Temporary Fencing:
If you haven’t thought about using it, how it can be a benefit to you or your company or even not sure what it is, let The Backfill try to clear the muddy water for you.

Portable fencing is a sturdy affordable asset that can be used in many applications from complying with building and safety codes on construction sites to crowd control.  In some areas a fencing perimeter is required by law around project sites. Temporary fencing can also help prevent theft and outside injury while providing overall control and safety for construction sites, special events or home renovations.

Adapts To You:
Fencing is versatile in installation, configuration and set up locations. Whether you site is on a hard surface, such as concrete, where stands are used or softer surface, such as grass, and an in-ground installation can be used; temporary fencing can be erected to fit your sites requirements.

Purchasing or building fence is costly and time-consuming. When you add in the volume of pieces and its space requirements, storing it is a hassle and can be costly, which is just not feasible. This is where rental companies become your source as they alleviate these problems. A phone call is all it takes to have fencing delivered and installed at your job site or event. [ Temporary Fence Rental ]

See what you’ve been missing – not just in sewer lines, but in your bank account. The Gen-Eye video pipe inspection and location systems are real money makers for you because you’ll know what the problem is, where it is, and how deep to dig. It keeps your costs down, your quotes competitive, and your customers happy. [ General ]

More Info On Sewer Camera & Line Locator Rental

In 2010 OSHA issued over 94,000 citations for safety related violations.  They announced the top 10 violations and causes at the National Safety Council’s 2010 Congress and Expo.  These top 10 offences accounted for nearly half of the total violations for the year.  At the top of the list: scaffolding, fall protection, hazard communication, and respiratory protection violations.  

OSHA’s Most Cited Safety Violations of 2010

1. Scaffolding: 9,093 violations – Scaffolding violations and accidents are most commonly attributed to improper use that results in the plank giving way, the employee falling off, or an object falling on top of the person.
2. Fall Protection: 6,771 violations – Fall protection violations occur whenever a person is 4 feet above the ground without proper safety measures. Fall protection must be provided at four feet in general industry, five feet in maritime and six feet in construction
3. Hazard Communication: 6,378 violations – Manufacturers and movers of hazardous materials must evaluate, label, and provide MSDS for each product.
4. Respiratory Protection: 3,803 violations – Respirators help to protect against unhealthy breathing environments. This can be caused by insufficient oxygen, dust, vapors, gasses, fiberglass and more.
5. Ladders: 3,072 violations – 8 percent of all occupational fatalities are due to falls.
6. Control of Hazardous Energy – Lockout/Tagout: 3,321 violations – “Lockout-Tag out” refers to locking the on/off power switch while working with high current electrical devices.
7. Electrical – Wiring Methods: 3,079 violations – Electrical hazards are present for those who work directly and also indirectly with or near dangerous electrical lines.
8. Powered Industrial Trucks: 2,993 violations – Many employees are injured by driving powered industrial trucks off of loading docks, into ditches or by being struck by trucks while working.
9. Electrical – General: 2,556 violations – Working with electricity is always hazardous. Many employees are injured during routine electrical maintenance and install.
10. Machine Guarding: 2,364 violations – Any machine part, function, or process that may cause injury must be labeled and safeguarded.

Parents want to give your kids a great holiday experience?

Better yet, Fellas we are going to do you a solid.  You take this and suggest it to your family, kids or significant other and you will look like a hero in your kids eyes, earn some monster brownie points with your significant other or maybe even get you a second date.

SANTA’S WONDERLAND in College Station, Texas.

With a spectacular and creative drive through light tour and the entertainment, food and shopping in Santa’s Town there is nothing they left out of this Texas holiday experience.  You can take pictures with Santa, sit around a camp fire, watch a holiday movie, listen to some tunes and even ride a mechanical bull if you have the nerve. 

Ok that’s all you’re getting, we don’t want to give away too much.  Just take our word for it, It’s worth the visit!

You can thank us later.

Here is the website: Santa’s-Wonderland

As a member of the Purina Difference™ Rewards Program, you have access to the following benefits:

For more information on the program and to register click here.

[Purina Mills Feeds and Products]

Freedom isn’t free!

To all the men and women that have served past and present – THANK YOU!

Help out and give back to our veterans and current men and women who protect this great country. With out them, the freedom and luxuries we take for granted are not possible.

At the very least when you run across these true HEROS a simple THANK YOU and a HAND SHAKE can go along way.

THANK YOU!

Aztec Rental has joined the Independent We Stand movement!

What is Independent We Stand?

Independent We Stand is all about independently owned businesses across the country reaching out to their communities and educating their neighbors about the many benefits of “buying local.”

You can support the cause and help revive the local economy by shopping at your friends’ and neighbors’ stores. Buy their products. Eat their food. Use their services. In turn, these locally owned and operated businesses will continually pump your hard-earned dollars back into the local economy by way of taxes, payrolls and purchases.

This means more money for roads, schools, services and new jobs in your community.

