Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP#236: Ed Rivas Is Turning Plain Concrete Into Works of Art Right Here in Frisco

• Sophia Yvette

Share episode

What makes Ed Rivas with Concrete and Epoxy by CSI a good neighbor?

Ever looked at your plain, cracked concrete and wished for something more? In this fascinating conversation with Ed Rivas, founder of Concrete and Epoxy by CSI, we discover how ordinary concrete surfaces can be transformed into stunning, durable works of functional art.

Ed takes us through the full spectrum of concrete beautification – from practical solutions like driveway extensions and sidewalks to artistic creations using stamped patterns, decorative overlays, and epoxy coatings. Born during the pandemic when Ed found himself with extra time and construction experience, the company quickly evolved from focusing solely on epoxy applications to providing comprehensive concrete services. His story perfectly captures the entrepreneurial spirit that emerged during COVID, showing how challenges can become opportunities.

What truly sets Ed's company apart is their unwavering commitment to quality. As he puts it, "We don't run away" – meaning when issues arise, they return to make things right. This dedication has earned them a growing reputation throughout Frisco and the DFW area. With the region's notorious soil conditions causing concrete damage everywhere, there's never a shortage of projects for Ed's team. Whether it's transforming a dusty garage floor into a gleaming, stain-resistant surface guaranteed for 20 years, or creating a patio that mimics natural stone, Concrete and Epoxy by CSI brings both technical expertise and artistic vision to every job.

Ready to reimagine your concrete spaces? Connect with Ed through their website at csiusnet or bestconcretedfw.com, or find inspiration on their Instagram and Facebook profiles. Your concrete transformation awaits!

To learn more about Concrete and Epoxy by CSI  go to:

https://www.csius.net/

Concrete and Epoxy by CSI

972-292-8057


Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a concrete beautifier? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ed Rivas, with his company, concrete and Epoxy by CSI. Ed, how are you doing today?

Speaker 3:

Doing great. Sofia, Thank you for inviting me to your podcast. How are you doing?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing well, ed, so we're excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you tell us a bit about your company?

Speaker 3:

thank you. Yeah, I'm a lot thank you for for being interested in my business. I can tell you that we we dedicated to beautify concrete, as you said. Uh, we are. Well, we do concrete for concrete and we also able to beautify. What I mean is like we can do as simple as a driveway extending a patio, like just concrete for a patio sidewalks. Many people need to have sidewalks on the side of the house because it's too muddy, they don't get enough sun.

Speaker 3:

We do a lot of those works, but many times people is like well, I don't want just great concrete looking which is well done, it looks good, and that's what we do. But we also have the ability to do what is called stem concrete. So we do different, different stems in the concrete, make it look like wood and make it look like stone, with different colors and tones. Or if you already have a concrete and you add concrete to it, we do something that is called a decorated concrete overlay. So we match the new concrete with the old concrete with a nice color based on whatever the client wants. Unlike different, different shapes and different colors, we make it look nice.

Speaker 3:

We also do epoxy, like the company's name is Concrete and Epoxy. It's very popular right now, after COVID, when people started looking at the garages alone because they were using it for work and office. You know concrete on your garage many times after you put your car all the time it looks like gray with stains and it's dusty all the time. So we put a coating which is called epoxy, combined with another very good material called polyaspartic. That will make your garage bin looking nice and you protect it against stains, oils, you can just clean it and it will be nice, guaranteed for 20 years so ed how did you get into this business?

Speaker 3:

you know, um, when kobe hits, uh, we went to work for home. I was very, very uh, fortunate that I didn't I didn't lose my job, I. But we were kind of like doing not much and I was bored. I was so bored I was biting my nails. What do I do? Just doing not much? Because the operations of the company that I used to work for went down a lot. So I said, you know what? Uh, I, I have past experience with construction and I started for something else to do. I talked to a friend that was doing polish, polish concrete, which we can also do, like the warmer that the concrete shines, we can do that. So he was doing that and we got together to start working on. You know, let's do polish now, right off. Being a new company is not like oh.

Speaker 1:

I.

Speaker 3:

I'm gonna do points country right now. You have to have experience, having Qualifications, because most of the time Polish countries commercial, so it's not like I'm new. And so we got into that issue. We say, what else we do that similar? We started doing oxy directions do that is similar? And we started doing epoxy directions very easy to learn it. And we, we, we met with another contractor that does the same and he was very good with us. He just had to do it, introduce us to his uh, his vendors, uh, I'm still friends with him and uh, and we started doing epoxy directions.

Speaker 3:

But at the beginning the name of the company was Concrete Smart Industries. So I was going to appointments with potential clients getting ready to measure the garage and they were taking me to the backyard and said, well, I want to extend this patio and put new concrete. And I was like, oh, we don't do concrete, oh, but your company name is concrete smart industries. So at the beginning, instead of changing the company name, we decided to learn how to do concrete. So we got together with people that have been doing concrete for many years. We got with them, we hired some guys and we started doing concrete. Uh, sometime we changed the name to Concrete and Epoxy by CSI, since we do the two things. Csi is Concrete, smart Industries, that's why it's Concrete and Epoxy by.

Speaker 3:

CSI, and that was at the end of 2021 and we're still in business. Many epoxy companies don't last this long. We're doing pretty good for what we do.

Speaker 2:

So, ed, who are your target customers and, in terms of marketing, how do you attract them?

Speaker 3:

That's a good one. I mean concrete. Imagine there is concrete everywhere. Right, everybody needs concrete.

Speaker 3:

But we target mostly as uh, we do. We can do residential and we can do commercial jobs too. We do both. We have all the insurance that are necessary to do both. But uh, most than anything, we target, like uh, homeowners via instagram, facebook, google, via Instagram, facebook, google. Now we get a lot of business on word of mouth because people like what we do and they prefer a lot of people, but pretty much anybody that needs concrete. I mean we can do new concrete. You know Dallas forward has an issue with the soil, moves a lot, so you probably seen concrete broken many places, like dry waste all cracked up and sidewalks, which is actually a trip hazard. So we we target to to do those, those jobs like remove a driveway, put a new one, remove a sidewalk, put a new one, and we have our own equipment so we control the whole process since breaking the concrete, remove it and dispose it in a safety way and then put in a new driveway on it, or whatever.

Speaker 2:

I would imagine in your industry you would never run out of projects, especially here.

Speaker 3:

That's the idea. I don't think this will be replaced by ai anytime soon I?

Speaker 2:

I don't think so either.

Speaker 3:

So, ed, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about concrete and epoxy by csi something that characterize our company and people that referrals can say about it and actually our reviews in Google will say about it, is that we do quality work. We're not a company that cut corners or that just to give you the happy face to get the job and then if something goes wrong I mean construction or something can go wrong, we do it right, and if something goes wrong we fix it and do it the right way. We don't run away. So first is our quality materials, our warmanship, and we honor anyone that may necessary.

Speaker 2:

And how can our listeners learn more about concrete and epoxy by csi?

Speaker 3:

we have our presence on instagram, facebook and our website is csiusnet or best concrete, dfwcom well, ed.

Speaker 2:

I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward sophia, I'm so happy that you invited us.

Speaker 3:

Thank you very much, looking forward to always be listening to you with your podcast and, uh, I mean we are raising Frisco, so we're very happy that we can be part of this Frisco podcast and part of the community.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfriscocom. That's gnpfriscocom, or call 469-221-9345.