So You Want MY Job?

That December, my father and I decided to act on the idea, forming a company that served as a subcontractor to stone fabricators in measuring countertops. We advertised our service by emphasizing the accuracy of ETemplate, as well as the fact that we carried with us an Allen Datagraph plotter to make full sized Mylar templates to double-check our measurements.
The plotter also allowed us to show clients exactly what their stone countertops would look like in place. This was important when people were trying to determine the size of an arched snack bar, or exactly how an odd-shaped piece would look in place.
We were moderately successful. Our clients were pleased with the results, but we found that offering only the templating side of the equation was like serving a sandwich with only one slice of bread. Open-faced might sell fine in a deli, but our customers wanted the whole sandwich- templating and installation.
After seven months in business, we began to install the countertops we measured. Soon after that, to complete the equation and get us to where we are today, we also began to sell granite, marble, and quartz countertops.
In essence, we became a stone shop without a stone shop. Or, possibly, a stone shop with several stone shops.
Either way, MTS is a company that was unheard of in my area when I started in the stone industry. Stone shops were, for the most part, full-service. They measured, fabricated and installed all of the jobs that came their way. Most worked with stick or cardboard countertop templates and paper sink templates. They also did a lot of hand-cutting and -polishing.
What changed to allow a company like MTS to enter the market and be a success? In my opinion, the main driving force behind the transition in the industry has been the marriage of automated cutting and polishing technology to CAD-based electronic-templating systems and the Internet.
In other words, I can make an accurate digital template, draw and label the countertops in CAD format (including dropping in the digital cutouts for all the sinks, faucets, and cooktops) and email it to a fabricator. He can convert my drawings to work within the language of his system and proceed to cut and polish the countertops exactly as I drew them. I can then pick them up and, with relatively little trouble, install them.
If this is old and unimpressive news to you, I’m happy. You’ve obviously kept up with the latest advances in the industry. But, inevitably, with new technology comes the divide between the haves and have-nots.
Setting up an automated stone shop is an expensive proposition. The result is a growing number of enormous computer-driven shops with the ability to reach out and grab countertop market share.
I’m not going to enter the debate about automated megashops overwhelming the multitude of small ones. Quality is still my guide. I’ve installed perfect countertops from a $10 million factory as well as from a small shop with a Park Cougar and a couple of electric Milwaukee polishers.
But, the small shop is limited. It can’t cut a long arch with the perfection of a CNC, or give me an accurate European seam to go around a corner. And while the small shop is at the top of its game, machine cutting and polishing for the automated shop will continue to improve. Eventually, the machine polish will be perfect.
How will that make the landscape of the stone industry look in the future? Will it be an industry dominated by giant shops with a scattering of small specialty guys, or will the price of automated technology drop enough to make it available to everyone? If it did, would that level the playing field? And what will it mean for the role of workers in the field right now?
I don’t have the answers to these questions. The only thing I know for sure is that there will be a place in the stone industry of the future for skilled and tech-savvy templaters and installers.
What do you need to do be successful in a job like mine? To start with, Luddites need not apply. If you’re not convinced ever-advancing technology is the future of the industry, you won’t enjoy this job.
You’ll also need to feel good about investing money for an electronic-templating system and the training on how to use it, as well as money and time to get trained on CAD. Setting up your own system for processing, submitting, and storing data is yet another task.
An old stone worker once told a friend of mine to buy the best boots and the best bed he could afford, because, “if you’re not in one, you’re in the other.” My advice for the modern templater/installer is to buy the best computer you can.
Love it or hate it, you’re with it all the time. Pretend you’re a kid looking for cars and find one that’s fast and has a good set of speakers, but can also take a beating when it’s out in the field.
My laptop computer and I are best friends. When I go to a jobsite to template, I have it there to process photos if I need to. Back at the office, when I’m not letting my computer process photos, I’m drawing on CAD or downloading DXF sink cutout files from manufacturer’s websites. After all of that is done I’m emailing drawings to a fabricator, and then reading online to keep up to date with the latest goings-on in the stone trade.
Does this sound removed from the old “hands-on” craftsman with the tape measure and wood sticks? It is.
I know people who are phenomenal at making stick templates and are every bit as accurate as the guy using electronic templates. But unless they invest in digitizing technology, they may never be able to work with the growing number of shops that will only fabricate off CAD drawings.
This seems especially true of the quartz-surfacing side of the industry. In my area, the quartz fabricators have readily embraced technology and worked out the systems allowing the process to become completely computerized. The first template MTS ever did was for a regional quartz-surface provider with an eye to the future.
So, after you’ve invested in templating technology and have mastered how to use it, what’s the next thing you need?
Well, customers. Finding a fabricator willing to work with you can be quite the adventure. Some are not comfortable subcontracting out any part of their operation, even if they have more work than they can handle. Others look at everyone else in the stone industry as competition, and may be suspicious of working with you.
One approach to take is to start with fabricators that are outside your immediate area. If you can convince a company that it may be able to widen its market reach by using your template-and-install service, you might get some jobs from them. You’ll end up with more travel time, but a new source of work is well worth it.
In this day and age, make sure to budget wisely for travel cost. A year’s worth of rising gas prices, like the one we just went through, can hurt the bottom line if not included in what you charge.
From our base in Madison, we regularly worked with in-state fabricators from Milwaukee (one and one-half hours away), Fond du Lac (one and one-half hours) and Baraboo (one hour), along with jobs in Cedar Falls, Iowa (three hours). Considering that some of the jobs we did were in Minocqua, Wis. – still in the Badger State but five hours away – the drive wasn’t so bad.
Another way to get your foot in the door with a fabricator is to bring them work. If you’re not much of a salesperson, even getting a shop one job gives you the opportunity to work with them and to prove that you know what you’re doing. If they like what they see, they may give you some of the overflow template/install work they have, thus helping to cut down on their lead times.
The way we approached fabricators, by offering them a service that could increase the accuracy of their product and bring their customers templating peace of mind, is yet another approach. We demonstrated ETemplate countless times, and – after we began installing – we took numerous pictures of our work and showed them to everyone who would give us the time of day.
One hurdle you will inevitably run into is justifying your cost to their bottom line. Many fabricators we approached had no idea what it was costing them to template and install. Because it was a service they had always provided themselves, they never took the time to break out the cost and weigh the advantage of subcontracting out this work.
If you can convince a shop to give you a job and then to look at their numbers when the job is complete, they may find it is a cost-benefit to use your service.
Once you’ve found fabricators willing to give you work, how do you operate smoothly within their system? We’ll cover that next month.
Jason Nottestad, a 13-year stone industry veteran, is co-owner of Wisconsin-based Midwest Template Services