Looking for help testing new tools...

rhardman

Ran across this doing some patent searching.
Thought you all might find it interesting...though maybe not too practical.

On second thought, maybe Whitey97 might want to use it next time he mixes real heavy mud!!!

Circa 1965...

Whitey97 Paddle Solution.JPG

Whitey97

Ha ha ha.... funny guy!

I think that's a little extreme for anything that I'm doing.
Not only that, but I don't have enough room in my trialer to keep that, I'll stick with my "super paddle"

Darren@Partners

Whitey, you meant "trailer", right?

__________________
www.partnersconstruction-drywall.com

Tim0282

Whitney, did you break the mixer on purpose? Jeepers, do you destroy everything just to be macho? What's up with that? What did you think of it? It looks like a great mixer! I would buy one today if available. I am always looking for a better mixer. Bought one recently you had to be just about on your knees to use it. It was like 21" long. Who do they think mixes mud. A ten year old that is under four feet tall. The pictures I see of it look like the best one out there.

A+ Texture LLC

No, Whitey's a good speller. I'm sure he meant trialer. And i'm sure he has one, sounds fancy.

rhardman

I sent an email out to our testers showing them a photo of the item discussed in the "Is China ever okay?" thread. This version is a consumer tool and I explained to them the professional version isn't quite finished up yet but will be available very soon.

It helps with stocking board and while every response was encouraging, not everyone thought they would need it.

We're sending one of each version to one of the testers for an evaluation. As soon as the attorney says it's alright, I'll post the picture.

We're also getting the accessory finished up for the automatic taper. One of the top tool manufacturers wants to take a look at it.

These are good tools and will accentuate our reputation for new technology, but these two are probably not something that everyone will need. For those that do, I'm sure you'll like them.

The fourth prototype is something everyone can use. There's one piece that wants to bend a bit during testing so we're working to get that solved. It's an easy fix with thicker stainless, but that also adds to the weight...

And to confirm, smaller sized paddle blades and different configurations designed for mixing thin mud will be available.

I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone for your support. It's helping with the tool development and marketing plans better than we had hoped.

Rick
We've begun some direct marketing (on a very small scale) with the DrywallTalk logo featured in the ad(s). As we fine tune the brochures we'll add more elaborate graphics with testers comments and pictures. We'll progress with the advertising by region and everything we do will have the DWT logo.

rhardman

To update everyone on our current situation...

We've been in touch with a few distributors regarding our paddle. One had a customer that tried a sample and hit it so hard on his bucket that he bent the shaft and gave the distributor a negative review. This distributor is a good guy but I was reminded that sales people not familiar with our products just don't know the difference between one item and another. We can do all we can to inform them of our advantages but if a customer uses a tool incorrectly and calls the distributor to complain, the rep has probably never taped a seam and just doesn't have the proper understanding of the trade to respond correctly. Also, as they want to maintain the relationship with their customer, they might think it best to just accept the complaint. Then the negative report is registered (unfairly) and that particular office may he hesitant to offer it to other contractors in the future.

An online distributor I spoke with was all complimentary and "chewing up" the competitions paddle saying no body wanted it after hearing our plans for the future and reading your reviews here on DrywallTalk. He said he wanted to work with us. After speaking for a few minutes he told me he didn't want to purchase any stock from us, but to only act as a sales office. Any orders he received he would forward to us expecting us to ship to his customer AND pay the postage. He wanted a couple of samples but when I asked for his UPS acct number to ship them*, he said, "I don't know if we have one...." Last I heard he was praising the benefits of the competition's paddle saying how wonderful it is (admittedly they are a fine company with a good product but this guy totally did a 180 when I refused to pay the shipping for the samples he wanted).

A few years ago I went into a large internet Drywall tool company with a prototype of one of our larger tools and they seemed to really like it. I told them I would be back when we were able to start selling things and it seemed like a positive business introduction was made. However, I've tried to get an appointment to speak with them a couple of times about the paddle (I didn't mention the bigger tools) and have been met with total silence.

After I fell down some stairs on my stilts I had to leave the trade and got a degree in electronics. For the past 15 years I've been involved with NPI (New Product Introduction) throughout Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Brazil. I left last year to start selling my drywall tools as I've finally been able to solve a 20 year technical problem that kept hounding me.

I've dealt with a lot of distributor's over the years and as fun as they are (usually being great people and happy to have a beer with you after work) they just aren't geared toward a start up effort.

The quality of the paddle is something we won't sacrifice. As such, the cost of the thing (in quantity) is extremely expensive. After the distributor adds their 30 - 40% the street price would be around $75.00.

