starting and stopping

Dwan, I think you are right on, on your standard operating procedures, especially with your abbreviated striping season. You a pilot? What kind of air plane do you use to transport equipment?

No not a pilot wish I were but wife won't let me have a plane. use a Cessna 206, sometimes a beaver, even used a helicopter. depends on ware we are going and what we are doing. Next trip is going to be by boat to Glacier Bay with the hydroseeder for some forest service work. I figured it out once and think I could stripe every lot in this town and still have over 1/2 the season left. and I work mostly alone. as far as hitting the start and stops right on some days are better then others but found practice is what it takes. I have even tried to use a laser line for my starts and a receiver mounted on the striper but ear/hand is a lot harder then sight/hand coordination.

I can stop and start very nicely and so can all of my guys, however on single and double parking stalls we use tiles (not shingles) for the base line. Like I said, it is not about skill for us it is about production. We have the striper helper or "other end of chalk line/tape measure holder" drop tiles while the striper(s) paint. Instead of standing around trying to look busy. We fire up the line drivers and make short work of a big job. It is a lot easier to hit the tiles with a couple MPH of line driver speed production going on. We use 321 tips so our mil thickness is still at or above standard. And our jobs look flawless when you look up and down the parking bays. I will admit that most customers or contractors may not notice at first, but they will from then on if you show them... DIFFERENTIATE the first word on all the tutorials you read on PLP and in Pavement Magazine...etc. on "Marketing" or "Capturing the Market" or "How to get out of the Bottom Feeder Pricing"... Differentiate you self from the rest in quality or approach or service... It may be arbitrary to the final product, a slight quality difference, but it helps for fast production and we use it to sell ourselves into our own Quality based market. Luke P.S. We have plenty of time to show our stop/start skills around the lot and road, when we stripe other stuff, like hashing, bumps, curbs, small stencils, and crosswalks. I do AGREE with the "NO CRUTCH" speech, if you haven't learned to stop/start on point, you should start to work on it.

I guess taping the end of each line is out of the question? I really know a striper that does that..

I knew a striper that did that also . . . . . . he died last year - - I guess all that bending over to put down the tape and then remove it was just too much

I haven't quite figured out the "tile' method improves production. I'm always open for new ideas and would like to try this one out, just don't understand the process yet..

Ken, I believe what he is saying, is that he can stripe faster and not have to worry so much with his starts and stops....because his "need for speed" has him using a "crutch".... that he really doesn't need. Then again, he could be saying that he doesn't like his help standing around while he works, so he has them lay out tiles, so they'll look busy and he feels better about having to pay them. Personally, I'm more about quality than quantity and I can see where this could make your work look "sharper". But, I would think If he really wanted more production, he'd get a "bigfoot" for the other end of the chalk line/tape measure and have that "tile guy" running another striper or doing stencil work.

I guess it will always be argued over, but I have tried both ways for several years and truly believe this works best for us ON LARGE JOBS...not on everything. It is not a question of my anger to my employees watching me stripe while I do all of the work. I rarely stripe, I spend more time running my company...---> (((by the way, on these message boards, why is it we spend most of our time making smug comments to break each other down??? then, each reply having to say something back so you don't look dumb or amateur... why are we always reexplaining ourself??? can't we start giving each other the benefit of the doubt??? so we can talk more about striping!!! I think we should try more honest feed back and less shots at credibility...))) We teach multiple techniques to new and old stripers and then allow them to decide what works best for them. We find this to be a better practice than demanding only one technique. Most choose the tiles so they can focus more on other aspects while striping LARGE LOTS. Sort of how a linedriver allows you to focus more on striping and less on keeping a consistent walking pace, etc. As for the big foot, my opinion is two people snapping multiple baselines is WAY Faster than one with a bigfoot. I got love for the bigfoot, but after trying it I think it is better suited for small lots when the "tape measure holder guy" is not practical. A good invention!!! But on most lots, I would put two against one anyday.

I'll take that challenge Paintlayer. I have proven over and over by using the layout buddy I have made (similar to the big foot) that on any size lot one person working alone will have less total man-hours than more than one person. It does not matter if it is a small 7-11 or a large mall.

Hopefully you weren't referring to my request for more information. I was genuinely trying to understand and am always attempting to have an open mind about both techniques AND equipment. I agree most wholeheartedly with you about "smug" comments. I try (ands also the vast majority here on PLP) try to practice good tact and diplomacy. If you did take offense, I do apologize.

Hey PL, I don't think we are trying to "break each other down" but simply have a spirited discourse amongst a group of people who all attack a problem from different angles. Of course the way I do a task is my preferred way of doing it, and I will champion it. Its what I know. It never occurred to me to use shingles, tiles etc., but if it works...cool. Just not for me. I did make my first "big foot" (we called them "shorties") in about 1980 when I needed to shoot 8 double bays across a mall parking lot and needed something to hold the string tight. So I made 4 of them, tied string between two pairs, put one man at one end, striped up one bay, back down then other, moved the two sets over and repeated. Using chalkine never occured to me until I read it here. Now I am working on a way of replacing string and chalkline with lasers. Might work, might not.

I don't mean to make such a big complaint, but sometimes I feel that many of us are speaking in terms of the "absolute only technique" with the "you must be an idiot" defense... and I want us to keep an open mind with each other when shooting around opinions. I think every person on PLP has something good to contribute. Sometimes I feel like I don't have the energy to put out a new idea on PLP, because I know there will be a considerable amount of smug comments to deal with, before we can get a REAL conversation going. I am willing to listen and take honest consideration to anything. My company has started and grown up with countless support and information from PLP. I learn techniques and decide on equipment to try out based on peoples experiences. I love PLP and think it is a valuable resource.

JimJack42 wrote on Jun 2, 2006:Go to #24

I guess taping the end of each line is out of the question? I really know a striper that does that..

I know a striper that taps off every line, and I mean the whole line.

straightline wrote on Jun 16, 2006:Go to #33

JimJack42 wrote on Jun 2, 2006:Go to #24

I guess taping the end of each line is out of the question? I really know a striper that does that..

I know a striper that taps off every line, and I mean the whole line.

Why would he do the whole line? Is it on concrete? Does he use a tape machine? Are they even using a striper?

Taping the whole line? This person is not a striper he's a laborer.

paintlayer wrote on Jun 17, 2006:Go to #34

straightline wrote on Jun 16, 2006:Go to #33

Quote from: JimJack42 on June 02, 2006, 09:17:19 PM I guess taping the end of each line is out of the question? I really know a striper that does that.. I know a striper that taps off every line, and I mean the whole line.

Why would he do the whole line? Is it on concrete? Does he use a tape machine? Are they even using a striper?

It was any serface, and he used a graco. and no tape machine. don't know why, hurts my back just thinking about it.