Slippery Rock Gazette

by Peter J. Marcucci

Photos Courtesy NorthWest Granite & Flooring LLC

Just a stone’s throw off the coast of Washington state, in the Puget Sound, is a cluster of islands. Within them lies Whidbey Island. Located 30 miles north of Seattle, the 168 square-mile island is abundant with hills, forests, farmland and beaches, and is accessible from the mainland by two ferries and one bridge.            

According to history, the first mention of Whidbey Island was during the 1790 Spanish Expedition of Manuel Quimper and Gonzalo Lopez de Haro. Already inhabited by several Native American tribes, the island was fully explored in 1792 by British Royal Navy Officer George Vancouver and soon after, fully mapped by Royal Navy Officer Joseph Whidbey.

Known for being the longest island in the United States, Whidbey Island is dotted with year-round residential communities both modest and high-end. The island is geared for tourism, offering an abundance of tasteful cafes, charming boutiques and galleries, and cozy lodging. It is also home to U.S. Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, a base constructed in 1942 to defend the Northwest pacific coast against foreign intruders during WWII. NorthWest Granite & Flooring serves this diverse market, initially offering custom flooring. After a change in management, and seeing an opportunity in the market, custom stone fabrication was soon added. The company is co-owned by Jeremey Jackson and wife Suzette. According to Jeremey, who, by the way, is a 27-year reader of the Slippery Rock Gazette, the company has seen a few changes, he recalled.

“When I started with the company in 2001, it was called NorthWest Cabinets & Flooring. It was owned by three people, and I was just an employee. Then, just six months later, two of the three partners pulled out, and I bought half of the company. Then, in 2004, my wife Suzette and I bought the last owner out, and we changed the name to NorthWest Granite & Flooring LLC.” By 2006, business had increased to the point we purchased property and built our own 8,000 square foot shop and showroom.” The now state-of-the-art facility also boasts a whole-building water recirculation system designed and installed by Jeremey. No city water is used for fabrication or shop cleaning. It’s a closed-loop system that earned Whidbey’s Green Seal.  

NorthWest Granite & Flooring specializes in custom slab work, both new construction for builder clients and remodels, and often uses exotic materials for their jobs, with stunning results. Jeremey Jackson: “One of our jobs was located in Anacortes, an Oxford Blue quartzite slab shower, bench and curb. The shower was on the second story of the house, so we had to use a special lift in order to reach the second level of the home.”

Family memorial installed at the historic Sunnyside cemetery on Ebey’s Landing (Coupeville), following strict historical society guidelines.

The Nuts, Bolts and Moving Parts

With 90% of the company’s work located on Whidbey Island as well as the neighboring San Juan Islands, an average of 200 slabs are kept in stock. Visitors looking to embellish their homes with NorthWest Granite & Flooring’s finest materials need not go to the mainland. This is very important, explained Jeremey. “Most of our work used to be builders, but now is also walk-in style retail with repeat clients and through referrals. Many of our clients are Navy personnel, and it’s important that slabs are in stock because their off-time is limited. Once a week, I’m in Seattle purchasing materials, and I’ve gone through six different vehicles and over a dozen trailers hauling slabs back and forth over the years. We do get deliveries, but sometimes the cost outweighs the fact that I can pick up more materials in one shot rather than just have a few slabs brought here. Hand selecting slabs is also important for quality custom work.”

The company’s shop is fully equipped with primarily Park Industries machinery, 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 quartzites, which is a big part of sales in our market. We have many high-end clients who follow that trend, especially in the San Juan Islands. Also, about half of our business 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, vanities 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.”

Above: “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.”  Below: “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!”

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 calling us to fix it! We are seeing more and more of this from our competitors.” 

NorthWest Granite & Flooring currently has five slab team members, while six sub-contractors do the wood, tile, carpet, and flooring installations. Jeremey and Suzette’s son Tyler Berisford has over 20-years’ experience as a fabricator, oversees daily shop output and coordinates installations. Tyler utilizes laser templating, CAD and does machine maintenance, 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 negotiate. In the Pacific Northwest, the difficulty of getting materials through the terrain and tough turf can sometimes be multiplied by a factor of two, and problematic, 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. 

“Now though, we don’t install that way. As a templater, CAD and layout designer, using the No-Lift Install System has also enabled me to make pieces bigger and not have to seam wall-to-wall pieces. In the early years, I had done plenty of installs without the right tools, and I know how difficult it can be. I have the correct tools for the job now.”

NorthWest’s Park Fusion WaterJet saw, and Titan CNC Router. Additional machinery includes a Park Industries Sierra bridge saw and vacuum lifts to safely move material around the shop, and No-Lift System Installation System carts.

Creating a Safer Environment

In the beginning, NorthWest Granite & Flooring was mostly a dry shop, the norm for most fabricators. Then they got their first bridge saw, followed by a Park Industries Destiny in 2011. They had been using air filtration and a dust booth all along, but the fab area was still dusty and hard to manage. Things needed to be changed, explained Tyler. 

“For the last twelve years we’ve been a fully wet shop, and we welcome inspection visits. We monitor the air, test our people, and our guys wear their personal protective equipment (PPE). After all, all stone has silica in it, but we know that quartz is the main culprit. In a lot of shops, the majority of their business is fabricating quartz products. It cuts like a dream and is easy to fabricate, but milling quartz creates a dust that seems to stick to you and everything else, with a talc-like dust that just has an unhealthy feel. It’s really no big surprise that it’s bad for you! I think that ultimately it’s up to each employee to protect themselves, but it’s also up to the managers and owners to keep their employees safe by giving them what they need and insisting that they use it. Our people are also mindful of our customers, care about the job and care about the finished product. They are family, and we care deeply about their well being.”   

Jeremey added, “In the beginning, fabricating dry was what I knew, but seeing Tyler in that dust booth and then going home with his clothes covered with dust, we realized the work may harm our own son with silica exposure, eventually. Seeing this really brought the issue home to us, forced us to buy the machinery, and change the way we did things. Also, we are the stewards of this island, local business owners, and a part of this community, so we have to be a good example. We don’t want our son or our people possibly harmed because we put our profits before their health. It was our chance to create a safe environment for everyone, and longevity for our company. So when it came to buying wet equipment and the No-Lift Install System, it was always about the safety.”

Above: Part of the NorthWest Granite & Flooring team. The company transitioned to a stone fab shop in 2004, under the leadership of Jeremey and Suzette Jackson, along with son Tyler.  Below: Desert Canyon granite kitchen for a residential customer.

Below: Outdoor kitchen installation in progress.

NorthWest Granite & Flooring is a member of the Natural Stone Institute and Stone Fabricators Alliance, along with other builder groups, and a loyal BB Industries customer for over 20 years. For more information please visit www.nwgraniteandflooring.com .