Summit Stone Works Inc.
“I asked them if they really wanted a granite shop in the county, and if they’d support one,” he says. “They all said it would be fantastic to have a local guy to send customers to, both to pick out remnants and to see bigger pieces than what they had in sample boxes.”
At that point, most of the stonework in the county came from the Denver area or Vail. Not that there hadn’t been other efforts made to bring stone fabrication to the area – a fact Monroe learned when he went to look for a building for his new business, which incorporated in mid-2003.
Click photo to enlarge“Previous granite companies has caused some disruption with the business association to the point where we were unable to get into some commercial spaces,” he says. “We finally found a space in Silverthorne, but it had to go through the board of directors who wanted to make sure it was going to be a viable business in the space, and we wouldn’t make too much noise or have dust all over the place.”
Because of that review process, Summit Stone Works actually cut and installed jobs before it had shop space in Summit County. Monroe opted to rent a bay from a friend of his who owned a trucking company … in Cheyenne, Wyo.
“I would drive to Denver to pick up my slabs, and then drive them to Cheyenne,” he says. “Then, we’d fabricate them, put them back in the trailer, drive to Summit County, and install them.”
That continued for the first four months of the company’s existence, until Monroe finally received the OK to move into the operation’s initial 1,750 ft² space.
FACILITATOR
Eventually, the operation grew to take over surrounding space in its commercial-cener location; now, the company utilizes approximately 4,000 ft², with the area about equally divided between the shop and indoor storage, and a small office/showroom.
Monroe isn’t hugely concerned about having a more-formal showroom area. He notes that many of his upper-end clients are already working with a designer, contractor or remodeling firm. For the homeowner who isn’t going that route and is thinking in terms of a kitchen, Summit Stone Works recommends a couple of Denver-area stone suppliers for choosing individual slabs.
However, a popular item for those doing smaller jobs is the company’s stock of remnants.
“They know about us, and they’ll come in and say, ‘We’re remodeling a bathroom and we were told you might have some remnants,’” he explains. “We go back and show them what we have and proceed from there.”
The company is still templating with luan strips, and Monroe says there are multiple reasons for that, ranging from the practical to his approach to public relations and marketing.
In general, Monroe admits to being a little skeptical about getting too caught up in buying a lot of expensive machinery. For instance, the shop started with an Intertool TracStar portable saw, and today jobs are cut on a Park Industries bridge saw – but it’s the only automated piece of machinery in the shop.