Where Did We Go Wrong?The beauty of natural stone – rock as old as time, harvested from some of the most delicate and unforgiving lands on our planet, trucked, floated, or flown to any imaginable destination, and customized to the most exacting specifications of your unique project – and all yours for the low price of $27.00 per square foot installed. Where did we go wrong? 
Posted by John Kilfoyle |
November 21st, 2011
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The beauty of natural stone – rock as old as time, harvested from some of the most delicate and unforgiving lands on our planet, trucked, floated, or flown to any imaginable destination, and customized to the most exacting specifications of your unique project – and all yours for the low price of $27.00 per square foot installed.
Where did we go wrong? When did one of the oldest, richest, and most storied crafts known to man become a commoditized industry replete with bargain pricing, blinking neon signs, free undermount sinks included with purchase, incompetent workers, and unprincipled business practices? When did we pervert the art and beauty of natural stone by categorizing these inimitable natural resources into groups and colors that we sell at prices that severely undermine the value of our product and integrity of our industry?
Ladies and Gentlemen: we have done this to ourselves. Fortunately, current economic forces are providing us the ideal opportunity to repair our broken industry.
The business of stone fabrication is expensive and labor-intensive – cumbersome at best. The downfall of our industry began when uneducated individuals dove headfirst into the business convinced that the limitless profits of fabricating natural stone would greatly outweigh the paltry cost of operating a fabrication facility. All you need is slabs, laborers to fabricate those slabs, and some overeager customers who are willing to part with their hard-earned cash for a poorly crafted countertop… right?
Wrong. An intelligent and experienced fabricator will quickly inform you that these basic costs do not begin to scratch the surface of the burdensome expense of the stone business. A truly responsible stone fabricator will have a significant overhead, which will include myriad tangible costs: facilities, machinery and equipment, product, personnel, vehicles, safety equipment, liability and workers’ compensation insurances, and federal and state taxes- just to name a few. There will also be a multitude of intangible costs: knowledge, skill, experience, and ethics.
The intelligent and experienced fabricator cannot compete with the parasite whose sole purpose is to pocket as much cash as possible before vanishing without a trace, leaving the stone industry in disrepair with street prices that are irresponsible, unsustainable, and degrading to our craft.
The effects of industry reticence to combat and discourage these destructive practices are immeasurable. We are fractured, discouraged, and fatigued. Coincidentally, the economic forces currently threatening each of our businesses have created a unique opportunity for intelligent and experienced fabricators to finally take a stand against this industry perversion. There is no better time for candid discussion and discovery than now. Through education, awareness, accountability, and principle, intelligent and experienced fabricators throughout our country and around the world can save our broken industry. I hope you will join me.
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You can also join John Kilfoyle for the Countertop Installers Forum: Solutions to the Most Common Problems (WE23T) on Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 4:00pm – 5:30pm at StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas. Click here to register for StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas.
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