Heiar Custom Countertops is Rockin’ Dubuque
by Peter J. Marcucci
Photos Courtesy Heiar Custom Countertops
In 2007, Jeff Heiar began learning the art of stone fabrication in his home town of Dubuque, Iowa. Unfortunately, while gaining five years of fabrication experience under his belt, he did so with a heavy load on his shoulders from the loss of his and his wife Hannah’s first born, and moved on, he recalled. “I was going through some rough patches, got out of the stone world, and worked at a few local factories. After about five years, I got fed up with being inside, and doing the same thing, every day.”
For many years, Jeff had a dream that someday he’d have his own business. That dream, now that factory work was wearing his patience thin, would soon come to fruition. “Even when I worked at the stone shop, years ago, my intention was to own my shop, but had to get prepared for it by getting to know the right people, and decide when and where to begin.”
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Heiar Custom Countertops just celebrated its 10th anniversary in business, and serves a tri-state area from their Dubuque, Iowa shop. Left to right: Ethan Watters, Brayden Schilling, Isaiah MacDonald, Frederick Bracamonte, and owners Hannah and Jeff Heiar.
Below: Custom kitchen for one of their builder partners. |
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Baby Steps
The family farm Jeff and Hannah lived on for many years had an unused building that needed a few upgrades to make it suitable for a shop. So in 2012, drainage was installed and a concrete floor was poured, but the time was still not quite right, he explained. “For two years, the building just sat there with a few parked vehicles and some kids’ toys, waiting for me to pull the trigger to start doing my own work. There was a local contractor in town who I had met when I worked at the stone shop. Every so often, I’d see him while I was out shopping, and he’d always bug me by asking, ‘When are you going to start your own business?’ That happened at least a dozen times, until one time, not kidding around, he said, ‘I’ve got four houses ready to go that need countertops, and if you can get yourself ready, all four are yours!’ That was in 2014, and kind of got me in high-gear.”
Not able to afford a bridge saw at first, Jeff began cutting slabs using a worm-drive circular saw held against a clamped, steel straight edge, and wet polishing on a homemade bench. Then, after a few jobs, he purchased a water-fed Blue Ripper Rail Saw and built a tilt-table that could support a full slab. “The Blue Ripper really made things easier than cutting with a circular saw. Essentially, this is when Heiar Custom Countertops started.”
By 2017, just three years later, the work load had exceeded the usable space at the farm, and it was time to bust-a-move. After searching for a suitable space, Jeff had eyeballed a rental space close by. Again, he pulled the trigger, moving his equipment to a 2,000 square foot unit in a complex with other renters. He soon outgrew this space, and after consolidating two vacated spaces over the next three years, Jeff brought his shop to larger, yet manageable space of 4,000 square feet where the company is now located.
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Custom quartz kitchen includes a large central island for prep and dining, and a full-height splash behind the commercial grade range.
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Production and Customer Service
The Heiar Custom Countertops’ fully wet shop features a Machine Tech Enterprise (MTE) 5-axis CNC saw, an MTE CNC specifically used for sink cutouts, and an MTE line polisher. Not including Hannah or Jeff, four full-time team members constitute the total staff, with two being dedicated fabricators, and two dedicated installers, however, all are cross-trained and fully able to assume or assist with other team members’ duties as needed. According to Jeff, all materials are purchased locally, and approximately 60 slabs are kept in stock at any one time. Sales ratios are 80% quartz and 20% are natural stone. Jeff was also quick to say that Dekton or porcelain fabrication is not in the foreseeable future.
With only two other fabrication companies in the Dubuque market, most jobsites and installations are a short 20 minute drive from the shop. That said, they will travel as far as one to one-and-a-half hours’ drive time to surrounding towns, as well as an occasional job just over the border into Wisconsin.
Customer ratio is 60% contractors and 40% walk-in residential, he explained. “I’ve always put quality first, because I knew I could never produce quantity, even if doing commercial work, which I don’t. Our focus has always been on new home construction, mostly because I’ve always had a good relationship with contractors. You treat them right, give them what they need when they need it, and they will always give you return business. So quality and contractors is what I’ve always focused on, and figured the rest would fall into place.”
Jeff went on to say, that when things got slow, he did seek an alternative market. “There was a time when we got slow with contractors, and I’m like, ‘Boy oh boy, what do I do now?’ So we did a little bit of advertising, and got a Facebook page, and soon after we started getting walk-in residential clients. This client base just got bigger and bigger, mostly from word of mouth, because we’ve always treated our customers the best we can.
I ask our people, ‘If you were a customer, how would you like to be treated, and how would you expect your countertops to look?’ So they treat the customer’s house like it’s their own, put down drop cloths and say, ‘Yes sir, yes ma’am!’ Fortunately, my guys feel this company is just as much theirs as it is ours. They are all great, and want to see it succeed. I don’t have a single guy who misses a beat, comes in late, or misses a day! I give them all the benefits I can and, to be honest, I could use a few more like them.”
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The Heiar shop features Machine Tech Enterprise equipment, including an MTE CNC machine designed to fabricate sink cutouts, an MTE Diamond5 CNC bridge saw, and MTE line polisher and water system. Above: Frederick Bracamonte, polishing; Ethan Watters; Brayden Schilling loads the MTE Line Polisher
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Below: Jeff and Isaiah program the MTE CNC 5-Axis bridge saw. |
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Dealing with Silica
As previously mentioned, Jeff’s shop is fully wet. Nonetheless, 80% quartz is quite a bit, and shops that use quartz are especially a target for future OSHA visits and rules. “OSHA did come in, did an inspection, and hung boxes that monitor air quality. Fortunately, we passed. As for controlling silica dust, I don’t have a good answer for anyone, except that we run a clean, wet shop, wash our floors down every night, and pressure-wash the machines twice a week.”
Circumventing the Law of Diminishing Returns
The law of diminishing returns is an economic principle that states the following: as investment in one particular area of production increases, the rate of profit from that investment, after a certain point, can’t continue to increase if other areas of production remain constant. Put another way: if you added a twin table robot to your production line, you’d need lots more sales, materials, equipment, people, vehicles and space, etcetera. See my point?
Jeff and Hannah know this all too well, Jeff explained. “We could probably be twice as big as we are right now if we wanted to, but I don’t want it to grow into a monster, where I’m not running it and it’s running me. So I’m trying not to get too big and crazy, and not looking to get into any new machinery other than a water recycling system and possibly a CNC that can polish. Honestly, the biggest thing for me in the next five years, is to construct my own building, and once I get that new shop, I don’t want to have the business blow up so big, that I can’t control it! Our customers like that we are small, and it’s what sets us apart from other fabricators. Hannah and I are a husband and wife team, physically present and talking to our clients every day. When I go out to help on installs, customers love this! They like the fact that we are involved and not just sitting behind a desk pushing pencils.”
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Above: Jeff Heiar works on setting up a seam in this residential kitchen remodel. All his fabricators are cross-trained to fill in as needed. Jeff will often help with installations, and Hannah works directly with clients.
Below, right: Their compact showroom includes a selection of surfaces and Envy sinks. |
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Below: Their trailer is set up for safe transport and slab offload, and holds all the equipment needed for a full install. |
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Heiar Custom Countertops is a member of the Natural Stone Institute and a longtime customer of BB Industries.
For more information, please visit www.heiarcustomcountertops.com or see www.facebook.com/heiarcustomcountertops .