Helical Pile Questions. Dan Watson, Wanna Chime In??

Thinking about getting into this. :blink: :thumbsup: Maybe.

Do all the different companies use proprietary machines and piles?

Is there one company that stands out as being substantially better or worse than another? I'm mostly familiar with Techno Metal Post, maybe because they were one of the originals?

Do you have to buy a franchise, or do you just buy a machine and piles as needed, and get to work?

What is the work load like? I assume you would advertise to deck builders and structural repair specialists. How much road repair is available for this?

I had heard that one of the companies provides the engineering. Is this standard, or do you have to involve an engineer of your own?

Those of you who have done this, do you feel it was a good business decision?

Any thing else I should know, that I don't know I should ask about? :laughing:

Thanks, Ya'll

Do all the different companies use proprietary machines and piles? No and Yes. As far as I know only TMP makes a proprietary machine. ALL of the rest let Joe Shmoe buy the posts and install with whatever they can get there hands on.

Is there one company that stands out as being substantially better or worse than another? I'm mostly familiar with Techno Metal Post, maybe because they were one of the originals? TMP has been around since 1993. Helical piers have been around since 1838. There are a lot of companies. At the very small residential to medium commercial level no one can compete with TMP from both a product and business standpoint.

Do you have to buy a franchise, or do you just buy a machine and piles as needed, and get to work? Not exactly a franchise. A lot more than just buying a machine and posts as needed.

What is the work load like? I assume you would advertise to deck builders and structural repair specialists. How much road repair is available for this? Depends on the market, soil conditions, other helical companies in the area, unions, etc.

I had heard that one of the companies provides the engineering. Is this standard, or do you have to involve an engineer of your own? Both. We have engineers in Canada that are corporate, we have engineers in the US that are independent but work closely with TMP, and we have TMP engineers in the US that are not corporate but work exclusively with TMP. We work with several engineers and a lot of projects come with drawings from others.

Those of you who have done this, do you feel it was a good business decision? Yes.

There is a lot more to it that requires a different venue.