[Rodney Mitchell]

kdnoel wrote

Negativity breeds Negativity and = A big turn off thus No Solution for the customer.

All materials have their place and I will continue to recommend them where they best solve the customers problem.

So KD, were that your opinion you would take care of this site, one of your own stoners.

[Randy Evans]

Thanks for the reply, Al. Maybe we just don’t have enough common ground to even meet for a conversation. Seems like we talk past each other no matter what we do. It was worth a try, I guess. Good luck to you.

[Andy Graves]

Hello Ravens,

Welcome to the FabNet. Interesting hearing the views of a homeowner from their perspective. I would love to see your kitchen. One of my favorite colors is Mont Blanc.

You made the comment that solid surface fabricators are selling the negative of granite. I sell all three premium products and I try to be honest with all. There are some negatives about granite, I feel consumers need to know about. That is not to persuade them to buy something else, it is only an effort to make them aware. I do not want my customer coming back to me later saying ,”I wish you would have told me.”

Thanks for posting,

Andy

[David Gerard]

i was faced with this scenario on fri. Went to a home to discuss a cabinet install job. The customer mentioned tops also. I assumed he knew I did SS. After arriving and solving his logistics issue with getting the new appliances up 1 level and into the kitchen I learned we would be only doing cabinets. ” What are the tops” I asked. Granite tile he answered. He wanted me to prep the top for the granite guy. Sorry I said . He should do his own prep to warranty his own work. Have you lived with granite before? No . Make sure you get the best sealer money can buy and learn how to take care of your tops. He was bummed he couldn’t have an undermount cast iron sink. Sure you can I said. Have a section of granite slab made for the sink area. Solved another problem for them. I saw the contractor list on the counter. May not get the job after all. A local hack was on the top of the list, a yes man (in theory) Point is never once did I try to talk the customer out of what they wanted,but only helped further their decision.( sure I was dissapointed) That approch is better in the long run.

[Randy Evans]

Thanks Andy. Here’s a link that should show you some photos ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg072039356692.html

It’s not a kitchen for everybody, but it is nice to know that you wouldn’t see another one just like it right down the street.

[Gene McDonald]

Very stylish…great work not just the design..The actual work, so many people see our work and just assume we opened a box and put it in the Kitchen, i guess because they only see you on the install…thats my style…I can not stand all the work that goes into a kitchen and it looks like a giant sample with a sink in it …or a cheap cabinet hardware…thats the bells and whistles and again..awesome artistic kitchen

[Neal Kinzie]

WOW! Not my style but that is one awesome kitchen!

[Randy Evans]

Thanks guys, I appreciate those comments. Means a lot coming from guys who are in the business.

We’ve enjoyed our Corian countertops so far. It’s kind of funny, given the reasons for my visit to your forum, but we chose solid surface in large part because granite has become so “expected”. Also, just in terms of style, solid surface seemed to fit better for us. We pondered Silestone for a while (Gray Expo, which mimics concrete), but chose Corian in the end based on price and just a preference for the look of it.

[Ryan Walker]

Andy said it well. What the stoners need to understand is that for a high end cabinet shop that does cabinets, we do not dare sell crap and so much of granite is crap. The profit off a granite top is not worth the loss of a top knotch referal. This is not cheap work done for spec homes or custom homes on a tight budget, these tend to be dream kitchens and you do not disappoint this type of consumer.

As I have said on numerous occasions, we were forced into the granite business in order to provide better quality, better expectation management, timely fabrication and delivery, and better education for our customers.

We lost a job the other day to a yes man shop. The material wanted by the designer is called Crema landfill by everyone we checked slab sizes on. The job included a 7′ x 40″ tub surround, maybe three inches left around the perimeter with no seams, two vaniities that were longer than the slab size, kitchen and laundry room. We researched the material and warned them of extra seams in the vanites and about the fragility, etching, and staining of the material. Sure marble does this, but this color earned it’s nickname.

The shop that got it is renowned for it’s hack jobs. In the end, the homeowner will learn an expensive lesson.

If all you sell is stone and you have no reputation, you can afford to sell granite like everyone else does. Shops like Andy’s and Tom are generational shops with reputations to protect. Stoners working in a driveway can afford to dismiss the negatives of stone.

[Andy Graves]

Very nice. We can learn a lot from your experience as a customer that can tell us why they buy what they buy.

How did you choose your fabricator?

[Randy Evans]

Thanks, Andy. In my particular case, I did a ton of research and “shopping” on the web. When making a major purchase, it is my preference to find out all that I can independently, so that I’m not relying on a salesperson for unbiased information. That’s just how I like to do things, no matter what thing I’m purchasing.

So, I spent a lot of time on the Gardenweb forum lurking, and did about a thousand Google searches too. I was really intrigued by a product called Alkemi, but it was way out of our budget installed (lower of 2 bids was triple what we paid for Corian.) We looked into stainless steel, concrete, “paperstone”, etc.,, but were never convinced they were for us (in terms of budget as well as aesthetics.) We looked at granite some, mainly by visiting the big home stores just so we could look at samples, but we decided that granite just wasn’t aesthetically the right kind of surface for us either. We also decided that we didn’t want laminate, probably on a snob basis really. We were trying to “move up”, and laminate is all we had ever had.

We finally settled on it being either solid surface or Silestone (in the Gray Expo color, which mimics concrete). Avonite has some exotic colors that really stand out, so we contacted a local fabricator that we found on the Avonite site. He seemed like a nice guy, and suggested that the colors that interested us were probably too soft for a 4 person kitchen that included 2 clumsy teenage boys. He actually suggested that we consider a granite that I now understand to be the one from the Silestone people. He advised that he had always been a granite skeptic, but had recently attended a class or a conference and had been convinced that this product wouldn’t need to be sealed for years and years. We thought about it, but were still leaning heavinly toward a solid surface (now Corian Mont Blanc, another similar Corian that I think was called Platinum) or the Gray Expo. But, the fabricator that we had been working with became hard to reach by phone, and we moved on. Never had any disagreement with him at all, and were just about ready to visit his shop to make a final selection, when he took himself out of the running. I don’t know if he was traveling, or sick, or really busy, or what.

Anyway, someone at work suggested another fabricator who works for a big countertop company here, and who is the husband of yet another employee at my company. I contacted him through her, after asking around and getting a couple more word-of-mouth recommendations. He came to the house, and left us with boxes of Corian and Silestone samples. He answered questions about the Silestone and the Corian, but really applied no pressure. I asked him straight out what his favorite was as a fabricator, and he answered “Corian”. He left us with the samples, gave us the prices and told us to call him if we had questions.

We finally made up our minds on the Mont Blanc, called him back, and the rest is history. We got a good price (better than a big box store), and were very happy with the two guys who came out to do the installation. I’ve only had one chance since then to make a recommendation about them, but I did so gladly and without reservation.

[Dan Dauchess]

Randy,

Excellent example of a rational customer doing their homework and settlng on a solution for their needs! We all could hope for customers like you, no matter what surface you ultimately select.

Dan

[David Gerard]

Yea , I love it when the cutsomer is more informed than me Just kidding, I agree, everyones better off if I don’t have to give a spiel, and I am willing to learn any time. As my brother says “check that ego in at the door….please”

[Tom M]

David,

Did you change email addy’s? I have mixed down some sound files and I wanted to send a few out to you. If I remember right, you just got high-speed.

Sorry for he OT, back to the bickering.

[David Gerard]

Tom, it’s at the end of my little quote, lower right hand corner. Love some sound files.

[Author]

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