I've known Buddy Rhodes for a long time - as a matter of fact, I took his very first workshop, and I'm fairly certain I was the first person to purchase a pallet of Buddy Rhodes Concrete Mix. I used to teach workshops for Buddy in San Francisco for many years. Buddy is good people, as they say, and it's always nice to spend time with him. If you haven't had the opportunity to meet him, now is your chance as Buddy Rhodes will be joining us for the February Pinnacle Concrete Camp!
The Pinnacle Concrete Camp is hosted by Concrete Design School and features trainers Brandon Gore, Dusty Baker, and Jon Schuler. Additionally, we will have several guest assistant trainers that bring a wealth of knowledge and experience. Between the training staff and workshop attendees this class is going to be a record breaking 40-50 people total! You don't want to miss this event!
Spend 6 days in the beautiful mountain town of Eureka Springs, AR learning the following:
+ Rubber Mold-Making
+ How to Post-Tension Concrete
+ GFRC and ECC Concrete Mix Designs
+ How to Properly Mix, Cast, Cure, and Finish Concrete
+ How to Seal Concrete for the Real World
+ Dusty-Crete
+ Advanced Finishes using Upright Casting Techniques
+ The Business of Running a Concrete Business
+ How to Price Your Products
+ ... and Much More!
If you are new to concrete and want to start a successful business, or if you are an industry veteran that wants to sharpen their processes, the Pinnacle Concrete Camp is for you! The workshop is being held February 24-29, which is approaching quickly, and only a few seats remain so don't delay, register today!
Be Profitable in 2020 Making Concrete!
Owning and operating a decorative pre-cast concrete company is the dream that many of us have, but being profitable in this business is elusive to the vast majority of folks that try their hand at it. The failure rate each year for decorative concrete start-ups is over 50%, and that number increases in the second and third year of business. But why is that?
The short answer is that Concrete is Hard. Knowing how to mix concrete isn’t enough, you need to know how to market yourself, price your product, and avoid pitfalls that can make or break a concrete company.
You can’t learn these hard-fought lessons from training programs in which the trainers themselves do not own or operate successful businesses. You also won’t learn these skills from “guest trainers” that have only been in the game for a year or two. Concrete Design School is the only training program in which all the curriculum is taught by long-standing proven concrete business owners. Our 3 trainers have more than 50 years of combined industry experience, practical knowledge that will give you a competitive advantage in your local market.
If you want to stand a fighting chance at not being a statistic join us this February 24-29 in Eureka Springs, AR, USA for the Pinnacle Concrete Camp, the first of only 2 training events we’ll conduct in 2020. We are capping the class at 30 attendees and it is already more than half full. This training event is 6 days of the absolute finest and most relevant training available anywhere in the world - in fact, it is the only place you will learn these skills. We hope to see you this Spring!
The Pinnacle Concrete Camps, the ONLY TWO Training Events CDS will conduct in 2020!
We’ve taught a lot of workshops and artisans at Concrete Design School over the last 16 years. We’ve averaged 4-5 classes a year, but as our businesses have grown the client work demand has increased as well. This had made coordinating trainers schedules very difficult. We have decided that in 2020 we will only hold two training events, which we are calling the Pinnacle Concrete Camps! These 6-day workshops will feature our premiere topics from trainers Brandon Gore, Dusty Baker, and Jon Schuler, but we will also place an emphasis on camaraderie with our concrete compeers. Time will be set aside for socializing around fire pits in the evening, as the lifelong friendships formed in our classes are as valuable as the training itself. The two Pinnacle Concrete Camps are scheduled for Spring and Fall:
Pinnacle Concrete Camp / Spring: February 24-29, 2020
Pinnacle Concrete Camp / Fall: November 16-21, 2020
Additionally, we have increased the training discount for Alumni to 50% OFF! We value our past attendees and love seeing them again, so this is our way of saying ‘thank you’ and offering increased value to the CDS family.
