Travertine Redux
Can you change the look – and the value – of a less-than-premium-grade travertine floor? Tom McNall advises that it’s not a quick fix, but a thorough restoration can take the square-foot appeal from a Jefferson to a Jackson.
Category: Clean Perspective
Stone renewal/restoration/business with Tom McNall.
Assume = Nothing
By Tom McNall
Recently, I was asked by a prospective new partner (who hasn’t had his training yet) about pricing a terrazzo floor. Our exchange was educational for him, and I thought it would benefit anyone in the restoration business – or considering getting into it in the future – who doesn’t know how to price a job for restoration.
Stone Seer
By Tom McNall
I used to think that athletes were nuts when they’d say, “See the ball go into the hole,” or “Visualize yourself winning the big game,” I thought that this was a bunch of hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo that they’d tell us mortal players just to make us feel better.
Truths My Father Told Me
By Tom McNall
The following is adapted from my book From Mops to Tops, and based on a chapter dedicated to certain proverbs that my father (may he R.I.P.) sounded into my soul over the years and helped me become the man I am today. So, to Mr. Franklin James McNall, this one’s for you.
Nickel and DIE–me–ing
By Tom McNall
A few years ago, I attended a seminar in Orlando put on by a marketing/sales guru about the future of selling for profit. His major suggestion: Advertise a lower price for your stone (he was focusing on fabricators) and then charge extra for every cut and profile.
Is That Really Stone?
By Tom McNall
In the business of restoration, many a time you may come across a stone that is not a stone at all.
Mickey Mouse Training
By Tom McNall
There comes a moment in every business owner’s life when it’s time to hand over the reins. Starting tomorrow, let someone else do the task that put you in the very position you’re at today.
Unmade by the Shade
By Tom McNall
I‘ve written before about the joys – and challenges – of working on different surfaces. But, at a high-profile, high-end resort hotel, we recently tackled a multi-faceted problem granite.
Hard Lessons
by Tom McNall
I was having an espresso with one of my best stone customers the other day, and a few funny war stories came up. Funny to us, but not so funny to those involved.
Make a Commitment
By Tom McNall
I’ve mentioned before that a lot of new people in the stone-restoration trade are from the janitorial and carpet-cleaning industry. I get a lot of routine questions from many of these that have supposedly been in the business a long time, and I hear quite a few contemplate leaving the business.