FIRESTOPPERS

THE CHALLENGE

Firestopping, at best, is a fractured industry.  The material manufacturers will sell to just about anybody. Anyone with a caulking gun automatically considers themselves as expert.  Many times trades will do it themselves and often will put the low man on the totem to do the firestopping.  Having done a fair amount of firestopping, I learned that it is good work if you can get it, but it is very difficult to consistently earn a decent return.  I offer my sincere congratulations those of you who do it and have done it.  You deserve it.

What I am going to suggest in the following paragraphs may be your solution to a more consistent cash flow.  I am suggesting that you think of the patch and repair of fireproofing as opening up a brand new revenue stream.  Think outside the box for a minute.

THE SOLUTION

Before you go off halfcocked saying you “don’t do fireproofing” listen for one minute.  Most likely when you came up with that don’t do fireproofing stuff it usually means that you investigated it and decided that dropping 100 K for pumps, the trouble of being manufacturer certified several times over and all the nonsense that goes with fireproofing was just not worth it.  Being a fireproofer for nearly 40 years I’ll admit at times I certainly would agree with you.

But that was then, and now is now.  Hear me out; we are talking specifically about the patch and repair of fireproofing.  Up until just a few years ago there were several issues, most notably is that you had no source/supply of a compatible product.  The big material (fireproofing) manufacturers were promoting “patch” pumps and they themselves were 10 to 15,000 dollars.  And then there was access to jobs.  The big material manufacturers were of a volume/production mindset.  They were always pushing you for productions of 10,000, 20,000 even 50,000 bags per year.  It was a completely different mindset of the firestopper.

What is different now?

Up until 2014, unless you were blowing out thousands of bags of material the big boys really didn’t want to have anything to do with you.  You were simple too small.  The “rules” of patch and repair was that not only did you have to identify the existing material you had to have access to it as well, if it were still available.  In 2014 this all changed with the development of the Universal Fireproofing Patch (UFP) kit.

A few things about the Universal Fireproofing Patch material.  First, our UFP material has passed all of the thermal performance test and then some, and we didn’t do it just once; we did it 3 times with 3 different independent, nationally recognized testing laboratories, including Underwriter’s Laboratories.  We also have verified our adhesion/cohesion tests are about 5 times competitive materials and we have a strong density placing us in the upper portion of the medium dense SFRM materials.  Our UFP is strong, robust, and sticks to the substrate.

To make UFP more user friendly our UFP is easy to install with several hours of pot life.  It is easy work with; we like to say we made it idiot proof, but now we say it’s idiot resistant.  Our Installed cost is about half of traditional methods so there is room for profit and you’re are not actually a patch service, but more often than not you end up selling a solution to a problem.  Remember that equipment that was so expensive, since we are talking about patching the only equipment you will need is a few tools, namely a trowel and a step ladder.  That’s it.

Now you have the means and the material all you have to do is get work, but wait a minute you are already walking around the building for your firestopping it is very easy for you to say, hey Mr. Building Owner; I can fix that as well and bingo here is a new revenue stream