al,
…look to swanstone for an even longer one…
This is true, and Karran has a 50 year warranty. If you think about it, though, how good are these? No plumber is covered, all they do is throw a top, or a sink at you, and in Karran’s case, they give a couple of hundred dollars. Not enough to make me push the product, I’m afraid. In the case of Swanstone, the whole reason for the warranties is because their main competition is cultured marble, which has a history of cracking around the drain. Again, marketing has everything to do with this.
(can you imagine gluing on a build up without removing any of the plastic film that comes on the sheet?)
That’s pretty good, right there. I remember going on a Corian complaint where the customer said there were holes all over the surface. The “fabricator” (scare quotes necessary in this case) actually made the top upside down.
…and our distributor made the fabricators company pay us for doing the work and didn’t send it thru avonite,
Now this is a warranty back up I can live with. I was happy when the manufacturers started going this way. The problem is, there are many times when the cost for repair is cheaper than the dollars lost in doing the job the right way to begin with. It’s almost a comfort zone for the cheap guys. I’ll give you a safe example, that I actually don’t find too abusive: A freindly competitor was using Elkay Starlight sinks as seamed undermount bowls. For the cost of the Corian bowls, he could buy a Starlight (made out of – you guessed it, Corian) bowl, pocket an extra hundred, and throw a hundred into a warranty account. Assuming one out of three failed, certainly an acceptable risk, he could replace it on his own and still be ahead.
I can’t be sure about the 40% figure, but I’m talking to some guys who remember those days to back me up.
Good luck on the big job. I hope it is well profitable for you.
I wonder if a good thread topic would be “repairs that made you go hmmmm”?
Tom