Codiak San Herrell

Solid Surface Designs

Cutting boards, coasters, lazy Susan serving trays, cheese boards and business card holders are just a few small, easy-to-make gift items that customers love.

Cutting boards, coasters, lazy Susan serving trays, cheese boards and business card holders are just a few small, easy-to-make gift items that customers love.
Cutting boards, coasters, lazy Susan serving trays, cheese boards and business card holders are just a few small, easy-to-make gift items that customers love.
Production machines like the Tomahawk from Braxton-Bragg turn stone scrap into usable construction material, creating a new revenue stream for stone companies.

Production machines like the Tomahawk from Braxton-Bragg turn stone scrap into usable construction material, creating a new revenue stream for stone companies.

In the world of stone fabrication, the cost of materials, machinery, and even the smallest capital equipment purchase tends to be higher than in some industries. For example, if just one top is a ¼ inch short and has to be remade, it will cut deep into your bottom-line profit for the job. So a company set on achieving a nice profit knows that completing every job with little or no issues or remakes is essential to your bottom line. 

Say you do complete a job successfully with little to zero remakes. The customers are happy, and might even be a good word-of-mouth reference for you. The job called for 70 square feet, you order in 100 square feet to be safe, and now you have 30 square feet left. It is even a nice rectangle to put back into inventory. On top of that, you have some small, irregular-shaped chunks that you would typically be willing to (and do) just give away. 

Now it starts to get interesting. Not only did your team successfully reach your profit goal, you also have all this leftover material. Deep down inside your creative and ambitious mind, you know that if you can make something out of all the leftovers, you can earn even more profit out of this job. So what is an ambitious company to do? 

At Solid Surface Designs, we have built up a large leftover inventory of beautiful stone, which we call “the boneyard.” In our boneyard, we have its planogram separated by color scheme, and also by what we consider a partial slab, and what we consider a remnant.

Partial slabs are leftover pieces that are 30 square feet and above, which we resell for full price.

Remnants, anything below 30 square feet, we sell for a discounted price, mostly used for small tops or vanities. 

While that covers the vanity-worthy leftovers, there are other creative ways to realize profit with much smaller pieces that appear to be waste.

When you put your heads together ideas may start flowing, and some may even be workable. For example, you can purchase a stepping-stone stamper  and offer stepping-stones to your customers in addition to countertops.

Braxton-Bragg offers a machine called the Tomahawk, a stone splitter that turns granite remnants into stackable, chiseled-edge tiles for backsplashes and more.

Another idea we have floated is to shape small pieces into dog bones, add two doggy-dish bowl cutouts, along with bowls to set in place, for a beloved pet. More common ideas are coasters, lazy Susan turntables, business card holders, candleholders, cheese trays, and bookends. Cutting boards are probably the most popular choice.

Making an inventory of all usable leftover pieces and making a guideline and plan of action to create turnover on them is a concept you should consider before you decide to dig a giant hole somewhere and bury all of your unusable scrap pieces.

You could be making cash from your scrap, with a few progressive ideas that might actually become a big hit with your customers. 


Codiak San Herrell is a native of Aurora, Missouri. He is Warehouse Supervisor with Solid Surface Designs, where he serves on their safety and LEAN committee. Codiak is CPR / AED certified and currently working on other certifications.