Indiana Business Reviews

Malarkey Roofing has been changing the asphalt shingle industry.  When other companies are making shingles thinner and cheaper to be able to gain corporate profits, Malarkey has modified their shingles by adding recycled tires and plastic grocery bags.  This helps the shingles stay pliable and not dry out like oxidized asphalt shingles.  Asphalt shingles seem to only last 8 to 18 years, regardless of what their warranty may be.  Malarkey's pliability and shingle thickness has forged the way for it to achieve Class 3 and Class 4 ratings.  Class 3 rating is based on damaging the shingle with a 1.75" diameter steel ball dropped on the shingle from 20 feet high.  Shingles with Class 4 ratings must withstand a 2" diameter steel ball dropped form 20 feet high.  Class 3 and Class 4 shingles should qualify homeowners for a 10-15% discount on their homeowner insurance.   Is the shingle performance enough?  Of course, but wait.  There's more.  Malarkey adds 3M granules onto the

There seems to be another new garage floor epoxy contractor every time we turn around.  It's hard to tell the new ones from the old ones.  Who does what prep work?  Do they grind it?  What about shot blasting it?   What material do they use?  Will it last?  Will the company still be in business 5 or 10 years from now?  How good is their warranty and do they actually stand behind it?    I think the first bit of advise is to make sure the contractor will use a large planetary orbital grinder.  The larger machine will keep the grinding path level across the floor.  A smaller machine would allow the operator to sit in one place easier and making the floor unlevel.   The next step is the shot blast the floor.  Most concrete coatings contractors will grind, but that is where the stop.  If they talk about using a chemical etching process, you should dismiss them immediately.  Some will only shot blast.  We like to use the grinder first to help level the floor as much as possible, followe

Brownsburg Garage Floors is a new location for Slide-Lok of Indianapolis in the northwest side of Indianapolis.  Their goal is to focus on the local Brownsburg market along with Hendricks County and western Marion County.  They have experienced applicators and proven products.  These guys make any garage absolutely beautiful by grinding the floor, cleaning everything up and then applying Slide-Lok polyaspartic coatings.   Call them at 317-939-5994 to book your free estimate.  

One of the best things we've done to make our home more attractive and pleasant is to re-do our garage.  It was such a mess.  We were not organized at all.  The floor was dirty and had oil stains on it.  We had cobwebs in the corners.  Stuff was stacked everywhere.  Every time we would come home from work, we would just park in the driveway because there was no room in the garage.  We were borderline hoarders.  We could have been on that TV show.  Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad.  We needed a clean out and a new look.  It got to the point it was depressing.  We hired Bloomington Garage Floors to help us.  They normally just focus on the garage floors, but we talked them into doing a complete clean out.  We spent one whole day just getting rid of stuff.  They took stuff to donate to shelters and such and we rented a dumpster to just trash everything else.  We used one of those rules that if we haven't used it, or even touched it, in 24 months, we didn't need it.  No mo

I remember when I owned my small manufacturing business, one of my greatest unknowns was how I could retire.  Most of the time, we think we own the business, but in some regards, it owns us.  Some, but few, businesses operate on auto-pilot whether the owner is there or not, but most smaller privately owned businesses, less than $5 million in revenue, depend on the owner checking in on the one extreme to being there every waking moment on the other extreme.  Working with a business consultant at South Bend Business Brokers , I understood what I needed to change in my business.  The business revolved totally around me alone.  If I wasn't there, not much happened.  But, the enterprise value of the business suffered because no new prospective buyer would want to do what I do.  I had years of experience to know how to do what I do.  A new person coming into ownership would take 1-2 years to get to my level.  So the best thing I could do (1) for my own sanity and for (2) the value of

Entrepreneurs have three options on how to start a business (a) starting their own business from scratch, (b) buying a franchise business, or (c) buying an established business for sale (either franchised or non-franchised). The cheapest approach appears to be (a) because the start up costs may be the least.  In the case of a service business, or contractor-based business, this may be true.  If the business was heavy in assets, like manufacturing, or if it takes a long time to develop a customer base or sales cycle, the start up costs can accumulate while trying to create revenue.  It may take 2-3 years before some businesses become profitable in this model, based on the investment.  Depending on the business, the risk can be fairly high as well.  Many businesses fail in the first 2 years and businesses created from scratch often fail at a higher rate than others. The next most attractive option, at least to a first time business owner, may be to buy a franchise.  The franchis