Slippery Rock Gazette

Staying Ahead of The Curve Through Vision and Creativity, Distinctive Marble & Granite Is a Model of Successful Growth

by Peter J. Marcucci

Photos by Larry Hood & Distinctive Marble & Granite

To say the last decade has been uncertain for both employers and employees in the stone industry would be an understatement—to grow or not to grow, have wondered thousands of conflicted business owners—while employees wondered how to deal with less hours, less income, and their own future.  

Fortunately, none of the above was up for deliberation within the entrepreneurial mind of Distinctive Marble & Granite founder, Chris Schnetzler, nor the minds of his team. For the fledgling company, expansion was in the cards from the beginning, and Chris wasn’t about to fold, period! “In October of 2001 I started Distinctive Marble & Granite (DMG).

In the beginning it was simply a 3-person operation in a small location. I was new to the industry, but had a business mind and hired skilled people to assist me,” explained Chris.

A Distinctively Hands-On Approach

No newcomer to the rough and tumble world of business, Chris continued to stand firm and fixed on a model of expansion fueled by volume, quality and service. Self described as an entrepreneur with sales experience, Chris spoke of humble beginnings while building and tuning his growing company. “I was raised with a strong work ethic and not afraid of hard work. In the beginning I did everything including fabrication, installation and measuring, office work and sales, and initially created the relationships with local builders. 

“Business just grew from there, and we stayed for 5 years before moving to our second location in Powell, Ohio, a much larger facility where we stayed for another 5 years.” (See Distinctive Marble- New Shop and Showroom in the Slippery Rock archives, April 2007)

Enter newly appointed DMG President, Chip Gleine. Chip’s stone career can be traced back to his college days, circa 1999, while working part-time with his brother-in-law doing solid surface and laminated work, and granite fabrication after graduation in 2001. As the years elapsed, and after much gained experience as a fab shop operations manager, Chip’s career moved to a consulting and instructional role.

“I was consulting and training people at DMG during August of 2011,” explained Chip. “At the time I had been consulting and working for Moraware, helping shops to be more efficient. DMG was a much smaller company than it is now, employing about 15 people. 

“I spent four days with them giving instructions with Moraware, scheduling and things like that. While I was doing that Chris and I just kind of hit it off while talking things through. Soon after, about a month, we began talks about joining forces to see what we could do to make the company different. By that time I had been in the Columbus market for ten years.

“So we joined forces in November 2011 and put together a very aggressive growth schedule. I took day-to-day operations and streamlined them and really tried to grow the business by partnering with local builders. At the time, a lot of local builders were coming out of really hard times; that is— the ones that were still around. 

“There used to be hundreds of custom and semi-custom builders in town, but by 2011 there weren’t that many. The ones that were left were doing a house or two per year. So we sat with them and asked, ‘What can we do to help you guys grow?’ We wanted to grow and we were looking to join with them as partners and help them when we could, and in return they could help us.

“Fortunately we got a bunch of new accounts by getting back to basics: offering good prices and good service and turning every fabrication job within 5 working days. 

“We would measure on Monday and install on the following Monday, consistently. 

“We also started pushing some commercial projects. Some were builders that were doing multi-family developments as opposed to individual homes. When that took off we realized that we were really good at multi-family projects and just kept growing and growing. Subsequently, by winter-spring 2013, we knew that we had outgrown the facility and realized we were in trouble.”

The Acquisition

Servicing both commercial and residential markets in mostly central Ohio, it was again time to expand the company, and Chris and Chip rose to the opportunity. Neighboring company Marble & Granite Works in Plain City, Ohio, previously purchased in 2007 by Lowes was looking to get out of the fabrication business. Originally built with family assets and a lot of great employees, Marble & Granite Works, before changing hands, serviced both Home Depot and Lowes, and custom builders.

Chip continued: “In the past I had worked with both Lowes and Marble & Granite Works, and had always joked about purchasing the company and getting somebody to run it. At the time, the Lowes-owned Marble & Granite Works was by far the biggest fabrication shop in the state of Ohio many years running. Then, at one point, I got a phone call telling me that Lowes customers were waiting as long as 6 months for their kitchen installations, and they had a lot of upset customers.”

Through ongoing discussions with Lowes executives, Chip discovered that Marble & Granite Works was for sale and all that remained was to place a bid. With Chris’ entrepreneurial prowess and Chip’s exceptional sense of logistics, the two decided to take the plunge and submitted a bid for the company. To the surprise of the two, their bid was declined, as Lowes had entered into contract with another bidder.  

“I was committed when we put in a bid for the business,” Chris affirmed. “I think our offer was comparable with the other bidder’s offer. Unfortunately, we lost the coin toss.”