Frankly, that's just too much. I remember buying tools and I know where the prices need to be.

In addition, when our texture machines are introduced, more technical questions are going to arise. Then (with distributor's) we would run into a slow response time for the end customer.

For instance, say you have a question and you call a distributor and ask about the Hardman Systems ***XX texture system... The sales person will then have to send me an email and ask me to call you up. Gladly I would but then I have to refer you back to the disty to place the order. So 2-3 email or phone interactions have taken place before you get an answer and another if you decide to order. On top of that, you'll be paying the additional 30% they will require. As we also want to lease and rent these systems, they would want a piece of that pie too. Adding the same markup every month to your payment.

So with everything in mind, I've made the decision to sell all of our tools exclusively on our own web site. As the larger machines become available you will have a 24/7 phone number going directly to me for any technical question you have.

If you become involved with a monthly payment arrangement you will have a program manager assigned to you (with their 24/7 number too). We intend to provide the best technical support team in the industry.

Wanna have some fun? Next time you call a sales person, ask for their home number in case there is a problem.

This is how you introduce new products and build a family of clients that are happy with every interaction.

As you know we're starting slow and cautiously.

I'll let you know when the web site is launched. I need to get 2 more patents filed before I can show them. It's a cool site, and very different than what you are used to seeing.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I know it was long.

Best regards,

Rick
* We're very happy to pay for shipping the samples to our testers. You guys are helping us tremendously to fine tune the designs. But I figure a company that wants to make a profit on our tools should pay the sample postage if they seriously want to investigate the opportunity.

Tim0282

I have compared mixers in the past week. Actually, I've compared mixers for the past forty years... And you all know how that can be. I have the old style star type that work great for paint. I don't mix much paint. I have the square bottom type that do OK at best. Then I bought the Sheetrock brand mixer that I thought would be the absolute best. It left a bit to be desired. It does a great job in turning the mud from the bottom to the top. But it creates such a cyclone in the middle of the mud that it leaves unmixed mud right in the middle of the bottom of the bucket. About three inches in diameter. If you notice while using it, it pushes the drill up. That is great, except leaving the little bit of mud untouched. In bucket or box mud, that can be dealt with, with little problems. A nuisance, but... On the other hand while mixing texture, the same thing happens and leaves "dry" texture right in the middle of the bucket. Lumps! Not so good in texture. So I bought the Advance brand. Well, because it is made just about the same as the Sheetrock brand, it does the same thing. I mentioned this on this forum and was contacted by Rick Hardman to see if I would try his mixer. He sent one and I have tried it with regular mud, texture, fast set mud and base coat for EIFS. The differences I see are... Instead of pushing the drill up, it pulls it down. That gets rid of the unmixed mud in the middle of the bucket. With all types of mixing. There was NO unmixed texture, no unmixed fast set, no unmixed regular mud and it mixed the base coat lump free the fastest of all of the mixers I have ever owned. It may be priced a bit higher than the others, But I would buy one in a heart beat. It does the job the fastest and the best of all I have tried. When you get the opportunity to try one, it is well worth the money. The cadillac of mixers. Sounds crazy to analyze a mixer to this extreme, but I get tired of most of the mud being mixed. Kind of like sanding just about all of the rock for smooth... By the way, I am a drywall contractor, not a salesman. Well sort of, we all sell ourselves to the HO or GC or whomever we are working for. All that to say, I was not asked to say this about a mixer. Just wanting to help us all in our end result. I have gained a lot of info from you and hope this little info will help you.

Alberta*Tapers

Too bad your not looking for alberta tapers, we would be in for sure. Good luck with your new products!

rhardman

Had to fire our patent attorney; he was getting greedy and didn't like my "Cut the Cra* " attitude.* These guys are an important tool to have but they really overrate themselves. I've spent a lot of time learning about patents over the years and since I found that my patent searches run rings around theirs, I expect a discount in their pricing...well, he didn't agree. It's not a real major thing right now, but he was also trying to make us feel obligated to him for all of the other patents that are still coming up. So, he's down the road (as far as the new patents go), and we've found another attorney so things are back on track.

On the website, our guru guy held us off as for some twisted reason he felt that going on a Caribbean cruise had a higher priority than working on our site. He's back now so we can proceed on that front.

I need some advice from you please. Can you send me a private message and tell me what you think are the shortcomings of the current online suppliers' web sites? Can you suggest what kind of extra support you would like to see on ours?

Important note: Don't think of our site as someplace to go to buy tools. Ask yourself what could an outside company do to help you with your company? What would you like to know that you don't have time to research yourself? Try to think........WAY........OUTSIDE........the box. Look for that perfect world...what help do you need to make your job easier?

