Becker’s Blog #4: Vein Cuts & Vino
We in the stone business have to keep in mind the average general contractor often doesn’t know a thing about fabricating stone, and the thought of getting stone from across the pond probably sends shivers up his spine. People remember horror stories and our industry is full of them – some well-deserved, although most are not.
The general contractors want to get their projects done on time and on budget. Selling yourself and your stone fabricator should be step number one.
As we were preparing budget prices for the St. Joseph’s Cathedral project in summer of 2008, we also had discussions of samples with the architect. Typically, in our industry, 6”X 6” or 12” X 12” samples are provided to the architect for review. With most stones, we send more than one sample to show the range of color and veining.
The architect’s color scheme consisted of some 25-30 colored marbles, mainly from Europe. With many of these marbles, it’s vital to see the entire slab to understand what’s happening in the stone with consistency and movement.
Going to a local slab vendor is not an option for a couple of reasons. First off, no slab vendor is going to have all the stones being specified. Beside that, the slab vendor doesn’t want to spend their overhead moving material without a chance of return.
To avoid the endless supply of samples, the architect suggested a trip to Italy in January 2009 to review all the stones. I wholeheartedly agreed that past projects with trips to see the material yielded better results.
My only reservation was that we weren’t under contract at that point; if we eventually didn’t do the work, we couldn’t recoup the thousands of dollars spent on travel and professional time. As a result, the owner’s rep agreed that, if for some reason Twin City Tile didn’t do the work, we would be reimbursed for our costs associated with the trip.
In any project, time is of the essence. Proposing a trip to Italy in January was essential to keep on a time line; bidding documents would come out in March 2009, and the contract would be awarded two months later. We all wanted to define the stone so the fabricator could provide accurate quotations.
Stone Review
On Jan. 5, 2009, Duncan Stroik, Bishop Paul Swain, Father Justin Wachs, and I arrived in Massa, Italy, and met with Agostino Pocai, owner of Italmarble Pocai Srl. We determined that by reviewing stone at Italmarble, the fabricator would yield the best use of our time, since we had so many stones to review. Our time with the Bishop was only the two days – the 5th and 6th – so Agostino had all the material ready when we arrived.
It should always be the goal to get all decisions made before your customers depart. You have all their attention so setting a pace for making and documenting decisions is my role as stone contractor.
Agostino and I decided the best way to show the stone was full-size slabs. Italmarble has a spacious warehouse, so showing all the slabs at once would be no problem.
Frankly, I don’t understand – and probably never will know – how the Italians make something like this work. Italmarble didn’t stock all of the colors, and I assume they don’t buy what they don’t have. And, somehow, there’s always an abundance of stone to see.
During the two days of review there were many cups of espresso, lunches and, without fail, the Big Dinner.
The Big Dinner is both personally and professionally satisfying. It’s the time to enjoy the best food and drink the Tuscany region offers, but is also further solidifies the relationships between all parties. We all have a distinct role in the project, but we all come together for a meal with very little discussion of stone.
Several years ago, I was talking to another former Cold Spring employee who also traveled to other countries to look at stone. He pointed out that the European attraction would get foreign stone specified for the very reason of the Big Dinner. It would be difficult to prove, but I think he was either on something … or onto something.
We departed Jan. 7 with all colors selected. Italy was rather cold and damp, but I wasn’t complaining – I was heading back to Minnesota in January.
Next month, I’ll talk about the award of project, surveying and mock-ups.
Thanks for reading.
Joe Becker
Twin City Tile and Marble Company
St. Paul, Minn.
Joe Becker has been in the natural-stone business for 26 years. He started with Cold Spring Granite as a draftsman and spent time in their stone installation and estimating departments. He is currently Vice President of St. Paul, Minn.-based Twin City Tile and Marble Co. and oversees their stone operations.
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