The Granite Guy, Farmington, N.M.
Still, they weren’t quite ready to dive into a move head-first.; the couple went home to pray about the situation. After a couple additional trips back to check out the city and the area, Ernie Marquez also began studying to take the test for a New Mexico contractor’s license.
He was in New Mexico, taking the test, when one of California’s seasonal wildfires swept through the Marquezes’ property, damaging some of their outbuildings and destroying the homes of some of their neighbors.
“One (of the neighbors) was like, ‘Are you serious about wanting to move, because if you are, I want to lease your house until I can get my house built again,’” Marquez relates. “At that point, we figured it was a word from God, and we even left our furniture there. We packed up our clothes and came to Farmington.”
NEW ROLES
Once the couple arrived in their new home, Marquez quickly identified a location on Main Street for launching The Granite Guy.
“It was just a little shop with a yard on it,” he says. “Right away I started making trips to San Diego and bringing my stuff.
“I also brought a couple guys with me. They’re brothers; they first came out with me and then ended up bringing their families with them. We’ve been here two-and-a-half years now.”
Along with bringing his workforce with him, the guy from California brought something else that the community wasn’t used to seeing: slabs.
“We started out with like six slabs on consignment from our friend Caio Travassos of Amazon Stone; now I’m in the 100-slab range,” Marquez says. “It fluctuates, but I try to keep at least 100 slabs on my yard. Originally, I brought my slabs from San Diego, but then I started meeting people out in Phoenix, and I stated getting material from them.”
Marquez says that relationship was a big help to his new company, because it freed up money he could allocate to other costs. And, it benefitted his new customer base, because until that time, people interested in using natural stone in their homes had to travel to Albuquerque to select it.
He adds that one of the things he likes about his new location is that he can take the time to leave the shop and go to Phoenix to select the granite, and then transport it to Farmington.
“I hand-pick 16-18 slabs at a time,” he says. “I had a big A-frame built and put on a trailer with 10,000-lbs axles. I carry a lot of the regular stuff, like uba tuba, but I also try to carry a lot of exotic materials.