Independent We Stand recognizes all socially responsible businesses, both large and small. The movement focuses on helping the little guys not just survive, but thrive…and all the while helping them to contribute to their community.

Small business owners think money spent in your community should largely stay there, not always go home with strangers who hail from heaven knows where.

These locals aren’t just “moms and pops.” They’re all about family—brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, cousins, neighbors, friends—all the people who make your community a wonderful place to live. They’re scout leaders, volunteer firemen, Little League coaches. They’re the folks who sing in the church choir, rescue animals and help feed the less fortunate.

It’s time for you to refuse to fuel this recession any longer and help get the economy back on track.

What are the benefits and importance of buying local?

Local businesses across the country now have a new champion in the form of Independent We Stand, a national movement of independent business owners educating their communities on the benefits of shopping at local stores.

“This project began as a way to inform friends and neighbors on one of the best ways to revive our economy: buy local,” said Bill Brunelle, Independent We Stand spokesperson. “Buying products and services from people who work and live in your town means more money goes back to your local area. Through taxes, payrolls, and the business owner’s own local purchases, that reinvestment stays where you live, making your own community a better place.”

Independently owned businesses provide numerous benefits to their local economies that most people might not be aware of. According to recent studies*:

The Economy

• Small business accounts for 75% of all new jobs.
• When you spend $100 at an independent business, $68 returns to the local community. Spend that same amount at a national chain and it drops to $43.
• For every square foot a local firm occupies, the local economy gains $179 vs. $105 for a chain store.
• Locally-owned businesses reinvest in the local economy at a 60% higher rate than chains and Internet retailers.
• Small businesses employ just over half all U.S. workers.
• Small businesses create more than half the nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).
• Locally-owned and operated businesses create higher-paying jobs for you and your neighbors.
• More of your tax dollars are reinvested in your community to fund local schools, hire more police officers and improve roads

Sources: U.S. Chamber of Commerce – Small Business Nation; Civic Economics – Andersonville Study of Retail Economics. Civic Economics – San Francisco Report on Retail Diversity. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Buy Local Berkeley.

The Community

Did you know independent locally owned and operated businesses…

• Are run by your neighbors—maybe even friends or mentors? They genuinely care about the well-being of your community because it’s home to them, too.
• Are among the first to offer their communities a helping hand? Research shows they donate to local charities at more than twice the rate of national chains.
• Add character, quality and charm to your community, not to mention more choices? Often these smaller shops carry items that bigger stores don’t sell—usually because there’s not enough of the really good stuff to go around or the profit margin isn’t high enough for the big guys to stock.

The Environment

• When you shop at independent locally owned and operated businesses, you are contributing to a smaller carbon footprint. Products often require less packaging and don’t travel as far.
• Many independent locally owned and operated businesses can be found in established business districts, which mean less infrastructure, less maintenance and less wear and tear on your community

The Independent We Stand website also provides tools for businesses and consumers to further the cause. The newly launched site, IndependentWeStand.org, features a database of locally owned businesses across the country, a resource center for business owners to share news and statistics on the importance of buying local, and posters and flyers to help promote the message.

“All socially responsible businesses, big or small, help our economy remain vibrant,” said Brunelle. “Our goal with Independent We Stand, however, is to give locally owned, independent businesses a bigger voice to talk about the important contributions they make.”

Independent We Stand is funded in part by STIHL Inc., a manufacturer of outdoor power equipment that has never sold its products through mass merchants and sells through thousands of independently owned servicing dealers across the country.

With STIHL, the #1 selling brand of handheld outdoor power equipment backing the movement, you know its strong!

Why does Stihl, one of the worlds most recognized companies only do business with independent dealers?
Read This: STIHL in “Box Stores” – Negative Ghost Rider

For more information, to pledge your support for locally owned businesses, or to register your own business in the database, visit www.independentwestand.org.  You can also follow them and join the movement on Twitter [@IndWeStand] or Facebook [/independentwestand].

We joined and so should you!

[Aztec Rental]
[Independent We Stand]
[Stihl Outdoor Power Equipment]

Pretty sure that statement isn’t true but we are going with it for the purposes of this post.

We were approached by Rental Management, the official magazine of the American Rental Association, about writing an article on our social media efforts.  We are happy to say, Rental Management thought enough of the article we put together to publish the piece in the September issue of Rental Management.

For your pleasure…or maybe ours, here is a section and the link to the full article on rentalmanagementmag.com:

For the past few years, Aztec Rental Center, a construction equipment rental company in Houston, has been looking for innovative and cost effective ways to increase sales and drive more traffic to our website. In doing so, we’ve learned that leveraging different mediums and joining conversations already taking place online can fill this need and produce continued success. The proper kind of attention and exposure gives you the opportunity to promote your company and inform current and potential customers about your business.

In order for a company to advance, you must adapt — and quickly. The explosion of social media in the past few years means information is constantly at your fingertips, but it also means what was news three hours ago is often times no longer relevant. Regardless of whether or not social mediums like Facebook are around 10 years from now, right now they’re effective tools for spreading your message and, even better, they’re free.