We're not going to have the old style "Sears and Roebucks" format with a thousand tools trying to pull you in to take your money. Those guys have to do it that way to compete with each other. Thus the only thing they can complete on is price. Subsequently, the piranha effect kicks in and nobody makes any money. They try to operate with the lowest overhead possible and are understaffed so the "extra effort" support dies. Good people, working hard, just the rough reality of a "commodity based" environment. I've been there.

The priority on our site will be: 1. New Technology with completely different tools 2. Extremely durable and reliable products 3. Excellent "after purchase" support 4. A continually improving effort in all aspects of the company 5. Testimonials by actual users (I'd like to put a link to DrywallTalk but that get's a little sticky for Nathan).

Once a tool has been purchased you will have an opportunity to receive a monthly newsletter. We will have free information on new job postings that have been published in your area and for a small fee (we're not sure how much yet) we will provide you with the contact information to those projects. This is a BIG undertaking and we want to offer it as an extra bonus to the HSI (Hardman Systems Industrial) contractor. I promise that we'll get the pricing as low as possible.
I'll bet you begin seeing this on other suppliers sites now.

Please send me that PM and let me know what else you would like to see.

We'll have a sneak peek available for the site (and a new tool) next week.

There will also be other benefits but I can't get into those as they start leaning toward what could be called "sales" stuff. You'll have to ask about those individually I guess.

Right now, as with the prototypes, we really want to know what would best serve you. We'll change, twist and mold our approach to what the contractor wants.

Thank you,

Rick
*At Marshall Industries in Silicon Valley (we did $15,000,000.00 a month in computer chips) I got fired in front of the entire company because of my "Cut the Cra*" attitude. One day I asked the wrong person, "Why do I have to take Jim and his wife out for dinner and take them skiing for the weekend to get the good accounts? Why can't I be rewarded for the work I do????!!!!????"

I learned about corporate politics that day...though I still didn't play well.

UPDATE Tuesday evening: By "...free information on new job postings" I mean new projects that are out for bid. We will have the cities by state, the dollar value of the project, who is bidding them and of those bidding, we will provide their contact information for you.

Quality1st

Be the best and %*&%* the Rest. Hand in their your ship is gonna come in.

rhardman

oops

Muddauber

If she is the DIY version then I can't wait to see the industrial version!

How much?

rhardman

This was the graphic I was referring to on the "Is China ever okay?" thread a while back.

Rick
In reference to the photo... I should have clarified, she's technically not the DIY version, she is the "Ricks wife" version...but thank you for your good taste!

Whitey97

Hey Rick, How's it going! When are you going to be shipping these bad boys out!?!? I've had to hump about 200 sheets in the last few weeks. Would have loved to have this then. Let's do it up!

Whitey97

If that's your wife, I would like to see what you're 18 year old daughter looks like! YIKES!

rhardman

New prototypes will be available and sent out in the next 2 weeks.
Currently waiting on metal forming vendors.

Rick

rhardman

I had promised the web site before now and in an effort to deliver on the 100% accuracy record I promised, you can have a sneak peek of the site at: http://74.86.189.137/ . Some things aren't finished yet as our web designer is preparing for a 3 week trip to Italy. Things should be finalized upon his return.

If you would like to send me a PM and give me your suggestions I'd be very appreciative.

The tools shown on the "Products" page will be changed. We won't offer the corner piece as there is nothing unique about it. We will also be adding 2 more of our tools.

This is not about sales, in fact there is no where on the site to buy anything yet and we aren't taking orders in any other way right now. This is about requesting your feedback on a new web site design before it is launched.

Remember that this is a different sort of company. We have no intention to be an "in your face" catalog of every tool the world has to offer. This is a company that provides a unique group of tools that allow you to get your job finished faster with less back strain and less clean up time. The site is designed to partner with you over the life of your company with not only tools, but free marketing and sales products and services that will help you grow your company and make higher profit margins (just wait and see!!!).

Does the site lend itself toward this sort of business relationship???

(I also ask that you remember that these first tools are not the main thrust of our company. While they are good tools and work well, this is a preliminary effort to introduce our company and build trust before the main revenue generating products are introduced. )


As always, thank you,

Rick

Whitey97

would like to see more pictures of Francesca on the site!

I know, I have issues..... I'm sure you figured that out by now!

rhardman

You twisted puppy! Actually, she'll be in charge of the Facebook page. She's going out of the country for her dance school so FB is a bit delayed.

What do you think of our new site (I talked about above)?
Any suggestions to make it better?

Rick