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I am trying to decide whether to add laminate to the countertop materials we offer. We have found many commercial accounts need a good laminate company.
Am I thinking crazy here?
I would do it. Laminate is still strong. They have allot of colors that look like granite. Low overhead. You have Tom the laminate expert here to answer all the tough questionsWhat type of counter is big in your area? Post formed, Self Edge etc? You can purchase blanks, only need a mitre saw so your investment is low. Learning curve is not large either. Laminate still outsells all other countertop material combined.
No you our not crazy. It not only allows commercial accounts but also another in on the residetial side.
I have had people come looking for Solid surface knowing that is what they want and then get the price and crap their pants. Then them turn around and see a laminate top with a undermaont SS sink and say well how much is that. Well then instead of watching them walk out the door and drive away I get a sell and ussually some tile work to.Reuben
If you screw up a laminate sheet, you’re not likely to want to jump off a bridge. The downside is that it is a lot easier to screw up a laminate top than almost any other kind of material.
I’m not referring to postform blanks, but that type of laminate work is very volume oriented.
Laminate is a good majority of our business. That being said. We screw up more laminate than anything else. You get one shot at it. Its right or wrong, no fixing most things.
It also takes allot of time to train people and because there is not as much money there to play with your pay rate for lam guys is usually lower. However, a good laminate guy can make you a chunk of change.Travis makes a great point. it takes more skill, in my opinion, to be a laminate craftsman than a solid surface craftsman. You don’t get a good ROI for what that guy should be earning for dollars. My lead laminate guy is making the same as my lead solid surface guy, but I don’t make the same profit from them.
the profit margin for us is higher on lam than SS, less expensive materials and shipping weight plus faster turn out. Our shop does about half SS and the other half laminate. Tom, I agree about the need for skill to turn out good lam tops. I see lots of under qualified guys doing lam tops and man alive , I just want to jump in there and help them for the sake of the customer, all I can do is suggest they spend alittle more time cleaning up the burn marks on the self edge and maybe sand down the burrs on the face plate of their router. Good money in Laminate
Laminate was marginalized once the premiums got closer in price. Most lam companies figured they had to only go with the cheapest types or just move the customers up to the preemies. In some sense, they were right. If it’s not that far a jump, why shouldn’t the consumer make the move?
Trouble is, there are lots of great ways to make greater countertops. These are well worth having for most people out there.
Shame.
We do laminate tops almost by the ton. CNC is used only for curved sections. Go with spray contact also. It is a lot cleaner, easier, and faster. As with solid surface, you need a handfull of dedicated routers/laminate trimmers. We put a 1.5″ radius on all outside corners also. Makes for a better corner. Just gotta know how to bend it with an old steam iron.
Andy, We do mostly post form so the cnc does not play a role. When I do have a self edge top that has arcs and such we do utilize the cnc.
Steve is right, spray your glue. Binks makes a nice spray gun with a 2gal bucket. We also radius corners whenever possible. We use a heat gun to heat the lam then roll.Carefull fileing and routing.. on radius corners.. can bind up router and most guys over file caps on ends of radius.
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