Raising the bar

Ask most decorative concrete contractors and they'll tell you

Bill Benckner is no exception. "Seventy percent of the work I see in our market, I see issues," says Bencker, president of Decorative Concrete Solutions, Wilmington, N.C."That ranges from massive failures to a lack of finishing touches."

Bencker has made a niche for himself along the Carolina coast as not only a talented installer but also as someone customers can turn to when projects installed by others fail.

That was the case when his company was hired for a reclamation job for a 5-year-old production home neighborhood where decorative concrete had been used on the driveway borders, patios and walkways.