Page 2 - Demo

2 | October 2024
NorthWest Granite
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The company’s shop is fully equipped with primarily Park Industries machin- ery, currently consisting of a Sierra bridge saw, a Titan CNC router, and a Fusion Waterjet-saw. “We’re essentially a Park shop,” Jeremey added. “The Park Fusion Waterjet has really helped fabricate quartz- ites, which is a big part of sales in our mar- ket. We have many high-end clients who follow that trend, especially in the San Juan Islands. Also, about half of our busi- ness comes from Naval officers who expect near-perfection.”
Average output is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 square-feet per month, consisting of natural stone, quartz and porcelain, with slab showers being one of their specialties. Many of their designs are beautiful slabs mixed with tile and used for vertical applications, explained Jeremey. “Our showers, curbs, seats, van- ities and windowsills, or anything that can be built out of remnants, are utilized. We don’t throw anything away that can be used. We are also beginning to see more interest in Dekton.”
With basically a captive market and only one local competitor, (a top notch carving artist who’s mostly retired), customers are sourced through word of mouth or through Google searches. That said, there is a wee bit of competition by off-island fab shops and big box stores on the mainland, but not much to worry about, explained Jeremey. “These companies are my competitors, but they are also my referrals, because it is very difficult and costly for competitors on the mainland to do business here. In the San Juan Islands especially, we have ferry issues, but we know the barge owners and what equipment is needed to get the job done. We can out-price our competitors, and if they make a mistake it is very costly for them to come back here for return calls. Their work may be fabricated clear out of Portland and shipped all the way up here, and if there’s a problem, they wind up call- ing us to fix it! We are seeing more and more of this from our competitors.”
NorthWest Granite & Flooring cur- rently has five slab team members, while six sub-contractors do the wood, tile, car- pet, and flooring installations. Jeremey and Suzette’s son Tyler Berisford has over 20-years’ experience as a fabricator, over- sees daily shop output and coordinates installations. Tyler utilizes laser templat- ing, CAD and does machine maintenance,
Slippery Rock Gazette
“On one of our jobs we needed to use an articulating style crane to lift the slabs up to the second story where they were being installed. The material was Blue Moon quartzite, and the job was located on Henry Island. There was no ferry service, so we took a private barge to the island. We only had a two hour window to install, because the ferry has to shut down when it’s low tide. We had to go out there with my truck, offload that A-frame up onto the deck, and then haul those slabs around through five sets of doors to a shower. We built a 3 slab shower for the builder customer.”
“On a different job on Whidbey, we needed to transport and use a glass-handling machine, I think it’s called an Easy Lift, along with the articulated crane. We had to stack and lift 2 full slabs 17 or 18 feet into the air, and bring the Easy Lift machine into the house at the same time. We had to build a structure underneath the house and also put boards underneath it, just to get it in the house so we could move it around and pick up the slab, then lift it up six and a half feet over our heads!”
as well as being responsible for the often challenging job of figuring out exactly how materials will be transported to the jobsites and installed.
At most any jobsite, anywhere in the U.S. the terrain can be tough to nego- tiate. In the Pacific Northwest, the dif- ficulty of getting materials through the terrain and tough turf can sometimes be multiplied by a factor of two, and prob- lematic, explained Tyler.
“We use the No-Lift Install System on about 80% of our installs. If I have to go out on an install, I am careful with my
back because of previous year’s heavy lifting. Even if it’s a small piece, I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m not going home sore because of this 200 pound slab!’ That’s not a lot of weight for two guys, but I’m happy to let the cart do the heavy work!
“Anytime you’ve got those very big countertops and you’re tipping and slid- ing them onto the cabinet, you could damage the edge. You then say, ‘Sorry, we made a mistake’ and we had to go back and fix it.
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