Heard Over The (Next) Counter

March 5, 2004

Call any shop, and there’s some type of surface that’s sure to push the hot button in sales. For some, it’s the material itself, and how it’s eaten into bread-and-butter sales in certain markets. For others, it’s the source of the material and its quality. And, for others, it’s the outsourcing of labor overseas, with customized ready-to-install products working into lucrative large-scale commercial projects.
Other competitors, however, may be pretty small potatoes in volume or market visibility. Perhaps you haven’t thought about these oddball surfaces in years. And maybe it’s time to think again.
Let’s duck below the usual finger-pointing for a few minutes, and consider some phantom competitors. Don’t be surprised if they to make a dent in your market. It’s a cinch that one of them is stealing customers right now.
• Concrete. Yes, concrete. Plebian, mix-it-up, water-and-sand concrete is migrating from the foundations and the sidewalks to the kitchens and bathrooms. Concrete may seem cold and dull, but it’s getting to be quite cool for the trendy crowd.
The official arrival for hipster concrete countertops came earlier this year in Wired with the magazine’s what’s-in, what’s-out featurette. “Colored concrete” got the hot nod as “wired;” granite is now relegated to “tired.” (And, more than a few stone companies may be heartened by the “expired” selection: Corian®.)
Shaded concrete is making the rounds in other home magazines and cable shows as the “new” alternative, which should give keen material observers a chuckle. Fancy concrete surfaces began popping up as feature fodder in the mid-1990s, and Berkeley, Calif.-based designer Fu-Tung Cheng’s book (Concrete Countertops) is a staple of bookstore how-to shelves.
I admit some affinity for using concrete. My late father, a construction foreman, worked for years on grain-elevator and tilt-up projects, and I learned from an early age about the wonders of the continuous-pour, slip-form process. He literally could spot a good or bad job from a mile away, and I can still appreciate a well-poured and -cured slab.
Dad would be spellbound at some of the custom work available for countertops. Take a look at www.buddyrhodes.com or www.concreteexchange.com, and you’ll see why concrete can make a slick fashion statement. It’s also worth noting that a professional polishing can bring can take dull concrete and bring out a mirror-like finish.
So why isn’t concrete chasing out granite from thousands of homes? My father would’ve told you that good concrete work is an art, and a colored countertop isn’t the same as a 7° driveway. Getting the job done right with custom forms for all dimensions and shapes is still an expensive proposition that can easily top the cost of a well-installed granite, and small cracks are all-but-inevitable. And did I mention the annual sealant and paste-waxing?
• Porcelain stoneware. Look at an ad claiming a surface is “almost like stone,” and you’ll often find that it’s porcelain tile. These claims especially drive European stone factories nuts, along with some of the outlandish statements. (One Italian tile-maker’s Website, with its assertion that the supply of natural marble “has almost run out,” is a particular favorite of mine.)
So why pay attention to tile? If you happen to be at Coverings 2004 this month, stop by the booth of Mirage Granito Ceramico and take a look at something bigger than a 18” X 18” tile – namely a 70” X 50” slab.
To say that these Italian-made pieces imitate stone in appearance is a massive stretch. However, the key is the 3cm thickness and the ability to shape these slabs like stone; the coordinated look of porcelain slab and tile, along with easy maintenance, can be very, very attractive, and the material is getting more-and-more traffic on home-improvement Websites.
At this point, the material’s not the easiest to find for homeowners and designers, with distribution centered mainly on the U.S. East Coast. Other porcelain-stoneware manufacturers aren’t following Mirage’s lead – not yet, anyway – so prices aren’t going to be stone-beaters. But, it’s a competitive material to keep on the market radar.
• Stone tile. That’s in real quarried material, so why should this be a “competitive” surface? To be blunt, it’s not in the what …. it’s in the who and how.
When most people in the industry think of stone tiles, they think of floors or walls. For kitchen countertops, vanities or furniture, slabs make the most sense. Unfortunately, for some customers, that also means the most cents out-of-pocket, and there’s someone ready to offer the affordable substitute of tile tops.
No, this isn’t a blanket condemnation by any means – plenty of shops offer good work with a tiled surface. However, there are a large number of tile and furnishing vendors who offer stone-tile surfaces as a lower-cost substitute for slab, with the added “convenience” of slapping the stuff over the preexisting surface.
The problem with this kind of stone slip-cover is that – since much of this work is a quickie installation – it only amplifies any problem with the previous surface. The job can be done right; however, I’ve seen more and more work with bad lippage and uneven surfaces. Customers aren’t exactly happy with the results, but they bought the pitch that working with slab would be incredibly expensive.
All of these materials aren’t competitors that you can easily find in the market , but it’s good principle to keep looking. Not seeing the one that hits you may be an old war-move cliché, but it rings true for stone shops today.