Classic Stone LLC, Indianapolis
As this year began, the company already had its drywall and cabinets in place for the new showroom, and work was going ahead on the floors.
“We’ll have a working kitchen and bath, as well as five or six kitchen and bath vignettes, and an outdoor kitchen area,” Norris says. “We’ll also have a tile display, as well as up-market sinks and faucets.”
PUSHING AHEAD
Click to enlargeOne of the things that came with the purchase of the fabrication shop was a distributorship for Dallas-based Daltile Corp. Classic has a subcontractor who does tile work for the company, but Marsh says that’s still evolving.
While the company’s clients have always had some interest in tile, especially for backsplashes, he’d rather not see the business get heavily into flooring and showers.
“Tile is still a whole other beast from what we do, and while we’ll continue to concentrate on our core products,” Marsh says candidly. “if we can supply a quality product, that the public wants, we’ll be happy to offer the material.”
Still another area Classic Stone is slowly evolving into is commercial work.
“I think our future is being able to handle some larger projects, including more commercial projects,” says Weddige. “I think we were a little scared of those initially. Being a small company, you don’t have the resources to really handle something that could potentially put you under if you devote a little too much time to it.”
As a certified residential interior designer who’s currently working toward commercial certification, Norris expects to help boost Classic’s commercial business in the future.
“The contacts I’m making with architects and other designers will help us capitalize on that market,” she says. “We really haven’t pushed it and it’s not part of our business plan at the moment, but there will be a plan in the future to definitely attack the commercial market.”
Still, Classic Stone is a work in progress. For one thing, Norris notes the company has to balance its walk-in customers against its designer-based clients, who are also selling to the end users.
“We certainly don’t want to be in direct competition with them,” she says. “That’s a fine line and we definitely won’t do anything to jeopardize it, but we also need to grow as a company. Our goal is to create net-new business, not rob Peter to pay Paul.”
Marsh believes the company’s greatest success has been its ability to build and maintain good relationships with its retailer customers and their clients. Classic has received the Angie’s List Super Service Award two of the last three years, and that won’t change as they go forward.