The purpose of viral marketing is to create a symbiotic relationship between an organization and its community. In the past, many establishments have been apprehensive to use sites such as Facebook and blogs as they offer no real unit of measurement in regard to the effectiveness of a specific campaign or overall success of any particular marketing strategy. However, the rapid shift to social media websites to market and promote products, causes and companies has made the presence on such media a necessity. As viral marketing has become more pronounced, it is important to focus on why it exists and, more importantly, how to develop your message and tools to make the most of this new medium.

Read the full article: The Blog Approach

Special thanks to Rental Management and the ARA for enjoying our blog, Twitter feed and Facebook page and spreading the word of how awesome we are!

Home owners going back to a “do-it-yourself” mentality is an increasing trend over the past few years.  More and more home owners are trying to “cut back” during these economic hard times.  Taking on small projects, repairs and other around the house maintainance items themselves has been an increasingly common way to capture some extra money and relieve some stress on the monthly budget.  Projects such as extending a patio, pressure washing, carpet cleaning or snaking out a clogged plumbing line can be done much cheaper by a home owner than hiring someone else to come in to do it.  One of the biggest areas people are adopting the do-it-yourself approach again, is lawn and garden care.

You Can: “DO-IT-YOURSELF”

A survey was recently conducted by The National Gardening Association showing this increase of home owners taking matter into their own hands.   The survey came back with about one out of five households nationwide spent more time caring for their lawns and gardens last year and 16 percent less money in total than in previous years.

The survey goes on to indicate that, while most of the 83 million households that participated in do-it-yourself lawn and garden activities last year spent about the same amount of time on their lawns and gardens, 22 percent spent more time food gardening, 19 percent spent more time flower gardening, 19 percent spent more time container gardening, 14 percent spent more time on lawn care, and 13 percent spent more time on yard and landscape maintenance. Only about 1 out of 10 households spent less time on lawn and garden activities last year.

These recently published results found in the Hard Times Lawn & Garden Survey and 2010 National Gardening Survey show how more Americans are tightening their belts while benefiting from their own lawn and garden maintenance, said Mike Metallo, President of NGA.

“It makes perfect sense that people are spending more time on do- it- yourself lawn and garden activities during this great recession because it’s a simple and direct way homeowners can maintain and improve the appearance of their property and save money by doing more for themselves,” Metallo said. “It’s clear that food gardening is a significant priority for many people because exercise, health and nutrition, along with food safety, are on the forefront of their minds, along with the dollars they spend on produce in stores.”
   
According to NGA’s 2010 National Gardening Survey, household participation in all types of do-it-yourself lawn and garden activities increased by 2 million households last year, to 83 million households from 81 million households the previous year. The average annual amount spent per household on all lawn and garden activities decreased by $81 from $444 to $363. And the total amount spent on all lawn and garden activities decreased by 16 percent to $30.121 billion last year from $36.060 billion the previous year.

Full Article: More people saving with do-it-yourself lawn & garden care

So, if you are looking to save that extra money and “do-it-yourself” your local rental store should be the first place you look.  Rental companies like Aztec Rental carry the equipment that will get your job done.  From lawn and garden equipment (chainsaws, lawn mowers, blowers, aerators, & sod cutters) and home project equipment (pressures washers, carpet cleaners, tile saws, & concrete mixers) to contractor equipment (generators, compressors, jackhammers & compactors) and earth moving equipment (backhoes, dozers, skid steer loaders & excavators), will be on hand and rental ready.

Basically, what every the project or job you have we make it easy, from the equipment and expertise to the proper use and advice.  So, if you are in the Greater Houston or surrounding areas come see us at Aztec Rental for all your rental equipment needs.  If Houston is not where you call home, contact your local rental company for information.

We strive on our customer service, and an important part of that is understanding what our customers want, need and what is in their best interest.  Many people do not want or need to rent equipment, as owning the equipment is more logical and beneficial for them.  If renting the equipment is not what you had in mind and would rather own the equipment yourself, great news, Aztec Rental is your source for new equipment as well.  We have the privilege of partnering with top of the line manufacturers in the outdoor power equipment, lawn equipment and construction equipment industries, to get you the “right” equipment for your needs.   If you are looking to purchase that chainsaw, trimmer, blower, walk behind lawn mower or zero turn mower you have always wanted, look no further, Aztec Rental has the experience and knowledge you are looking for in an equipment dealer.

Brands: Stihl, Echo, Ferris Mowers, Snapper Mowers, Trailers and more.

Helpful Do-It-Yourself Articles:

Lawn Aerator: How & When To Use
Spring Cleaning At It’s Easiest: Get Your Lawn In Shape
How To Refinish Your Hard Wood Floors

Ok, you win, do US a favor.

We appreciate everyone that stops by The Backfill and now we want you to take part in this once in a  lifetime opportunity.

Take a moment and join the team on:

Facebook
Twitter 

It’s life changing!