Columbus / Georgia / United States
ChemSeal is a family owned and operated business of John and Elaine Byrnside and daughter, Deborah Algarin.
In 1983, John and Elaine still had children in school and needed to supplement his military retirement income. They borrowed $15,000.00 and bought the necessary equipment to begin parking lot striping and sealcoating.
The Columbus community was uneducated about the merits of sealcoating their parking lots - in order to not only beautify, but to protect the asphalt from deterioration by the hot summer sun and the cold winter rains.
Our first office was in a closet under the stairwell in our home. It contained a small desk and a telephone. From there Elaine made many telephone calls to businesses informing and educating them about how they could extend the life of their very expensive asphalt for a very low cost. She also designed and mailed very rudimentary brochures to them, offering a "free" estimate. John then met with those who were interested and as the jobs began to come in we rented a facility, and our business has grown slowly, but steadily, since that time.
In 1998 our daughter, Deborah, became the Office Manager when Elaine retired to care for her aging Mother. Since then Deborah has become the owner, making ChemSeal a women owned business. Son Michael is a member of the crew and several grandchildren have spent summers learning how to work, and run a business.
Thanks to the Good Lord, faithful contractors, financial advisers, and supportive friends, we were able to build our own building at 4441 Miller Road. Last, but not least, we feel strongly that Columbus has been good to us and we are honored to support our community in kind.
The scope of our work is not simple… and day after day we run into new challenges. In some cases a suggestion from a customer provides a new and better way to do things.
The average consumer does not realize that all traffic paints are not the same, and part of our job is to educate them to the importance of job specifications. It would not be ethical to substitute an inferior product, or one not meeting the code. This holds true in other applications as well.
Many of our jobs are done on state highways. The Departments of Transportation in all states denote what can be used on their roads. many times this varies widely depending on weather, budgets, and other factors in their jurisdiction. As a sub-contractor it is imperative that the prime contractor be able to trust his “sub” implicitly. Not only does he rely on his “sub” as to the honesty of his bid, but also to his workmanship and the essence of time to complete the work.
The case of working on airport runways is controlled by the FAA. It must be done to perfection to prevent possible crashes and fatalities. The placement of signs is also critical. Imagine the chaos and accidents that result when someone has erected a sign erroneously.
ChemSeal has always paid their staff a living wage, and have never paid their employees “under the table”. they believe in filing and paying their fair share of taxes when they are due. A wise boss once told Elaine that any simpleton could do any part of her job, but it took a genius to keep it all together. That’s kind of the way it is, and has been, and the reason we never get bored at ChemSeal.
There is never a job too big or too small.
