Time For MIA Accreditation

CLEVELAND – If you’ve been anticipating the accreditation program from the Marble Institute of America, the wait is over.
The MIA announced on March 7 that it’s now accepting applications for accreditation. The program, in the planning stages for more than two years, is expected to draw hundreds of applicants.
“Accreditation will be available to all fabrication/installation companies within the natural stone industry, not just MIA members,” said Scott Lardner, MIA past president and chairman of its Accreditation Commission.
Three forms of accreditation are available: Natural Stone Fabricator, Commercial A Contractor and Commercial B Contractor.
“The MIA intends to explore expanding the program to other sectors of the natural -stone industry upon successful implementation of the first three,” Lardner said.
“A great deal of time and effort has been spent ensuring that this accreditation program is the real deal,” said Tony Malisani, a member of the Accreditation Appeals Committee. “The MIA accreditation seal will not be a rubber stamp; rather, it will lend instant credibility to firms that earn it.”
The process of becoming accredited consists of three equally-weighted phases. Phase one requires the completion of a application to ensure that the company is in compliance with the 10 standards of accreditation as laid out by the MIA Accreditation Task Force.
The second phase is a 200-question multiple-choice examination, testing the applicant’s knowledge and application of material usage, installation, fabrication, restoration, care and maintenance, administration, legal/contracts and jobsite and shop safety.
The third phase is a comprehensive site visit, which will include a facility review, document review and one or more installation visits.
Accredited natural-stone fabricators consist of residential-oriented companies that have successfully completed 200 projects in a minimum of three years, among other requirements.
Commercial accreditation is broken into two categories. Commercial A is for companies doing large commercial work, while, Commercial B is for firms that handle smaller-scale commercial stone installations such as hotel lobbies, bank lobbies and low-rise interior/exterior cladding.
To request an application go to www.marble-institute.com/accreditation, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “Application Request Form” link.