Slippery Rock Gazette

Supreme Surface, Inc., an Indiana-based natural stone tile contractor and granite fabricator, deals in memories as well as stone.

The company’s goal is to do beautiful and memorable work for its customers, owner Tom Munro said. “Our goal has always been to make people walk in and say ‘Wow, that looks great. Who did it?’ We still focus on that simple goal.”

The level of trust and comfort that Supreme Surface strives to instill in its customers serves as the best form of promotion–word of mouth, Munro said. The company does not advertise.

“Customers are going to get our name from a friend, a family member, or an associate. We’ll go out to their home, we’ll talk conceptual design ideas and what we’re capable of doing. Then we discover a budget that they are comfortable with and design around it.”

Munro founded Supreme Surface back in 1996, in Greenwood, Indiana. Working with quartz, granite and natural stones, the company specializes in custom residential applications, providing custom design, fabrication and installation of granite countertops, kitchens, bathrooms, stone floors and other related products and services.

A full-service design and build firm, the company uses in-house designers and technicians to work alongside its customers to create beautiful kitchens, spa-type bathrooms, stone showers, and natural stone floors.

The road to founding the company had many stops along the way as Munro learned the business. “While I was in high school, I worked as a helper for my uncle, who pretty much introduced me to the tile business. He was a subcontractor for a company named the Tile Shop.”

The owner of the Tile Shop, Scott Wattson, proved to be a big influence on Munro. “I was the luckiest guy in the world at that time. Scott really took the time and taught me how to do takeoffs from blueprints.”

It was there that Munro began learning the basics of design and started working with customers on the showroom floor. Some time later, Wattson became the marketing director for a bigger tile distributor and offered him a job as a salesman.

This began a journey for Munro as he moved from facet to facet of the industry — contractor to distribution to manufacturing until opportunity led him to American Equipment Marble and Tile in Indianapolis.

Developing an import line, called the Supreme Surface Collection, for the business, Munro continued building his skills until the owner decided to sell the company. Deciding it was time to work for himself, Munro, with the blessing of the owner, took the Supreme Surface name with him and started a business.

“In the first month, I had a 250-square foot showroom,” Munro said. “We could only afford one room. I took American Equipment’s products and just filled the showroom in a nice, tasteful way.”

After working on a home for a large custom home builder, Munro was invited to participate in one of the Builder’s Association of Greater Indianapolis’ Luxury Home-A-Rama events, which usually net about 40,000 people walking through each home. He ended up working on two.

“I’ve been busy ever since,” he said. “After that show, we picked up five of the top builders on the south end of Indianapolis. I immediately started hiring more staff members that looked at things in the same artistic way.”

Munro didn’t stop there. Supreme Surfaces also moved into the fabrication business. “Around 2000, I saw a need for granite countertops,” he said. “Solid surface was huge.”

Buying a new house, Munro turned a 40 x 80-foot outbuilding into a granite warehouse. In the back, he built a fabrication facility with a homemade saw and table using old pallet racking and cannibalizing tools. “I took apart an old stone saw that I used in the Home-a-Rama and modified the rails and end. That was our first granite saw. It was crazy stuff.”

During the next Home-a-Rama, Munro had the opportunity to work on six of the nine homes being exhibited. He introduced granite countertops into two of them. “We were really doing some artistic work with some of the granite,” he said. That launched the granite business. The company quickly grew out of the small section of the 3,200 square-foot building with its homemade table and saw. In less than a year, the company opened a 10,000 square-foot fabrication facility. 

“We went to Park Industries to buy a bridge saw,” Munro said. “I came back with the bridge saw, a CNC, and a line polisher.”

From its humble beginnings, Supreme Surface’s granite business has grown to fill two showrooms and a fabrication facility. Each week, the company designs, produces, and installs between 10 to 15 custom stone projects.

Supreme Surface keeps all its work in-house. Munro said he prefers to train people who have no experience. “They just need the willingness and ability to learn things our way and have to have a good work ethic.  

With subcontractors, you have limited control. We wanted to train people and train them our way. In fact, most of our guys haven’t done it any other way.”

The company works with customers to create custom home improvement and remodeling packages that can be designed, built or installed on their particular budgets.

“When the downturn of the economy started, we started to get diversified,” Munro said. “... I bought a place where my Greenwood Design Studio is right now.”

The design studio includes an outdoor slab yard to show full granite slabs. It is a place where staff can meet customers instead of working through others, Munro said. “We want to work directly with the consumer. I want people to feel informed and comfortable.”

In addition to offering custom granite countertops, Supreme Surface has a core of four-to-five tile backsplash designs that are sold with almost every project, he said. “We can do darn near anything somebody wants, but, to offer more affordable choices, we can stick with those designs.”

The commitment to quality and beauty led Munro to branch out into stone cleaning products, a step that led into his founding a sister company —Supreme Surface Cleaners LLC. 

Munro had seen a hole in this market for years, he said. “Our flagship Supreme Surface Granite Cleaner and Conditioner was developed to provide all the qualities current stone cleaning and care products cannot. It’s a non-toxic treatment that cleans, progressively seals, polishes and protects granite and quartz countertops against common issues with every use. It leaves a streak-free shine–even on black granite. It even feels better.” 

The ever-expanding line of stone care products has received great response from users and shows real promise for the future, Munro said. “We were very fortunate to meet and work with some very talented people in developing our products, and we’re looking forward to this new venture’s success.” 

When it comes to Supreme Surface’s work with customers on their homes, Munro said it pays to be memorable. “Someone once told me that any time you go into somebody’s home, walk through it, and leave, most people will remember about 10 different things in the home. We want to be one of those memory points.”

This works to the advantage of both customers and Supreme Surface, which benefits from its reputation for beautiful work, Munro said. “Everybody wins. We’re even happier because we wind up getting so much more work by making somebody’s home look good.”

For more information about Supreme Surface, Inc. please visit their website and gallery pages at www.supremesurface.com.