*the seed*
Jim Sander Company was created 22 years ago as the first business to offer dedicated concrete surface preparation services. It all started in '79 when Jim's father, Mark Sander, serving as a consultant for the U.S. Navy aboard an aircraft carrier, worked closely with an admiral to resolve coating problems for nonskid on ships and concrete surfaces. This was the first time that Mark Sander had ever seen a dustless shotblast machine and upon doing research, found that there were no small dustless shotblast machines of any power available. Constantly being asked by Fortune 500 companies to come up with a way to do dustless surface preparation with a machine small enough to do specialized work, Mark Sander, placing his son Jim in charge, decided to start a dustless surface preparation company, OCRIC, in 1981.

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click on photos to enlarge

*making a go*
The company started out by renting out 8 8-D modified pneumatic shotblast machines built by Jim Sander. The duo rented these machines to the U.S. Navy for removing nonskid off of carrier decks. These were the first pneumatic floor shotblast machines ever used. The Navy rentals took off due to the shotblaster's ability to remove nonskid and paint around weapons and people without producing any of the accompanying dust of sandblasting or sludge from chemical treatments.

After two years of tinkering with equipment, Mark and Jim patented their pneumatic design and, assembling a shotblast team of their own, expanded beyond rentals to become the first company to provide dedicated concrete surface preparation services.

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*the 80's*
The 80's saw great success with the Sander's revolutionary "dustless" technology. OCRIC was employed by the aerospace industry, pharmaceutical companies, 5 star hotels, single family households, the military, federal public works agencies, airports and amusement parks. The shotblasters not only used a "dustless" technology, but were and still are extremely portable and so could handle even jobs in extremely confined spaces.

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*another patent*
In 1991 Jim Sander filed another invention at the U.S. patent office. This machine, registered in 1993 as the "surface cleaning and asbestos removal machine" became a very popular machine for the asbestos industry to rent for the clean removal of mastic. This was unique in that it cut down project times dramatically. Both OSHA and the EPA acknowledged Jim's ingenious shotblasting method which incorporated the wetting process in the shotblasting stage itself as well as in the waste collection stage. They declared that this streamlined process satisfactorily met the Asbestos NESHAP requirements for removing nonfriable material with sand or shotblasting.

*Jim takes the reigns*
In 1994 Jim's dad, ready to retire, handed the controlling reigns over to Jim Sander. The transition was made official when Jim, in 1998, renamed the business Jim Sander Company. Under his direction, the company enjoys continued success and has gained the reputation of being the most reliable in the surface preparation industry, always showing up at a job with only top of the line equipment as well as back up machinery. The Navy always calls Jim Sander Company before writing the specs for a job and Caltrans, before even releasing a project makes sure to consult with Jim.

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Jim Sander Company not only continues to offer its superior shotblasting services as the only environmentally friendly alternative out there to messy sandblasting, but has also expanded their services to include diamond grinding (also "dustless"), terrazzo grinding, cold milling, elastomeric stripping of waterproofing, hydroblasting, flooring removal and hard "demo" which uses brand new 863 and 453 Bobcats with 02 purifiers so as to minimize carbon monoxide in limited access buildings.

*longest in the business*
Jim chooses to keep his company's growth at a "human" scale and many people phoning JSC are often surprised when they immediately are connected with the owner himself. Jim's 3 superintendents have a track record of over 12 years with JSC. Jim Sander Company is the only concrete surface preparation company out there that can provide personalized expert service, has retained the same phone number for 22 years, and that has a track record as unbeatable as only those who have been in the business the longest could have. Jim Sander Company started it all!

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