[Joe Corlett]

All:

This is hot off the press, our very own Dani Homrich is earning the big bucks as a author of an article at Surface Fabrication magazine. Don’t wait a month for the hard copy in snailmail: CLICK HERE

And just in time for the show. What luck.

Joe

[Tom M]

Thanks for posting it Joe.

Dani, really well written article, and a lot of food for thought. I have that Avonite display cabinet (Mory has a pic in a different thread) that shows the “polished” border, etc. I can’t tell you how many customers ask what it is. They love the look and, frankly, it’s not even done well. I may be missing an opportunity. It will put solid surface a little bit deeper in the price territory, but if they are given the choice, why not?

Tom

[Andy Graves]

Very nice article Dani. Are you going to have a booth at the Expo. I would like to see that polishing kit.

[Chris Yaughn]

Andy,

I never heard from the guys at Surface Fabrication. Any idea if that idea still has legs or not? I was kinda looking forward to it.

Chris

[Norm Walters]

Joe with a typo? No way. (Congratulations Joe)

[Andy Graves]

Chris,

I think they are finishing things for the show and will get to you after. Not even sure if they are going to do something or not. If I hear anything I will let you know.

[Norm Walters]

Andy, I think Dani is sharing a booth with Bessy clamps.

[Jon Olson]

Nice article Dani. I will share it with the shop.

[Dani Homrich]

Thank You Tom,

I have found that having a mirrored finished top with a nice edge and a cove backsplash in your showroom definitely makes customers more interested in solid surface. I have found that after explaining all the things they need to know about a polished top they are still more than willing to pay $500 to $700 more for a 2 sheet job to get that finish. I am very happy to stand in front of their job for 3 hours polishing the tops for that kind of money and only spending about $12 in material to do the job. It really makes the profit margin go up. Here is a light color mirror finished top in my showroom, notice how the inlay in the backsplash reflects off the top.

Dani

[Dani Homrich]

Andy,

I will be in Specialtytools booth with the Denray dust booth showing how to polish and clamping.
I also will be doing 2 seminars with Tom Phillips from Bessey clamps on the show floor stage 1
on clamping.

Thank you all,

Dani

[Tom M]

Dani:

It really makes the profit margin go up.

And that is what has been trickling away in our industry for over a decade now. Nice to see a place it can start to return.

Tom

[Rob S.]

High polish looks great. And is ok in very limited applications. Just be careful of the customer who actually uses theirs for cooking. Wet bars ok, bathrooms still ok. Kitchens,, sell them a service contract cause you’ll be going back.

[Wags]

75% of the countertops Home Depot sells in Arizona are High Gloss.. The fabricator upsells almost every job. Oh… these tops are Corian for the most part…..

[Mory Ludwick]

Wags,

I am with you on not trying to explain on upselling polished tops. However, we also upsell 50% of the jobs we do. We could probably make those numbers higher, but its not something we concentrate on too hard. It sure raises the bottom line.

Mory

[jarrod Byrne]

Wes has had his hand in over 4000 condo top jobs and countless developements in south Florida as a 20 year veteran Solid Surface fabricator. His point being that you can offer HIGH GLOSS all you want, so can Home Depot but those homeowners are going to be calling at the 1st sign of dullness, scratchs, etc…

Even Dani reccomends something like a 400 grit wet/dry abrasive to give to the homeowner to take the edge off of those abrasive coffee mugs (a great suggestion that I’ve ever heard). So, is the Depot passing that out? Hardly. Gloss it all you want, just get ready for Joe homeowner who thinks his SS tops are stone and the callbacks. I see them in the Florida market all the time.

Hell, I even have high gloss Staron tops and sell wet/dry sandpaper. Do you think I’ve taken Dani’s suggestion? No. Why? I have not had the time.If I did , I would.It’s a great suggestion. Neither will Joe homeowner. Actually, forget about just the coffee mugs, I just ran my hand under some dinner plates, Abrasive as well…Platters…same thing. Bottom line is there’s a whole bunch of stuff in your kitchen that will take that shine of real quick.

But, if they want to pay for it…so be it.

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