Level Best Concrete Flooring is one of the UK’s newest, fastest growing and most innovative industrial concrete flooring contractors. Based in Yorkshire but covering the whole of the UK, it boasts extremely experienced directors and site personnel. Recent projects include a 100,000 square ft new warehouse floor in Dundee, the design and construction of new supermarkets in Croydon, refurbishment of a distribution centre in Northampton and concrete slab repairs for a logistic and distribution centre in Daventry.
Jon Wilcox, Commercial Director, Level Best Concrete Flooring, spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
Warehouse & Logistics News – Jon, how big is Level Best in terms of staff and equipment?
Level Best Concrete Flooring has 18 site-based operatives and five office based staff. The company has a large fleet of vehicles to transport the equipment to site.
WLN – What flooring equipment do you use?
We have purchased the very latest state of the art concrete flooring and concrete renovating equipment, including a Ligchine laser screed concrete leveling machine. The laser screed has laid up to a maximum 440m3 in one day on a large warehouse scheme in Dundee. The machine is operated by remote control and is easily transportable via a trailer and pick up truck, rather than having to utilise low loaders like other more commonly seen, heavier machines. The Ligchine also has been achieving incredibly good flatness tolerances in conjunction with our highly skilled concreting operatives. Our Contracts Director Luke Morrow says the Ligchine laser screed is a simple piece of equipment to operate and is extremely well constructed.
WLN – Has the Ligchine been developed specially for you?
The Ligchine was manufactured by an American inventor to be more versatile and user friendly than larger machines.
WLN – Do you have dedicated operators for it?
Yes, we have two full time and fully trained machine drivers to operate the laser screed. Both operators achieve the highest standard of concrete floor and also manage the same standards of level and flatness control.
WLN – What is the ethos behind Level Best Concrete Flooring?
The clue is in our company name. We always do our level best for our customers and believe the quality of our floor slabs, repairs and refurbishment is the best in the industry. Our tag line is Innovation in Concrete Flooring and we continually strive to explore the best and latest technological developments, hence FRS.
WLN – What is FRS?
FRS stands for Floor Renovation System, our innovative method of removing microscopic layers of substances that make a floor look dirty and tired to reveal a polished surface that looks as good as – or better than – new.
WLN – Who is it aimed at?
It’s perfect for commercial landlords refurbishing and renovating existing warehouse floors when previous occupiers or tenants vacate the building. We also work with chartered surveyors and building consultancy practices to carry out surveys and provide cost plans for dilapidations related to the removal of racking-bolts, barriers, line-marking and other unwanted floor-coverings.
WLN – Can’t resins and floor paints do the same job?
Not at all! The FRS finish is far superior, lasts a lot longer and is much easier to keep clean. We recently put a video on our website that shows a 9 tonne rubber-tracked excavator driving over an FRS floor to mark it on purpose. Then a typical-ride on floor cleaner carrying water but no detergents follows it, and the marks are completely and quickly washed away.
WLN – Does that make FRS more expensive?
No, it’s comparable in price to floor paints and far cheaper than resins.
Once we have completed initial floor repairs we can complete about 1,000 square metres per day, or more if the customer opts for double-shift working.
WLN – Is FRS the main service you offer?
Far from it! We design and construct new internal and external floor slabs, remove and replace damaged floors, and repair joints and cracks. And it’s not just in warehouses. We also work on biomass, waste, recycling, logistics and agricultural projects. On one weekend recently we were laying a new steel fibre floor in Daventry using laser-screed technology, repairing an existing slab in Bristol and refurbishing a warehouse in Leeds!
WLN – Do you take on emergency jobs or is there a waiting list?
If clients are having health and safety problems due to damaged concrete or slippery floors, for example, we will make them a priority to ensure they do not encounter any further problems in that area of work.
WLN – With your full order book, are you planning to take on more staff and invest in new machinery?
We are buying new equipment every month to cater for the demand of our services. We pride ourselves on a wellmaintained fleet of “state of the art” equipment. We also like to have spare equipment on site in case or unforeseen breakdowns. A lot of our projects involve working through the night and if they break down it creates a “knock on” effect the following day.
WLN – What industry standards do you work to?
We lay, construct and design cast in situ concrete floor slabs in conjunction with the Concrete Society’s Technical Report 34 2013 edition. The company also has its own “in house” quality control measures to ensure client satisfaction, especially when it comes to “after care” and site clearance details. We find in our industry that clients become particularly upset if the sites are left untidy and aftercare issues are not dealt with. We want our customers to enjoy the full process with Level Best and enjoy dealing with us, and then hope that they come back for some more!
WLN – In the introduction you mentioned some recent projects. Please can you tell us more about them?
Due to the extensive experience and capabilities of our office and site teams, we can design and construct almost any type of concrete floor slab. This allows us to become involved in a wide range of industrial and commercial projects. We have designed and constructed steel fibre reinforced cast in situ concrete floor slabs for supermarkets in Penzance and Croydon. We have designed floor slabs using steel mesh reinforcement for warehousing projects all over the country. Our Floor Renovation System is really taking off and we were recently awarded another large warehouse refurbishment contract in Stafford.
WLN – Where can people find details of your work for particular clients?
We provide extensive reference lists, specific to the contracts clients are interested in us providing for them. We also have a reasonable amount of case studies on our website for clients to review and inspect. We also carry out “on site” visits for clients to view our ongoing projects and check on the quality control measures and organisation itself. This gives clients a much better idea of what to expect, especially when looking at the FRS or coloured dry shake toppings on our new concrete floor slabs.
WLN – Where do you see the company in five years’ time?
We want our name to be synonymous with quality and innovation in concrete flooring. We want to continually delight our existing clients and attract new ones by offering the best solutions and service. Basically we want to be the Level Best in our field.
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