Sowing and Reaping
Aaron J. Crowley
Stone Industry Consultant
A relative told me a story the other day about a farmer who owns a large farming operation in the Midwest raising cattle, growing corn and wheat, and contract planting for other farmers in the area.
During the late summer of the previous year, a hired hand mistakenly loaded “summer” wheat seed in the hopper and planted them for the upcoming “winter” harvest. By all appearances all was well for a while. As expected, winter arrived on time but the crops never did.
The farmers who had contracted the planting services lost the season’s profits and once tests revealed the cause of the failed crops, they demanded he pony up to the tune of around a million dollars!
There were lawsuits, of course, and with his farm insurance refusing to cover the damages, it looked as if he would be forced to sell the cattle herd he had spent a lifetime building to pay the claims.
Thankfully, most of us in the granite counter top business won’t face the unpleasant surprise of a seven-figure settlement sprouting up in our businesses, but make no mistake: we still reap what we sow.
To that point, I remember talking to a fabricator who’d been in business about two years and was desperate to find a solution to the unpleasant problem of under-mount sink failures that had begun to sprout up in his business with alarming frequency.
You might say his hired hands had unknowingly planted summer wheat for the winter harvest in that his installers had been simply attaching the under-mount sinks with adhesive.
By all appearances all was well for a while, but it was only a matter of time before the weight and vibrations of the garbage disposals and the temporary nature of adhesive sealants exposed the mistake of an inadequate installation technique.
He was reaping what had been sown and it was costing him dearly.
He could have avoided the situation altogether had he researched and invested in one of the many options available for mechanically anchoring sinks to stone counter tops.
Sadly he is not alone as his experience is far more common in our industry than it need be.
With the ever growing list of innovative products available today for quick and permanent installations of under-mount sinks, there is no longer any excuse for needlessly incurring call-back costs and causing customers frustration.
Getting back to the story about the farmer, it ended well as his insurance stepped up in the end to cover the costs of the failed crops and he got to keep his prized cattle herd.
As for the fabricator looking to avoid a similar situation…start using one of the products below as insurance to prevent another crop of failed sink installations and keep more of the prized profits you’ve worked so hard to grow!
Aaron Crowley is a stone shop owner, author, speaker, and consultant to mid-size stone companies. Contact him at aaron@fabricatorsfriend.com.