If a contractor wants to move quickly while working on a house, it helps to have a list of tricks up your sleeve. Patrick Senn has one trick, but it is so effective that he has been able to make a business out of it, reports Wicked Local Dedham.
Q: So you developed Mix It Quik based on a technique that an 82-year-old Italian mason showed you 22 years ago? Sounds like a good story. What were you doing in Italy?
A: I was working in Cambridge helping a friend, and I was told that I could get a week’s pay from an elder gentleman in Porter Square. This frail 82-year-old Italian mason showed me a technique that was taught to him by his father for mixing and pouring cement/concrete. He told me that this was how the Roman Empire was built and that the Romans used animal hides to mix and pour the raw materials they used back in the day. With his technique, I was able to mix and pour three pallets of ready mix concrete in about four hours. Needless to say, my week’s pay ended up being a day’s pay, but the wisdom he shared with me was priceless.
Q: How did you invent the Mix It Quik tool that goes with the technique?
A: Friends and coworkers, who had seen me use this trick on jobs and projects, inspired me to make the tool to go with the technique. Everybody I have ever shown this to has loved it and agreed that it was the most efficient way of mixing and pouring cement. I was told by a contractor, who saw me teach this trick, “If you make this tool, I’ll buy it.†Mix It Quik was born. I went to a local home center and bought some raw materials. I built a working prototype in my garage in Dedham. After searching for a manufacturer, which wasn’t easy, I found someone in Massachusetts that was able to make and distribute my tool, turning an idea into a reality.
Photo from Mix-It-Quik