Quality Marble & Tile, Grimes, Iowa
Today, he still has his eye on goals and how to attain them. And he’s got considerably more than the bag.
Kahrimanovic employs some 20 Iowans in the stone-fabrication and installation industry in this small town just west of Des Moines, the state capital. Despite a somewhat flat economy, he’s considering expanding into related products.
Iowa’s been good to the Kahrimanovics. Quality Marble & Tile in Grimes boasts a strong and ever-building clientele that wants everything from backsplashes to ceilings.
“We are granite fabricators and installers,” says Kahrimanovic. “But we also do marble, travertine and other stone, and we install ceramic, porcelain and natural stone tile. Our projects include walls, ceilings, showers, saunas, bathtubs — you name it, we can do it in tile.”
At a time when many businesses are feeling the pinch of a struggling economy, Kahrimanovic is enthusiastic about his business, his business’ growth and the actual day-to-day work, the craft and artistry, inherent in creative stone fabrication and installation.
“We do a lot of custom backsplashes,” he says, “which is one of my favorite things to do. I like to design those. It’s hard for a home owner to have the necessary vision for the completed project.
“But I’ve now got years of experience,” he adds, “and I can see right away that there is a certain tile to go with a certain project. A lot of installers put in the countertops, then try and determine the backsplash. It makes customers happy that we can decide ahead of time, that all of the stone is selected at the start. It’s good for them and good for us. It works out much better than waiting until countertops are up.”
Running a stone-fab business in America’s heartland didn’t figure high on the list of Kahrimanovic’s goals in the early 1990s. Back then, he had a simple target: a job.
“I was young when I left Bosnia,” he says, “and there wasn’t really any work there and so I had almost no experience when I landed in Germany.”
He ended up spending seven years there, basically serving an apprenticeship at a stone company.
“Germany changed all of that,” he says. “Germany really helped me with my work. I actually did do some granite and tile work in Germany, but no direct installation. The thing is, if you work in Germany for eight years — heck, if you work for one year – you’re going to learn how to work. Work is work in Germany, and I learned how to work.”
In 1999, Kahrimanovic decided to make the move to the United States, ending up with work for a granite shop in Iowa. At that point, what could’ve been bad news turned into an opportunity.
“The company I initially began working with started going downhill,” he says, “and decided I needed to do something on my own to feed my family. We began our business in our home; then we moved into an old neighborhood on Second Avenue in Des Moines. We began by simply doing some custom work; it turned out that a lot of people liked it, and builders liked it.
“Builders connected with us and then we moved to a bigger shop in Grimes in 2004.”
The “we” in that sentence refers to Kahrimanovic family members and other employees that Hayro carefully fostered in order to continue to build the business.
“In 2004 my brother, Nehad, became co-owner of the company,” he says. “He helps me so much right now, it’s unbelievable.
“And we now have 20 employees,” he adds. “We needed more people when we moved here. We’ve got fabrication people who work on their own, and we have salespeople, estimators and a secretary. My wife is the accountant.
“One of our secrets, I think, is our salespeople and how they work,” he says. “Our salespeople are involved in each project from A-to-Z. We used to have sales people that worked on commission; that, I don’t think, works.
“Our salespeople are the best. They treat people very well from beginning to end. I teach them to act natural, not to lie to people, and certainly to never cheat people.”
All of those Quality Marble & Tile people take up about 6,400 ft² of building space, plus another 100,000 ft² of yard – a far cry from the modest in-hom” beginnings at the company’s initial launch.
“We bought a new building recently,” Kahrimanovic says. “We now have a fabrication facility, and over 2,000 ft² dedicated to a showroom – and we’re still working on it. We hope to add another, additional building behind our main one. It’s all very, very nice for us.”
It’s also very nice for building business. Kahrimanovic admits to taking the state of Quality Marble & Tile’s showroom very seriously, even personally. He believes that the quality of product put immediately in front of customers creates sales that might not otherwise happen.
“The truth is that I’m obsessed with the showroom,” he says. “I always have been. That’s because I believe that when people want to buy something, they first want to see it and touch it.
“Here, people can see and feel the product. With that experience, sales are usually very easy. People, after touching and seeing a product, can understand and accept its cost. So we keep an excellent showroom.”
The pristine and perfect showroom, however, isn’t the only way Kahrimanovic continues to build his client base. Industry colleagues and other professionals also beat a path to the Quality Marble & Tile door.
“It’s interesting how business builds,” says Kahrimanovic. “It used to be that builders, designers, remodelers, and all sorts of contractors brought us new business.
“But since the housing market has gone down,” he says, “new home sales are really down. So, right now, we have lots of remodeling jobs, and those jobs are usually private people. I really like it. It’s become very much a word-of-mouth business. Right now, we’re getting more business back from these people than we ever have.
“Contractors don’t always necessarily give word-of-mouth recommendations,” he adds. “But homeowners really like us because they like how we work and our attractive prices. It’s really wonderful.”
Traditional media spots also play into Quality Marble & Tile’s building-the-business efforts.
“We do some magazine advertising,” says Kahrimanovic. “And we advertise in the local newspaper. But the truth is that most of our business comes from word-of-mouth.
“Advertising is good, but you have to spend a lot of money. We used to have TV commercials, but I really wish we’d spent that money on customers. Occasionally, we’re called on to do radio shows. But it’s our sales people that do a good job, that ultimately get us in touch with homeowners.”
However, when asked, it’s not necessarily the residential remodels that Kahrimanovic considers some of Quality Marble & Tile’s most-memorable work. The Des Moines region is dotted with a number of substantial installations.
“We worked on a Harley Davidson store and did some very interesting black-granite tile work in Des Moines,” says Kahrimanovic, “and that was a lot of work.
“And we also did projects for Drake University, DeWaay Capital Management and the University of Northern Iowa,” he adds. “The University of Northern Iowa project is in progress; it calls for over 10,000 ft² of tile in four different phases. We’re just now beginning Phase II. This is really a landmark of our work.”
Landmark or no, Kahrimanovic is considering expansion.
“We have a showroom and sales office in Waterloo, Iowa, for Quality Marble & Tile,” he says, “and it’s doing really well. We’ll see how things go, but we may expand into southern Iowa.
“And we also just opened up a cabinet business,” he says. “We have six different styles of custom cabinetry.”
Ultimately, Kahrimanovic has a strong sense of how Quality Marble & Tile came to be and how others with a vision might make it a reality.
“I never give up,” he says. “And capital money is very important. Be brave, take a loan, and start from there. Try to get money, try to get the loan today.
“You’ve also got to connect yourself to good suppliers,” he says. “Our suppliers are excellent. Also, always, always be honest with customers – and get good employees and treat them well.
“Finally,” he adds, “don’t be hungry for profit. I’m not a rich guy. I’m just a normal guy that likes working.”
Cathie Beck is a freelance writer based in the Denver area. She recently completed a memoir, Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship.
This article appeared in the September 2008 Stone Business. ©2008 Western Business Media Inc.