StoneWorks, Inc.
Hilton Head Company Provides High Class Stone & Tile Installations to the Lowcountry Market
by Joel Davis
Photos Courtesy StoneWorks, Inc
StoneWorks Inc. strives to offer the highest quality natural stone countertops and tile in the lowcountry of South Carolina, and its reputation reflects that.
The company specializes in custom offerings in granite, marble, quartz, and other materials.
Competitors just can’t meet its exacting standards, said Rob Cavano, operations manager. “It is our ability to do the highest level of custom work. We’re in a terrific market. It’s not cookie cutter work.”
The company is based on Hilton Head Island and also serves other markets such as Beaufort, South Carolina, and Kiawah Island, all areas where the beachfront homes of the wealthy provide StoneWorks with challenges and opportunities in custom work aplenty.
White marble is the stone of choice for many of its customers, Cavano said. “These are massive ocean front homes, and they require extreme precision. They also love their white marbles, which are very difficult to work with, and that’s in a sweet spot of ours.”
In addition to granite and marble, StoneWorks also offers materials such as travertine, onyx, limestone, quartzite, slate, soapstone, and serpentine.
StoneWorks prides itself on insuring that projects are finished on time as promised — a very specific and public promise. “It says five day turnaround, template to install, right on the sides of the StoneWorks vans,” Cavano said. “That’s our work schedule. We are very strict on that. It is one of our big selling points.”
That’s where a heavy investment in infrastructure and logistics pays off for the company. Each StoneWorks van contains its own self-contained digital work station including a Proliner digital templating device and a large printer.
The Proliner is used to take digital measurements of appliances, cabinets, and walls. The information is fed into the work station in the van so that a StoneWorks craftsman can make on-the-fly adjustments to the templates that will be used to produce countertops and other custom household features using a CAD system.
Customized templates are printed onto mylar plastic sheets, which are used to give customers a visual aid for how the finished products will be shaped. “They get to see a perfect representation of what their counter is going to look like,” Cavano said.
“If there is something subjective in the design, the customer can get involved and do adjustments and amendments during the process.”
Allowing the customer to see exact shapes that will be cut out from the slabs also gives them a chance to fine-tune the look of the product. Corners can be radiused or seams shifted or contours modified before final approval, Cavano said.
“We can discuss the changes and go right back out to the van and make the alteration, whatever it might be– overhang, shape, or form– and print again and again until we get the client to see exactly what their tops are going to look like.”
The mylar printouts show the customer the exact dimensions for the sinks and countertops and other products. StoneWorks fabricators will use those templates as guides to cut slabs into the exact measurements needed using a CNC saw and router.
The sort of exacting approach to measurement and production is what sets StoneWorks apart from its competitors, Cavano said. “It’s really the technology and the staff and we’re able to go ahead and check those templates and make sure we’re precisely measuring.
Customer input doesn’t end there, however, Cavano said. “The next step is we take those templates and the exact slabs (to be used in fabrication) are pulled out, we invite the customers in to help us place the templates on the areas of the slab they prefer.
That allows the customers to be very involved.
“If there is any kind of veining or color they want to capture that’s the time to do it. We assist them through that process. It allows us to include or exclude anything on the slab. They know exactly what they are going to get with their five day turnaround.”
This approach allows StoneWorks to meet the exact and demanding specifications of designers wishing to give a contemporary look to countertops or cabinets.
“Some designers are asking the stone overhang the front of their cabinetry or island by an eighth of an inch,” Cavano said. “It’s a completely different look and a lot of our competitors couldn’t guarantee or get that kind of fit without the ability of being able to check and recheck that template in the field.”
During the installation process, StoneWorks workers strive for practically invisible seams, employing vacuum-powered seam setting equipment to pull counters together as tightly as possible and true epoxy adhesives in their task.
StoneWorks founder John Baltzegar III began serving the Hilton Head area in 1987 as owner of the then-Augusta-based Georgia Fireplace and Marble. As the company’s stone and marble offerings expanded, Baltzegar began making the five hour round trip to Hilton Head several days a week for sales calls, returning to his fabrication shop to help make the products.
Baltzegar moved his shop to Hilton Head island in 1997 and reincorporated the company under the name StoneWorks Inc. Alongside his sons and partial owners, John IV, John III, Brian, and Shannon Urriloa, Baltzegar has built the company up to 36 employees. Its 21,000 square feet of facilities include a showroom, fabrication plant, warehouse, and offices.
“StoneWorks reputation, performance history and achievements are directly related to the people who work here,” said John Baltzegar III, who remains the company’s majority owner and sales/marketing manager. “I am extremely proud of their accomplishments and work ethics. This is absolutely the best group of people that I have ever been associated with.”
Once the templates are approved and the exact stone selected StoneWorks fabricators go to work on producing the finished pieces. The shop continues to invest in its arsenal of tools. It recently bought a new Thibaut saw and will soon be taking delivery of a router from the same company. “It’s going to be a five axis CNC router,” said Josh Hartzog, fabrication manager. “We currently run a dual bed Löffler, a Marmo 711, and an all-manual Simec FP-625.”
The shop recently purchased a new OMEC water recycling system as well,” Hartzog said.
A recent project at the Sonesta Resort on Hilton Head Island illustrates the exacting custom work that StoneWorks is known for, Hartzog said.
“In their buffet area, they have 16 flush-mounted cooktops that needed to have granite countertops. Every one of those are flush mounted, so what we were required to do was make sure any staff or any person serving themselves would not have a cooktop with any kind of lippage. They all had to be dead flat.
“We were able to use our new Thibaut CNC saw, and we were able to use that saw to basically rout out the perimeters of all 16 of the cooktops so that, at final installation, they all fit perfectly flat. There was no one else in our area with the technology... that they could turn to. It worked out perfectly.”
Another project of note was the fabrication of a custom fireplace for one customer, Hartzog said. “We made it out of slab material. We cut v-grooves into is so it looked like a bunch of blocks laying on top of each other.”
“The v-grooves were very impressive,” Cavano said. “We actually built a mantel that was like oversized crown molding. The overall look had to be extremely precise.”
The dedication to quality is all expressed in the careful cultivation of fabricators and installers. Employees are mentored and trained and rise in responsibility as they proved themselves. StoneWorks professionals have more than 197 years of combined experience. StoneWorks has been accredited as a stone fabricator by the Marble Institute of America.
MIA Accreditation is a voluntary, industry-wide program that is meant to increase the quality of fabrication and installation practices in the stone industry. Those companies that qualify are entitled to use a special “MIA Accredited” logo on their websites and other marketing materials.
Accreditation indicates that the business is solid and reputable, operates responsibly and in compliance with OSHA standards and is dedicated to quality — from product through installation. Companies that earn MIA Accreditation have completed an intensive, six-to-nine month process involving a written examination and site visits to completed jobs and its facilities, with a thorough documentation of employment and business and employment practices.
StoneWorks earned the honor in 2010. It was the 35th company to do so. The company had to meet 10 standards of accreditation set by the MIA. The company has not only received national recognition, but has been consistently singled by local residents in its area for quality. It has been voted the “Best Stone Surface Store” by readers of the Island Packet newspaper for five years in a row.
Installers spend a minimum of four years learning the trade as helpers. The company never uses subcontractors to install countertops.“Basically our best and brightest continue to get elevated both in responsibility and reward,” Cavano said.
For more information on StoneWorks, Inc. visit their website www.hiltonheadstone.com .