Over the 6 days workshop topics will include:
GFRC
ECC
UHPC
Post-Tensioned Concrete
Rubber Mold-Making
Best Business Practices for a High-End Concrete Business
Dusty-Crete
Advanced Finishes and Upright Casting
How to Properly Seal Concrete
How to Transport and Ship Concrete
How to Stain and Color Concrete
Concrete Mix Design
How to Properly Mix Concrete
How to Cure Concrete
APEX Concrete Workshop, October 2019
We’ve been teaching concrete enthusiasts for a long time - nearly 15 years now, and that has resulted in a lot of conversations. The APEX Concrete Workshop is a result of those discussions. APEX is focused on the following most requested topics:
POST-TENSIONING CONCRETE
RUBBER MOLD MAKING
GFRC MIX DESIGN, CASTING, AND FINISHING
BEST BUSINESS PRACTICES FOR A CONCRETE COMPANY
If you’d like to finish 2019 on a high note and start 2020 with a fresh perspective and supercharged skillset, join us this October in Eureka Springs, AR! We look forward to meeting you.
APEX Concrete Workshop, Oct 2019, Eureka Springs, AR
from $1,920.00
First Time Attendee or Alumni?:
Quantity:
Review of the February 2019 Concrete Design School GFRC, ECC, Fabric-Forming, Post-Tensioning, DustyCrete, and Concrete Sink Workshops
Another series of Concrete Design School workshops has come and gone. It was a great week of training where we covered ECC, GFRC, SCC, UHPC, DustyCrete, Fabric-Forming, Concrete Sinks, and Concrete Countertops. We made a lot of awesome pieces, awesome friends, and even tested the strength of a sink with 8 rounds of 45-70 (spoiler, it held up great)! It’s time to rest for a minute and take a look at the production schedule for the next few months to see where we can work in another class. Keep an eye on the website, we’ll announce the dates shortly.
The September 2018 All-In Workshop & Fabric-Forming Workshop are SOLD OUT! You can still get into the Dusty-Crete and Post-Tensioning Workshop!
As anticipated the September 2018 'All-In Workshop' and 'Fabric-Forming Workshop' are officially SOLD-OUT! As of 8:00am this morning there is 1 seat available in the 'Dusty-Crete Workshop' and 'Post-Tensioning Workshop'. They won't last long so NOW is the time to register and book your travel arrangements, the class is in 1 week! See you in Eureka Springs.
Dusty-Crete Workshop is now scheduled for September 2018, and we have a special Reduced Rate Workshop Package for all three classes!
Well, we went and did it - we scheduled our THREE MOST POPULAR CLASSES IN A ONE WEEK PERIOD! Do you know what this means?! You can fly out to the beautiful Ozark Mountains and in one trip learn our best practices, techniques, and hard lessons gleaned from over 70,000 hours of success and failure. This is unprecedented, we've never offered these three workshops back-to-back, so if you want to get in, get to getting, it's time to register! You can register for the Dusty-Crete Workshop here, or you can register for the All-In Workshop here. We look forward to seeing you in September.
That's a wrap for INCEPTION, and now we're looking towards March 2018!
The INCEPTION Training Event was an overwhelming success! We had attendees from all over the world - South Africa, Pakistan, Mexico, Canada, New Zealand, and of course the United States. It was truly a pleasure having this diverse, talented, and enthusiastic group in our studio for a week.
Now that INCEPTION has passed we have been receiving emails asking when our next workshops will be HELD. We have scheduled the following two classes at our Eureka Springs, AR headquarters:
2.5 Day Fabric-Forming Concrete Sink + GFRC Workshop, March 12-14, 2018, Eureka Springs, AR
from $1,500.00
First Time Attendee or Alumni?:
1.5 Day Post-Tensioned Concrete + Current Techniques Workshop, March 15-16, 2018, Eureka Springs, AR
from $975.00
First Time Attendee or Alumni?:
Quantity:
We will be scheduling a Dusty-Crete Workshop in Burns, TN and a workshop with Jon Schuler in Angels Camp, CA for the first quarter of 2018. Keep an eye on the website for the announcement of the dates.
Post-Tensioned Concrete, Current Techniques, Old World Methods, Modern Mix Designs, and Jon Schuler! We must be California dreaming!
The stars have aligned and we just scheduled two brand new workshops to be held at Creative Crete in Angels Camp, CA, May 1-6, 2017! Brandon Gore will be teaching a class that goes in-depth on his most current techniques, including post-tensioning concrete, while Jon Schuler will be conducting a workshop on creating a multitude of finishes with the most basic of tools and techniques. Two things are guaranteed; 1. These classes are going to be a ton of fun, and 2. They are going to fill up fast! If you want to attend both workshops at a special reduced rate, check out the All-In Workshop Package. See you in California!