. The other 20 percent is from builders - but of that, about 10 to 15 percent is the homeowner asking for it.

"Brainerd is like our little Hollywood. There's a large congregation of $700,000 to $5 million-dollar homes ... There are many lakes (and lake-side homes) and retirees, and that's what drives the market," Verlennich said.

The brothers and their six employees pour a lot of driveways - anywhere from 2,000 to 4,500 square feet.

"We also do a lot of acid staining and have done some furniture - coffee tables and meeting tables," Verlennich said.

They have also tried to market concrete countertops with the goal of attempting to crack that market.

"The difficulty has been getting architects to realize that concrete is a viable option," he said.

Although their company is young, the pair has done more than their fair share of homework. They are actively involved in the Decorative Concrete Council and are ardent proponents and promoters of educating the industry on proper techniques.

"We've been trying to get more education in our area - it seems to be a long road," he said. "We need people in the industry to reach out to the industry."

One of the biggest obstacles, he said, is overcoming previous mistakes and unprofessional work from others. Some architects have tried decorative concrete in the past, but poor installation ultimately resulted in a botched job.

"There's still a bad taste in the mouth," he said.

As an example, Verlennich said a contractor once asked him to come in and give some advice on a questionable patio that somebody else had stamped.

"I told him it should be torn out - it was a botched job," he said. "We want to educate and drive the industry so we'll all continue to be busy."

In addition to being involved in the Decorative Concrete Council, Verlennich Masonry and Concrete will also be featured in a local magazine, where the entire decorative concrete patio process will be photographed. It will ultimately go out to all the local builders who can get a close look and perhaps be inspired to pursue decorative concrete projects.

Another challenge is that the major contractors like to keep most of their work in-house.

"We need to get them to realize that this is a specialty product and they need to go outside of the company to get it," Verlennich said.

Meanwhile, plenty of homeowners are requesting decorative concrete. One of Verlennich's most unique projects involved a log house that overlooks one of Minnesota's more than 10,000 lakes.

The exterior of the house boasts a circular driveway enhanced in a flagstone pattern. Each stone of the almost 4,000-square-foot driveway was individually acid-stained.

Another homeowner who visited her local Dairy Queen eagerly entered the drive-thru and asked who created their sandblasted, red cobblestone patio, accented in black.

When the woman found out Verlennich Masonry and Concrete created the patio, she contacted them and said she wanted her sidewalk to look just like the Dairy Queen patio - minus the bigDQ logo smack-dab in the center.

"What you put on the ground is what you sell. If people see it, they want it," he said.

And speaking of red, Verlennich's projects all involve a wide palette of colors - stains come in as many as 250 hues and shades.

"We do a lot of browns and tans, a lot of charcoal tones, and some reds," he said.

As far as textures go, Minnesotans seem to prefer a seamless granite texture look and flagstone textures - stone that is natural to the area.

And while the popularity of concrete countertops seems to be surging throughout the country, Minnesotans' interest is just beginning to be piqued; Verlennich hopes to fill the future demand.

"We get about one countertop inquiry a week," he said. "Most are wondering about price and how it compares to granite. I tell them it's less formal and it's warmer."

Verlennich said he would love to do more interior projects.

"If I could do just interior acid-staining, I would," he said. "You can be creative and you're out of the elements."

And, naturally, in Minnesota, the severe weather is one of the company's biggest impediments.

"We enjoy our two weeks of summer," Verlennich jokes.

But seriously, May through August is the prime season. And the humidity that surfaces in the summer months can be awful.

"It's the kind of weather you lose employees over," he said.

It's also the kind of weather that prompts special care and attention to concrete projects.

"We use a lot of steel and rebar in a two-foot grid that controls cracking," Verlennich said. "We also apply many coats of sealer."

And their proprietary mix is 4000 psi and includes fiber, steel and admixes, meaning it usually reaches near 4000 psi at 14 days, as opposed to the normal 28 days.

"I think the industry as a whole is not going to stop. Our goal is to do more interior work and work year-round. Concrete is going to snowball in our area - no pun intended," laughs Verlennich.

Verlennich Masonry and Concrete
Dave Verlennich
1406 Prairie Ave
Staples, MN 56479
(218) 894-0074
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www.stampedinstone.com