Chip and Chris stayed in touch with Lowes executives, and expressed their continued interest. “They came back to us about 6 months later,” said Chris. He received a phone call from the Vice President of Lowes asking if Chris and Chip were still interested, and the answer was a resounding “Absolutely!” Chris added, “Lowes came back to us with a letter of intent for us to purchase, and literally 4 weeks later we closed the deal. It was not a stressful event for me; I was ready for it if I got the opportunity because I knew I could perform on the contract. You don’t go into something like that just hoping you can get it done.”

And in September 2013, Chris and Chip closed on the facility, the work load, and everything that went with it. They interviewed every single employee that agreed to participate in the process, and by September 9, 2013, Chris and Chip had hired 44 out of 49 people, going from 18 employees to 62.  Currently, DMG employs just over 50.

People: The Heart of the Company

Chris continued: “We take pride in our selection process, and we constantly look for people who want to be committed to us. We’ll then commit back to them by providing a work environment that’s career oriented and not just punching a time clock. In this business we look for people with years and years of experience. 

“There are so many nuances within this business, that you can’t train somebody in just 6 months. It takes years to make them understand that this type of stone reacts this way, or this is just the way we do things in this business. So we look for that experience and maturity level in the work history of the people we interview, and if it takes our business 5 steps forward, we certainly will make the investment in that person.

“I think we have a lot of longevity with our people. Most have been with our company and the industry a long time. We’ve got the most rounded and seasoned staff in our area from sales right down to the guys working in the yard. 

“We constantly train and have meetings about our customers, doing things the right way, and integrity. We’ve got a couple of team members that are degreed designers, and they work in conjunction with our clients. They are really designer-sales staff. Within our market, specific designers are not a necessity simply because many of the builders we work with have their own. 

“That said, a lot of our retail customers and homeowners only need help with selections and look for that assistance, so we have that service available, no charge. Many times outside designers come in with their clients, while others are working on projects such as hotels, office space or restaurants, so they’ll come in to make a specific selection for their client.” Chip added, “With a lot of our retail customers, educating them is a large part of our sales process.”

The Facility

DMG sits on 11 acres with a main building footprint of 33,000 square-feet and two other buildings approximately 12,000 square-feet each. The main showroom consists of 1,500 square feet which leads into an 11,000 square-foot slab gallery. 

Offices are spaced out around the building and total 3,000 square-feet. Shop square footage is 12,000, housing 2 GMM bridge saws, 2 Park Industries CNCs, 2 Park Industries line polishers, 2 Fab Kings, a Bovone line polisher and a Park Industries radial arm polisher. 

To safely move slabs as well as completed work, five overhead cranes equipped with Manzelli vacuum lifters reach all areas of the showroom, the gallery and the shop where at any one time 10-15 fabricators are hard at work. DMG owns nine installation / templating trucks and on any given day dispatches 6-8 installation crews.

As for purchasing new machinery, Chip said some of the machines have been online since 2006-07 and a few since 2010, with one bridge saw only a year old. “Most of them are okay, but the CNCs and line polishers will most likely be updated in the near future. They still work good, but they’re getting old. It’s a constant battle keeping machines up to date. Sometimes it seems like we buy more parts than they’re worth.”

A Distinctively Different Showroom

The new facility was rundown and dated, and upon acquisition they completely gutted the showroom. Chris and Chip deeply contemplated doing the usual stone-on-cabinet vignettes of kitchens and vanities, but after much thought took a decidedly different route. Chip explained: “We really wanted the focal point to be the slabs. We are not showing cabinets—we are showing stone, sinks and faucets—so our showroom is very different looking with 20-foot-high ceilings, exposed ducts, dropdown lighting, and polished concrete floor.

“It’s an industrial look with stone and metal, and a big city feel,” now explained Chris. “It’s a huge educational display and fascinating for customers to see. When people walk in they see book matched slabs on the walls and different things like that; things that other shops don’t pay attention too. 

“We have a wet bar and TV as well as islands on wheels, so we can move them around as needed while hosting events. We try and carry everything from the standards to the exotics, and when they’re excited about buying stone it’s a lot nicer to come into a huge indoor facility, especially if it’s raining or snowing outside. 

“It’s a neat amenity complete with overhead crane and layout area. The designers love it and the clients love it and because of the better experience, it elevates our customers’ trust. There is also a huge outdoor area for overflow storage.”

Clearly this cutting-edge concept has paid off. Through servicing its customers, including 17 local Lowes stores, 15% of DMG’s cutting is 3cm Silestone, while marble makes up about 5% of material; 3cm granite production for its custom and semi-custom builders completes the bulk of its production equation. The shop cuts 25-30 slabs total per day, which equates to 150-200 kitchens per month.

To feed that volume, DMG consistently cuts a container’s worth of material every two days, purchasing from distributors Mont Granite, Stone Mart and MS International. Stocking 96 colors with an average of 7,500 slabs on hand at any time, most materials are a pleasing mix from India, Brazil and Italy. 

