THE CAROLINA STATES SUPPLEMENT
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Vol. XXII • No. 20
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“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Carolina States Connection • Richard McKeon, Charlotte, NC 1-800-288-4234
New Crusher Brings Surprise Business for Concord Firm By Eric Olson CEG CORRESPONDENT
When Michael Frings decided to expand his concrete business to include a stone crushing service, it meant he would have to buy or rent all new equipment. And there was only one place he considered to get the machinery he needed: Stafford Equipment in Charlotte, N.C. Frings has owned Affordable Concrete Service in Concord, N.C., since August 2003 and has proven adept at fulfilling the concrete needs of customers throughout the Charlotte, Lake Norman and upstate South Carolina areas. His jobs have been for residential, commercial and industrial customers. “I do concrete demolitions, stamping and spray-over textures on old concrete that is stained and needs resurfacing, as well as providing regular broom-finished concrete like you would see on a garage floor or in a plant,” he explained. So when he bought a KPI FT4240cc crusher last year from Stafford, he did so simply to augment his handling of old concrete. Little did Frings know that that purchase would greatly expand his business opportunities. “At the time, I didn’t have a source to dispose of waste concrete, so what I did was purchase that machine for my own use to get rid of the waste, but also to generate stone material for other projects,” Frings said. “Over time, as people found out that I had the crusher, I started getting requests to process their materials too.” That led Frings to hire Kevin Dinkins as his crushing manager early this year and open up a whole new side to the business. Interestingly, Dinkins came to Affordable Concrete after working as a salesman for many years with Stafford Equipment. Frings has relied on Dinkins’s expertise with stone crushing and screening machinery to help him in selecting the proper equipment to make that side of the business a success too. Earlier this summer, Frings and Dinkins rented a KPI 2512KT screening plant from Stafford, as well as a pair of Hyundai HL 760-7A wheel loaders (one of which they have subsequently bought), all for a job in Midland, N.C. where they were given the task of screening dirt and crushing the shale in it for use as bedding under a gas pipeline. Dinkins, who began selling construction equipment in 1990, said that all of this machinery was Affordable Concrete’s key to doing the Midland job right. “I have sold this equipment and I know it’s reliable, plus the pricing was very competitive,” he said. “For instance, even before we bought the Hyundai loader, we looked at see CONCRETE page 2
Currently, Affordable Concrete is working on a large, $1 million project in Rock Hill, S.C., where this Kobelco SSK350 with a processor, from Stafford Equipment, is pulverizing the concrete.
Taking time out for a photo (L-R) are Michael Frings, owner, Affordable Concrete; Kevin Dinkins, crushing manager, Affordable Concrete; Cody Centers, Kenny Talley, Terry Irwin, all of Affordable Concrete; Carlos Gomez, of Foremost Pipeline and Chris Jones, Affordable Concrete.