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Posts
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Since the first of the year, almost everyone coming to my shop is wanting stone.
I guess HGTV must have had only stone tops on their shows while everyone was watching during the holidays?
Norm, doesn’t that mean when they leave, it is a sign it is just a money based credential?
Thank heavens the colleges and universities haven’t figure out a system by which if you don’t join their alumni association and give then $200 a year, you do not have an active diploma….
Solid Surface won’t be the premier product anymore because something else took it’s place. The point is that something else will take the place of granite.
King of countertops is still laminate no matter what solid surface is doing.
Nrom, I could not agree with you more concerning CKD’s . Worse is the AKBD which was put in place FOR HD by the NKBA. When I was the Az rep to national NKBA I suggested that we place a time limit on being an AKBD. HD wanted to be able to have all their associates have something after their name. 99.99% of folks have no clue what CKD means, or what AKBD means. All show not much go.
FYI, when the old AIKD (precurser to NKBA) was first starting the CKD program, I was one that was grandfathered in, I didn’t bother to even apply for it, since in the real world, with real customers it has little meaning.
Posted By Norm Walters on 22 Jan 2011 06:20 AM
Wags, though I am not a big box store fan some of the folks in them are CKD’s. That title doesn’t really impress me though considering your certification can be pulled if you don’t renew your NKBA membership. I have talked to past employees of the big box stores that were laid off and since their NKBA membership was paid for by their employer they were no longer CKD’s, that bullshit in my book, just sayin……………Norm:
How long would you remain a licensed Florida builder if you didn’t pay the state its due? Norm Walters Construction pays your dues for you and if you are no longer working for NWC, you aren’t going to be licensed for very long afterward. Seems fair enough to me.
Joe
Just some more numbers from a fabricator. Take what you want from these.
These are our numbers from December 2010
Solid Surface:
Total jobs: 47
Jobs with Kitchens: 13*
Total Square Ft: 1427
Average SF per job: 30**Hard Surfaces:
Total Jobs: 76
Jobs with Kitchens: 59
Total Square Ft: 3507
Average SF per job: 46*One solid surface job was a condo project that was 7 kitchens. If you count each individual kitchen separate the total is 19 kitchens.
**If the condo project is removed from the total the average SF per job drops to only 24 square feet per job.
Posted By Brian Stone on 24 Jan 2011 11:32 AM
Just some more numbers from a fabricator. Take what you want from these.
These are our numbers from December 2010
Solid Surface:
Total jobs: 47
Jobs with Kitchens: 13*
Total Square Ft: 1427
Average SF per job: 30**Hard Surfaces:
Total Jobs: 76
Jobs with Kitchens: 59
Total Square Ft: 3507
Average SF per job: 46*One solid surface job was a condo project that was 7 kitchens. If you count each individual kitchen separate the total is 19 kitchens.
**If the condo project is removed from the total the average SF per job drops to only 24 square feet per job.
Good information. If you can, just for your own knowledge, figure out the profit and profit margin for each surface.
For us, the cost to fab and install stone is much higher due to the manpower, machines and equipment necessary.
Subsequently, our margins are lower on stone.
Posted By Andy Graves on 24 Jan 2011 12:15 PM
Good information. If you can, just for your own knowledge, figure out the profit and profit margin for each surface.
For us, the cost to fab and install stone is much higher due to the manpower, machines and equipment necessary.
Subsequently, our margins are lower on stone.
I’ll see what I can dig up. I have the solid surface numbers on my desk right now but I’ll need to go through the stone.
Posted By Andy Graves on 24 Jan 2011 12:15 PM
Good information. If you can, just for your own knowledge, figure out the profit and profit margin for each surface.
For us, the cost to fab and install stone is much higher due to the manpower, machines and equipment necessary.
Subsequently, our margins are lower on stone.
Then you’re just not charging enough.
December 2010
Solid Surface profit margin = 14%
Hard Surface profit margin = 29%Keep in mind though that we are running at capacity in the granite shop right now. It makes a huge difference in margins when your not sitting on your hands all day or making the work fit the day. Our granite installers are also crazy fast and one of the solid surface installers is crazy slow.
For the one solid surface installer, he was the installer on 7 out of 10 of the jobs that had the highest labor cost percentages and only 1 of 10 that had the lowest cost percentages. The granite installers put in 2 of the 10 solid surface jobs that had the lowest cost percentages.
Wow, those numbers tell the story. Stone is making you money, solid surface is not so great.
Would be interesting if you had laminate numbers to compare.
I would love to have numbers like that on a regular basis. The full capacity production makes a world of difference for us no matter what product we are fabricating.
Thanks for sharing this information.
Posted By Andy Graves on 25 Jan 2011 06:52 PM
Would be interesting if you had laminate numbers to compare.
Do you just want me to send you a backup of our QuickBooks file Andy?
(kidding)These numbers aren’t that difficult to get. The biggest thing is getting the labor costs. You could do that on a monthly basis to get your total instead of messing around and trying to get a number for each job. I wouldn’t think that would be that difficult to come up with.
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