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Here is a link to an article on Fine Homebuilding (reputable magazine) making an argument that granite is not going to be as popular in years to come.
I have no idea if this is true or not, but I do know that there are not a lot of choices when it comes to countertop materials.
Tom was talking about starting a granite shop, if this article is correct, is starting a stone shop something that will pay off in the future.
When did Jon start going by the name Justin Fink?
It’s possible that granite could be at it’s peak right now but I think it still has a number of years before it’s out of date. Even then, I think that the granite fabricators are going to be better set up to deal with whatever material becomes the new hot product. I think that people are going to want something bulletproof and the solid surface fabricators aren’t going to have to tooling to fabricate whatever that is.
I get the idea that it is at it’s peak, but like Brian said, quartz is fabricated using stone tooling so the transition should be a bit easier.
Just interesting how articles like this tend to shape the decisions consumers make. They don’t want the product that works for their lifestyle, they want what’s popular.
and in my case I tend to sell to the people who do not want whats popular..They are so tired of the same ole, same ole.
Its so funny how I rip out perfectly good kitchens so people can ‘Go Green”
Wouldn’t it be greener if you left the old and not waste a perfectly good countertop? My dad asked a customer that one time and kinda got in trouble from the contractor.
I didn’t write the article but I thought the info was interesting. We are noticing this type of trend in our showroom . Most of our displays have granite but it looks like we need to change out a few to accommodate what the customer need and want
Posted By Jon Olson on 17 Jan 2011 01:28 PM
I didn’t write the article but I thought the info was interesting. We are noticing this type of trend in our showroom . Most of our displays have granite but it looks like we need to change out a few to accommodate what the customer need and wantMaybe it’s an east cost thing but our granite shop is carrying the load here. Other than commercial jobs it seems like all we do in the solid surface shop is the vanities for jobs that we sold granite kitchens to.
2010 sales by dollar amount:
Hard Surfaces = 61%
Solid Surface = 24%
Laminate = 15%I know that it gets skewed a bit because granite can cost more than solid surface but the majority of what we do is commodity colors that don’t cost a whole lot more than solid surface.
Brian,
By sales numbers is sometimes a bit deceiving. Typically we find that a stone job is about 25% more cost than a solid surface job. Plus, it is faster to make a solid surface kitchen than a stone top in terms of total man hours.
Do you have a breakdown in terms of total volume by square feet?
Of course andy..thats my point..but people dont want those old bland cabinetry..But people cannot stand looking at the same thing for years and years.
As long as those supermarket magazine and HGTV are playing…people are gonna keep remodeling
Just like you don’t think they have a tire that will last forever…the patent is in hiding…I dont wanna sell countertops and cabinets that last 50 years…the durabilty might last that long but not the trend and style
so go green, go blue, go red…who cares just go buy new countertops everyone..
Granite lasts too long…them customers will never change out their kitchen if they are waiting for it to fall apart….all the granite in homes around the world…we can only hope they get bored with it and change it out.
I know people sell on how long it will last..but think about our future countertop kids..if the tops last for fifty years…and no more houses gets built…uh..change
Unfortunately I don’t have those exact numbers. For some reason the sales people still don’t understand the concept of ‘garbage in, garbage out.’
I can give you info on purchases though. In 2010 we purchased 80,727 square feet of hard surface materials and only 37,050 square feet of solid surface. I know that the waste factor on stone is higher than solid surface but we do a pretty good job of utilizing and selling hard surface remnants.
Based on the waste factor of stone compared to solid surface, it looks like it is about 50/50.
37050/80727 = 45.8% and this is not considering waste.
Ok, I do know that in the last quarter of 2010 we sold 15,191 square feet of hard surface tops. To fabricate those tops I allocated 21,502 square feet of material. That’s a 70% yield.
If I assume that my yield over the course of the year is the same then that’s approximately 56,500 square feet of hard surface sold. That’s 50% more square feet of actual tops sold vs the solid surface material that we even purchased. In reality, that 37,050 is high too. I didn’t do anything to account for half sheets of material purchased because it would be a pain in the ass to figure out. I just took the total number of sheets purchased and multiplied by 30.
This is why I don’t like articles like this. It’s completely opinion based and there are no numbers or studies done to back it up. All the guy has is a couple people that tell him that they don’t like granite any more so all of a sudden no one is going to buy it at all?
Posted By Brian Stone on 18 Jan 2011 08:11 AM
It’s completely opinion based and there are no numbers or studies done to back it up. All the guy has is a couple people that tell him that they don’t like granite any more so all of a sudden no one is going to buy it at all?
This was my interest in the article. When did granite ever become the greatest surface on earth? It is opinion based and nothing more. All surfaces have their benefits.
Just curious, if you starts seeing more of these articles and designers begin to second guess the guaranteed granite solution, what’s next?
Very interesting. Keep in mind this article was in Fine Homebuilding which is not just some online magazine. It is reputable.
The thing is, they’re throwing all granite counter tops into the same group. They compare it to the pale blue bathroom tile and olive green shag carpet. Did everyone quit installing tile in their bathrooms and carpet in their other rooms? No they didn’t. They just picked out different colors. It’s the same as saying that Corian isn’t going to sell any more in the future because no one wants Peach or Seagrass Corian.
I already said this earlier, my bet is on engineered surfaces that can replace the color options of granite but still have the durability and hardness that isn’t necessarily associated with solid surface. My opinion is that solid surface isn’t going to be the material of the future for counter tops. It’s already had it’s day and better materials are already here.
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