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Brandon Sun - ONLINE EDITION

Stone industry rock solid

Countertop makers see unprecedented sales growth

By: Murray McNeill

27/07/2010 8:51 AM | Comments: 0

Brian Bollman of Western Marble, Granite & Tile Ltd., standing in the shop of his finishing plant, says business is so good his firm has hired another five workers over the last couple of months just to keep up with the demand.

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Brian Bollman of Western Marble, Granite & Tile Ltd., standing in the shop of his finishing plant, says business is so good his firm has hired another five workers over the last couple of months just to keep up with the demand.

Stone countertops are all the rage in homes and commercial buildings these days, and that's fuelling a period of unprecedented sales growth for some local stone fabricators.

The owner of one of the province's largest fabricators -- Winnipeg's Western Marble Granite & Tile Ltd. -- said sales growth over the last five to 10 years is the best he's seen in his 35 years in the business, although he declined to disclose an actual number.

Brian Bollman said business is so good his firm has hired another five workers over the last couple of months to just to keep up with the demand.

"And I would love to expand, but I have no room to move outward," he added.

The general manager of another big industry player -- Lac du Bonnet-based Granite Mountain Stone Design -- said it's sales have grown by about 50 per cent over the past five years.

"We've definitely seen good, solid growth," Rick Anderstedt said in an interview, adding if that keeps up, it also will be adding more workers.

And Brock Coutts, co-owner of Winnipeg's Precision Stone (formerly Precision Granite), said Precision's sales have nearly doubled in the two years since he and business partner Murray Rempel acquired the firm.

Their other fabrication company -- The Marble Factory -- has seen its sales grow by about 15 per cent per year, Coutts added. He said their combined growth prompted them to move their operations to bigger quarters on McGillivray Boulevard.

"We (Precision) were absolutely at maximum capacity at our other location," he said. "And we definitely plan to grow and to hire more people." All three industry officials attributed the surge in sales to the growing popularity of granite, marble and quartz countertops in both the residential and non-residential sides of the construction market. Especially on the residential side.

"It (stone countertops) has almost become the standard now," Anderstedt said, and that's the case with modest to mid-priced homes, not just the high-end ones.

Bollman said there are several reasons for that.

"The prices have gotten better," he said, estimating they've decline by about 20 per cent over the last 10 years due to increased competition.

Fifteen years ago, there were only four or five stone fabricators in Manitoba, he said. Now there are 16 or 17, including four or five that have opened in the last year.

And because there are more fabricators, the range and selection of products are also better than they were, Bollman added.

He said most of the natural stone that's used to make countertops is imported from countries like Italy, Brazil and India because of the limited selection of colours available here in Manitoba. Prices can vary greatly, depending on the color of the stone.

For example, some high-end marble from Chile can cost up to $400 per square foot, he said, while other types can cost as little as $35 per square foot. "So it can run the gamut."

While these are the best of times for some local fabricators, that's not the case with all of them. CanAmerican Granite Corp., a six-year-old firm on Erin Street, recently ceased operations and its equipment was auctioned off to pay for unpaid wages and taxes.

The local businessman that owned the company could not be reached for comment on what went wrong. But several industry players said it looked like the firm tried to be too many things -- a stone quarrier, a processor and a retailer -- and wasn't large enough to make it work.

Bollman said while the demand for stone construction products continues to grow, it's still a finite market. That's because there already plenty of fabricators in other nearby markets like Ontario, Alberta and Minnesota, so local firms are limited to selling mainly to customers here in Manitoba.

"The market has become saturated with stone fabricators. There are at least five too many," he said.

But whether that leads to a further contraction in the number of fabricators is anyone's guess, he added.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

 

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HERE are some other facts and figures about the local stone fabrication industry, courtesy of local industry officials:

-- Stone fabricators manufacture a variety of products made from things like granite, marble, engineered stone (quartz), cultured marble (a mixture of marble or granite dust and resins), sandstone and limestone.

-- They include things like kitchen and bathroom countertops and sinks, tubs and showers, tables, benches and fireplaces for the residential market; reception-area countertops for the office market; and bar and lobby-area countertops for the hotel industry. Some also produce stone tiles and wall cladding for both the residential and non-residential markets.

-- Granite is the hardest material, followed by engineered stone. Marble is a little softer and limestone and sandstone are softer still.

-- Different shades of brown and black are traditionally the most popular colours with local buyers, who include commercial builders, homeowners, homebuilders, home renovation specialists and cabinetmakers.

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