Satisfying exacting clients can sometimes be challenging, to say the least, so DMG, much of the time, performs custom layouts for those who purchase materials with lots of veining or color changes. “We don’t do layouts for quartz products, but we do for most other materials using Mylar templates printed from laser templating. It’s a good service,” said Chris.

Focus on Safety

Distinctive Marble & Granite has just completed a voluntary OSHA inspection. According to Chip, in their old smaller shop, safety was a concern but a lot easier to keep a handle on. “We now have 11 acres with three buildings and it’s not as easy, but we are proud of that. It took us 8 months before we felt comfortable inviting OSHA here. 

“There were no major concerns, just mostly GFCI outlets that weren’t working correctly and correcting record-keeping issues. OSHA also asked us to do a hearing screen as well as daily crane and forklift inspections. It is time consuming, but is absolutely the right thing to do. 

“Additionally, once a month on Friday, we have safety meetings with the whole team and daily safety meetings with different teams, always talking about safety in between.”

Cross-training within the shop also helps with safety issues, Chip explained. “A lot of our success is because we move our workforce around a lot. Just because you’re a fabricator doesn’t mean you’re not going to help an installer or run a saw, and you need to do all that safely. We cross-train; we have to in this business.”

DMG also recycles its production water and sends most of its scrap stone to the concrete guys in town who use it as filler.

The Future: A Focus on Execution

Chris Schnetzler: “It’s been quite challenging, and there have been a lot of obstacles through the years, but my vision was to build one of the best granite companies around. That’s always been the goal, and we’ve always worked toward that from the very beginning. 

“We’ve been able to maintain because we were in tune with our operational and labor costs. If you keep those in check you can remain successful. We made sure we managed those numbers so we could get through the tough times. 

“We did have a lot of spikes where business was straight up, then fell way off, and when it fell we diversified a little bit to compensate, looking for larger or different projects. We also brought in a line of sinks and faucets to help offset those fallen numbers. Doing so helped us keep a large part of the local market share.

“Customer satisfaction was absolutely imperative for us, too. We fabricate for some of the big box stores, and they have a very stringent customer service program where they follow-up with customers. We have to abide by that and mimic something similar with all of our jobs. Our operations department follows-up with each and every customer to see how we are doing.

“As for growth and expansion, now that we have a production facility designed to efficiently produce countertops, we’re searching out different personalities that can help take us to the next level. We’ve taken a strong look at our sales and operations teams, and we’re looking to expand the commercial side of our operation possibly by taking on additional big box stores. 

“We are also constantly looking for new products within the industry to maximize the use of our entire campus. But the growth of our company has to be from our people. It’s not going to be me that takes it to the next level, it is going to be our people that take it there.

Being Distinctive

“I think image is everything, especially in the upscale environment in which we operate where people spend a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars on stone for their homes. I feel it’s our obligation to offer clients the highest standards, in both aesthetics and service that we can provide. 

“So what has helped to this point is just having the right people in place, as well as continually making investments back into our company with improvements in machinery, a dress code and employee training, so we can operate as professionally as possible.

“The acquisition we made was a large goal that we had, and we’re focused on taking our facility to its capacity, perhaps doubling the output; we have room to grow. I think we are constantly the innovators in this industry and constantly trying to update and invest in our people and our facility. 

“Ultimately, we’d like the reputation of being the best team in town. We are doing things the right way, so there is no question in the consumer’s mind who they should use for countertops. It’s not about being the biggest, but being the best.”

Chip Gleine: “Chris and I joined forces and it’s nice that we’ve been able to work together. He’s an amazing businessman, and he’s created a wonderful opportunity for me and our team. I’m a relatively young guy, just 35 years old, and I’ve been able to work myself to a leadership position in this industry and company. 

“We have a young staff and we’ve taken people and made them supervisors and leaders. We have excellent professional managers and supervisors in place who can really run this company like a business. We’ve gotten to where we are because of a constant focus on growth and our people. It’s what makes us different from everyone else.

“In the next five years we would like to expand our business in the Columbus market, but we first need to alleviate a few of our weak points. Some shops have cutting constraints, some have CNC constraints; we have installation and templating constraints. 

“We know there are a lot of good people out there, and we want them on our team and to give them an opportunity to work to whatever level they want to. Our business will only grow if we have good people. 

“We take a lot of pride in what we do here, and Chris and I are very passionate about what goes out with Distinctive Marble & Granite’s name on it. I love the way we are tuned-up and I love our team, and we are primed and ready for the future. We definitely have some work ahead, but I feel good about what 2015 is going to bring us.”  

Distinctive Marble & Granite is a member Marble Institute of America (MIA), Building Industry Association (BIA), National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA), as well as the local Chamber of Commerce. The MIA is an association that spends the money to educate the stone industry as well as consumers and is an important resource of information.

For more information about Distinctive Marble & Granite visit www.distinctivemarbleandgranite.com.